Provenance - Almost Human - Far-Off Country - World to Come
Provenance
In a world troubled by religious strife and division, the period between the eighth and fifteenth centuries in the Iberian Peninsula offers a hopeful historical reminder: Muslims, Christians, and Jews once lived together in Spain, creating a centuries-long flowering of commerce, culture, art, and architecture. They forged a Golden Age for each faith and distanced Spain from a Europe mired in the Dark Ages.
Provenance is inspired by the glory of this multireligious, multicultural, civilization that forever changed the West. It outlines the origins of an ideal in which cultural differences are not simply tolerated but explicitly sought for the energy they release with each encounter.
Maya Beiser grew up in Israel on a progressive Kibbutz living in harmony with the neighboring Muslim and Christian Arab villages. The local Middle Eastern music, played at her neighbors' celebrations and holidays or emanating from the minarets at dawn as the Muezzin called the faithful for morning prayers, was the ever present experience of childhood.
For Provenance Maya Beiser has commissioned young composers from Israel, Palestine, Algeria, Morocco, Iran and the United States to create music inspired by the Golden Age in Medieval Spain. Also included are arrangements of masterpieces by Hamza el Din, Djivan Gasparyan and the 9th century Galician troubadour Martin Codax. Maya Beiser is not engaged in an archeological dig in which the music of the 8th century is stood again on its feet. Instead she seeks to reproduce an environment in which varied and seemingly culturally dissimilar traditions can once again occupy the same shared space.
Joining her on stage will be the Lebanese-American master Oud player Bassam Saba, and hand drummer virtuoso Jamey Haddad. The different pieces will be united by Iranian-American Sound designer and computer specialist Shahrokh Yadegari, who will create a cohesive and shared sonic space, in real time, within which the musicians will perform.
Provenance is 75 non-stop minutes of continuous thread where live music and original text in Ladino, Arabic, Hebrew and Latin are woven together into an all-encompassing musical tapestry.
Maya Beiser, cello
Bassam Saba, oud
Jamey Haddad, percussion
Shahrokh Yadegari, live electronics
Music by:
Simon Shaheen
Tamar Muskal
Raz Mesinai
Douglas Cuomo
Abdelli
Kayhan Kalhor
Hamza El Din
Djivan Gasparyan
Martin Codax
Sound Installation and design - Sharokh Yagedari
Sound Design - Dave Cook
Lighting Design - Stephen Arnold
Artistic Adviser - Robert Woodruff
Conceived and produced by Maya Beiser
Almost Human
Maya Beiser takes the cello to yet another uncharted terrain; exploring ancient vocal traditions. Voices of Medieval madrigal, traditional Cambodian, Chinese and Taiwanese minority singing, indigenous Armenian and Indonesian ritual singing and Jewish Cantorial chanting are some of the sources for inspiration.
Described by the New Yorker Magazine as “The Cello Goddess”, Maya Beiser has continued to enchant audiences and critics around the globe with her virtuosity, genre-bending style and relentless quest for redefining her instrument’s boundaries. Over the last decade she has conceived of and presented major pieces for the cello, written for her by some of the most prominent contemporary composers. Each one of her projects received great critical acclaim and played around the Globe to sold-out concert halls.
Almost Human is intended to present the cello from yet another angle: The challenge Maya presented to the composers was to delve into ancient vocal traditions as the basis and inspiration for the pieces. The resulting works give the cello a powerful and haunting opportunity to “sing” the music. The works draw from cultures as diverse as Jewish, Armenian, African and Cambodian. All share rich traditions of communicating heritage and folklore through the chanting human voice. The cello in Maya Beiser’s hands is eminently capable of expressing the complexity of emotions embodied in each cultural tradition.
Joby Talbot: Motion Detector - world premiere
for cello and live electronics
(based on Central African Pygmies Chanting)
Brett Dean: Sparge Le Mortre - world premiere
for cello and A Cappella consort
(based on a Gesualdo Madrigal)
Tan Dun: Feige/Antiphonal Song
a duet for cello and video
(Chinese minority tribes)
Chinary Ung: Khse Buon – new version
(Cambodian elegy)
Michael Gordon: All Vows - world premiere
for cello and voice
(Based on the Jewish prayer, Kol Nidrei)
*** *** ***
Eve Beglarian From a Far-Off Country - world premiere
Video by Shirin Neshat, text by Henri Michaux
Based on text by the surrealist Belgian poet Henri Michaux, From a Far-Off Country is a large-scale multimedia “cello opera” with pre recorded and electronically altered female voices from Armenian, African and Indonesian vocal traditions. Three extraordinary women of Middle Eastern background (Maya Beiser -Israel, Shirin Neshat- Iran, Eve Beglarian - Armenia), representing the three major monotheistic religions, are coming together to collaborate intimately on this new work.
Far-Off Country
In Far-Off Country, Maya Beiser combines select works from her programs Almost Human and Provenance, creating a unique evening of collaborations among renowned Middle Eastern musicians that ranges from the contemporary classical, with the use of electronics and video, to a purely acoustic world music aesthetic.
