Sounding Ground
Zeitgeist is pleased to announce the 2023 SOUNDING GROUND Composers in Residence! Congratulations to Jay Afrisando, Jarrelle Barton, AJ Isaacson-Zvidzwa, Soomin Kim, Sara Pajunen, and Jonathan Posthuma on being selected for the residencies.
The SOUNDING GROUND composer residency program provides commissioning, development, and production support for three Minnesota composers in the early stages of their careers. SOUNDING GROUND awardees work closely with Zeitgeist over a 10-month 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 three Minnesota composers in the early stages of their careers. SOUNDING GROUND awardees work closely with Zeitgeist over a 10-month period on the development and production of a significant new work created for Zeitgeist.
Jay Afrisando
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).
Jay's SOUNDING GROUND project:
different types of _______ is a multisensory piece exploring everyday sensory experiences (sound, sight, and tactile) manifested in captions and sound. In this work, the ideas of accessibility and sound design converge. With this in mind, this work aims to meet with Deaf, hard-of-hearing, blind, and low-vision listeners. It also seeks to make musical experimentation closer to the heart of the general public, including bodily diverse children and parents.
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).
Jay's SOUNDING GROUND project:
different types of _______ is a multisensory piece exploring everyday sensory experiences (sound, sight, and tactile) manifested in captions and sound. In this work, the ideas of accessibility and sound design converge. With this in mind, this work aims to meet with Deaf, hard-of-hearing, blind, and low-vision listeners. It also seeks to make musical experimentation closer to the heart of the general public, including bodily diverse children and parents.
Jarrelle Barton
Guzheng musician Jarrelle Barton, began learning Guzheng with Minnesota expert Li Jiaxiang of Beijing when he was 14 years old. Relentlessly practicing, he began to improve his skill and started to compose his own music. Over a decade later Jarrelle is professionally performing in concerts, teaching students and arranging music for the Guzheng. With experience in teaching and concert level repertoire, he is constantly creating interesting new acoustic sound experiments and techniques on the Guzheng, as well as performing timeless traditional Guzheng classics.
Jarrelle's SOUNDING GROUND project:
Jarrelle Barton has teamed up with Zeitgeist to create a new piece of music, fusing eastern and western sounds, musical concepts and diverse identities expressed through sound. The theme of this new piece is Emptiness and Form which will be expressed in a few short movements.
Jarrelle's SOUNDING GROUND project:
Jarrelle Barton has teamed up with Zeitgeist to create a new piece of music, fusing eastern and western sounds, musical concepts and diverse identities expressed through sound. The theme of this new piece is Emptiness and Form which will be expressed in a few short movements.
Soomin Kim
Composer and vocalist Soomin Kim is a three-time winner of the ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards. In 2022, her orchestration of Helen Hagan’s Piano Concerto in C minor was premiered by pianist and musicologist Samantha Ege and the Yale Philharmonia under direction of Peter Oundjian. In 2018, she was selected to write for the Cleveland Chamber Symphony as part of their Young & Emerging Composers Project. She was also the composer-in-residence with the Northern Ohio Youth Orchestra during their 2017-18 concert season. Her work has been featured by the Sydney Festival, Liquid Music, and Aspen Music Festival among many, and she has collaborated with renowned ensembles and artists such as Ji Su Jung, JIJI, Ariana Kim, and Zeitgeist. Based in Minneapolis, MN, Soomin is currently on the faculty of The Saint Paul Conservatory of Music.
AJ Isaacson-Zvidzwa
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 the 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, where the idea for the piece came to AJ in a dream; “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: Five Poems by Walter de la Mare" for voice, viola, and piano, with texts selected by AJ in partnership with soprano Maria Jette, who commissioned the piece. AJ has received a Minnesota Music Creator Award through the American Composers Forum to write "In Loving Memory" for choir and organ, a piece written in honor of her mother who lost her battle with cancer this past January.
In addition to performing and composing, AJ enjoys writing and researching. AJ has published articles in the Journal of the American Viola Society (JAVS) and American String Teacher Journal (ASTA), and she writes the viola column for MNSOTA’s (Minnesota String and Orchestra Teachers Association) "String Notes'' magazine. She has lectured internationally, and, presently, she is editing an 18th-century viola concerto by unknown composer Georg Schultz. In her spare time, AJ is working on writing a book.
When she isn’t composing, practicing, researching, writing, or adventuring with her husband, AJ is a full time caregiver for her brother.
AJ's SOUNDING GROUND project:
"In my workshop composition for Zeitgeist, I’m exploring the musical colors of the ensemble. In two movements in longer forms, each inspired by a series of my pastel drawings, the images will guide me as I weave the audience through a musical landscape."
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, where the idea for the piece came to AJ in a dream; “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: Five Poems by Walter de la Mare" for voice, viola, and piano, with texts selected by AJ in partnership with soprano Maria Jette, who commissioned the piece. AJ has received a Minnesota Music Creator Award through the American Composers Forum to write "In Loving Memory" for choir and organ, a piece written in honor of her mother who lost her battle with cancer this past January.
