ITI KE MI (New Moon. Mouth. Feminine) for Viola is the result of a long period of study and research with the instrument by the composer followed by actually working together with the performer. Neither the stringing nor the tuning of the viola are standard: two fourth strings, one third and one first string are tuned E, C, G and A in that order. Both score and notation - the latter also uses a system of colours - are inevitably very complex because their job is to define, differentiate between and represent a veritable maze of techniques and sounds which the performer is required to employ and produce. These techniques and sounds make huge demands on the performer's physical and interpretative abilities since the work is a total rethink of the instrument and the huge number of roles required of the viola mean that at times the results sound utterly unlike music for a stringed instrument. The sophisticated combination of various approaches to fingering and bowing separates out the individual components of a sound and puts them back together in such a way that a whole new horizon opens onto vibrations.

The workshop will describe the learning process of ITI KE MI and the importance of the collaborative work with the composer himself, in order for the performer to comprehend, embody and deliver the work, overcoming the technical and instrumental challenges that such an experimental score offers. The presentation will explore Billone's radical approach to the viola, focussing as well on notational issues and solutions adopted in the final version of the work. Composer and performers alike may gather precious insights from this score, exploring the effective connection between highly researched technical and instrumental gestures and their expressive and musical result.

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Masterclass for violinist and violist on extended techniques and contemporary repertoire

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"Fuga Perpetua - musical terms meaning ‘always running’ – is a total artwork, combining virtuosic music for ensemble, a dynamic surround-sound installation in constant motion, video projections and a ‘vocal crowd’. The leading storytellers of the work are refugees in Kenya, Israel, Italy and the UK, narrating beyond words, through our senses of hearing and sight, intuition and imagination.

The more we read and hear about refugees, it seems we understand and relate to their experience less. They become representations of something other-than-us, reduced to a familiar script of our worst fears. Responding to one of the greatest dramas of our time, Yuval Avital and Meitar Ensemble smuggle us across the border between our concepts of ‘us’ and ‘them’.

‘Home’ is the root of our identity, our magnetic north, our fixed point from which we orient our story, a sanctuary of protection and intimacy. Without a home, we become vulnerable, unstable, disoriented, lost. Our experience of music is also defined around ideas of home, of stability and rest, but also of movement, change and transformation. In Fuga Perpetua, a rest in one artistic layer drives movement in another, in counterpoint, interweaving constantly.

The ‘storytellers’ in Fuga Perpetua are refugees, appearing in the work through projected ‘interviews’ conducted by Avital and collaborators, where individual refugees were asked to relive before the camera significant moments and memories of their lives, both silently and in voice, following a process designed for this project by Avital with the guidance of Prof. Gerald Cupchik (University of Toronto), a specialist in emotions and aesthetic experience."

Yuval Avidal

Concert

Giacinto Scelsi
L’Âme Ailée / L’Âme Ouverte (1973)
for solo violin

Salvatore Sciarrino
Sei capricci per violino (1975/6)

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Pierluigi Billone
Equilibrio.Cerchio (2014)
for solo violin

Lecture

The role and the function of the score has been questioned by several branches of musicological studies. Curiously enough, within the community of performers (and, specifically, within the new music circles of interpreters) criticism towards the written component of music has not been widely inquired. Concepts such as faithfulness to the score, respect for the composers intentions and subordination of the performer/reproducer to the composer/creator are blindly accepted, and they respect is deeply embedded into players of classical and modern western music. Due to the improvisatory nature of Giacinto Scelsi's compositional process, to his peculiar understanding of his own role ("I am only an intermediary") and to his disregard towards the completion of the written score, the traditional trust in the notated music as the only possible vehicle to carry the original and definitive idea of a sonic phenomenon appears in his case not sufficient nor appropriate. This presentation aims to discuss the foundations of a creative performance performance practice of Scelsis music, questioning dogmas such as Werk-text-treue and composers intentionality. A creative approach will be justified through the investigation of Scelsi's complex creative routine, looking for interpretative suggestions residing within his compositional artefact, his artistic praxis and his collaborative approach to performance.

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collaborative residency with graduate composition students, focusing on work for solo violin solo viola d'amore.

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solo recital with new works for solo viola d'amore by Wolfgang von Schweinitz, Ncholas Deyoe, Andrew McIntosh, Laura Steenberge.

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Italian violinist/violist Marco Fusi is a passionate advocate for the music of our time. The program explores the world of a unique and rare period instrument, viola d'amore, as the instrument emerges and shines through the composers' imaginations today. Viola d'amore has the ability to morph, adapting to every work's particular sonic world, allowing the creators to explore uncharted acoustic and electronic soundscapes.

Italian violinist/violist Marco Fusi is a passionate advocate for the music of our time. The program explores the world of a unique and rare period instrument, viola d'amore, as the instrument emerges and shines through the composers' imaginations today. Viola d'amore has the ability to morph, adapting to every work's particular sonic world, allowing the creators to explore uncharted acoustic and electronic soundscapes.

Italian violinist/violist Marco Fusi is a passionate advocate for the music of our time. The program explores the world of a unique and rare period instrument, viola d'amore, as the instrument emerges and shines through the composers' imaginations today. Viola d'amore has the ability to morph, adapting to every work's particular sonic world, allowing the creators to explore uncharted acoustic and electronic soundscapes.

Federico Gardella, cinque notturni da braccio (2013) for solo viola d’amore - 12’ - US premiere

Schafer, Dominique, Clair-obscur (2015) for solo viola d’amore - 10’ - West Coast Premiere

Zeno Baldi, Spikes (2014) for viola d’amore and electronic - 8’

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Giovanni Verrando, Fourth Born Unicorn - rounded version (2015) for solo viola d’amore - 5’ - West Coast Premiere

Salvatore Sciarrino, capriccio per violino (2008) 9’ - West Coast Premiere

Giacinto Scelsi, Xnoybis (1967) for solo violin 14’

$10 general admission; $5 senior citizens 65+, alumni and non-Chapman students, and FREE for Chapman students, faculty and staff

$10 general admission; $5 senior citizens 65+, alumni and non-Chapman students, and FREE for Chapman students, faculty and staff

$10 general admission; $5 senior citizens 65+, alumni and non-Chapman students, and FREE for Chapman students, faculty and staff

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