This season, the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra presents the world premiere of When the Alarm(s) Stopped by composer and conductor Peter Chatterjee, a graduate student in conducting at UC Davis. Peter’s work, written for the Taproot New Music Festival, reflects both his intellectual curiosity and emotional insight—qualities that also define his approach to conducting. This will be premiered on Saturday, October 25, 2025 at the Mondavi Center in Davis, in a program that also includes Barber’s Adagio for Strings, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. We spoke about his creative process, the balance between composition and conducting, and his evolving artistic vision. Here is also a comment from my esteemed colleague, Professor Nicolás Dosman: “Peter, a gifted composer, began the master’s program in conducting two years ago. His experience was limited to instrumental works as a composer and conductor. Throughout his studies Peter has not only composed beautiful choral music but has grown into a conductor that can communicate effectively with choirs and orchestras with a composer’s insight.”

Christian Baldini: Peter, you wear two hats: composer and conductor. How do these two disciplines feed each other, and how do you balance them in your daily life?

Peter Chatterjee: I find that the two build on and inform one another quite well. As a composer, I find that having a background in communicating with ensembles, both in the written score and in person, has been extremely helpful. On the conducting side, knowing the types of behind-the-scenes work that composers put into their pieces helps me bring a unique perspective to the music that I wouldn’t have without that other side.

CB: Let’s talk about When the Alarm(s) Stopped. What inspired this piece, and how did your vision for it evolve during the writing process? In your program notes you indicate that “Throughout all of the circumstances of the piece — the building climactic points, uncanny recurring moments, and shifting, melting — the strings function as a sort of plane from which winds and brass emerge and come into conflict.” – How would you expand on the emotional, aesthetic and philosophical dimension of this work?

PC: I had originally started with this concept around the doomsday clock and how we have been nearing closer and closer to the midnight point, the point at which humans have induced an irreparable global catastrophe. Over the time I was working on the piece, my focus shifted a bit to the way in which certain warning systems for social and natural disasters have been eroded in recent decades.

CB: You conduct both orchestras and choirs at UC Davis. How would you describe the main differences between these two worlds? What do you find most rewarding—and most challenging—about working with these different ensembles?

PC: The two worlds are so different but equally rewarding. Overall, the similarities are the most important for me, developing community through music, experiencing what it’s like to learn and perform the standard repertoire, and exploring music of our own time. Most of what I have conducted with the UC Davis ensembles has been music by living composers, so bringing my own compositional perspective has been helpful at times, especially when working with composers in real time. This has been especially with the sinfonietta, premiering new works that don’t have recordings yet, and translating between a live composer and the ensemble.

CB: In your conducting studies, what have been some of the most transformative lessons or experiences?

PC: The idea of knowing a score down to the smallest detail and still being able to have an open mind to what an interpretation by another musician can bring. So much of large ensemble is finding this balance point between what you imagine while studying a score and what the musicians bring with them to the music in experience, personal sounds, etc.

CB: Who are some of the conductors you most admire, and what qualities in their leadership or musicianship resonate with you?

PC: There are so many that I admire, but most recently I’ve been finding most resonance with the work of Marin Alsop. Not only is she a fantastic and groundbreaking conductor, but one whose career has embraced the rich traditions of orchestral music alongside work raising the profiles of so many contemporary composers and young conductors. Salonen and Dudamel are also constant inspirations, especially with the degree to which they brought new music to Los Angeles and San Francisco during their tenures there.

CB: And on the composition side—who are your greatest musical influences, past or present? What draws you to their work?

PC: Color, both instrumental and vocal, is one of my biggest draws to composers like Messiaen and Ellington. The full list would take up way too much time, but when a composer can capture a certain space or color in a visceral way, I’m hooked.

CB: When you compose, what are you seeking to achieve? Is there a particular atmosphere, narrative, or emotional truth that you want your music to evoke?

PC: It very much depends on the piece. For a while I was relating most of my music to nature and the shifts between seasons or atmospheric phenomena. Lately I have been writing music that attempts to explore sonic spaces that relate to unsettled feelings and embracing the lack of clarity that manifests in such situations. I am actually working to push this as far as I can in a chamber opera I’m working on for my dissertation.

CB: Many young musicians today blur the lines between genres and disciplines. How do you see yourself within that landscape? Do you identify with any particular aesthetic, school, or movement?

PC: I’ve found myself traveling in and in between so many different types of musical practice, starting with jazz, then new music, now adding conducting formally into the mix. I think that the blending that’s happening can lead to many exciting places that we didn’t think were possible, and the encouragement that exists for the work right now is incredible.

CB: How has your time at UC Davis so far shaped you as an artist? Are there mentors, courses, or experiences that have been especially pivotal?

