Anaphora Interdisciplinary Arts Festival!

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Anaphora presents “Interdisciplinary Arts Festival” this Thursday, May 27, May 28, and May 30. The Interdisciplinary Arts Festival will feature selections from the Fluxus Performance Workbook. Hosted by Saul Garcia, special guest of Sarah J. Ritch (Anaphora’s Composter-in-Residence), this 3-day festival will feature a variety of works.

At the end of each day Spencer Hutchinson will present an energy-packed performance of original electronic music and video work. Samples of his work can be heard here: http://bit.ly/aJmOzM. More details about the Festival are listed below. Please also visit http://www.anaphoraensemble.com.

Thursday, May 27
7PM
Jennifer Norback Fine Art Gallery (JNFA)
217 W Huron, Chicago
Featuring: Pre-concert lecture on Fluxus given by Dennis Rosenthal (owner of Rosenthal Fine Art), live performance of “Your Reaction to this Work,” a sound installation by Ryan Ingebritsen, “Exit No. 8” (installation), “Prelude,” “Duet for Performer and Audience.”
Cost: FREE

Friday, May 28
7PM
Elastic
2830 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago
Featuring: “Prelude,” “In Unison,” “Duet for Performer and Audience,” “Laundry Piece.”
Cost: $10

Sunday, May 30
2PM
The Green Mill Lounge
4802 N. Broadway, Chicago
Featuring: Saul Garcia premieres “Stutter” by Sarah J. Ritch, the Fluxus work “Concerto for Solo Piano and Performer,” and encore performances of “Your Reaction to this Work,” “Duet for Performer and Audience,” and “Prelude.”
Cost: $5

Fluxus is an exploration of art conversation. The first examples of Fluxus date back to John Cage’s famous class at The New School, where artists such as George Brecht, Allan Kaprow, and Alison Knowles began to create art works and performances in musical form. Artist George Maciunas organized the first Fluxus event at the AG Gallery in NYC in 1961.

New Year, New Pieces!

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My Resolution for 2010? Start writing music again!

2009 was a year of big changes for me personally, professionally, and artistically.

In 2010, I am going to focus on finishing music that has been in the works for a few years now:

  • Violin/Piano Duo
  • Cello/Piano Duo
  • Solo Cello
  • Solo Violin
  • Duo Concerto for Cello choir and Winds/Brass

Wish me luck!

-S

I can’t Urge you enough…buy this album!

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Kid Meets Cougar

For Breakfast

http://kidmeetscougar.bandcamp.com/

Kid Meets Cougar is an “electro-organic” music collaboration between Las Vegas couple, Brett Bolton and Courtney Carroll. Their first album, “For Breakfast”, was written, produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Kid Meets Cougar themselves in their home studio over the course of a year (roughly June 2008 to June 2009).

Courtney, a great friend of mine, is a fantastic self-taught drummer. The last time I spent any musical time with her, she was shy just to sing a little song about her cat…..then she comes out with this! You have GOT to get this album!!

-S

New sights, new sounds, new pages!

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Alright! I have updated the page with a  press page and new video of 86 (the) Violins.  The work is in 5 miniature movements:

1. Consonance

2. Constructive Interference

3. Deconstructive Interference

4. Constructive Noise

5. Deconstructive Noise

I am currently finishing up a work for solo flute for Shana Gutierrez and will be shortly beginning my summer projects for the Corky Siegel Chamber Blues and Crayons and Paper project out of Roosevelt University.

I’ll update with where and when you can catch these folks!

-S

The Perfect End to this Season!

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Still Life of the aftermath of "86 (the) Violins"

Still Life of the aftermath of "86 (the) Violins"

This year has been a crazy rollercoaster from hell! However, it has been a ton of fun and I can’t wait for the next. It all led to the concert this past weekend at The Green Mill in Chicago. It was Anaphora’s Contemporary Series Season Finale…and what a finale it was! We had saxophone with a boombox screaming out profanity, a gutter-punk mezzo-soprano….screaming out profanities, emotionally charged string quartets, and the complete destruction of sound (see above).

I hope to have video of “86 (the) Violins” up soon.

-S

WORLD PREMIERE this SUNDAY, JUNE 7th

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Anaphora_Group_6(resized)

Anaphora’s final performance of the 2008/2009 season is this Sunday, June 7 at 2PM at the Green Mill (4802 N. Broadway, Chicago). Pieces programmed for Anaphora’s Contemporary Series Season Finale emphasize either the experience of the live performance or call for a direct connection between the performers and audience. The concert costs $5 to attend and guests must be 21 or older.

-PROGRAM-
Osvaldo Golijov: “Yiddishbuk” for String Quartet
Jacob TV: “Grab It!” for Tenor Saxophone and Ghettoblaster
Sam Krahn: “Missed Connections” for Clarinet, Viola, Piano and Soprano
Sarah Ritch: untitled piece for 2 Violins – WORLD PREMIERE
Rich Ortiz: “Persistence in the Face of Adversity” for String Quartet


Anaphora will present the World Premiere of Composer-in-Residence Sarah J. Ritch’s untitled piece for 2 violins. The stage presence of rock music serves as a catalyst for Ritch’s work. Ritch met Composer Sam Krahn at Roosevelt University. Krahn’s “Missed Connections,” originally written for Clarinet, Viola, Guitar and Soprano, is inspired by a http://www.Craigslist.org category.

