WPKN Archives Archive Feed: icecello Archived radio content http://www.wpkn.org/ Fri, 22 Nov 2024 10:05:14 GMT WPKN Archives Archive Feed: icecello http://www.wpkn.org/ https://wpkn.streamrewind.com//banners/7.png 850 192 Live Culture Episode 31: Sound Objects https://wpkn.streamrewind.com/https://wpkn.streamrewind.com/bookmarks/listen/198945 <p>Guests: <strong>Huihui Cheng</strong> and <strong>Spencer Topel</strong>.</p> <p>During this September edition of the show I talk to two artists who experiment with sound and objects in very different ways. We begin with an interview with <strong>Huihui Cheng</strong>, an experimental composer I caught up with this summer at the <strong>Camargo Foundation</strong> in France. This is a recorded conversation in front of her prepared piano as she adjusts it for the premiere of a commission at the <strong>Royaumont Festival</strong> in France.</p> <p>For <em><strong>Messenger</strong></em> 2017, Cheng has taken apart an upright piano, created a kind of chained harness for the musician to wear, binding the instrument to the player and allowing for unique methods of interacting with the instrument. This was played by Pianist <strong>Claudia Chan</strong> in the premier which took place on the 7th of September.</p> <p>Cheng lives in France and Germany and has had her works performed internationally. In addition to deconstructing pianos, Her unique take on composing has included using the audiences to play the composition via their cell phones. <em><strong>Your Smartest Choice</strong></em> was a performance for four musicians, electronics, and an audience with smartphones which happened at the <strong>Eclat Festival</strong> in Stuttgart on February, 2017 with members of the <strong>2e2m Ensemble</strong> of an original composition by Cheng.</p> <p>We hear various selections from Cheng&rsquo;s oeuvre during the show including an opening a selection from <em><strong>Et&uuml;de@S</strong></em> played on T&aacute;rogat&oacute; and live electronics, and closing out with some pieces from&nbsp;<em><strong>Your Smartest Choice.</strong></em></p> <p><strong>Huihui Cheng </strong>studied composition with <strong>Guoping Jia</strong> and <strong>Caspar Johannes Walter</strong> and electronic composition with <strong>Marco Stroppa</strong> and <strong>Piet Johan Meyer</strong>. She attended <strong>SWR Vocal Ensemble Academy</strong> and <strong>Cursus</strong>, practical training in composition and computer music at <strong>IRCAM</strong>, Paris. Her music has been played by <strong>Ensemble Courage, Ensemble TIMF </strong>Korea, <strong>Ascolta Ensemble</strong> Stuttgart, <strong>New Ensemble</strong> Amsterdam, <strong>Ensemble Intercontemporain</strong>, <strong>Saarbr&uuml;cken radio symphony orchestra</strong>, <strong>Radio France</strong>, Vocal Ensemble <strong>EXAUDI</strong>. She has won the first prize of <strong>Con Tempo,</strong> 2007 in China and the Grand Prize of <strong>Isang Yun International Composition Competition </strong>2011, She received the <strong>Giga-Hertz Produktion Preis</strong> in 2016 , and she has a fellowship for <strong>Musiktheater der Heute </strong>from 2016-18. Recently she has been awarded scholarships from the <strong>Baden W&uuml;rttemberg Art Foundation</strong>, <strong>Schloss Wiepersdorf</strong>, <strong>K&uuml;nsterhaus Sch&ouml;ppingen</strong> and <strong>Foundation Camargo</strong>. She will publish her <strong>Portrait DVD</strong> by <strong>WERGO</strong> in the series &ldquo;<strong>Contemporary Music Germany</strong>&rdquo; in 2019.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>During the second half of the program&nbsp; we have a live conversation with <strong>Spencer Topel</strong> who is Assistant Professor of Music at <strong>Dartmouth College</strong>. From October 25th to November 3rd, 2017 his installation <strong>PART DES ANGES</strong> will be at the <strong>World Music Hall</strong>, of <strong>Wesleyan University</strong> in Middletown, CT.