PC: On the compositional side, I could not have done as much as I have without the support and advice of the wonderful faculty here. They have all helped so much, but I would especially like to mention Kurt Rohde and Laurie San Martin for their support. On the conducting side, both you and Professor Dosman have been wonderful, as have the members of the choirs and orchestra. Additionally, the UCD choirs’ tour of Vienna and Salzburg in the summer of 2024 was a turning point for me, introducing a side of opera and of musical community that I had not experienced in that way before.

CB: What are your next steps after graduation? (NB: in addition to completing a Master’s in Conducting, Peter is also completing a Ph.D. in Composition) Are there particular projects, collaborations, or long-term goals you’re excited to pursue?

PC: Well, I still have almost two years left, so many paths may still show themselves that I haven’t yet come across, but my goal would be to continue working with ensembles as composer, conductor, or both, and continuing to teach music.

CB: What advice would you give to younger musicians, conductors or composers who are just starting to find their voice?

PC: I would encourage them to embrace their own curiosity and to follow where it leads. There are so many paths to building a life with music that finding a way to keep your own creativity and motivation will help lead to a successful path.

CB: Finally, how do you hope audiences will feel when they hear When the Alarms Stopped for the first time?

PC: There are certain moments of tension, others of release, but rarely if ever relaxation. I hope this comes through.

Peter Chatterjee is a Bay Area-based composer, arranger, and conductor. He holds degrees from Berklee College of Music and California State University, Northridge. His primary composition mentors were Marti Epstein, Bob Pilkington, Ayn Inserto, Liviu Marinescu, and A.J. McCaffrey.

Peter’s recent compositions have included several works for orchestra, large jazz ensemble, and chamber ensembles centered around the ways that experience and memory and time are altered by heightened emotional contexts. His music has been performed by the Mojave Trio, Emily Thorner, Hrabba Atladottir, UC Davis Sinfonietta, UC Davis Chamber Singers, and the Esterhazy Quartet. His work has also been read and recorded by the Pacific Chamber Orchestra and by the SF Contemporary Music Players. Peter is currently a PhD candidate at UC Davis, studying composition with Mika Pelo and Kurt Rohde, orchestral conducting with Christian Baldini, and choral conducting with Nicolás Dosman.

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Claudia Pereira en diálogo con Christian Baldini

July 5, 2022 christianbaldiniblog

Christian Baldini: Estimada Claudia, es un placer tenerte como nuestra soprano solista junto a la Orquesta de Cámara de Chile en nuestros próximos conciertos el 6, 7 y 8 de Julio, en Las Condes, Requínoa y Padro Aguirre Cerda respectivamente.

Vamos a presentar contigo cuatro arias de Mozart que son muy celebradas y que han entrado en el repertorio central operístico de fines del siglo XVIII. ¿Qué me podrías decir de estar arias, y de su significado? ¿Y por supuesto, qué me podrías decir de los tres personajes que vas a representar en ellas? (Susanna, la sirvienta del Conde de Almaviva en Le nozze di Figaro, Zerlina, una joven campesina a punto de casarse con su prometido Masetto en Don Giovanni, y finalmente Despina, una joven sirviente de Fiordiligi y Dorabella en Così fan tutte)

Claudia Pereira: Bueno, primeramente ha sido un placer estar haciendo este repertorio con esta orquesta y con su batuta al mando. Respecto de este repertorio y más precisamente de estas cuatro arias, encontramos a tres personajes femeninos que ostentan ciertas similitudes en cuanto a posición social, en rango etario y en ciertas visiones o conducciones con el género masculino. Tanto Susanna en Bodas, Zerlina en Don Giovanni y Despina en Così, son jóvenes, sirvientas y mujeres de gran carácter. Curiosamente, en estas cuatro arias se encuentran cada una de ellas en una acción en torno al poder de manipulación femenino frente a los hombres. Primeramente en el aria de Susanna, ella se encuentra esperando al Conde, a quien engañado ha citado a un falso encuentro amoroso mientras Fígaro espía a su supuesta infiel prometida, en este momento ella canta un amoroso texto sobre la espera de este encuentro sabiendo que es oída por Fígaro, a quien decide castigar por osar dudar de su fidelidad, manipulando sus celos a través de las apasionadas palabras del aria, escena en al cual finalmente ella está manipulando a los dos hombres. Zerlina por su lado, en sus dos arias dirigidas a su prometido Masetto, manipula a través de sus encantos y palabras seductoras, la ira y celos de éste por su poca resistencia a los avances amorosos de Don Giovanni. En ambas ocasiones logra ella revertir una situación que le es adversa, a través de la manipulación y conocimiento de los instintos primarios de su prometido. En el aria Una donna quindici anni, Despina, una joven sirvienta explica y da lecciones de manipulación sobre el género masculino, a sus dos patronas, Dorabella y Fiordeligi.

