Impressions from Row G
by Arlene and Larry Dunn (@ICEfansArleneLD)
psssst. psssst. did you know that david lang, yeah that david lang, composed a work that is so quiet, so intimate, so personal, that the audience needs to be right there among the musicians to hear it? it’s called the whisper opera, and it was one of the most poignant afternoons of music we have ever experienced.
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by Arlene and Larry Dunn (@ICEfansArleneLD)
Codex, a four-year-long project focused on a three-centuries-old manuscript, was brought to fruition by ICE at the Americas Society in New York on Sunday, April 7, 2013. The project, commissioned by Music of the Americas and curated by Sebastian Zubieta, Music Director of the Americas Society, challenged four contemporary composers to write new works inspired by the Codex Martinez Compañón (c. 1782-85), which documents the musical and cultural life in Peru at the time of Spanish colonization.
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Impressions from Row G
by Arlene and Larry Dunn (@ICEfansArleneLD)
We immersed ourselves in the cauldron of ICElab for Dan Dehaan’s workshop at ICEhaus Brooklyn on April 3-5, 2013, the second part of his two-stage residency.
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by Arlene and Larry Dunn (@ICEfansArleneLD)
ICE performed Carla Kihlstedt’s spellbinding kaleidoscope At Night We Walk in Circles and Are Consumed By Fire on Saturday, February 16, 2013, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. This 2012 ICElab commission was part of a double-bill that began with ICE-member Phyllis Chen’s 2011 ICElab works.
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Phyllis Chen plays at Chicago's Corbett vs. Dempsey gallery.
Impressions from Row G
by Arlene and Larry Dunn (@ICEfansArleneLD)
“From the time I started with piano as a child, it’s been all about the tactile experience for me; the auditory element of the music is really secondary.” So said ICE member Phyllis Chen at a “talk back” session at Museum of Contemporary Art during the second of two Chicago concerts celebrating her composing and performing artistry. Staying with the childhood theme, we say “Phyllis plays extremely well . . . alone, and with others.”
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Impressions from Row G
by Arlene and Larry Dunn (@ICEfansArleneLD)
ICE bassoonist Rebekah Heller wowed a crowd of over 100 patrons at Chicago’s Corbett vs. Dempsey art gallery for ICE Solo(4) on Friday, January 18, 2013. She played an inspired pairing of works by two related composers, current ICElab participant Daniel R. Dehaan and his mentor Marcos Balter, an ICElab 2011 fellow.
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The Louis Comfort Tiffany stained glass dome in Preston Bradley Hall at Chicago Cultural Center
Impressions from Row G
by Arlene and Larry Dunn (@ICEfansArleneLD)
ICE breathed fresh new life into Franz Schubert’s Octet in F major, D. 803a, a revered warhorse of classical chamber music, by infusing it with the paroxysmal music of George Lewis. ICE used this unique program to kick off its Chicago new year in a free concert under the Louis Comfort Tiffany dome in Preston Bradley Hall of the Chicago Cultural Center on Sunday, January 6, 2013.
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Impressions from Row G
by Arlene and Larry Dunn (@ICEfansArleneLD)
Let’s talk about ICE and its history with CME, Oberlin Conservatory’s Contemporary Music Ensemble. Oh, wait. There’s way too much to say for one blog post. Good point.
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by Arlene and Larry Dunn (@ICEfansArleneLD)
ICElab 2013 participant Daniel Dehaan’s life is a bit of blur right now. He is teaching composition and electronic music technology at Columbia College Chicago. He just started the Doctoral program in music composition at Northwestern University, where he is also teaching Aural Skills. Many days he is on the NU shuttle racing between NU’s Evanston campus and Columbia in Chicago’s South Loop to meet these commitments.
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Legend has it that around 1950 the thirty-eight-year-old John Cage and the twenty-five-year-old Pierre Boulez became good friends. Each saw in the other a kindred spirit, and for several years they exchanged letters that testify to a close even intimate rapport. But as their friendship grew so did fundamental differences of opinion about music and the creative process.
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