Événement

Ekmeles: Voices Across Time

April 15, 2023 at 7:30PM, at Saint Peters Church in Chelsea, Ekmeles sings Voices Across Time, a program featuring four world premiere commissions, as well as a live premieres of a work previously only recorded during quarantine.

Featuring a diverse range of pieces from five composers, this concert explores themes of memory, impermanence, and the power of the voice across a variety of literary and cultural traditions. From ancient Chinese poetry to science fiction literature, and from traditional Iranian music to Greek mythology, each piece presents a unique and inventive exploration of the human experience.

LI Qis flower isnt flower sets Tang dynasty poetry by 8th-9th century poet BAI Juyi, reaching into the past for an expression of impermanence. Nick Dunstons Mothership on the other hand goes into the future, taking inspiration from Octavia E. Butlers Xenogenesis, and building a science fiction hivemind unity from the six voices of the ensemble. Arash Yazdanis New Work explores the acoustic phenomena of the voice with reference to traditional Iranian music.

Zosha Di Castris New Work is a kind of vocal timelapse, being written 10 years after her first piece for Ekmeles. It also deals with time and memory in its text, setting various fragments of Sappho, partially redacted by time and decay of sources. Stratis Minakakis also draws on ancient Greek texts, in his exploration of the Ajax story in his New Work. Shadowy microtonal figures evoke the machinations of the gods behind the story of the soldier second only to Achilles in heroes of the Trojan War.

LI Qi flower isnt flower (2021) Live Premiere
Nick Dunston Mothership (2022) World Premiere
Arash Yazdani New Work (2023) World Premiere
Stratis Minakakis Shadow Madrigals (2023) World Premiere
Zosha Di Castri New Work (2023) World Premiere

Total duration of the program is approximately 75 minutes without intermission.
Personnel for concert

Charlotte Mundy, soprano
Elisa Sutherland, mezzo soprano
Timothy Parsons, countertenor
Steven Bradshaw, tenor
Jeffrey Gavett, baritone and director
Steven Hrycelak, bass

Ekmeless 2022-2023 season is made possible with funds from the Amphion Foundation, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, The Alice M. Ditson Fund, The Fritz Reiner Center for Contemporary Music, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Ekmeles is a recipient of the 2023 Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation Ensemble Prize.