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WOMEN’S WORK FESTIVAL
Parthenia performs new music by women composers
Kristin Norderval, Frances White, Eleonor Sandresky, Beth Anderson, and a world premier by Tawnie Olson.
With guests Dashon Burton, baritone, and Kristin Norderval, soprano
Tuesday, April 2, 2013 at 7:30 PM
Steve and Marie Sgouros Theatre of The Players Theatre
115 MacDougal Street, New York City
KRISTIN NORDERVAL
NOTHING PROVED for viol quartet, soprano, and interactive audio processing (2008)
Nothing Proved is a song cycle commissioned and composed for the viols of Parthenia, soprano soloist, and
interactive audio processing. Using traditional Elizabethan consort song instrumentation and sensibilities, the
work combines a 21st century musical aesthetic and technology, giving the music simultaneously a Renaissance
and contemporary sound. The composition presents the words of one of the most powerful and enigmatic
women in history, Queen Elizabeth I of England, in an interpretation reflecting the intelligence and emotional
edge of the poetry.
ELEONOR SANDRESKY
CRY OUT (arranged for viol quartet 2009)
Cry Out is the 3rd movement from Suite for String Quartet, a five-movement work composed in 2006 and
premiered by Ethel. Each piece in the set is inspired by a different poem by a different poet. This movement is
inspired by the work of RUMI, and can be heard as a kind of conversation between the higher instruments and
the lower instruments. Viols cannot cry out in volume because of their delicate construction, and so the title
might be understood in a more subtle kind of inner cry. I made this arrangement for Parthenia after a reading
session in 2009, and continue to be amazed at the deep and subtle beauty that viols bring to this piece.
FRANCES WHITE
A FLOWER ON THE FARTHER SIDE for viol quartet and electronic sound (2010)
A flower on the farther side draws on the beautiful chant Alleluia, O virga mediatrix by Hildegarde von Bingen.
There are passages where the chant is treated as a cantus firmus, alternating with freer, more fantasy-like
reflections on and excursions from the melody. The electronic part periodically creates a kind of enlargement of
the live instruments by using recorded, transformed viol sounds. Also, the sound of recorded wind, tuned to
make an aeolian harp texture, emerges and recedes from the music - a sonic space that suggests the mysterious
"farther side of death" referred to in Hildegarde's text for the chant. Throughout, the music is haunted by the
phrygian twilight of the original chant, and by Hildegarde's ecstatic upward leaping fifths.
A flower on the farther side was commissioned by the Fromm Foundation, and is dedicated to the viol consort
Parthenia.
BETH ANDERSON
DEVELOPMENTAL WALTZ from SKATE SUITE (arr. for recorder and viol 2013)
MAGNIFICAT (arr. for viol trio 2013)
Developmental Waltz is one of eight movements from SKATE SUITE for various combinations of Baroque
instruments. Tonight’s performance is the recorder/viol premiere. The piece, commissioned by Diane
Jacobowitz & Dancers in 1979, was related to skating in some way and so I used that idea to compose the
music. I looked up the word “skate” in the dictionary and used the various definitions I found (for the skate that
is a bug, for the skate that is on one’s shoe when one skates on ice, the verb “skate”, and the skate that is a
fish). The coding created the pitches and some of the durations within the meter which was necessarily derived
from the dance. The pitch possibilities varied from movement to movement.
Magnificat (or, The Song of Mary) is an ancient chant or canticle that either begins, “My soul proclaims the
greatness of the Lord,” or “My soul doth magnify the Lord,” In translation. The text is taken from the Luke 1:4655 where it is spoken by the Virgin Mary. In the story, after Mary greets Elizabeth, who is pregnant with the
future John the Baptist, Elizabeth praises Mary for her faith and Mary sings the Magnificat in response. It is
traditionally sung at Evensong in the Episcopal Church. The meter changes to suit the words. There are many
versions of this piece including SATB with organ, SSA acapella, SS with clarinet and piano, and tonight’s viols.