Conociendo el carácter político y contestatario de Mozart, y siendo Lorenzo Da Ponte, el libretista que colaboró con él en estas tres óperas, podemos inferir que ninguno de estos personajes aparecen por azar o de manera ornamental. Las tres jóvenes son mujeres fuertes, de carácter decidido, de orígenes humildes y con gran conocimiento del género masculino. Sin duda, hay tanto en una intencionalidad de poner en relieve esta supuesta superioridad femenina en el arte de la manipulación frente a su género opuesto, pero no lo hace precisamente en las mujeres de alta alcurnia en estas tres óperas, sino en las simples aldeanas y sirvientas. Este “conocimiento” del género masculino a través de la manipulación de las “artes femeninas”, puede hoy en día ser leído de múltiples maneras, algunos dirán que se trata de un prejuicio sobre el género femenino y de igual manera, otros podrán creer que pone en evidencia la superioridad femenina en el conocimiento sicológico de lo masculino, pero ciertamente, lo indiscutible es que Mozart usaba siempre su música como un acto tanto político como artístico, tan aparentemente ligero como profundo a la vez, tan hermoso como brutal, y siempre sin duda alguna, admirable y polémico a la vez.

CB: ¿Cómo fueron tus comienzos con el canto? Estuviste siempre interesada en la ópera y el canto lírico?

CP: La verdad es que el canto estuvo siempre presente desde la etapa escolar y de una forma muy natural. Pero cuando comencé a estudiar música lo hice a través del piano en un comienzo, alrededor de los 9 años y posteriormente, con la guitarra clásica, instrumento que había aprendido a los 8 años a tocar por influencia familiar. El canto era una actividad que desarrollaba paralelamente tanto en coro como solista pero sin pensar en estudiarlo realmente sino recién a los 17 años, cuando salí del colegio. Para ese entonces, en la Escuela de Música en donde estudiaba guitarra, llevaba ya 3 años cantando en un grupo vocal de cámara, en donde tuve la oportunidad de ser solista en obras barrocas principalmente. En ese entonces mi gusto por la ópera era absolutamente nulo, es más, de lo poco que conocía de ópera, me había hecho una muy mala idea del género. Decidí estudiar Canto Lírico para poder dedicarme a la música barroca y de cámara. Ya en la universidad vine a conocer la ópera francesa y con ella se despertó mi gusto por el género operístico.

CB: ¿Por qué crees que la ópera sigue siendo relevante hoy en día?

CP: Creo que desde lo estético, la ópera es el género capaz de convocar a diferentes públicos a través de sus muy diferentes estímulos. Por un lado a quienes se sienten atraídos por la música y los sonidos en sí, también a los que sus estímulos visuales los apasiona, a quienes ven en ella esta especie de relato teatral, a los que buscan gozar de vestuarios, maquillajes y escenografías, a los amantes del canto propiamente tal y a quienes las sonoridades de tal o cual compositor los convoca. Por otro lado, ha sido históricamente, un espacio de expresión de sus propias épocas, en lo estilístico, literario, político, social y por supuesto, en lo artístico y musical. La ópera es por sobre todo, un espacio de expresión artística capaz de generar múltiples estímulos y significancias en las muy disímiles audiencias que genera trascendiendo aún a su propio origen.

CB: ¿Qué consejos le darías a jóvenes cantantes que están comenzando y aspiran a una carrera como solistas de ópera?

CP: Lo primero que suelo compartir a mis jóvenes alumnos es que pongan su deseo en ser por sobretodo intérpretes, que la obtención de sus conocimientos musicales y vocales, estén al servicio de aquello que se quiere decir o transmitir. Luego, podría decir que la voz, como la herramienta para interpretar, debe ser cultivada y cuidada con respeto a su naturaleza, que la técnica debe buscar siempre maximizar lo que se tiene, lo natural y auténtico y siempre lo saludable. De esta forma el instrumento a través del cual nos desarrollamos nos podrá acompañar por más tiempo de forma óptima en el camino de la música. A veces, en el ansía de comenzar pronto en este camino, olvidamos quienes somos y qué tenemos para ofrecer en qué momento de nuestra carrera, y este olvido, puede finalmente llevarnos al extravío en nuestro camino.

CB: Desde ya muchísimas gracias querida Claudia, será un verdadero placer compartir tu musicalidad y talento con nuestros públicos en la Región Metropolitana y en la Región de O’Higgins.

CP: Es realmente un placer para mí volver a estar con esta querida Orquesta de Cámara de Chile, después de un largo periodo pandémico, con esta hermosa música, estos atractivos y entretenidos personajes y bajo una batuta tan certera y conocedora del género. Muchas gracias Maestro.

