Audience reactions varied from anguished twitching to awed during the Northwestern Cellists Play Northwestern Composers concert Sunday, during which performers smacked their instruments, dragged their bows up and down the strings and tuned while playing.
About 70 people attended the Bienen School of Music concert, organizers said. The event took place at Regenstein Hall of Music and featured about 20 undergraduate and doctoral students who composed and performed the contemporary works.
The concert presented “different takes on the same instrument,” said Kristin Kumpf, an audience member whose brother composed one of the pieces. “It broadened my musical horizon.”
Russell Rolen, a Bienen School of Music doctoral student and head organizer of the concert, said concert planning began last winter, when the German cellist Lucas Fels visited NU. Fels, who is known for his work in contemporary music, performed pieces by NU composition students that were written for the occasion. Sunday’s event included those pieces as well as some more recent compositions.
“The concert is mostly about fostering a collaborative experience between composers and cellists,” Rolen said. “It gives composers a chance to let their music play and gives cellists a chance of exposure to brand new music.”
The program consisted of 10 pieces, which ranged from “Asahikawa, June,” which was inspired by the composer’s trip to Japan, to “First Suite for Cello and Tape,” which included looped tape tracks of another cellist’s performance of the first movement.
“Every piece had its own rules,” said Nina Rosalind Dante, a Bienen School of Music senior. “It was neat because you get to see the different styles and gambits of what this instrument can do.”
Event organizers said the concert offered a unique opportunity for composition students to work with instrumentalists and hear their works performed. Because the School of Music educates composers and instrumentalists in different buildings, it can be difficult to work across departmental lines, especially on the scale of Sunday’s event.
“Usually composers have to bug performers to play their music,” said Bienen School of Music senior Megan Beugger, a composer who helped organize the concert and had a piece performed. “The concert integrates the two parts of the School of Music.”
Some performers said they noticed the varied audience reaction. Bienen School of Music freshman Yuki Koyama, who performed in the event, said during a portion that included scratching noises the audience was “restless and cringing.”
Pablo Santiago Chin, a Bienen School of Music doctoral student who composed for the concert, said he felt the concert was a big success due to the variety of styles presented and its representation of different NU students.
“I am very happy with my piece,” he said.
Upcoming School of Music concerts:
November 11, 2009, 7:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.Pick-Staiger Concert HallGuitarist Colin McAllister will perform a wide range of modern music, including works for guitar and electroacoustics. McAllister plays the classical and electric guitar, as well as the 11-string altgitarre. November 13, 2009, 7:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.Pick-Staiger Concert HallPerformance by the JACK Quartet, which in 2009 won the ASCAP/Chamber Music America Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music.November 19, 2009, 7:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.Pick-Staiger Concert HallThe Northwestern University Jazz Orchestra will perform “Benny Carter’s Kansas City Suite”