The first half will feature a collaboration with two virtuoso Lebanese players: Oud and nay master Bassam Saba, and master hand drummer Jamey Haddad. This first half promises to be a virtuosic exploration of the sounds of Middle Eastern music.
The ambitious new work I am writing to you from a far-off country, will be presented in the second half. This 40-minute "solo multimedia dreamscape" is the result of an intimate collaboration between Maya Beiser, composer Eve Beglarian, and visual artist Shirin Neshat. These women represent not only an artistic partnership but also a union of three different Middle Eastern cultures and the three major monotheistic religions: Maya is Jewish Israeli, Eve is Christian Armenian, and Shirin is Muslim Iranian. Inspired by a mysterious, moving poem by the Belgian surrealist Henri Michaux, I am writing to you from a far-off country incorporates traditional Armenian melodies and features a cello, spoken text, and vocals, in a dialogue with a laptop. Seated at the center, surrounded within an installation of 9 monitors projecting Shirin Neshat's images, Maya Beiser creates a complex sensory universe corresponding to Michaux's surreal and haunting poem.
World To Come
Evocative, theatrical and spiritual, World To Come is Maya Beiser's new multimedia solo concert, featuring the premiere of a Steve Reich multi-track cello piece as well as new works by Osvaldo Golijov and David Lang, and additional works by Arvo Pärt and Louis Andriessen. This evening will challenge the notion of a solo cello concert and will encompass text, vocals, dramatic lighting and interactive videos. Video design is created by internationally acclaimed artist Irit Batsry, winner of the Whitney Museum ’s prestigious Bucksbaum award. A personal portrait of a sort, World To Come is a journey into the sounds and images of cello music in the 21st century through the works of some of our most esteemed living composers. It had its world premiere at the Krannert Center on October 18th, 2003 , and its New York premiere as part of the inaugural season of Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall on October 30th, 2003 prior to a major national and international tour which included the Kennedy Center, Sydney Festival, Holland Festival, transart Festival.
Arvo Pärt: Fratres(1980)
version for solo cello and multi-track recording
Osvaldo Golijov: Mariel(2001)
arr. 2003 for cello and multi-track recording
Steve Reich: Cello Counterpoint(2003)
Chinary Ung: Khse buon(1981)
*** *** ***
Louis Andriessen: La Voce (1981)
David Lang: World To Come(2003)
Video environment by Irit Batsry
Video for Steve Reich's Cello Counterpoint by Anney Bonney
Jody Elff – sound design
Ben Kato – lighting design
Provenance
In a world troubled by religious strife and division, the period between the eighth and fifteenth centuries in the Iberian Peninsula offers a hopeful historical reminder: Muslims, Christians, and Jews once lived together in Spain, creating a centuries-long flowering of commerce, culture, art, and architecture. They forged a Golden Age for each faith and distanced Spain from a Europe mired in the Dark Ages.
Provenance is inspired by the glory of this multireligious, multicultural, civilization that forever changed the West. It outlines the origins of an ideal in which cultural differences are not simply tolerated but explicitly sought for the energy they release with each encounter.
Maya Beiser grew up in Israel on a progressive Kibbutz living in harmony with the neighboring Muslim and Christian Arab villages. The local Middle Eastern music, played at her neighbors' celebrations and holidays or emanating from the minarets at dawn as the Muezzin called the faithful for morning prayers, was the ever present experience of childhood.
For Provenance Maya Beiser has commissioned young composers from Israel, Palestine, Algeria, Morocco, Iran and the United States to create music inspired by the Golden Age in Medieval Spain. Also included are arrangements of masterpieces by Hamza el Din, Djivan Gasparyan and the 9th century Galician troubadour Martin Codax. Maya Beiser is not engaged in an archeological dig in which the music of the 8th century is stood again on its feet. Instead she seeks to reproduce an environment in which varied and seemingly culturally dissimilar traditions can once again occupy the same shared space.
Joining her on stage will be the Lebanese-American master Oud player Bassam Saba, and hand drummer virtuoso Jamey Haddad. The different pieces will be united by Iranian-American Sound designer and computer specialist Shahrokh Yadegari, who will create a cohesive and shared sonic space, in real time, within which the musicians will perform.
Provenance is 75 non-stop minutes of continuous thread where live music and original text in Ladino, Arabic, Hebrew and Latin are woven together into an all-encompassing musical tapestry.
Maya Beiser, cello
Bassam Saba, oud
Jamey Haddad, percussion
Shahrokh Yadegari, live electronics
Music by:
Simon Shaheen
Tamar Muskal
Raz Mesinai
Douglas Cuomo
Abdelli
Kayhan Kalhor
Hamza El Din
Djivan Gasparyan
Martin Codax
Sound Installation and design - Sharokh Yagedari
Sound Design - Dave Cook
Lighting Design - Stephen Arnold
Artistic Adviser - Robert Woodruff
Conceived and produced by Maya Beiser
Almost Human
Maya Beiser takes the cello to yet another uncharted terrain; exploring ancient vocal traditions. Voices of Medieval madrigal, traditional Cambodian, Chinese and Taiwanese minority singing, indigenous Armenian and Indonesian ritual singing and Jewish Cantorial chanting are some of the sources for inspiration.