Listen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1fad53Ak44
TAWNIE OLSON
THORNS, for viol quartet and bass-baritone (2013, world premier)
Poem by John Hare
The earth first fouled his work with thorns
When Adam fell
And then,
In winter's hold
The purple briars bled colour from the fields.
The thorns were wound around his head
When Jesus died,
And now,
In spring's release
His surging sap runs free through every vein.
Thorns, Tawnie Olson’s new composition for Parthenia and bass-baritone Dashon Burton, uses an unusually
broad palette of instrumental colour to convey the beauty and latent drama of its text, a spiritual poem by Yale
philosophy professor John Hare. One of the reasons art is important to me is that it can create order in a
disordered world. So many normal, natural processes - like death, the passage of time, falling in or out of love can feel shocking, alienating, wrong. Art, like religion, folds fragments of human existence into structure,
reassuring us on a deep, perhaps even subconscious, level that our experiences have meaning. One of the
beauties of the poem “Thorns,” by Yale philosophy professor John Hare, is that it highlights a particular strand in
the narrative tapestry Christians use to make sense of human experience. The briars that spread over the earth
at Adam’s fall, that were woven into a crown and placed on Jesus’ head in order to mock him as he died, stand
as a metaphor for sin and for the beautiful mess that is fallen creation. The restrained surface of the poem
belies the depths of drama and emotion at its heart, as it speaks to all that we struggle against in ourselves and
in the world around us, and offers the possibility of release without denying the reality of pain or suffering. My
music offers the listener space to contemplate these words, this drama, this hope.
Thorns was commissioned by John and Terry Hare and is dedicated to them, with special thanks to Parthenia
and Dashon Burton.
BIOGRAPHIES
Kristin Norderval, soprano, is a performer, composer and improviser who performs a repertoire that spans the
renaissance to the avant-garde. Profiled by The New York Times in "Downtown Divas Expand their Horizons", and hailed
as one of "new music's best" by the Village Voice, she has performed at festivals throughout the world, and her
collaborations have included work with choreographers, sculptors, filmmakers and installation artists. She has
performed as a soloist with the Oslo Sinfonietta, the San Francisco Symphony and the Philip Glass Ensemble, and has
been a featured soloist in several dance-theater works: among them the Netherlands Dance Theater's production of
Martha Clarke's An Uncertain Hour (Lincoln Center, the American Dance Festival, the Netherlands) and Dance Alloy's
production of Pope Joan, a dance-opera by Anne LeBaron written specifically for Norderval and premiered in Pittsburgh
in October 2000. She Lost Her Voice That's How We Knew (2004), a one-woman opera for voice and electronics
composed by Frances White with libretto and direction by Valeria Vasilevski was developed especially for Norderval, and
has been presented in productions in the United States, Norway, Austria, Spain and the Netherlands.
In 2002 Norderval received artist-in-residencies from Harvestworks Digital Media Arts and Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute Create@iEAR to develop a wireless midi-glove interface for her live computer processing system. This system
was used in I Sing the Body Electric a collaborative work created for Den Anden Opera in Copenhagen (March 2004) and
jill sigman/thinkdance's Pulling the Wool an installation-performance in New York, New York (June 2004), and continues
to be developed.
Norderval holds a Bachelor of Music in composition from the University of Washington, a Master of Music from the San
Francisco Conservatory, and a Doctorate in vocal performance from the Manhattan School of Music. Norderval has
recorded for Koch, CRI, Nonesuch, Mode, Deep Listening, Eurydice, Aurora and Point records.
Dr. Norderval was formerly Artistic Director for the Norwegian Theater Academy in Fredrikstad, Norway and currently is
a Research Fellow at the University of Østfold in Halden, Norway, focusing on the creative process within inter-cultural
and cross-disciplinary performing arts. She is a member of the electro-acoustic live processing chamber music
duo Zanana with Monique Buzzarté and the acoustic free improvising quintet New Circle Five.
