Sounding Ground Showcase
|
November 2-3, 7:00 p.m.
Studio Z: 275 East 4th Street, St. Paul $15 / $10 students & seniors |
|
Join Zeitgeist and Sounding Ground artists AJ Isaacson-Zvidzwa (2023), Jay Afrisando (2023), and Shruthi Rajasekar (2020) for a performance of the new works they have developed through Sounding Ground. New works will include Five Drawing by Isaacson-Zvidzwa, Dots and Vayu by Rajasekar, and different types of ________ by Afrisando.
The SOUNDING GROUND composer residency program provides commissioning, development, and production support for Minnesota composers in the early stages of their careers. SOUNDING GROUND awardees work closely with Zeitgeist over an extended period on the development and production of a significant new work created for Zeitgeist.
The SOUNDING GROUND composer residency program provides commissioning, development, and production support for Minnesota composers in the early stages of their careers. SOUNDING GROUND awardees work closely with Zeitgeist over an extended period on the development and production of a significant new work created for Zeitgeist.
Minnesota composer, violist, and music history enthusiast, AJ Isaacson-Zvidzwa holds a Bachelor of Music degree in viola performance from Augsburg University where she studied with Mary Budd-Horozaniecki. Her other teachers include Sally Chisholm and Korey Konkol. AJ was a winner of the Augsburg Symphony Orchestra Concerto/Aria competition and was named a 2014 Presser Scholar.
As a composer, AJ has had the privilege of collaborating with members of the Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Artaria String Quartet, Minneapolis Guitar Quartet, Isles Ensemble, and Zeitgeist. Her major commissions include “Angels Sang to Me” a 30-minute song cycle for soprano and string quartet exploring her journey with and through mental illness; “Buried Alive” a piece commissioned by the Voices of Hope Minnesota Prison Choirs using texts by incarcerated women; "The Sun Will Rise" for vibraphone and string quartet; “A Little Symphony of Dances” a lighthearted piece for guitar quartet including a love song and a dance of “Waddling Penguins”; and "Songs of Enchantment” settings of five poems by Walter de la Mare awaiting its premiere by vocalist Maria Jette, violist Sifei Cheng, and pianist Sonja Thompson. AJ also received a Minnesota Music Creator Award through the American Composers Forum to write "In Loving Memory" for choir and organ to honor her mother having lost her battle with cancer this past January. For her next projects, AJ is working on a suite for flute, cello, and harp; and in November, AJ will be premiering her own “Soliloquy for Solo Viola” as part of the Off-Leash Area’s “Off-Kilter Cabaret” highlighting artists with disabilities.
In addition to performing and composing, AJ enjoys writing and researching articles for the Journal of the American Viola Society (JAVS) and American String Teacher Journal (ASTA), and a viola column for MNSOTA’s (Minnesota String and Orchestra Teachers Association) "String Notes'' magazine. She lectures internationally and is currently editing an 18th-century viola concerto by little-known German composer Georg Schultz. If she has spare time, AJ is working on writing a book about famous composers’ 32nd year – in a way, mid-life advice from the past.
When she isn’t composing, practicing, researching, writing, or adventuring to distant lands with her husband, AJ is a full time caregiver for her brother.
As a composer, AJ has had the privilege of collaborating with members of the Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Artaria String Quartet, Minneapolis Guitar Quartet, Isles Ensemble, and Zeitgeist. Her major commissions include “Angels Sang to Me” a 30-minute song cycle for soprano and string quartet exploring her journey with and through mental illness; “Buried Alive” a piece commissioned by the Voices of Hope Minnesota Prison Choirs using texts by incarcerated women; "The Sun Will Rise" for vibraphone and string quartet; “A Little Symphony of Dances” a lighthearted piece for guitar quartet including a love song and a dance of “Waddling Penguins”; and "Songs of Enchantment” settings of five poems by Walter de la Mare awaiting its premiere by vocalist Maria Jette, violist Sifei Cheng, and pianist Sonja Thompson. AJ also received a Minnesota Music Creator Award through the American Composers Forum to write "In Loving Memory" for choir and organ to honor her mother having lost her battle with cancer this past January. For her next projects, AJ is working on a suite for flute, cello, and harp; and in November, AJ will be premiering her own “Soliloquy for Solo Viola” as part of the Off-Leash Area’s “Off-Kilter Cabaret” highlighting artists with disabilities.
In addition to performing and composing, AJ enjoys writing and researching articles for the Journal of the American Viola Society (JAVS) and American String Teacher Journal (ASTA), and a viola column for MNSOTA’s (Minnesota String and Orchestra Teachers Association) "String Notes'' magazine. She lectures internationally and is currently editing an 18th-century viola concerto by little-known German composer Georg Schultz. If she has spare time, AJ is working on writing a book about famous composers’ 32nd year – in a way, mid-life advice from the past.
When she isn’t composing, practicing, researching, writing, or adventuring to distant lands with her husband, AJ is a full time caregiver for her brother.
"Five Drawings is inspired by a series of five pastel drawings I drew, deliberately limiting myself to four colors and three shapes. Five Drawings is the culmination of a process that started with the drawings, then composing music for instruments that I am less acquainted with, proceeding to a number of readings, and ultimately to rehearsals and performances. Just as the drawings reconfigure simple elements into five related images, I have used the musical ideas (melodies, colors/timbres, articulations, and unexpected instrumental combinations) to create three movements of related music.