Described by the New Yorker Magazine as “The Cello Goddess”, Maya Beiser has continued to enchant audiences and critics around the globe with her virtuosity, genre-bending style and relentless quest for redefining her instrument’s boundaries. Over the last decade she has conceived of and presented major pieces for the cello, written for her by some of the most prominent contemporary composers. Each one of her projects received great critical acclaim and played around the Globe to sold-out concert halls.
Almost Human is intended to present the cello from yet another angle: The challenge Maya presented to the composers was to delve into ancient vocal traditions as the basis and inspiration for the pieces. The resulting works give the cello a powerful and haunting opportunity to “sing” the music. The works draw from cultures as diverse as Jewish, Armenian, African and Cambodian. All share rich traditions of communicating heritage and folklore through the chanting human voice. The cello in Maya Beiser’s hands is eminently capable of expressing the complexity of emotions embodied in each cultural tradition.
Joby Talbot: Motion Detector - world premiere
for cello and live electronics
(based on Central African Pygmies Chanting)
Brett Dean: Sparge Le Mortre - world premiere
for cello and A Cappella consort
(based on a Gesualdo Madrigal)
Tan Dun: Feige/Antiphonal Song
a duet for cello and video
(Chinese minority tribes)
Chinary Ung: Khse Buon – new version
(Cambodian elegy)
Michael Gordon: All Vows - world premiere
for cello and voice
(Based on the Jewish prayer, Kol Nidrei)
*** *** ***
Eve Beglarian From a Far-Off Country - world premiere
Video by Shirin Neshat, text by Henri Michaux
Based on text by the surrealist Belgian poet Henri Michaux, From a Far-Off Country is a large-scale multimedia “cello opera” with pre recorded and electronically altered female voices from Armenian, African and Indonesian vocal traditions. Three extraordinary women of Middle Eastern background (Maya Beiser -Israel, Shirin Neshat- Iran, Eve Beglarian - Armenia), representing the three major monotheistic religions, are coming together to collaborate intimately on this new work.
Far-Off Country
In Far-Off Country, Maya Beiser combines select works from her programs Almost Human and Provenance, creating a unique evening of collaborations among renowned Middle Eastern musicians that ranges from the contemporary classical, with the use of electronics and video, to a purely acoustic world music aesthetic.
The first half will feature a collaboration with two virtuoso Lebanese players: Oud and nay master Bassam Saba, and master hand drummer Jamey Haddad. This first half promises to be a virtuosic exploration of the sounds of Middle Eastern music.
The ambitious new work I am writing to you from a far-off country, will be presented in the second half. This 40-minute "solo multimedia dreamscape" is the result of an intimate collaboration between Maya Beiser, composer Eve Beglarian, and visual artist Shirin Neshat. These women represent not only an artistic partnership but also a union of three different Middle Eastern cultures and the three major monotheistic religions: Maya is Jewish Israeli, Eve is Christian Armenian, and Shirin is Muslim Iranian. Inspired by a mysterious, moving poem by the Belgian surrealist Henri Michaux, I am writing to you from a far-off country incorporates traditional Armenian melodies and features a cello, spoken text, and vocals, in a dialogue with a laptop. Seated at the center, surrounded within an installation of 9 monitors projecting Shirin Neshat's images, Maya Beiser creates a complex sensory universe corresponding to Michaux's surreal and haunting poem.
World To Come
Evocative, theatrical and spiritual, World To Come is Maya Beiser's new multimedia solo concert, featuring the premiere of a Steve Reich multi-track cello piece as well as new works by Osvaldo Golijov and David Lang, and additional works by Arvo Pärt and Louis Andriessen. This evening will challenge the notion of a solo cello concert and will encompass text, vocals, dramatic lighting and interactive videos. Video design is created by internationally acclaimed artist Irit Batsry, winner of the Whitney Museum ’s prestigious Bucksbaum award. A personal portrait of a sort, World To Come is a journey into the sounds and images of cello music in the 21st century through the works of some of our most esteemed living composers. It had its world premiere at the Krannert Center on October 18th, 2003 , and its New York premiere as part of the inaugural season of Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall on October 30th, 2003 prior to a major national and international tour which included the Kennedy Center, Sydney Festival, Holland Festival, transart Festival.
Arvo Pärt: Fratres(1980)
version for solo cello and multi-track recording
Osvaldo Golijov: Mariel(2001)
arr. 2003 for cello and multi-track recording
Steve Reich: Cello Counterpoint(2003)
Chinary Ung: Khse buon(1981)
*** *** ***
Louis Andriessen: La Voce (1981)
David Lang: World To Come(2003)
Video environment by Irit Batsry
Video for Steve Reich's Cello Counterpoint by Anney Bonney
Jody Elff – sound design
Ben Kato – lighting design
© Miroyuki Ito
Foto: Lili Almog