Remote Livestream #7:
Illumination
​​PROGRAM

Want to read more about the technology involved in these performances?
Check out our new resources page!

---

A note: Since standard choral conducting does not work for live remote performance (in fact, it could be detrimental, due to the latency!), we have dubbed the artistic leaders of each piece "semiconductors." While not conducting in the traditional sense, our semiconductors give important cues to help the ensemble stay together, a task made more complicated in this medium. The term "semiconductor" is also a referential nod to the electronic nature of this performance. Thanks to our semiconductors for learning how best to lead an ensemble in this new world!
​

"Lux Aeterna"
by Stephanie K. Andrews
composed 2013 - world premiere
Semiconductor: Perry Townsend

“Lux Aeterna” is from A Requiem for Peace, which I composed during the years 2013 through 2015 and wrote in memory of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals who have taken their own lives, particularly my former partner, Susan Rae McIntyre, who passed away in 2012. My wish for these departed souls was that light perpetual might shine upon them, and that they would know peace eternally. In today’s context of the coronavirus pandemic, with over 500,000 souls lost to COVID-19 in the United States alone, I think that the prayer of the “Lux Aeterna” has the potential to take on a much deeper, broader meaning, particularly for the many, many people who have lost loved ones to the novel coronavirus. Moreover, this prayer can take on new meaning for all of us who grieve the untold suffering and massive loss of life caused by this catastrophic pandemic. I believe that the power of the prayer of the “Lux Aeterna” – that light perpetual may shine upon our beloved departed, that they may be granted eternal rest – is especially profound and meaningful at this moment in our collective life. In these dark and trying times, may we all be granted grace to find and receive the tremendous comfort offered within this prayer.

Text:
Lux æterna luceat eis, Domine,

cum sanctis tuis in æternum, 
quia pius es.

Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine;

et lux perpetua luceat eis;
cum sanctis tuis in æternum, quia pius es.

May everlasting light shine upon them, O Lord,
with your saints forever, for you are kind.
Grant them eternal rest, O Lord,
and may everlasting light shine upon them
with your saints forever, for you are merciful.


"Thirst Trap"
by Perry Townsend
composed 2021 - world premiere
Semiconductor: Melissa Wozniak
 
The heightened isolation of the pandemic has amplified many aspects of life that were already strange enough before.  Most acute perhaps is the effect of constant screen time on us humans, where "virtual space" no longer merely accompanies the "meat space" of physical interaction, but practically replaces it.  Any way you slice it, that's just plain weird.

Somewhere in the midst of contemplating all this, alone in my apartment, I kept returning to one of our more evocative cyber-phrases, the "thirst trap."  Beyond the surface meaning of posting sexy pictures of yourself, hoping to lure admirers into your web, lay the spectacle of all sorts of online behavior which can sometimes spiral from entertaining novelty into attention-seeking desperation, or even addiction. 

Where exactly does posting pics of your life, or hosting cool platforms, or firing comments back and forth on Daily Beast ... become plain ol' thirsty co-dependence?  How do we move from just saying something to saying it for the purpose of scoring reactions?  Can we even tell the difference after a while?
Before I knew it, out came this poem and its musical setting.  On a practical level, I also tried to address some of the challenges of coordinating remote-live music, so most of the text is given to 4 soloists, while the choir intones the mantra "look at me."  Writing such a thing for online performance was definitely not a call for validation of any sort, though.  PM me to talk about it.

- Perry Townsend

 
Text:
look-at-me look-at-me look-at-me
like me, check me out
that's hot, right?
give me all the feels

look-at-me
like my post
share my pic
spread my meme
re-tweet me

make me feel wanted, valid, okay, virtuous
please help me to not be empty
look-at-me look-at-me look-at-me

i'm gonna help you fight boredom if you help me with my ego
scratch my back i'll scratch yours
what else we gonna do locked up indoors, right?

tell me i'm good, i'm hot, i'm worthy, i'm wholesome
tell me my apartment looks cool
my yard is dope
my performances are amazing
my cat is cute

tell me my punditry is insightful
my memes are trending (yes!)
my subscriptions have doubled
my Insta is exploding
look-at-me look-at-me look-at-me

like it and i'll post more
love it and i'll give you even sweeter angles
adore it and i'll be yours completely
at least for today, til next time
look-at-me look-at-me look-at-me

cuz next time you gotta give me some love all over again, k?
like this never happened


"Nocturne"
by Adolphus Hailstork
composed 1994
Semiconductor: Brian Mountford
text by Jim Curtis

Adolphus Hailstork is Professor of Music and Eminent Scholar at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Nocturne was commissioned for the Unitarian Church of Norfolk, and sets a text by Jim Curtis, former minister of that church. The poem asks the listener if they have known the beauty of a summer night, passing from images of the cool breeze and rustling grass upward to the contemplation of the starry, infinite heavens. If so, says Curtis, then “come and watch these skies, watch these fields with me.” Hailstork’s setting begins contemplatively, then swells to a climax in the middle before relaxing back into the reverie of the summer night. In addition to being a beautiful piece, Nocturne is well suited for a livestream performance, with long, undulating patterns in each part.
 
