Contemporaneous Presents Breathe
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Olin Hall
Featuring a world premiere work by Albert Behar and music by Samuel Carl Adams and Dylan Mattingly '14
Featured composers Albert Behar (world premiere), Samuel Carl Adams and Dylan Mattingly work extensively in New York, but the cool fog of their common San Francisco Bay Area roots is evident in their music.In his world premiere, the Contemporaneous-commissioned work Beauty in Breathing, Brooklyn-based composer Albert Behar (b. 1991; www.albertbehar.com) uses a device invented by his grandfather to amplify his heartbeats and measure his breathing, providing a live pulse for the piece and a feed for a video projection. The composer himself sings with the ensemble and vocalists Lucy Dhegrae, Margaret Dudley and Sean Christensen in this new exploration of the physical and mental sides of breathing.
Samuel Carl Adams (b. 1985; www.samuelcarladams.com) is quickly gaining renown as “a composer with a personal voice and keen imagination” (New York Times) who is deeply at home in several different genres. His work twenty four strings is rooted in the pure sadness of Renaissance music, a gorgeous string sextet that weaves its way through sounds like bells and waterfalls.
The show closes with Atlas of Somewhere on the Way to Howland Island by Contemporaneous co-artistic director Dylan Mattingly (b. 1991; www.dylanmattingly.com). Scored for chamber orchestra complete with toy piano, harpsichord, and de-tuned harp, the piece is an emotional depiction of the final flight of Amelia Earhart that traces Earhart’s journey from optimistic beginning to the tragic end, concluding with a jubilant affirmation of her spirit.
For more information, call 205-914-0663, e-mail [email protected],
or visit http://contemporaneous.org.
Location: Olin Hall