REBLOG: Analissa Martinez talks about my world premiere next week

Composer's Corner: •••••••••••••••• Erin Huelskamp: "

April 15, 2010 7:30pm

St. John's Episcopal Church

1 Roanoke Avenue

Jamaica Plains, MA

The Boston New Music Initiative presents

World Premiere of A Mind-dependent Phenomenon

for solo cello, by Erin Huelskamp

Analissa Martinez on cello

I chose this next work because it takes me out of my comfort spot behind the cello, and asks for an acted performance...but still behind the cello. It's subject matter is also very familiar territory, so an 'acted performance' is not so much necessary.

Erin calls for the intimate moments for a musician in a practice room. The phenomenon of Time passes, slowly or quickly. We procrastinate, play around, stomp, sing and show off.

I display the unpleasantries of time passing by while practicing...and I get to show off some cello rockstar moves interpolated with the ticking of time passing.

Thanks Erin!

About Erin:

Energetic, hardworking and enigmatic, Erin Huelskamp (b. 1982) composes dramatic and comical music that often reflects a philosophical twist on her daily experiences. Co-founder and executive director of the Juventas New Music Ensemble, Ms. Huelskamp voraciously promotes new music – especially by amazing unknown composers – and she strives to draw ever new audiences to the burgeoning sounds of the 21st century....

Trained as a classical dancer for 16 years, Ms. Huelskamp began composing at the age of ten with no musical training. In 2000 she began studies in composition and flute at the University of Missouri-Columbia where she earned a Bachelor of Music in both composition and flute performance; she studied composition with Thomas McKenney and Stefan Freund and flute with Steven Geibel. In 2007, Ms. Huelskamp completed a Master of Music in Composition from the Boston Conservatory, where she studied with Andy Vores, Dana Brayton, and later Ken Ueno.

To learn more about Erin, visit her at http://erinhuelskamp.com

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About The Boston New Music Initiative

The Boston New Music Initiative is an organization committed to the composition and performance of new music on the local, national, and international fronts. Founded in 2009, the Initiative's vision is to establish a network of composers, performers, conductors, directors, and champions of new music in order to generate new music concerts, compositions, collaborations, and commissions.

Visit: http://www.bostonnewmusic.org/

"

Another quote

Here's another quote from an article of Huelskamp yore:


“I founded Juventas with two other young composers who felt there was a flaw in the ‘system’. Instead of ‘whining’ … we decided to take initiative and form an ensemble that focuses on giving amazing performances of music by primarily young, living composers, and to perform this music as repertoire—meaning more than once. Since that time, we have worked diligently to form a community of supporters for our mission. Juventas, as it stands, is the result. I encourage you all to do the same. If you see a problem with the way ensembles, calls-for-scores, competitions, etc., are run … then create something that supports your ideas.”

-Erin Huelskamp, Executive Director & Co-founder, Juventas New Music Ensemble (Boston), post on SCIMEMBERS listserve, 01-MAR-2008. Chamber Music Today “We Are All Illegal Aliens Now: Ageism in Calls-for-Scores and Competitions as Quasi-Immigration Policy?”

Techno gone twisted: Review of Lukas Ligiti

My new review of Lukas Ligiti's CD Afrikan Machinery is up at Boston Lowbrow. Check it out here:
Techno gone twisted: Lukas Ligeti’s “Afrikan Machinery” is eclectic and shifting to the extreme

Super Powers and Organization

I'm back!  I bet you thought I disappeared...

Life is fast-paced right now.  Between stage directing and keeping up with my composition projects, Juventas, OperaHub, Boston Arts Academy AND Cecilia - well, I feel a bit overwhelmed.  Overwhelmed in a good way.  I feel lucky to be working on so many amazing artistic projects.  Can you believe it!?!  I just wish there were a few more hours in the day, or maybe I could develop super powers like Evie from Out of This World.  I'll just touch my two pointer fingers together, freeze time, and take however long I please doing whatever strikes my fancy.  Ah!  Such a nice fantasy...