In addition to performing and composing, AJ enjoys writing and researching. AJ has published articles in the Journal of the American Viola Society (JAVS) and American String Teacher Journal (ASTA), and she writes the viola column for MNSOTA’s (Minnesota String and Orchestra Teachers Association) "String Notes'' magazine. She has lectured internationally, and, presently, she is editing an 18th-century viola concerto by unknown composer Georg Schultz. In her spare time, AJ is working on writing a book.
When she isn’t composing, practicing, researching, writing, or adventuring with her husband, AJ is a full time caregiver for her brother.
AJ's SOUNDING GROUND project:
"In my workshop composition for Zeitgeist, I’m exploring the musical colors of the ensemble. In two movements in longer forms, each inspired by a series of my pastel drawings, the images will guide me as I weave the audience through a musical landscape."
Sara Pajunen
Sara Pajunen is a composer-improviser and an audiovisual artist based in what is now called Minnesota (USA). Trained as a violinist and employing locally-responsive media ranging from field recordings to drone imagery, her work is motivated by interactions between her ancestral roots, American cultural histories, and connection to our environments through sound.
Pajunen has released six albums using folk and traditional music as the basis for singular collaborations. In longterm multimedia projects "Mine Songs: Sounding an Altered Landscape" and "The Places We Know,” Pajunen uses environmental recording, violin and hardanger d’amore, archival material, and image to create new lenses that ask for reflection on the stories we tell ourselves (or have been told) about history, power, identity, and agency.
Pajunen has performed extensively in North America and Europe and her work has received funding from the Jerome Foundation, Minnesota State Arts Board, Kone Foundation, New Music USA, American Scandinavian Foundation, and the Arts Council of Finland, amongst others. She holds classical music degrees in both the United States and Finland and a Master of Music in Contemporary Improvisation from New England Conservatory, and her installation work has been exhibited in galleries throughout the Midwest.
Sara's SOUNDING GROUND project:
Sara Pajunen will present work from “Mine Songs: Sounding an Altered Landscape,” her long-term project that uses violin, environmental sound, image and archival material to reframe the altered landscape of Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range - the artist’s childhood and ancestral home.
Pajunen has released six albums using folk and traditional music as the basis for singular collaborations. In longterm multimedia projects "Mine Songs: Sounding an Altered Landscape" and "The Places We Know,” Pajunen uses environmental recording, violin and hardanger d’amore, archival material, and image to create new lenses that ask for reflection on the stories we tell ourselves (or have been told) about history, power, identity, and agency.
Pajunen has performed extensively in North America and Europe and her work has received funding from the Jerome Foundation, Minnesota State Arts Board, Kone Foundation, New Music USA, American Scandinavian Foundation, and the Arts Council of Finland, amongst others. She holds classical music degrees in both the United States and Finland and a Master of Music in Contemporary Improvisation from New England Conservatory, and her installation work has been exhibited in galleries throughout the Midwest.
Sara's SOUNDING GROUND project:
Sara Pajunen will present work from “Mine Songs: Sounding an Altered Landscape,” her long-term project that uses violin, environmental sound, image and archival material to reframe the altered landscape of Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range - the artist’s childhood and ancestral home.
Jonathan Posthuma
Jonathan Posthuma (b. 1989) is a freelance composer and musician living in Saint Paul, Minnesota. His musical style seeks to combine lyricism, evocative imagery, and intense emotional contrasts while maintaining clarity in form and function at their deepest levels. He is often inspired by natural landscapes, gardening and visual art in his compositions and his largest project is Paul Klee : Painted Songs, an ongoing collection of chamber music inspired by the paintings of Paul Klee. He received his Masters in Music Composition from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where he studied with Stephen Dembski and Laura Schwendinger and also studied composition with Luke Dahn at Dordt University. Jonathan is an active member of the Twin Cities choral community and has sung with VocalEssence Chorus, Kantorei, and impulse (MPLS) which have premiered several of his choral works in recent seasons. He also works as the Artistic Planning Manager for The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.
Jonathan's SOUNDING GROUND project:
"My SOUNDING GROUND project will use a collection of field recordings of my childhood farm made in 2013 in a new electroacoustic work for Zeitgeist and fixed media. These recordings represent an environment that no longer exists since my parents retired from hog farming shortly after they were made. As a first-generation college graduate from a rural Wisconsin community, my experiences growing up on a farm set me apart from many of my colleagues. This background is important to understanding who I am as a person and form my earliest sonic memories as a composer. Rural communities have changed dramatically in our nation with sharp contrasts between urban and rural life. As an artist with one foot in urban life and the other in my childhood memories on the farm, I feel torn between two worlds, often feeling like I don't belong in either."
Jonathan's SOUNDING GROUND project:
"My SOUNDING GROUND project will use a collection of field recordings of my childhood farm made in 2013 in a new electroacoustic work for Zeitgeist and fixed media. These recordings represent an environment that no longer exists since my parents retired from hog farming shortly after they were made. As a first-generation college graduate from a rural Wisconsin community, my experiences growing up on a farm set me apart from many of my colleagues. This background is important to understanding who I am as a person and form my earliest sonic memories as a composer. Rural communities have changed dramatically in our nation with sharp contrasts between urban and rural life. As an artist with one foot in urban life and the other in my childhood memories on the farm, I feel torn between two worlds, often feeling like I don't belong in either."
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SOUNDING GROUND is made possible by the Jerome Foundation.
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