Eleonor Sandresky's music has been described as beautiful, liberating, witty, and as having ever-varying qualities of
touch, register and intensity by critics such as Allan Kozinn and Steve Smith of The New York Times. Her work
encompasses the acoustic, the electronic and the multi-media, including music for virtuoso soloists and large ensembles,
cabaret, art songs, and evening-length collaborations. Her music has been featured in film at Cannes, among other
festivals, and can be heard on Koch International, One Soul Records, ERM Media’s Masterworks of the New Era series,
and Albany Records. A MacDowell Colony fellow, her music has been heard on three continents, from the Composers
Concordance Festivals to the Totally Huge New Music Festival in Perth, Australia. She has received grants and
commissions from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, NYSCA, Jerome Foundation, ASCAP, American Music Center,
and Meet the Composer.
In the last year, Ms. Sandresky composed and premiered STRANGE ENERGIES, etudes for solo piano, and premiered THE
MARY OLIVER SONGS BOOK 1 for choreographed pianist with live electronics & sensor system. Working at the forefront
of avant-garde concert-as-theater, she reinvented herself as a Choreographic Pianist with her evening-length
composition, A Sleeper’s Notebook, premiered at the Kitchen in 2003. In it she explores her deep interest in how
motion translates to emotion through sound, a hyper-emotional experience for the audience and the performer.
HoustonArts noted that “Her vision has a freshness and unusualness that has become rare in the avant-garde scene,
and her delivery is captivating and true.” Ms. Sandresky's latest pieces, created for herself as well as other performers,
build on these concepts. Her latest commission, from NYSCA, is for a new work for Parthenia choreographed. Please visit
www.esandresky.com.
Frances White composes instrumental, vocal, and electronic music. She studied at the University of Maryland, Brooklyn
College, and Princeton University. A 2004 Guggenheim recipient, she has been given awards, grants, commissions, and
fellowships from organizations such as The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the Ditson Fund, the Cary Charitable
Trust, the Copland Fund, Prix Ars Electronica, the Institut International de Musique Electroacoustique de Bourges, the
International Computer Music Association, Hungarian Radio, ASCAP, the Bang On A Can Festival, the Other Minds
Festival, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the Dale Warland Singers, the American Music Center, the MacDowell
Colony, and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program. Recent commissions include one from the Third Practice Festival to
write The ocean inside for the acclaimed ensemble eighth blackbird; from the MAP Fund to create Tracing for
trombonist Monique Buzzarté; and from the Solaris Vocal Ensemble for far, still for chorus and cello. She is currently at
work on Music for emptiness/Music for empty chairs, commissioned by New Music USA (formerly Meet the Composer).
White's music can be heard on CD on the Wergo, Centaur, Nonsequitur, Harmonia Mundi, and Bridge Records labels.
Two CD collections of her chamber works are currently available: Centre Bridge, on the Mode label, and In the library of
dreams from Pogus Productions. Her music was featured as part of the soundtrack of three of Gus Van Sant's awardwinning films: Elephant, Paranoid Park, and Milk.
A student of the shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute), White finds that the traditional music of this instrument informs
and influences her work as a composer. Much of her music is inspired by her love of nature, and her electronic works
frequently include natural sound recorded near her home in central New Jersey.
For more information: www.rosewhitemusic.com
Beth Anderson is a composer of new romantic music, text-sound works, and music theater events. Her early work was
considered post-Cagian, non-academic but the music became more lyrical while retaining the cut-up quality of the
minimalists. She organized a festival of women’s music at Mills College in 1974, co-hosted the Meet The Women
Composers series at the New School in 1976 and has been organizing Women’s Work for the past ten years. She edited
EAR MAGAZINE from 1973-79 in both California and New York. Her all-Beth Anderson recordings are out on Albany
(QUILT MUSIC), New World (SWALES & ANGELS), and Pogus (PEACHY KEEN-O). A new one of her flute solos, duos, and
chamber music from 1979-2012 is in production from MSR with flutist Andrew Bolotowsky. AMERICAN WOMEN:
Modern Voices In Piano Music recorded by Nancy Boston includes SEPTEMBER SWALE. POINTS OF ENTRY:The Laurels
Project Vol. I has COMMENT for flute solo (based on a poem by Dorothy Parker) on Capstone CD (CPS-8759) performed
by Nina Assimakopoulos. Soprano Melanie Mitrano recorded LULLABY and BEAUTY RUNS FASTER for her CD on
Capstone CPS-8756. Opus One has released "REVEL", with the Richmond Symphony and "MINNESOTA SWALE" with the
Bratislava Radio Orchestra. Her publishers include Joshua Corp./E.M.I. and Antes/Bella Musica in Germany.
