Celebration!

Celebration! expands the 2024 ICA ClarinetFest theme “Every Clarinetist is Connected” to a global scale and across many instruments. The interactive audiovisual work asks the audience to submit questions regarding their birth countries, where they have lived, and where they have traveled. The music features musicians from around the world who share the musical traditions that have meaning to them. Clarinet lines explore and develop these melodies while the electronics accompany and bridge the melodies with subtle nods to both traditional musics and to EDM. The work was co-composed by Dylan Findley and Csaba Jevtic-Somlai and features melodic contributions by Shuang Zhu, Handel Gyuri, Regina Tanujaya, Eduardo Frigatti, La Guacamaya Collective, and Kwan Leung Ling (in order of appearance).

To be premiered at the ICA ClarinetFest, Ecocem Room, Dublin Convention Centre, Dublin Ireland by Dylan Findley and Csaba Jevtic-Somlai.

A Real Buster

A Real Buster is a multimedia work for tenor saxophone, live electronics, and video that reflects on Buster Keaton’s legacy as a comic actor and as a filmmaker. The name Buster, given to him by Harry Houdini, referred to his extreme resilience to pain, which is manifest in his dangerous stunts featured in his movies.

To be premiered at the Kairos Multimeda Concert on April 2, 2024 by Drew Hosler at the Shoolroy Theatre, College of Wooster.

Cosmic Cliffs

Commissioned by and written for Ting Luo for the New Arts Collaboration, Cosmic Cliffs finds inspiration in and uses imagery from NASA’s James Webb Telescope. This multimedia work for piano and interactive media features electronic sound and video that reacts to the performer and allows for the performer to explore the sonic landscapes in points of rest in the piano part. The work is built around the overtone series, the foundation of timbre, representing the powerful filtering process that allows the telescope to block out unwanted light to capture events millions of light years away in stunning brilliance.

Premiered by Ting Luo on May 19, 2023 at Old First Concerts, San Francisco, CA.

Lo!

Lo! contemplates a path towards peace amid tumultuous times. The year 2020 will be remembered primarily for its pandemic and the equally disheartening voices of confusion and contention that offer quick cures, people and nations to blame, compromised statistics, and other conspiracies. More intense feelings came from the death of George Floyd and subsequent protests including riots against police brutality and continued systemic and personal racism. All this heralds a controversial presidential election that has politicized these ongoing events. The music represents this noise with… noise. Old advertisements and game shows, moody string quartet music, and synthesizers create a whirlwind of grit and chaos.

In stark contrast, the year 2020 also marks a year of celebration for Latter-day Saints, the Bicentennial of the First Vision, during which God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to the prophet Joseph Smith. The 14-year old farm boy questioned the state of his soul and pled to the Lord concerning his salvation. He was saved from darkness because he had put faith in his Redeemer and acted upon it. In great noise we, like him, can find answers to prayers and feel peace. The trumpet music weaves hymn tune fragments as respite to the frenzied sounds. As the electronics give way to consonance, the trumpet performs over just-intoned electronics over a fundamental pitch, representing purity through a connection to heaven.

            This project was made possible through the groundwork done by the Prelinger Archives and the Internet Archive. Special thanks are also warranted to Erin Jossie for her help filming, and Erin and Michael Findley for their help editing and finessing the video component.

The Story of Our Journey

For information on future performances and the background of the work, visit this page dedicated to the project.

Interested in performing this work? The score is available for purchase below, and the electronic audio component (stereo fixed media with visual cues operated through Max/MSP) is available for those who plan to perform the piece live (I’ll be in touch about that!). Read about the video component below.

Score excerpt here.

Purchase the score ($60)

While this piece can be played without the video, the video component adds important context to the work, including the faces and translated words of those who tell their stories. However, the video of The Story of Our Journey is owned by non-profit advocacy organization Their Story is Our Story. Please contact them to make arrangements for the video to be projected during performance.

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Performances/Showings to Date:

April 14, 2023- Live performance at the College of Wooster for the Their Story is Our Story residency Displacement Today in Wooster, OH. Performed by Csaba Jevtic-Somlai.

February 21, 2022- Live performance of movements 2 and 3 at the Worlds Within the One recital at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in La Crosse, WI. Performed by Dylan Findley.

November 19, 2021- Live performance at the Glendale Civic Center in Glendale, AZ. Sponsored by the City of Glendale Office of Arts and Culture through their Performing Arts Grant Program. Performed by Csaba Jevtic-Somlai.

November 5, 2021- Live performance at the Glendale Ampitheater in Glendale, AZ. Sponsored by the City of Glendale Office of Arts and Culture through their Performing Arts Grant Program. Performed by Csaba Jevtic-Somlai.

October 23, 2021- Live performance at the Millcreek Library in Salt Lake City. Performed by Csaba Jevtic-Somlai.

October 21, 2021- Live performance at Brigham Young University as part of Their Story is Our Story’s residency. Performed by Csaba Jevtic-Somlai.

June 20, 2021- Online showing through Washington D.C.-based organization Sunset Run for Refugees (World Refugee Day).

June 18, 2021- Live excerpts performed at World Refugee Day activities in Salt Lake City, UT.

March 19, 2021- Online showing #2 through City of Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture

January 22, 2021- Online showing through the City of Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture

December 5, 2020- Online video “European premiere,” followed by panel discussion with TSOS Europe representative.

October 16, 2020- Online video premiere, followed by panel discussion with TSOS Phoenix area representative.