Ekmeles performs a program of works relating to Luigi Nono, featuring music by Italian composers as well as Nono’s aesthetic forebears in the Franco-Flemish school. The concert will feature works for up to eight voices, showcasing the virtuosity of the Ekmeles vocalists in a range from the highest soprano to basso profundo.
Nono’s own Sarà Dolce Tacere will be set in relief by a wide range of styles. Giacinto Scelsi’s Tre Canti Sacri represents Italian music before Nono, while Salvatore Sciarrino’s 3 canti senza pietre is a striking example of the contemporary Italian scene. Medieval works by Josquin and Ockeghem, aesthetic forebears of the kind of compositional rigor characterizing Nono, will round out the program.
Following Ekmeles’s set, violinist Miranda Cuckson and sound artist Christopher Burns will perform Nono’s La lontananza nostalgica utopica futura, or “The nostalgic, utopian, future far-distance. Madrigal for a ‘wanderer” with Gidon Kremer, solo violin, 8 magnetic tapes and 8 to 10 music stands.” While the electronics are molded in real time, the violinist adds her singing voice to the polyphonic texture, as suggested in the composer’s markings. This duo’s recording, of the same title, was declared Best Recording of 2012 by the New York Times.
- Salvatore Sciarrino – 3 canti senza pietre (1999)
- Josquin des Prez – Mille Regretz (15th c.)
- Josquin des Prez – Nymphes des Bois (15th c.)
- Luigi Nono – Sarà dolce tacere (1960)
- Johannes Ockeghem – Missa “Fors seulement” – Kyrie and Gloria (15th c.)
- Giacinto Scelsi – Tre canti sacri (1958)
Ekmeles personnel for concert
- Mary Elizabeth Mackenzie, soprano
- Charlotte Mundy, soprano
- Jane Sheldon, soprano
- Rachel Calloway, mezzo soprano
- Tim Keeler, countertenor
- Tomas Cruz, tenor
- Eric Dudley, tenor
- Jeffrey Gavett, baritone
- Steven Hrycelak, bass