Claudia Pereira – Soprano

Destacada soprano nacional, Intérprete Musical en Canto y Licenciada en Música. Realizó sus estudios en la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile con los maestros Mary Ann Fones y Patricio Méndez. Primer Lugar Concurso Internacional de Canto Lírico de Trujillo, Perú, Nominada Mejor Figura de Ópera APES año 2000 y Premio a la Crítica del Círculo de Críticos de Arte en 2019.

Desde 1995 ha sido solista habitual en las temporadas de las principales agrupaciones de nuestro país.Entre sus actuaciones destacan las más reconocidas obras del repertorio sinfónico universal realizadas junto a las más reconocidas agrupaciones como Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Chile, Orquesta de Cámara de Chile, Orquesta de la Universidad de Santiago, Sinfónica de la Universidad de Concepción, Sinfónica de Cuyo, Sinfónica de Santa Fe, Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil de Chile, Sinfónica de la Universidad de Concepción, Orquesta de Cámara de Valdivia y Filarmónica de Santiago, entre otras.

En el ámbito operístico ha interpretado numerosos roles, entre los cuales se destacan Lucy en El Teléfono de Gian Carlo Menotti, Musetta en La Bohème y Lauretta en Gianni Schicchi de G. Puccini, Susanna en Las Bodas de Fígaro, Reina de La Noche en La Flauta Mágica de Mozart, Rosina en El Barbero de Sevilla, Adina en Elixir de Amor, Rodelinda de Händel, entre otros.

Entre sus actividades musicales como solista figuran también numerosos recitales y galas en los más importantes escenarios, en compañía de destacados músicos y conjuntos de cámara connotados.

Desde 2011 se desempeñó como Profesora de la Cátedra de Canto Lírico del Conservatorio de Música de la Universidad Mayor y en la actualidad es Académica del Instituto de Música de la Pontificia Universidad Católica De Chile desde 2018, donde se desempeña como profesora de cátedra e intérprete en sus distintas temporadas.

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Jonathan Salzedo in Conversation with Christian Baldini

June 6, 2022 christianbaldiniblog

Christian Baldini: This Saturday and Sunday (June 11 and 12, 2022), I will have the pleasure of collaborating with the Chamber Music Society of Sacramento conducting two unusual works: Frank Martin’s Petite Symphonie Concertante, featuring Jonathan Salzedo (harpsichord), Kerstin Allvin (harp) and Dmitriy Cogan (piano) as our three soloists, plus a string orchestra led by legendary violinist Bill Barbini (one of the youngest members ever of the New York Philharmonic, and longtime concertmaster of the former Sacramento Symphony). The other work on the program that I will be conducting is Claude Debussy’s Danses (Danse Sacrée, and Danse Profane), for harp and string orchestra, also with Kerstin Allvin as our soloist.

I had the pleasure of asking each of our soloists a few questions about this performance and about the Frank Martin. Below are the answers by Jonathan Salzedo regarding his own impressions about the piece. I asked him to include anything including those things he enjoys, and also what he finds surprising, its context, the end of World War II, and his thoughts about Frank Martin himself.

Jonathan Salzedo: I have known about Frank Martin’s Petite Symphonie Concertante for as long as I have been interested in the harpsichord, at least 55 years. Being somewhat rooted in the 17^th and 18^th centuries, I never expected that I would get to play it, so this engagement came as an unexpected pleasant surprise.

The harpsichord disappeared from fashion around 1800 and only returned to the concert stage after 1900 with a resurgence of interest in ancient music. While mainstream orchestral instruments evolved, the harpsichord had completed its development by 1800, and the piano took over the role of the keyboard of choice. When the harpsichord was revived by Arnold Dolmetsch, the initial intention was not that it should evolve or that new music should be written for it – keeping the ancient music in museum mode was all that was needed. But by 1945, the harpsichord had not gone unnoticed, and already there were new concertos by Manuel de Falla, Bohuslav Martinu and Francis Poulenc, and it was finding its way into film scores.

The harpsichord Frank Martin had in mind for his 1945 Petite Symphonie Concertante was not the equipment of the 18^th century. Between pioneering harpsichordist Wanda Landowska and the Paris piano maker Pleyel, a far more robust harpsichord emerged, able to withstand the demands of the modern concert hall. Martin’s score is marked with specific instructions for effects only possible on that instrument. Pleyel’s robust model did not stand the test of time, and by the 1960’s makers were following Dolmetsch’s lead and basing instruments on 17th and 18th century models. While the “revival” harpsichord still has a few champions, the harpsichord and early music community is almost exclusively using traditional types of harpsichords again. So the first dilemma for the harpsichordist is whether to try to rouse a Pleyel for this piece, or to use today’s equipment, ironically the same equipment that the 18^th century player would have used. Pleyels are not so common today, and my choice is to use what I own, built in 1974 by Ted McKnight and styled on a Pascal Taskin instrument from 1769. While I can’t follow all of Martin’s registration recommendations (the equivalent of an organist having different stops available), I have all the tonal variety I need to make the music work.

