Charles Amirkhanian, Lisa Bielawa, Jürg Frey, and Clemens Merkel, seated, during panel discussion, ver. 01, San Francisco, CA (2010)

Other Minds Festivals ➔ Other Minds Festival: OM 15: Panel Discussion 1

Digital Moving Image


Event Type
Lectures and Panel Discussions
Origin
Other Minds
Identifier
OMF.2010.03.04.c2.01
Program Series
Other Minds Festival
Program Length
35 min
Dates
| broadcast
| 2010-03-04 | created
Description
The 15th Other Minds Festival of New Music (OM 15) began with a panel discussion with some of the composers and performers featured in the first night’s concert, held on March 4, 2010. Joining moderator Charles Amirkhanian on stage was, Clemens Merkel, first violinist of the Quatuor Bozzini, Swiss composer Jürg Frey, and vocalist and composer Lisa Bielawa. Frey describes the inspiration and structure of the minimal, microtonal composition which was to be heard later in the evening, while Clemens provides a demonstration of the technique required to perform it, as well as commenting on the physical challenge of playing very slowly over a long duration of time. Lisa Bielawa then discusses her song cycle based on texts by Franz Kafka, and compares the vocal stylings of Carla Kilstadht, for whom the piece was composed, with those of her own work with the Philip Glass Ensemble, and the masterful avant-garde singing of Cathy Berberian. The panel then concludes with an excerpt from a film about Edgar Varèse, featuring an interview with his student and friend, Chou Wen-Chung, the evening’s third featured composer, who was unfortunately unable to attend the Festival due to poor health.
Genres
New music
Musical Selections
[excerpt from a documentary featuring music by Edgar Varèse]
Subjects
New music
Avant-garde (Music)
Composition (Music)