Described as "especially glorious... ethereal" by Whole Note, and "a highlight of the concert" by the Boston Musical
Intelligencer, the music of Canadian composer Tawnie Olson has been performed by a wide range of ensembles and
individual musicians, including the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gemini Duo, Duo Fiolûtröniq, the Wanmu
Percussion Trio, the McGill Percussion Ensemble, the Land's End Ensemble, the Canadian Chamber Choir, the Guelph
Chamber Choir, the Yale Camerata and Yale Pro Musica, bassoonists Nadina Mackie Jackson and Rachael Elliott, and
harpsichordist Katelyn Clark. She has won awards from the SOCAN foundation and the Guelph Chamber Choir/Musica
Viva, and is a two-time semifinalist in the Sorel Foundation competition.
Recent projects include Scel lem duib, for chamber chorus and harp, commissioned by the Yale Institute of Sacred Music
for the Yale Camerata, Le Tombeau d'Annelie De Man, a new work for harpsichord and digital audio commissioned by
Katelyn Clark with assistance from the Canada Council for the Arts, Le Revenant, commissioned by Stacie Dunlop, Mille
Regretz, commissioned by Duo Fiolûtröniq, and As Rain Hollows Stone, written at the request of the Wanmu Percussion
Trio. In May 2010 a recording of her composition Chantez à l'Éternel was released on the Canadian Chamber Choir's
debut album, "In Good Company," and in fall 2011 Rachael Elliott released a recording of À mon seul désir on the album
"Polka the Elk."
Olson holds a doctorate in music composition from the University of Toronto, a Master of Music degree from the Yale
School of Music, an Artist Diploma from the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the
University of Calgary. In 2012-2013 she is visiting assistant professor of composition at the Hartt School of Music.
DASHON BURTON, bass-baritone
Bass-baritone Dashon Burton is a native of Bronx, NY. Praised for his "enormous, thrilling voice seemingly capable ... [of]
raising the dead;" and “nobility and rich tone,” (New York Times) and hailed as “excellent,” (Akron Beacon Journal) and
“robust,” (Cleveland Plain Dealer) he is active in a wide range of repertoire and feels privileged to have worked with
artists and ensembles all across the U.S. as well as in Cameroon, Canada, Italy and Germany. Recent collaborations
include Pierre Boulez, Masaaki Suzuki and Steven Smith. He began his professional studies at Case Western Reserve
University and graduated from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. Immediately upon graduation, he was invited
to join Cantus, a professional men's classical vocal ensemble based in Minneapolis. The nine member ensemble travels
across the United States performing concerts, teaching clinics about ensemble singing to students of all ages, and
collaborating with renowned organizations and artists including the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Minnesota
Orchestra, the Boston Pops, James Sewell Ballet and Bobby McFerrin. He appears on albums recorded with the
ensemble, including the eponymous album, “Cantus,” which was singled out by National Public Radio as a top ten
recording of 2007. After completing his tenure with Cantus in 2009, Dashon completed his Master of Music at Yale
University's Institute of Sacred Music, studying voice with Professor James Taylor. His solo repertoire includes such
diverse works as Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610, Jesus in Bach's St. Matthew Passion, Mendelssohn's Elijah,
Superintendent Bud in Britten's opera Albert Herring, and Ned Rorem's song cycle, War Scenes. Dashon is also an avid
performer of new music; he has premiered works by Edie Hill, William Brittelle, and is a founding member of Roomful of
Teeth (under the direction of Brad Wells), an ensemble devoted to new compositions using the fullest possible range of
vocal techniques. For more information, please visit www.dashonburton.com.