Did Martin consider the problem of balance with a harpsichord of any kind in an ensemble? Back in the heyday of the harpsichord, its role was to play solos or to have a background role in ensembles. Only a few experimentalists dared to bring the harpsichord into the foreground with a chamber group or orchestra, notably Johann Sebastian Bach and Jean-Philippe Rameau. Even with Pleyel’s robustifications, the harpsichord is not able to come over the top of orchestral sound like a piano. It is an open question whether the harpsichord needs amplification for this work. Had Martin been thoughtful about balance, I would expect to find the harpsichord always accompanied by light instrumentation, and the piano and harp soloists to have soft effects in the trio work. This is not the case. I will be using discreet amplification.

When I tell people I am playing this piece, I am often asked whether I like atonal music. I find myself considering whether this work is atonal. The first twelve notes of the piece form a tone row, rather a communist concept, each of the twelve notes appearing just once. The early sections of the piece fall under the spell of this idea, and one might expect the piece to have the angular qualities we associate with Arnold Schoenberg, the creator of the tone row composition. While this was not an easy piece to get to know, once I became accustomed to its musical ideas, I did not find it atonal. There are always tonal centers to be found. Martin does not necessarily like to stay for long in one key – the music is restless, always moving somewhere. And at times, it is dissonant too, and keys co-exist in a disturbing way. But it never loses the sense of going somewhere, and when it arrives, even fleetingly, one does enjoy the moment. My 50-year career has had a lot to do with exploring the rhetoric of the 17^th and 18^th centuries, and new music for the harpsichord that I encounter does not always follow those old rhetorical guidelines. But here I find a surprising amount of that kind of rhetoric that references the former age. Among his accomplishments, Frank Martin was a harpsichordist, and it is clear that he knew the idioms of the 18^th century.

What else is there in this music? As well as finding a warm version of Schoenberg and fragments that resonate from the 18^th century, there is more. The piece can be read as a survey of all that was happening, both in music and in the world outside, at the end of World War II. The world order was in flux, so the piece is restless. The chordal clusters and rhythms of jazz were finding their way into art music, and they too are here. And while the music reflects the ideas of predecessors, it also foreshadows what will come. The March that opens the final section anticipates Henri Mancini’s Pink Panther, and later I hear in embryo Edwin Ashley’s Danger Man theme. And perhaps the biggest surprise of all is that the last page of my part is entirely pentatonic (just using five notes that are pleasant sounding in any combination) and ends with a brisk G major scale. When we reach that point, I am reminded that the first part I play ends in an F minor scale. So there appears to be an over-arching trajectory from the darkness of F minor through many musical trials to the simplicity of a pentatonic mode and finally the brightness of G major; perhaps a reminder that bleak times always contain a seed of hope for a less confused and better future.

Christian Baldini: Why is music is important to you? Is there any advice you want to share with young musicians?

Jonathan Salzedo: What to say to a young musician? It’s not an easy career, many frustrations, a lot of self-doubt, terrible comparisons – but also great joy and the best community you could imagine, because musicians are the only people who will really understand you. When I moved to the USA from England at age 31, I was ready to give up music – I thought I had played out that youthful dream. But if music wants you and you have a bit of willingness, you and music will somehow find each other and have to put up with each other. Now that I am 71, I can’t imagine a life better than the one I have had, mixing music with a whole lot of other interesting stuff, including technology. Having an artistic outlet really does make you a better person, less likely to buy guns and shoot people, more likely to be intrigued by the world and its infinite possibilities. Follow your nose; don’t let anyone else suggest that you should grow up.

British born harpsichordist Jonathan Salzedo is a frequent Freeway Philharmonic contributor in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was an active and occasionally prizewinning pianist in his youth, then planned to study harpsichord with someone famous, but ended up learning what he knows from working with fine musicians with good ideas. With his wife Marion Rubinstein and daughter Laura Jeannin he runs The Albany Consort, a group with a long and impressive track record, though only one (accidental) recording. Jonathan also plays new music with violinist Karen Bentley Pollick, including compositions written for the duo. He actually likes moving and tuning instruments, and considers these to be an important part of the whole harpsichord experience. When not on the road doing gigs, he sings at Congregation Etz Chayim, Palo Alto, and runs a software consulting business.

