Join us for performances of original compositions by UCLA graduate composers.
Tune in to the event by clicking on the video below, which will begin at 8pm Nov. 17.
PROGRAM:
Kenneth Glendon Brown (b. 1992)
Opus Anachronicon: 24 Preludes and Fugues for Piano
1. Prelude and Fugue in C major
3. Prelude and Fugue in D-Flat major
Kenneth Glendon Brown, piano
Yifeng Yvonne Yuan (b. 1996)
Shattered Moon for Trumpet and Electronics
Jonathan Tompkins, trumpet
Andreas Foivos Apostolou (b. 1991)
Prelude for Piano
Valerie Stern, piano
Madeline Barrett (b. 1998)
Nantucket Sound
Movements I, II, and III
Euan Shields, violoncello
Anthony Constantino (b. 1995)
Cabin Fever for Horn and Electronics
Rachel Boehl, horn
PROGRAM NOTES:
Shattered Moon is inspired by a Chinese fairy tale, where a monkey tries to scoop up the moon out of the water, only realizing it is just the reflection of the real Moon. The electronics set the soundscape in and out of the water, and the trumpet is the amorphous shape of the Moon rippled and shattered by tide and wind. Is it real or is it just an illusion? We find the answer when we look up into the night sky.
Prelude for Piano: The inspiration for this prelude comes from my childhood – in particular how I experienced joy and anxiety. As a child everything seemed like an adventure; I desired glimpses of the unknown and welcomed fear. During times of isolation, I tried to strengthen my emotional bonds with the people that were always there for me. Prelude has a simple monothematic structure which undergoes various textural transformations. I am fascinated by the tradition of the prelude genre and wanted to give my own twist to techniques used by Bach, Shostakovich and Martin.
Nantucket Sound, a suite for solo cello, seeks to explore the dynamic between control, fear, awe, and power that many people experience in relation to the ocean. Through a series of seven images, this work journeys through feelings of wonder, adventure, loss of control, fear, and, finally, peace. The ocean is a both beautiful and terrifying entity, which I believe makes it a fitting metaphor for the human experience. We are afraid of drowning, of not being in control, but it is necessary to become at peace with that which we cannot change. The work is named after the Nantucket Sound, one of the first oceanic bodies of water I visited as a child.
Cabin Fever is a short piece resulting from a composer and a horn player living together in close quarters during the current period of physical isolation. It aims to capture the inherent restlessness that many have felt over the past 8 months.
View Program: https://uclamusic.info/Fall2020GradComposersProgram