“Yiddishbuk” based on a collection of apocryphal psalms written by Kafka with the same name. Kafka’s inscriptions are transcribed into a work for String Quartet.

“Grab It!” is one of Jacob TV’s so-called boombox works. In these works, Jacob TV is known for making use of electronics, incorporating sound bytes from political speeches, commercials, interviews, talk shows, TV evangelists and what have you to create an ‘urban song’ with a colorful mix of high and low culture.

Hope to see you at the Green Mill this Sunday!

Anaphora’s Classical Finale this Friday!

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Anaphora

Anaphora

The ensemble Anaphora will perform their Classical Series Season Finale on Friday, May 29th at 7:30PM at the Sherwood Conservatory of Music (1312 S. Michigan Ave, Chicago).

Curated by Anaphora Co-founders Cory Tiffin and Aurelien Pederzoli, this concert will feature Milhaud Suite ‘Le Voyageur Sans Bagages’ for Clarinet, Violin and Piano, Brahms’ Piano Quartet #3 and Poulenc’s ‘Sextuor’ for Woodwind Quintet and Piano.

Additionally, Anaphora’s Classical Series Season Finale will include Milhaud’s ‘Scaramouche’ for Reed Quartet (arr. Mas Sugihara) and Dvorak’s ‘Notturno’ for String Quintet.

The concert is FREE of charge and open to the public.

PERFORMERS
Shanna Gutierrez: Flute
Tim Sawyier: Oboe
Cory Tiffin: Clarinet
Mas Sugihara: Alto Sax
Steven Louie: Bassoon
Jon Schuler: Bassoon
Krysta Harmon: Horn
Adam Liebert: Violin
Aurelien Pederzoli: Violin
Doyle Armbrust: Viola
Maria Ritzenthaler: Viola
Russell Rolen: Cello
Eric Sheaffer: Cello
Jeremy Attanaseo: Double Bass
Matthew Ganong: Piano

Some Recent Press

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The Chicagoist

-Alexander Hough

New Music From a New Ensemble

2009_04_Anaphora.jpg
Photo: Renee LaLonde

We all know a marriage creates a single existence out of two individual lives, but composer Sarah Ritch and violinist Aurelien Pederzoli’s wedding also created a music ensemble. Pederzoli’s gift to his new bride was a concert of her works, and the subsequent collaboration between them and two others, Cory Tiffin and Lisa Dell, was so successful, they decided to run with it.

The result was Anaphora, which has its one year anniversary next month. The Chicago-based group plays both classical and contemporary music, and this Monday, April 27, they’ll concentrate on the latter, putting on a concert of largely improvisatory minimalist and process pieces at the Chopin Theatre.

Anaphora will play two works by Chicago composer and sound artist Olivia Block. An untitled electroacoustic composition will be perfomed by the composer, and “Stupid Afternoon,” an acoustic work for winds, strings, and piano, commissioned by Anaphora, will receive its world premiere.

Chicago music scene mainstay George Flynn will perform his own “An Inner Glance” for solo piano, and five percussionists will play “Music for Pieces of Wood” by Steve Reich, who was awarded a long overdue Pulitzer Prize this week.

Rounding out the show, husband and wife will team up, with Pederzoli playing Ritch’s “400 g,” written for violin and CD. The recording is a four second clip of a violin performance that has been stretched to four minutes (think lateral expansion; the pitch isn’t affected), a process Ritch likens to looking at a cell under a microscope. Pederzoli will play a graphically notated score that calls for improvisation according to these usually hidden nuances.

The traditional gift for a one year anniversary is paper, so bring your $10 cash ($5 if you’re a student, and nothing if you’re 12 or under) and help Anaphora celebrate early.

Chopin Theatre, 1543 W Division, Monday, April 27, 7 p.m., $10, $5 with student ID, free for ages 12 and under, (773) 278-1500


TimeOut Chicago

-Bryant Manning

Time Out Chicago / Issue 217 : Apr 23–29, 2009
Preview

Anaphora

Chopin Theatre; Mon 27

By Bryant Manning

Anaphora

Photo: Renee LaLonde

Since the collaboratively run Anaphora Ensemble started in April of last year, it’s performed more shows than just about any small classical troupe in the city. The ensemble’s willingness to play anything lets it explore limitless worlds. Unlike other niche area chamber ensembles, Anaphora has no wish to specialize strictly in the concerti grossi of Handel or the cobwebbed corners of the 20th century. Sarah J. Ritch, the ensemble’s composer-in-residence and cofounder, says she favors interdisciplinary programming and throwing Brahms and John Cage side by side if a coherent artistic mission justifies it.

On Monday 27, the collective of four primary members and a slew of local performers presents a thrillingly modern concert that showcases local up-and-comers and legends. Sound artist Olivia Block, with a background in video art, injects her latest experiments into the world premiere of “Stupid Afternoon” and an untitled electroacoustic composition. DePaul composer and improvisation icon George Flynn performs a work for solo piano.

Ritch’s opus, “400g for Violin and CD,” samples a recording by violinist Carmel Raz. The Pro Tools–doctored clip takes a four-second phrase and balloons it to four minutes so that every tiny nuance of sound becomes a clear and present motif. The violinist Aurelien Pederzoli then fiddles along live to this mutated, improvised recording, forming a “duo” with herself.

With almost 32 concerts already planned for its second season, Anaphora not only avoids any of the repetition suggested by its moniker but sidesteps any hint of a sophomore slump.