Beauty, Christian Baldini, composer, Concerto, Conductor, piano, Soloist, Uncategorized

Oscar Strasnoy in Conversation with Christian Baldini

April 19, 2022 christianbaldiniblog

On April 21, 2022, I will have the pleasure of conducting the US Première of Oscar Strasnoy’s Piano Concerto Kuleshov with Ryan McCullough as our soloist, together with the phenomenal UC Davis Symphony Orchestra at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts in Davis, California. Below is a brief interview with Oscar talking about his music:

Christian Baldini: Dear Oscar, it will be so wonderful to conduct the US Premiere of your Piano Concerto Kuleshov with the excellent pianist Ryan McCullough as our soloist. Tell me, how did the genesis of this piece start? And how did you come up with the concept of Kuleshov as a source of inspiration?

Oscar Strasnoy: As is almost always the case, the piece was born out of a soloist’s desire to receive a piece by a specific composer. In this case, Alexandre Tharaud was the generator of the project. Mauricio Kagel had promised him a piano concerto, but he died before finishing it. So Alexandre asked me. I am a sort of post-mortem-ghost-writer for Kagel, a position I enjoy very much assuming.

The idea of relating the work to the first film editing techniques of the Soviet cinema of the 1920s-1930s comes from further back, it is something that has always interested me. The name Lev Kuleshov came up at the end of the composition, when it occurred to me to close a very heterogeneous form, made mostly of fragments, using his concept of alternating still and moving images, a kind of big rondo around a more abstract central movement.

CB: Your music is surprising, refreshing, it probably cannot be easily labeled or contained. What is your goal with each new piece? What do you try to “communicate”, and/or what are some priorities to you in your music?

OS: For years, my activity as a composer was principally around opera and musical theater. And the fact of frequently working with texts created in me a quasi Pavlovian reflex for generating musical images, something like ideograms that could be associated to concepts. A kind of program music without a program. I feel very close, not necessarily in style, but in the way of approaching the heterogeneous formal assembly of the works, to the thought of Eisenstein or to Liszt, Wagner, Pierre Schaeffer and Messiaen. My interest is not focused on the so called “musical material” (new sounds) but on how acoustic ideas are associated with each other and form a kind of story board or, perhaps better, a Japanese kind of emakimono scrolls. That Japanese art is the one that fascinates me the most among all types of art. A kind of cinematography avant la lettre, still cinema, frozen time.

CB: You have worked with many of the world’s greatest artists. You’ve written concertos for Isabelle Faust and Alexander Tharaud. Does this make your life easier when writing a concerto with a performer in mind? How do you approach the process, is it very collaborative or do you deliver the piece once it’s done?

OS: I like working with friends, first of all, spending time with them exchanging food, jokes and ideas. That’s how I learned the most. I send them my ideas in sketch form, sometimes I tell them over the phone, and I complete them with their technical advice.

CB: What would you recommend to someone who has never heard your music before? What should they listen for?

OS: I would recommend looking at emakimonos in a museum or on the internet. I would also recommend to look at a wonderful eighty-meters long work that David Hockney painted with an iPad during the pandemic, “A Year in Normandy” is its title. And I would recommend watching Soviet cinema from the 1920s.

CB: Kuleshov seems to make some references to piano music of the past. I hear a lot of (even possible quotations) Rachmaninov, Debussy and Ravel. How did you approach these connections or recollections? How do you manage to make all these voices fit into your own language?

OS: My main source for this work was silent film accompaniment music from the 1920s. Surely those musics were influenced by certain features of those composers, so my references are surely second hand.

CB: Do you have any advice for young composers?

OS: Forget about the so called “musical material”. Music is immaterial, it consists of heterogeneous sounds disposed on a given time. Any sonorous thing can fill that time with whatever you can think of. I would recommend them also to forget the obligation of artistic homogeneity that we inherited from the Enlightenment. The world we live in is heterogeneous and the art of our time has to reflect the world we live in. I would also recommend them to avoid as much as possible emulating the contemporary musical currents taught in universities, which turn almost all students into epigones. Being an artist means being free to do whatever you want with whatever ideas, material or media you want. If you don’t achieve that degree of independence, you will not be an artist, you will be a craftsman, which is not bad in itself but was probably not your initial plan. But one has to be patient, it’s a process that can take some time, probably the whole life.

CB: Thank you very much for your time, I very much look forward to once more conducting your beautiful music.

OS: Thank you, dear Christian. It’s a big pleasure and an honor for me to be here in Davis.

Biography

Oscar Strasnoy was born in Buenos Aires and studied piano, conducting and composition there at the Conservatorio Nacional Superior de Música (with Aldo Antognazzi and Guillermo Scarabino), at the Conservatoire de Paris (with Guy Reibel, Michaël Levinas and Gérard Grisey), where he won in 1996 a Premier Prix à l’Unanimité (first prize) and the Hochschule für Musik, Frankfurt (with Hans Zender). He was the Music Director of the Orchestre du Crous de Paris (1996–1998). He was one of the founding recipients of the Grüneisen Foundation (Mozarteum Argentino) conducting scholarship, and of the French Government Scholarship. In 1999 he was invited by Peter Eötvös to Herrenhaus-Edenkoben in Germany.

