Bowerbird is excited to present the vocal group Ekmeles at UniLu. The ensemble will perform Madrigals and Animals, a program of works celebrating the history and future of unaccompanied part song, and the interaction of human and animal voices. Karola Obermüller’s mass:distance:time relates directly to this history, with flickers of Machaut’s mass, and text by renaissance writer Ungaretti. Salvatore Sciarrino’s 12 Madrigali is an epic exploration of the composer’s signature sound world of filigree and glissando, and will be heard here in its U.S. premiere. Karola Bauckholt’s Instinkt, also heard for the first time in the U.S., blurs the line between animal vocalization and contemporary music. Finally, Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf’s void – un delitto italiano dramatizes in madrigal form the murder of Italian artist Pier Paolo Pasolini.
PROGRAM
mass:distance:time – Karola Obermüller
void – un delitto italiano – Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf
12 Madrigali – Salvatore Sciarrino
Instinkt – Carola Bauckholt
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS
Ekmeles is a vocal ensemble dedicated to the performance of new and rarely-heard works, and gems of the historical avant garde. New York is home to a vibrant instrumental New Music scene, with a relative paucity of vocal music. Ekmeles was founded to fill the gap by presenting new a cappella repertoire for solo voices, and by collaborating with these instrumental ensembles.
Director Jeffrey Gavett brings a hybrid vision to the group: he is an accomplished ensemble singer and performer of new works, and holds degrees from Westminster Choir College and Manhattan School of Music’s Contemporary Performance Program. He has assembled a virtuoso group of colleagues who bring their own diverse backgrounds to bear on the unique challenges of this essential and neglected repertoire.