Spontaneous Combustion New Music Festival: The City of Tomorrow (Wind Quintet)
$20 ($12 students w/ ID)
Alex Temple — Thick Line
John Teske — topographies
Hans Abrahamsen — Walden
Esa-Pekka Salonen — Memoria
Jacob Druckman — Delia Contente Che l'Alme Beatte
Julia Wolfe – On Seven Star Shoes
Alex Temple – Thick Line
John Teske – Topographies
Hans Abrahamsen – Walden
Esa-Pekka Salonen – Memoria
Jacob Druckman – Delia Contente Che l'Alme Beatte
Performing a program with custom theatrical lighting design by Alex Deahl, the music of this concert reflects spatial relationships, visual elements, and the divisions between the introverted and the extroverted. Included is Seattle-based composer John Teske's Topographies, a graphic score based on topographical maps, which the quintet will use as a basis for improvisation and movement on stage. Also works by Julia Wolfe, Alex Temple, Hans Abrahamsen, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Jacob Druckman.
Avant-garde wind quintet City of Tomorrow commissions new works, seeks relevancy for older compositions from the 20th century, and continues to shatter expectations for a concert of wind chamber music. This frequently means unexpected sounds: conch shell horns, strange timbres coming from double-reed instruments, wails from the French horn, improvisation in the clarinet, and a flute that can whisper, spit, talk, and sigh. The group is the first woodwind quintet to win a gold medal at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in over ten years and in 2014 was awarded a Classical Commissioning Grant from Chamber Music America.
This concert is presented by Spontaneous Combustion New Music Festival, a new model for the presentation of contemporary art music. The artists select their own repertoire from living composers, both well-known and lesser-known, as well as some works by recently deceased 20th century composers.