Luciano Berio awarded him the 2000 Orpheus Prize for his chamber opera Midea produced at the Teatro Caio Melisso in Spoleto in 2000 and at the Rome Opera in 2001.He was also artist in residence at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, in 2003 at the Villa Kujoyama in Kyoto (Institut français), and in 2006 at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Umbria, Italy. In 2007 he received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship for Music Composition. Radio France, in association with the Parisian Théâtre du Châtelet, featured Strasnoy as the main composer of the Festival Présences 2012, a retrospective of most of his works in 14 concerts in January 2012.

Compositions

Oscar Strasnoy has composed twelve stage works, including operas performed at Spoleto, Rome, Paris (Opéra Comique, Théâtre du Châtelet), Hamburg, Bordeaux, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Teatro Colón of Buenos Aires), Berlin State Opera; a live-accompanied silent film score for Anthony Asquith’s Underground which premiered at the Louvre in 2004 and was subsequently played at the Cine Doré in Madrid, the Mozarteum Argentino, Kyoto, and Tokyo) and a secular cantata, Hochzeitsvorbereitungen (mit B und K). He also composed several pieces of chamber, vocal and orchestral music, including his song cycle Six Songs for the Unquiet Traveller which premiered in 2004 performed by the Nash Ensemble and Ann Murray in a concert to inaugurate the newly refurbished Wigmore Hall in London.

In January 2012 a retrospective of his work in 14 concerts has been presented at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris as part of the Festival Présences of Radio France. Strasnoy’s works are primarily published by Universal Edition (Vienna) Chant du Monde (Paris) and Billaudot (Paris). His opera Midea is published by Ricordi (Milan).

Beauty, California, Christian Baldini, composer, Experimental, Soloist, Uncategorized

Rachel Lee Priday in Conversation with Christian Baldini

February 25, 2022February 25, 2022 christianbaldiniblog

Christian Baldini: On March 5 I will have the pleasure of collaborating with the wonderful violinist Rachel Lee Priday on the world premiere of the Violin Concerto “Kuyén” by Chilean composer Miguel Farías at UC Davis. This piece was commissioned by our orchestra, with funds from Ibermúsicas. Rachel, welcome, and let’s start by sharing your thoughts about this piece by Miguel. What should people listen for? What is unique about it? [NB: at the time of this interview, we have not had a rehearsal with the orchestra yet, only zoom meetings between the composer, the soloist and the conductor, so Rachel has not heard how the concerto sounds with the orchestra yet]

Rachel Lee Priday: Kuyén is a continuous drama that unfolds over the course of twenty minutes between the orchestra and solo violin. My role as the violinist is to symbolize and give voice to the Moon in this personification of the ancient Mapuche tale of Kuyén‘s marriage to the deity Antu (the Sun), revolt among the jealous stars, and their punishment, leaving Kuyén the brightest light in the sky.

Miguel brilliantly creates a sense of light and shadow in the way he colors the violin line through various harmonics and oscillating rhythms. There is also a rhetorical quality to the music, and a glowing energy. Knowing the story this piece depicts, it will be fun for listeners to imagine and follow along with the action in the music. I am very curious and excited to hear and create the full drama with you and the UC Davis Symphony.

CB: You are a wonderfully eclectic performer, with a lot of experience under your belt. You have performed as a soloist with several major orchestras around the world, including the National Symphony, as well as the Chicago and Seattle symphonies and the Staatskapelle Berlin. Tell me about your beginnings with music. How did it all start for you? When did you realize music was going to be your life?

RLP: I started playing the violin soon after I turned four years old. I had asked my mother for a violin for my fourth birthday, but there was a delay in getting the violin. So when my birthday came and there was no violin, I threw a tantrum. My mom got the message, and I started Suzuki lessons in Chicago a few months later.

I was very serious about music from the beginning, and I wanted to be a violinist, considering it my life, from the start. After I began playing the violin, I almost don’t remember a time I didn’t think of myself as a musician. It’s now a little strange to think about.

CB: Let’s talk about programming. How do you choose the works that you perform? Do you see a responsibility or a role in society for those of us who are making decisions about which composers and/or which works to promote and perform?

RLP: There is definitely a great responsibility that organizations and performers carry in deciding which works to promote and perform. We have an active role in giving exposure to new music especially, and in building together an inclusive musical world. Whenever I decide what to play, whether it’s a new commission or a warhorse standard, I think about whether I will love it, whether I feel I can do justice to it, and whether there is something intriguing about it that will expand me and audiences artistically.

CB: What (or who) are some unforgettable experiences and/or people in your life, and why?

