14th Other Minds Music FestivalFeatured composers: Michael Harrison (USA), Dobromila Jaskot (Poland), Ben Johnston (USA), Catherine Lamb (USA), Chico Mello (Brazil), John Schneider (USA), Linda Catlin Smith (Canada), Bent Sørensen (Denmark), Chinary Ung (Cambodia)
Opening night of the 14th Other Minds Music Festival features the world premiere of
The Tavern by legendary microtonal composer Ben Johnston (b. 1926). With poetry by the Sufi mystic Rumi (trans. Coleman-Barks), this long work for voice and just-tuned guitar requires a special instrument with adjustable frets to accommodate its unconventional tuning scheme. The folksy and beautiful results invoke the spirit of another American maverick, Harry Partch, but also show the versatility and approachability that has made Johnston one of the foremost composers of music in just intonation in the world.
Leading Danish composer Bent Sørensen (b. 1958) has developed a singular blend of inevitability and eccentricity that shines through in his riveting trio
Phantasmagoria, to be performed by the Trio Con Brio Copenhagen, and the intricate essay for piano,
Shadows of Silence which seems to flicker and glitter with invention. Chinary Ung’s
Spiral X requires the Del Sol String Quartet to sing, whistle and shout in an intense and riveting commemoration of the Cambodian holocaust of the late 1970s.
The evening concludes with the Amsterdam Cello Octet. The Dutch group, founded in 1989, performs two works written especially for them:
Motetten by Mauricio Kagel, the brilliant Argentinian-German composer who passed away in September 2008, and in its American premiere,
O-Anitphonen, by the revered “sacred minimalist,” Arvo Pärt (Estonia).
Visit
otherminds.org for complete details, composer biographies, and audio samples.
Cost: $25-$150