BURNING PIANO FESTIVAL for WS

TIME OUT Critic’s Pick  http://www.timeout.com/newyork/music/the-firehouse-space-2-piano-festival-1

TFHS presents a combination of classic 20th century literature for 2 pianos such as Stravinsky, Adams, Bartok, Berio, Reich, Glass and a rare interpretation of Felman’s Ixion along side new 21st century works from composers George, Dicke, Knable, Sprecher and Andres. The culmination of the final concert on June 21 will be a telematic performance of the stunning Icelandic hymn Kolbeinn Turnason and Torkell Sigurbjörnsson’s “Heyr Himna Smiour” A telematic performance necessitates the performers (may they be actors, dancers, musicians or performance artists) to execute a single, unified work from remote locations and to use telecommunicative technologies to “dial-in to” a virtual or physical performance space. Often affiliated with Video Conferencing, these technologies include web video-cameras, microphones, laptops, projectors, wi-fi and broadband.

“Heyr Himna Smiður”, meaning “Hear, Smith of the Heavens”, is a popular hymn, its text written in the 13th Century by Icelandic Chieftain Kolbeinn Turnason. Roughly seven centuries later, the poem was set to music by Torkell Sigurbjörnsson and is now widely performed in many instrumental arrangements. A YouTube search yields at least twenty different results and a variety of arrangements: a solo cellist, a university concert choir, a rock band, an A Capella vocal quartet, a rock band and even a flash-mob style street performance.

The Firehouse Space makes its contribution to this timeless and ubiquitous Hymn, but delivered as a rare experiment: At least nine pianists, percussionists and vocalists are planted at distant sites and transmit their parts into the The Firehouse Space. Their images will be projected onto the venue’s interior walls and their musical parts amplified through multi-phonic speakers surrounding the audience. The performers will include several vocal groups, bowed vibraphones from diverse locations around NYC with simultaneously performed bowed pianos at the space. It will also be telecast on a large screen outside the firehouse for passers by during the MMNY night.  The pianists performing over the course of the weekend represent some of the many diverse, outstanding players in the city including: Steven Beck, Owen Carter, Julia Den Boer, Melinda Faylor, Monika Haar, Olivier Herbert-Bouchard, Eric Huebner, David Hughes, Sunny Knable, Kristin Samadi, Zi Liang,  Andrea Lodge, Stephen Olsen, Vasudevan Panicker, Kristin Samadi, Sandra Sprecher, Adam Tendler, Sophie Zhang, along with Percussionsist Joe Tucker and Ellery Trafford and our Technical Genius: Michael Ricca,

 

Schedule - June 20  at 4:00 PM

Whitney George: Circles played by Melinda Faylor and David Hughes

Ian Dicke: DÈja played by Melinda Faylor, David Hughes, Kristin SamadI, Zi Liang

Sunny Knable: Bartok in Brooklyn played by Sunny Knable and Kristin Samadi

Scott Ordway: Snow Elegy played by David Hughes, Melinda Faylor

John Adams: Hallelujah Junction and Fearful Symmetries played by Vasudevan Panicker and Owen Carter

June 20 at 7:30 PM

Luciano Berio: Lineaplayed by Manon Hutton-DeWys and Melinda Faylor, Joe Tucker and Ellery Trafford

Bela Bartok: Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion played by Manon Hutton-DeWys and Stephen Olsen, Joe Tucker and Ellery Trafford

Philip Glass: Four Movements for Two Pianos played by Steven Beck and Eric Huebner

Igor Stravinsky: Concerto for Two Pianos played by Steven Beck and Eric Huebner

June 21 at 7:30 PM

Steve Reich: Piano Phase played by Andrea Lodge and Julia Den Boer

Sandra Sprecher: Break Out Adam  played by Tendler and Sandra Sprecher

Morton Feldman: Ixion played by Adam Tendler and Sandra Sprecher

Timo Andres “Shy and Mighty played by Sophie Zhang and Olivier Herbert-Bouchard

8:30 PM Kolbeinn Turnason and Torkell Sigurbjörnsson’s “Heyr Himna Smiour” a Telematic Performance in Collaboration with MMNY

Some of the performers include:

Joe Tucker, Melinda Faylor, Monika Haar, Anastasia Rege, Tais Szilagi, and Jorge Quezada (Vocals), Sandra Sprecher, Ellery Trafford, Kitty Brazelton and friends (vocals), Danica Borisavljevic, Sophie Zhang, Olivier Herbert-Bouchard and many more.

Audio Visual Engineer: Michael Ricca