</p> <p>What drew me to Spencer for this month&rsquo;s show was his collaboration with musician <strong>Seth Parker Woods</strong> and the construction of a cast ice cello for the performance by Seth of<em><strong> ICED BODIES: Ice Music for Chicago</strong></em> which happened on August 12th at the <strong>Arts Club of Chicago</strong> in Illinois. In 1972, <strong>Fluxus</strong> artist/printmaker <strong>Jim McWilliams</strong> devised a piece for cellist <strong>Charlotte Moorman</strong> called <em><strong>Ice Music for London</strong></em>. It involved bags of frozen ice cubes fashioned in the shape of a cello, which Moorman, nude, &ldquo;played&rdquo; with a plexiglass &ldquo;bow&rdquo; for multiple hours. On the 45th anniversary of the original work, <strong>Seth Parker Woods </strong>and <strong>Spencer Topel </strong>readdressed McWilliams&rsquo; concept with an immersive experience. Woods, in a wetsuit, played an obsidian Ice Cello. As it melted, the amplified sounds of dripping water and falling ice filled the space. The audience was invited to come and go as they pleased during the 4 hours when Woods performed this epic work in its first major realization in 19 years.</p> <p>We will discuss this and Spencer's many projects involving sound and object-making.</p> <p><strong>Spencer Topel</strong> is an American composer of experimental music and sound installations that explore relationships between architecture, space, and form. He is a recipient of numerous awards and honors, including a <strong>Danish International Visiting Artist Residency</strong> in 2013 (<strong>DIVA</strong>), the <strong>Palmer Dixon Prize</strong> from the <strong>Juilliard School </strong>for best composition, <strong>BMI</strong> and <strong>ASCAP </strong>Awards, and was an artist-in-residence with the <strong>Meitar Ensemble</strong> in July 2014 (Tel Aviv). Topel has produced works for many of America's premiere music and art institutions, including the <strong>Drawing Center NY</strong>, the <strong>DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park</strong>, the <strong>Minnesota Orchestra</strong>, the <strong>Juilliard Symphony</strong>, <strong>Oregon Symphony</strong>, and the <strong>Aspen Contemporary Ensemble</strong>, <strong>TILT Brass</strong>, <strong>FLUX Quartet</strong>, and the <strong>Callithumpian Consort</strong>. Notable national/international collaborations include <strong>HUB New Music </strong>(Boston), <strong>FIGURA Ensemble</strong> (Copenhagen) <strong>the Contemporarte Ensemble</strong> (Venice) and the <strong>Meitar Ensemble</strong> and the <strong>Israeli Conservatory</strong> (Tel-Aviv). Topel received degrees from<strong> Cornell </strong>and <strong>The Juilliard School </strong>before joining the Tenure-Track Faculty at <strong>Dartmouth College</strong>, where he is currently an Assistant Professor of Music.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Links:<br /> <strong>More about Spencer Topel and his projects</strong>:<a href="http:// https://www.spencertopel.com/"> https://www.spencertopel.com/</a><br /> <strong>More about Seth Parker Woods and Iced Bodies: </strong><a href="http://www.artsclubchicago.org/exhibition/iced-bodies-ice-music-for-chicago/">http://www.artsclubchicago.org/exhibition/iced-bodies-ice-music-for-chicago/</a></p> <p><strong>More about Hui-hui Cheng and her music:<a href="https://huihuicheng.com/">https://huihuicheng.com/</a></strong><br /> <strong>more about the Royaumont Festival:</strong> <a href="https://www.royaumont.com/fr/presentation-festival-2017/presentation">https://www.royaumont.com/fr/presentation-festival-2017/presentation</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> https://wpkn.streamrewind.com/https://wpkn.streamrewind.com/bookmarks/listen/198945 Sat, 30 Sep 2017 11:01:00 GMT