Nathalie Joachim – "Transformation" Album Release Preview Event
$15 / $35
Kaufman Music Center is proud to announce the release of Transformation, an album created by the 10th-grade class at our Special Music School in collaboration with Nathalie Joachim, the Grammy-nominated flutist, composer, vocalist, and 2019-20 Kaufman Music Center Artist-in-Residence. The EP-length, digital-only album will be issued on Friday, August 14 via Bandcamp as the inaugural release on Kaufman Music Center's own label.
ONLINE ALBUM RELEASE PREVIEW EVENT – WED, AUG 12, 6PM EASTERN / 3PM PACIFIC
Ticket price includes album download.
Watch Joachim perform the title track, Transformation, and discuss the album with Kaufman Music Center Executive Director Kate Sheeran and Special Music School 10th grader Zelda Rosenbloom, and hear the world premiere of a track by the students! Audience members will have the opportunity to submit questions in advance for Joachim and the students.
ABOUT THE ALBUM
When the COVID-19 crisis struck, a unique workshop focused on composition and improvisation quickly evolved into an ambitious album project. A 2019-20 Kaufman Music Artist-in-Residence, Joachim had intended to spend the season co-composing a performance based on the theme of “transformation” with the students, a participatory sonic experiment that would culminate in an in-person performance at the end of the school year. And then the pandemic hit.
“Suddenly, we went from being in shared spaces, to living in isolation in our homes,” says Joachim. “We found ourselves universally impacted by something beyond our control, which was unsettling to say the least. However, the faculty and staff of Kaufman Music Center began to adapt immediately, with an admirable show of force in support of the students’ education. That was inspiring to witness, and got me thinking: was there a way that I could also support the students at this time? Could I use all that we had learned together about the fluidity required for transformation through our creative work, to offer a new artistic outlet for the students in this challenging moment? And thus, our project took on a new shape, and became an opportunity for us to collectively process this transformative moment in all of our lives.”
Under Joachim's guidance, the dynamic resulting tracks reflect new, unconventional creative processes stemming from the quarantine. From a self-generated soundbank of musical material contributed individually from home, the class worked in small groups via Zoom to create new pieces that represent their interpretations of the "transformation" theme. Their sonic explorations of textures and timbres have produced pieces ranging from ethereal beauty to pulsating rock rhythms. The album’s title track, featuring vocals and flute by Joachim plus recorded samples from the soundbank, captures the haunting fragility of the moment, the sense of hope infused with uncertainty.
The livestream will take place at 6pm Eastern / 3pm Pacific.
The event link will be emailed to ticket buyers on August 12.
Link to donate: https://give.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/give/192540/#!/donation/checkout
Tickets: $15 ticket + album download, $35 3-event August subscription