Salvador Dalí, Antoni Gaudí, Pablo Picasso and Antoni Tàpies, to name just a few, are among the stunningly original artists who have made Catalonia synonymous with artistic innovation. Catalonian composers are no exception to this tradition, reveling in boldly expressive works that seek to engage while shattering boundaries and preconceptions.
As part of their ongoing Global Connections series with the International House at the University of Chicago, Access Contemporary Music is proud to present a concert of daring, highly original electro-acoustic music by seven leading Catalonian composers.
"Contemporary music in Barcelona is living a moment of intense creativity, a wide range of composers are not only covering very different languages and styles but also building a fertile ground for creativity," says Maria Lladó Ribot, music coordinator for the Institut Ramon Llull. "ACM's Global Connections series is an excellent opportunity to increase the active cultural dialogue between Chicago and Barcelona and also the international composer community which only gets richer every day due to the reinvigorating contribution of the new generations."
Highlights of the concert include "Fetisch" Two (?) Perfect Lovers, a multi-disciplinary work exploring human interactions, a Chillida en a-ciència, an other-worldly sonic tapestry for clarinet and electronics, and Joan Bagés i Rubi's stunning Interactions B which combines wild gestural frenzy with meditative yearning.
Program
"Fetisch" Two (?) Perfect Lovers by Enric Riu
Interactions B by Joan Bagés i Rubi
[IVflbclVIvln/c] by Joan Arnau Pamies
Etres Liquidas by Ariadna Alsina
INTERMISSION
La Identidad de Diotima by Mateu Malondra
a Chillida en a-ciència by Mercè Capdevila
Trio "Wortschatten" by Hèctor Parra
Performed by Palomar Ensemble
Francesco Milioto, Artistic Director
Eliza Bangert - flutes
Alyson Berger - cello
Sebastian Huydts - piano
Douglas Johnson - double bass
Jennifer Woodrum - clarinets (substituting for Christie Miller)
Jeff Yang - violin and viola
About Access Contemporary Music (ACM)
Access Contemporary Music (ACM) is dedicated to integrating musical creativity into everyday life by presenting the music of living composers at the highest quality, fostering musical creativity in our storefront music schools and through commissions, and partnering with composers, festivals, universities and ensembles in cities throughout the world to build a global contemporary music network.
ACM began in 2004 when composer and new music advocate Seth Boustead had the idea to assemble a group of musicians every week to read through, record and post music by living composers. That project, Weekly Readings, would go on to get national press and put ACM on the map.
Many of ACM's programs grew out of Weekly Readings including the Palomar Ensemble's annual concert season, the Composer Alive international commissioning project and a global composer member program.
Additional ACM programs include the Sound of Silent Film Festival featuring newly composed scores performed live to modern silent films, Open House collaborations in Barcelona, Chicago and Milwaukee featuring commissioned pieces performed live in the buildings that inspired them and Global Connections, a series of partnerships with festivals and composers around the world including Korea, Japan, China, Mexico, France, Ireland, Spain and Canada among others.
Today ACM operates on an annual budget of over a half million dollars and employs twenty five teachers and staff plus countless freelance musicians in Chicago, Barcelona, New York and Austin every year.
ACM has produced two films that have been shown on PBS and has been featured on WNYC, WFMT, WBEZ, WGN, WTTW's Chicago Tonight and Austin Public Radio.
About Palomar Ensemble
Palomar is the resident ensemble for Access Contemporary Music, responsible for bringing the music of living composers to life at the highest possible quality in engaging concerts designed to bring new audiences to contemporary classical music.
In addition to ACM's Chicago concert season Palomar has been invited to perform at Stanford's Pan Asian Festival, the Paris Conservatoire, the Beijing Modern Music Festival, the Anthology in New York City among others.
