October 28th 2022 at 7:30PM, at the crypt of Church of the Intercession, Ekmeles sings colorful and microtonal works, as well as a world premiere.
Younghi Pagh-Paan’s Hin-Nun II /White Snow brings a vision of winter into our New York fall with icy swirling vocal lines, evoking also the traditional color of mourning in Korean culture. Feliz Anne Reyes Macahis’s salle cinq resonates with the crypt space in a different way, by its gloss on 14th century French music, and vocal writing intended for the Leechkirche in Graz Austria.
Several of our works for the evening involve an extremely proscribed view of the overtone series. Laura Steenberge’s Piriforms takes a single just-intoned harmony and explores all of the shadings of it through vowel shifts, while Frank J. Oteri’s (not) knowing the answer spins out melodies using only overtones 8-15 of a low G, setting a series of sijos by james r. murphy.
Our soprano mezzo baritone and bass have begun building a repertoire of works for quartet within the larger sextet of Ekmeles. Two of those pieces appear on this concert. Nomi Epstein’s piece for voices, heard here in its world premiere, was written by the composer after she heard Ekmeles’s performance of her Four Voices as part of a live broadcast in 2021, on which Rebecca Bruton’s i n s t i t u (appearing here in its second performance) was originally broadcast.
Finally Erin Gee‘s Mouthpiece 36, written for Ekmeles after working with the composer to record her Three Scenes from Sleep, and with the support of a Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant, skitters and pops along with Gee’s idiosyncratic and idiomatic vocal gestures.
- Younghi Pagh-Paan – Hin-Nun II / White Snow (2005) US Premiere
- Feliz Anne Reyes Macahis – salle cinq (2018) US Premiere
- Laura Steenberge – Piriforms (2010)
- Frank J. Oteri – (not) knowing the answer (2015) World Premiere
- Nomi Epstein – piece for voices (2021) World Premiere
- Rebecca Bruton – i n s t i t u (2021)
- Erin Gee – Mouthpiece 36 (2021)
Total duration of the program is approximately 75 minutes without intermission.
Personnel for concert
- Charlotte Mundy, soprano
- Elisa Sutherland, mezzo soprano
- Tim Keeler, countertenor
- Steven Bradshaw, tenor
- Jeffrey Gavett, baritone and director
- Steven Hrycelak, bass
Ekmeles’s 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.