RLP: My teachers, including Itzhak Perlman, Dorothy DeLay and Miriam Fried, have been huge influences in my life. It can’t be overstated how they have shaped me as a violinist, musician, person, and now as a teacher.

CB: Which advice would you give to young musicians? We know it is sometimes hard to be constant, to continue growing, improving and not losing focus or getting distracted or deflated by failure, by an audition that doesn’t go well, or by a harsh teacher that might seem discouraging. How have you dealt with adversity in the past?

RLP: Over the years and especially during the pandemic, I have come to realize that the more I fill my cup with gratitude and connection to others in doing the work, the more freedom I experience from self-doubt and other discouraging feelings. It is relieving to remember that it’s not about me, it’s about the music and being of service. I have always lived by the motto of simply “do your best,” and have added in a lot lately, “it will be okay.” Just showing up and doing things consistently can be the most important part. If you can be curious about something in the midst of a challenge, it can stop negative thoughts in their tracks and redirect you to a positive, creative and engaged mode of thought.

CB: Thank you very much for your time dear Rachel, we very much look forward to showcasing your wonderful musicianship with our audiences!

RLP: I’m so grateful to work with you and for this exciting premiere! Thank you, Christian!

About Rachel Lee Priday

A consistently exciting artist, renowned globally for her spectacular technique, sumptuous sound, deeply probing musicianship, and “irresistible panache” (Chicago Tribune), violinist RACHEL LEE PRIDAY has appeared as soloist with major international orchestras, among them the Chicago, Houston, National, Pacific, St. Louis and Seattle Symphony Orchestras, Boston Pops Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Germany’s Staatskapelle Berlin. Her distinguished recital appearances have brought her to eminent venues, including Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ Mostly Mozart Festival, Chicago’s Ravinia Festival and Dame Myra Hess Memorial Series, Paris’s Musée du Louvre, Germany’s Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival and Switzerland’s Verbier Festival.

Passionately committed to new music and creating enriching community and global connections, Rachel Lee Priday’s wide-ranging repertoire and multidisciplinary collaborations reflect a deep fascination with literary and cultural narratives. Recent seasons have seen a new Violin Sonata commissioned from Pulitzer Prize Finalist Christopher Cerrone and the world premiere of Matthew Aucoin’s The Orphic Moment in an innovative staging that mixed poetry, drama, visuals and music. She has collaborated often with Ballet San Jose, and was lead performer in “Tchaikovsky: None But the Lonely Heart”, theatrical concerts with the Ensemble for the Romantic Century at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Her work as soloist with the Asia America New Music Institute promoted cultural exchange between Asia and the Americas, combining premiere performances with educational outreach in the US, China, Korea and Vietnam.

This season Rachel performs in duo recital with composer/pianist Timo Andres in Seattle and Washington, DC at the Phillips Collection. Upcoming concerto engagements include the Portland Symphony, Roanoke Symphony and UC Davis Symphony at the Mondavi Center, while recent engagements have included the Pacific Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Johannesburg Philharmonic, Kwazulu-Natal Philharmonic, Stamford Symphony, and Bangor Symphony.

Since making her orchestral debut at the Aspen Music Festival in 1997, Rachel has performed with numerous orchestras across the United States, including those of Colorado, Alabama, Knoxville, Rockford, and Springfield (MA), as well as the New York Youth Symphony. Her In Europe and in Asia, she has appeared at the Moritzburg Festival in Germany and with orchestras in Graz, Austria, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Korea, where she performed with the KBS Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic and Russian State Symphony Orchestra on tour. She has also toured South Africa and the United Kingdom, appearing in recital at the Universities of Birmingham and Cambridge.

Rachel Lee Priday began her violin studies at the age of four in Chicago. Shortly thereafter, she moved to New York City to study with the iconic pedagogue Dorothy DeLay; she continued her studies at The Juilliard School Pre-College Division with Itzhak Perlman. She holds a B.A. degree in English from Harvard University and an M.M. from the New England Conservatory, where she worked with Miriam Fried. In the fall of 2019, she joined the faculty of the University of Washington School of Music as Assistant Professor of Violin.

Rachel Lee Priday has been profiled in The New Yorker, The Strad, Los Angeles Times and Family Circle. Her performance have been broadcast on major media outlets in the United States, Germany, Korea, South Africa and Brazil, including a televised concert in Rio de Janeiro, numerous appearances on Chicago’s WFMT and American Public Media’s “Performance Today.” She has also been featured on BBC Radio 3, the Disney Channel, “Fiddling for the Future” and “American Masters” on PBS, and the Grammy Awards.

She performs on a Nicolo Gagliano violin (Naples, 1760), double-purfled with fleurs-de-lis, named Alejandro.

Category: Uncategorized

Peter Chatterjee in Conversation with Christian Baldini