I have scored this piece, not for four colors or three shapes, but for a limited number of instruments: bass clarinet, floor tom, glockenspiel, temple blocks, vibraphone, marimba, and piano. I found myself making dramatic sense from the palette of musical ideas.
I invite you to find the yellow in my work."
I have scored this piece, not for four colors or three shapes, but for a limited number of instruments: bass clarinet, floor tom, glockenspiel, temple blocks, vibraphone, marimba, and piano. I found myself making dramatic sense from the palette of musical ideas.
I invite you to find the yellow in my work."
Jay Afrisando is an Indonesian composer, multimedia artist, researcher, and educator. He operates on aural diversity, acoustic ecology, and cultural identity through multisensory and antidisciplinary practices. His works include the 5-channel film installation In Which to Trust? (2022) and the spatial composition Ungklang-Angklung (2019), among others. His works have been presented in various scenes and places, including Sound Scene at Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Walker Art Center’s Virtual Cinema, ARGOS Projector: The Faraway Nearby at ARGOS Center for Audiovisual Arts, Landmark to Lowertown at George Latimer Public Library and Saint Paul Union Depot, and Aural Diversity Conference at Attenborough Arts Centre. He has collaborated with various artists and culture bearers, including writer Josephine Dickinson, signer Jamil Haque, vocalist Gelsey Bell, artist collective Black Pencil Ensemble, duo violin Duo Gelland, dancers/choreographers J-Sun and Yan Pang, and interdisciplinary artist Djaduk Ferianto.
He has been awarded the MAP Fund 2022, the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship 2021-22, the Ambassador’s Award for Excellence 2019, and the Minnesota Emerging Composer Award 2016. His publications include the book chapter “Music-Making in Aurally Diverse Communities” in Aural Diversity book (Routledge, 2022), the telematic film Expanding the Frame Live in collaboration with interdisciplinary artist Lee Noble (Walker Art Center’s Bentson Mediatheque, 2021), the soundscape album Rangkaian Pagi untuk Dikenang (2021), the track “Gunung Singgalang” in Alex Lubet’s solo album Three Strings and the Truth: New Music for Mountain Dulcimer (pfMENTUM, 2020), and the graphic score Water Siter (Donemus, 2015).
A multisensory diary, “different types of _______” explores and documents my sensory experiences (sound, sight, and tactile) manifested in captions and sound. This work expresses sensory decomposition, zooming, and categorization of various sensory experiences, which consistently occur in my neurodivergent mind.
He has been awarded the MAP Fund 2022, the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship 2021-22, the Ambassador’s Award for Excellence 2019, and the Minnesota Emerging Composer Award 2016. His publications include the book chapter “Music-Making in Aurally Diverse Communities” in Aural Diversity book (Routledge, 2022), the telematic film Expanding the Frame Live in collaboration with interdisciplinary artist Lee Noble (Walker Art Center’s Bentson Mediatheque, 2021), the soundscape album Rangkaian Pagi untuk Dikenang (2021), the track “Gunung Singgalang” in Alex Lubet’s solo album Three Strings and the Truth: New Music for Mountain Dulcimer (pfMENTUM, 2020), and the graphic score Water Siter (Donemus, 2015).
A multisensory diary, “different types of _______” explores and documents my sensory experiences (sound, sight, and tactile) manifested in captions and sound. This work expresses sensory decomposition, zooming, and categorization of various sensory experiences, which consistently occur in my neurodivergent mind.
Named by The Guardian as a composer "who will enrich your life", Shruthi Rajasekar is an Indian-American musician exploring identity, community, and joy. A 2023 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, Shruthi draws from her unique dual background in the Carnatic (South Indian classical) and Western classical traditions to create intersectional music. She was awarded the Global Women in Music Award from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights & Donne in Musica Adkins Chiti Foundation. Shruthi has been an artist-in-residence at Tusen Takk Foundation, Britten Pears Arts, and the Anderson Center. As a soprano and Carnatic vocalist, Shruthi has performed and recorded in numerous traditional and experimental settings. She was a Marshall Scholar in the UK, where she pursued postgraduate studies in composition and ethnomusicology. A graduate of Princeton University, Shruthi lives in Minnesota and serves on the board of Zeitgeist.
Zeitgeist will perform two works by Shruthi, both written during the pandemic.
Written for Carnatic musician + any ensemble (here, in its original version, for Carnatic voice, clarinet, piano, marimba, and cajón), Vayu is a contemporary recasting of the traditional Western "air". Vayu means wind or air in Sanskrit; the title here refers to the song-like form familiar to Western classical musicians and folk artists as well as the exhilirating freedom of embracing one's unique self.
Zeitgeist will perform two works by Shruthi, both written during the pandemic.
Written for Carnatic musician + any ensemble (here, in its original version, for Carnatic voice, clarinet, piano, marimba, and cajón), Vayu is a contemporary recasting of the traditional Western "air". Vayu means wind or air in Sanskrit; the title here refers to the song-like form familiar to Western classical musicians and folk artists as well as the exhilirating freedom of embracing one's unique self.
|
SOUNDING GROUND is made possible by the Jerome Foundation.
|
|