Side note - do you think I would age during this frozen time?  That could be a problem.

In the midst of developing my powers, I am trying to organize my website.  My plan is to post some of the interesting news items I received over the past year on my blog.

To begin, here is a review of A Protest received from the Boston Musical Intelligencer back in March of 2009:

Eight Commissioned Works for Women’s Vocal Ensemble Take on Social Protest by Liane Curtis

Erin Huelskamp’s A Protest proved the most memorable and startlingly revelatory work of the evening. Her choice was a Victorian-era poem by Arthur Hugh Clough. The anxiety expressed by a woman who rises to speak her opinion before a hostile assembly unfolds haltingly and in overlapping waves of forward motion, then hesitation. Speech-like declamations spar with sung comments, electrifying the psychological battle. This is the piece I most want to hear again, to parse and savor the interplay of interjections, questions and responses.

Anthology Voices commissioned A Protest  in 2008 and premiered it in March 2009.  Anthology is an amazing performing force; thus, I have a killer recording of the piece. I plan to post said recording to the "Listen" section of my site soon, so check back or join my mailing list.

Palin’s Got Rhythm

Guerilla Opera presents the world premiere of Curtis Hughes’ new opera Say It Ain’t So, Joe

(Preamble: This review was written for The Opera Insider; unfortunately, their site is currently experiencing technical difficulties and will not launch in full until later this year. Due to the time sensitive nature of concert reviews, I am temporarily posting here.)

Politicians speak in musical rhythm, or so composer Curtis Hughes asserts in his new opera Say It Ain’t So, Joe – a one-and-a-half hour light tragedy showcasing the 2008 vice presidential debate.  Written for four singers and four instrumentalists, Hughes explores the musical rhythm of political speech – specifically, that of Sarah Palin and Joe Biden. While there is much to be said about Sarah Palin, one thing is certain: she has a very specific twang to her speech.  Hughes’ setting captured this characteristic with ease, splitting the difference between straight speech, a sort-of sung musical theater style, and the Schoenbergian concept of Sprechstimme, a specific vocal technique in which singers dramatically speak-sing. Jennifer Ashe’s version of the former vice presidential candidate’s vocal characteristics sounded authentic and captivating, always presented with a lilting smile that hinted at the perhaps slightly clueless nature of her character. 

The two-act opera alternated scenes between fully sung personal interviews, first with Palin and later with Joe “the Plumber,” and relatively strict, speak-sing settings of the debate.  The stage direction by Nathan Troup served as a creative aid to understanding the theatrics through the use of props and one captivating video camera angle.  The camera – which projected circus-like multiples of Palin and friends onto a screen located upstage left – dramatically highlighted the media influence on political spectacle while enhancing the musical punches Hughes added to the dialogue.  Further, Troup placed white human-shaped cutouts capable of standing and sitting on their own throughout the Boston Conservatory’s Zack Box Theater.  The cutouts served as a sort of metaphoric commentary on the American public as they mutely watched the story unfold from the sidelines. 

The instrumentalists were precise; I took special notice of Rane Moore as she doubled Biden’s and Palin’s speech rhythms in mockery of political games.  Her bumbling, low clarinet tone added the perfect punctuation to Hughes’ rhythmic vocal settings of the debate.  Kent O’Doherty also stood out on saxophone as he stealthily stole long, beautiful notes from Aliana de la Guardia’s version of Palin, making it seem as though her voice reverberated forever until a sudden swelling crescendo brought it to my attention that I was now hearing a saxophone and not a singer.

Honestly folks, this production is the whole package: amazing singing and acting, smart stage direction that captivates, musical precision, and one darn good composition.  Bravo to Guerilla Opera for commissioning the work and performing it with such gusto! For more information, visit http://www.guerillaopera.com/

*Say It Ain’t So, Joe picture by Rudolph Rojahn

-E