Text:
Have you known the beauty of a summer night
with a white streak of stars in a charcoal sky?
Have you heard the insects with their countless array of sounds,
endlessly busy through the otherwise silent night?
Have you walked in the field with the cool wind
and the black grass rustling around you?
Have you at last turned your face to the brilliant sky above,
and seen the suns floating there, each a fiery universe?
Have you lost yourself in that broad expanse so that the black grass
and the humming insects and the chill breeze have all vanished?
Have you felt the wonder that flows without end in those mighty spaces,
where countless fires burn in the surrounding darkness?
Have you kissed the night and its promise,
when it turned its expectant face to your lips?
If you have done those things, lover,
then come and watch these skies,
then come and watch these fields, with me, my love.


"Berkeley Denies"
by Charles Turner
composed 2020
text by George Berkeley

“Berkeley Denies” is a logical successor to two previous pieces that Triad has already performed, “Sing Child” and “Drifting Figures”. Both use fragmentary melodic phrases that are spread through all of the voices to create a shifting but relatively static texture. Both pieces are written using restricted pitch sets, and both are fully written out.

Taking the pandemic into account, I wrote “Berkeley Denies” as a single melodic line in short phrases separated by rests of indeterminate duration. Individual choristers sing through the melody twice at their own speed, without trying to coordinate with anyone else. The piece can be performed live or can be built up as a “mix” of recordings of individual voices (as in the current performance).The text is by idealist philosopher George Berkeley: “neither our thoughts nor passions nor ideas formed by the imagination exist without the mind.”  The music sounds to me like a group of souls or disembodied spirits, dreaming about the mind.

-- Charles Turner

Text:
neither our thoughts
neither our thoughts nor passions
passions passions
nor ideas formed
formed formed
by the imagination exist
exist
exist without the mind


"Grateful"
by Jamie Klenetsky Fay
composed 2021 - world premiere
Semiconductor: Adrienne Inglis

"Grateful" was written between December 2020 and March 2021, a period that felt like "pandemic limbo:" a vaccine existed, but getting an appointment was nearly impossible; there was an end in sight, but we had no idea when that end would come. I was grappling with seemingly contrary emotions - frustrated about the day-to-day grind of pandemic life, but truly grateful that my loved ones were still virus-free. I felt that many people were (and are) going through this, and needed to express it in song. The rhythmic drone represents the daily "sameness," and the synth track evokes our ever-growing dependence on technology to connect with each other. My hope is that this piece can help us reflect on life during the pandemic - which will, god willing, soon become a distant memory.

-- Jamie Klenetsky Fay


Text:
I wake up each morning
I get a bowl of cereal
I just can’t watch the news again.
I remember I’m grateful

The morning shower, the morning coffee.

I work from nine-to-five,
Monday through Friday (working)
The world is on fire (but I’m working)
Must remember, I’m grateful

Here, in my shelter,
Warm, safe, hibernating,
Home
This has to be enough for now.

The evening comes at last
I get some food on the table
The sun sets earlier now.
Time to turn on the screen again.

And you are safe
And healthy

And I am grateful.

---

C4: The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective Members & Guests Performing:

Daniel Andor-Ardó
Bonnie Bogovich
Timothy Brown
Joshua Chai
Olivia Cheesman
Jennifer Inglis Hudson
Adrienne Inglis
Angela Irving
Jeff Greif
Mario Gullo
Jamie Klenetsky Fay
Brian Mountford
Leonore Nelson
Maureen Broy Papovich
Adam Reifsteck
TJ Sclafani
David See
Rebecca Stidolph
Perry Townsend
Debra Watkins
Sam Wise
Melissa Wozniak

---

Feel like supporting C4's ongoing exploration of live remote choral performance? Our Venmo virtual tip jar can be found at @c4ensemble! (Donations can also be made via credit card through our website, as well as through PayPal at [email protected].)

​Thank you for your support!

---