The first concert of NWEAMO was held on Sunday April 26, 8 PM at the 1st Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego.
Please enjoy this pages video record of the amazing music that was presented.
Concert 1: “Suite Noir” featured the SDSU Symphony Orchestra, Hausmann String Quartet, and SWARMIUS on Sunday April 26, 8 PM at the 1st Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego,
Concert 2: Folklore Guild w SWARMIUS Friday June 19, 7 PM San Diego Central Library – eight floor atrium at 330 Park Blvd, San Diego, CA 92101 Suggested Donation: $15 General, $10 Students/Seniors
Concert 3: The final concert of NWEAMO is being rescheduled: “The Big Ripe Yellow Banana Concert For The People Of The City” location and date will be announced as soon as possible.
Program Notes Concert 1: Main event of the evening, a new concerto grosso entitled “Suite Noir”, by Joseph Martin Waters.
This is a three movement, half hour total concerto grosso featuring the San Diego State University Symphonic Orchestra under the direction of Michael Gerdes with 4 soloists, from The Hausmann String Quartet, and the SWARMIUS Ensemble.
The work was premiered a few weeks ago, on March 22. This will be performance number two. Note from the composer: “Suite Noir” concerns three main ideas:
1. Like many of my pieces it’s a rumination on who we are and how we think about each other and our place in the world…
2. it is also an homage to 1930s & 40s – the era of the Great American songbook – songs of Gershwin, Porter, Ellington – these were composed before I was born – they are the songs of my parents generation. I grew up hearing them around the house. There are no quotations here – just the harmonic and melodic idioms.
3. it’s about the night – when all the notions that we cling to about what we believe in and who we are melt away into a dream world, that we know almost nothing about.
It has 4 major solo parts, three of which feature my band-mates of SWARMIUS
Theia (Emma DePuy) on vocals Schrödinger’s Sax – Michael Couper (alto sax) Augustus Marimbus – Andrew Kreysa (vibes) Plus our collaborator and founder of the Hausmann String Quartet – Newtonium ( Isaac Allen) on violin.
The work also has a major piano component, which will be performed by our new friend Maria Didur. • comprised of 3 movements – All about flying – not in airplanes – following are some brief descriptions:
Movement 1 — Floating Above The City At Night Imagines what it might be like if one could click one’s heals like Dorothy, and then float up effortlessly into the sky at night. What would you do if that happened to you? You might well enjoy the whimsy & freedom of flying like a kite, blimp, or a gull – sailing, floating, looking down upon millions of people, most of them asleep – but here and there you might see a person sitting by themselves in the moonlight – in a state of loneliness or grief and you might imagine for a moment the enormous suffering and loneliness in our great cities… so movement one is whimsical but also touches on that.
Movement 2 — An Invisible Wind Of Imaginary Music – an Animae/Tolkien Fantasy – dream fantasy, great armies in the clouds racing and doing battle in the moonlight – – then somehow (dream logic ) ending up in a jazz club in Paris 30s, before waking up again in one’s tiny flat to begin the day.
Movement 3 — Cerulean And Other Colors Of The Sky – Dance Of The Wind Spirits – takes as its inspirations the final movement to Berlioz’ “Symphony Fantastique”, which is an opium dream of a wild, orgiastic witches Sabbath… and Dukas’ “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” – but this piece is more like magic class at Hogwarts Academy – where something goes wrong, the spells cut loose and go flying madly around the room – a bunch of mischievous poltergeists….
Here is a link to movement one
Here is Ken Herman’s review of the premiere
The other works on the program are:
M8untain In The Mist (performed by the SWARMIUS ensemble with guests: Bradley Nash and Ray-Young Ahn)
Quiet Music – Early Morning (string trio, performed by members of the Hausmann String Qt: Isaac Allen, Angela Choong, Alex Greenbaum)
Bee Carillon -A Habernero Palindrome (performed by SWARMIUS)