Tuesday June 11, 2019
The Koan Quartet Presents
LAST CHRYSANTHEMUMS
Music of André Cormier
Video Design by Joshua Westerman
The Koan Quartet performs the premiere of 3 string quartets by Canadian experimental music composer, André Cormier with video design by Joshua Westerman. These works feature substantial reliance on performer intervention and choice-making, varying boundaries of autonomy within the score’s structure, and issues of interdependency between quartet members. The titles of the pieces take inspiration from 3 films by the late Japanese filmmaker, Mikio Naruse. This performance is expansive and contemplative.
PROGRAM:
Derniers Chrysanthemes (Last Chrysanthemums )
Le Grondement de la montagne (Sound of the Mountain)
Nuages flottants (Floating Clouds)
ABOUT THE COMPOSER:
André Cormier’s work has been presented in Canada, the US, Europe, and New Zealand. He has written for solo, small and large chamber ensembles, as well as music for opera, dance as well as collaborative work with visual artists. His works have been commissioned from a variety of artists in Canada, the US, and Europe. In 2008, he launched Éditions musique Sisyphe (www.emsis.ca), a publishing house primarily for experimental music scores; he also directs its performing branch, Ensemble Sisyphe. In 2011, after nearly twenty years on the west coast shared between British Columbia and California, André made his return to eastern Canada, first in Montreal, and then in the summer of 2012, he returned to his native Acadie. Today, André maintains a busy schedule as a composer by fulfilling commissions and presenting work, all in an effort to greater understand what makes sound and silence so irresistible. He also finds the complement of cacao and sugar immensely intriguing.
ABOUT THE MUSIC:
"Trois quatuors Mikio Naruse was written in 2014 as an extension of prior notation ideas that appear in some of my earlier pieces. Each quartet focuses entirely on just one of these ideas. However, there are a few uniting features across the three quartets worth mentioning, for instance, substantial reliance on performer intervention and choice-making, varying boundaries of autonomy within the score’s structure, and issues of interdependency between quartet members."---André Cormier
ABOUT THE DESIGNER:
Josh Westerman is a Colorado based interdisciplinary artist and musician who works with installation art, graphic scores, field recordings, appropriated content, improvisation, and video. Their work utilizes and critiques emergent media and aesthetics while still showing a fondness for established disciplines. They experiment with algorithmic art and explore issues like alienation and intimacy in the contemporary social and political contexts brought about by the ubiquity of digital technology. Josh is a graduate of California Institute for the Arts where received an MFA in Experimental Sound Practices and Integrated Media. They are currently attending the University of Colorado Boulder where he is a PhD candidate in Critical Media Practices.
ABOUT KOAN QUARTET
The Koan Quartet is based in Los Angeles and performs works by 20th and 21st century composers such as Alvin Curran, Carolyn Chen, Ruth Crawford-Seeger, James Tenney and, most recently, Johanna Beyer. The ensemble works hard to present thoughtful and meticulously-researched performances of rarely heard works from the contemporary and experimental repertoire. Koan Quartet is Eric KM Clark and Orin Hildestad; violins, Cassia Streb; viola and Jennifer Bewerse; cello.
General Admission: $15
Members, Students, Seniors: $12
For Tickets, click HERE
at
AUTOMATA
504 Chung King Court
Los Angeles, CA 90012
automata-la@sbcglobal.net