World Premiere of Meira Warshauer’s Ocean Calling I for Piano Duo
on October 7
Ocean Calling I: Waves and Currents will be given its World Premiere performance on Sunday, October 7 – 3:00 PM at the University of South Carolina Recital Hall as part of the Cornelia Freeman Concert Series.
Performers will be the Lomazov/Rackers Duo
(Marina Lomazov and Joseph Rackers). Other composers on the program will include Verdi, Mozart, Kevin McKee, John Fitz Rogers and Tayloe Harding. Visit the duo at http://www.lomazovrackers.com/.
More about the October 7 performance at http://www.music.sc.edu/chamberseries/Septemberseries.html#CONCERT5.
Meira writes about the series and the piece, “Ocean Calling is a series of three compositions for two pianos, dedicated to the ocean. As I learn of large-scale contaminations, over-fishing, acidification from global warming, death of coral reefs, and more, I fear we take for granted the ocean’s gifts, unaware that our survival is linked to the ocean’s health. Covering 72% of the planet surface and providing half the oxygen we breathe, while regulating our climate with currents traversing thousands of miles, the ocean has been called our life-support system. I hope the Ocean Calling series will help us to renew our connection with this vital life source and its vast, mysterious realms.”
“The first work in the series, Waves and Currents, revels in the joy of swimming at the seashore. A child of the sea, my earliest memories relate to the flow of tides and surf at the beach in North Carolina: diving into breakers, floating on the surface and jumping with crests and dips, ever watchful for the next wave about to roll and crash. Metric shifts, contrasting textures, and glissandi, both on keys and on strings inside the piano, help convey the swirling energy of waves, currents, wind, and spray. A metal chain rustles on vibrating strings to mimic the white noise of the breakers, while attentive use of the damper pedal suggests liquid, underwater resonance, contrasted with bright, dry sounds above the surface.”
“A second composition, Ocean Calling II: From the Depths, will focus on the incredibly varied and fantastical creatures of the sea as they face new threats to their fragile habitats. In Ocean Calling III, I hope to connect to the expanse of the sea, its call and echo, ancient reverberations attuning us to this life-sustaining medium, calling us to respond.”
Ocean Calling I was commissioned by Gail Anastasian, Janna Baker and Laurie Walden in memory of their mother Patricia M. Baker, lover of nature and dear friend of the composer.
More about the October 7 performance at http://www.music.sc.edu/chamberseries/Septemberseries.html#CONCERT5.
Ocean Calling I: Waves and Currents will receive its 2nd performance, and Midwest Premiere on Friday, October 19 at Kobacker Hall of Ohio’s Bowling Green State University, as part of the 2012 Bowling Green New Music Festival “Music and the Physical World”
Performers will be BGSU faculty Laura Melton and Robert Satterlee. The concert will also include works by Charles Ives, Kyle Gann (World Premiere), Daniel S. Godfrey (World Premiere) and Trevor Matthews.