Media – Page 9

Picture of the Day – July 5, 2012

Anne Berry, Ryan Caparella, and Windsor Johnson – members of The Living Room Players, a regional chamber music ensemble – speaking to the audience at December’s benefit concert. The trio performed two movements of Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio in G minor, op. 17. Schumann’s piano trio is considered, “probably her greatest achievement. Written in 1846, at a time of great stress, it has an autumnal, melancholy quality, and demonstrates a mastery of sonata form and polyphonic techniques” (Nancy Reich, Grove Music Online).

Photo courtesy Mary Scripko.

Picture of the Day – July 3, 2012

Elisabeth Tomczyk warming up in preparation for last December’s benefit concert. In addition to Elisabeth, the evening featured performances by Anne Berry, Sheri Brown, Ryan Caparella, Patrice Fitzgerald, Windsor Johnson, Richard Leslie, and Grace Smith. The 2011 benefit concert featured music, drink, and food, with dozens in attendance to support the March festival.

Photo courtesy Mary Scripko.

Picture of the Day – July 2, 2012

Kathryn Denney and Lisa Hadley perform Anita Kupriss’s Soul Tea at Capital Community College, where this year’s Electro-acoustic Concert was held on March 8, 2012. Written for vocalists and a fixed electronics track, the piece features sound samples of a tea kettle. The composer writes:

“In the mornings I often sing along with my whistling tea kettle (doesn’t everyone?) and decided that I just had to write a piece for two (or three) female voices with a pre-recorded tea kettle background track. The pitch of the tea kettle, which undulates between an A and a Bb, sounds the pedal tone for the entire piece, while the click of the electronic starter generates a recurring rhythmic motive. The text, a series of vowels, gives the singers the freedom to create bursts of canonic melodies and modal harmonies. The singers employ glides and onomatopoeic sounds (tsik) as effects and sing descending and ascending quarter steps with the tea kettle, in order to heighten the harmonic tension. At first I thought that this would be a humorous piece, but as I composed it the mood became more melancholy which ultimately inspired me to name this song Soul Tea.”

Picture of the Day – July 1, 2012

Another shot of Owen Weaver performing Lisa Coons’s Percussion Sculpture No. 1, because it was just so cool! The metal sculpture was amplified, but no other electronics were added. The lights were dimmed for the piece, and Weaver was illuminated by lamp shown on the left. Toward the end of the piece, serendipity showed its face: the lamp began to flicker in time to the music (perhaps as a result of the vibrations from the sculpture), creating an unplanned but entirely appropriate addition to the atmosphere of the piece.

Picture of the Day – June 30, 2012

In today’s picture, Central Connecticut State University professor Dr. Daniel D’Addio performs My Father Was a Ventriloquist by Festival Associate Director, Jessica Rudman (www.jessicarudman.com). The piece makes use of a text written by the composer read as part of a fixed electronics track that accompanies the live trumpet player. Commissioned by Dr. D’Addio, the composition was premiered in 2011 and has since been performed around the Northeast.