Événement

Ekmeles: Madrigals and Animals

Thursday, January 17th, at 7:30PM, Ekmeles vocal ensemble will perform Madrigals and Animals, a program of works celebrating the history and future of unaccompanied part song, and the interaction of human and animal voices. The Crypt at Church of the Intercession provides both an atmospheric surrounding, and a uniquely reverberant space for voices.
Karola Obermüllers mass:distance:time has the most direct connection on the program to this musical history, quoting flickers of Machauts mass, and setting text by renaissance writer Ungaretti. Singing this modern echo of ancient sacred works in a crypt below the streets of modern Manhattan is a perfect match.
Salvatore Sciarrinos 12 Madrigali is an epic exploration of the composers signature sound world of filigree and glissando, and will be heard here in its U.S. premiere. The autodidact Italian master uses translations of haiku by Basho in a structural echo, 6 poems set twice, with subtle variation and repetition between each setting. His vocal writing is often pared down to small repeated gestures, especially notable in his setting of the text la cicale or the cicada, echoing both the sound of the insect, and recalling Josquin des Prezs famous El Grillo, or the cricket.
Karola Bauckholts Instinkt, also heard for the first time in the U.S., blurs the line between animal vocalization and contemporary music. Full of transcriptions of field recordings ranging from sled dogs to loons and blue whales, the work illustrates by collage the natural musicality of the animal world. Given new context in the concert hall and manipulated by the composers art, a howl becomes harmony.
Finally, Claus-Steffen Mahnkopfs void - un delitto italiano dramatizes in madrigal form the murder of Italian artist Pier Paolo Pasolini. Ekmeles gave this work its U.S. premiere several years ago, and are excited to be featured on an upcoming recording of the composers vocal works. void uses the full expressive range of the human voice to portray both the violence and transcendence of Pasolinis life and works. The most delicate and subtle microtonal chorales are contrasted with multiphonic shrieks, snores, moans, and gnashing of teeth. Text painting is taken here to its most extreme endpoint.

Calendar Listing:
Thursday, January 17th, 7:30PM
Madrigals and Animals
$20
The Crypt of Church of the Intercession
550 W 155th Street, Manhattan
Between Broadway and Amsterdam