Soundfield is a not for profit organization founded in 2000 by composer Gene Coleman. Soundfield is a producer and presenter of new and experimental music in Philadelphia, New York, Chicago and other places, with a strong emphasis on international cultural exchange and collaboration. By working with a large network of local and international organizations, Soundfield is able to produce public programs that express the value of innovation and Art as a means of global understanding, appreciation and cooperation.
The program will feature Ensemble N_JP playing two new music-video works by composer and director Gene Coleman:
"Kyoto In_Ex": is a new large scale music video, about the city of Kyoto in the 20th century. Largely focused on the Kyoto train station, it incorporates architecture, dance for camera, music and text (in Japanese and English) to tell a story about the city's transformation. The work is scored for an ensemble of 8 instruments (a mixture of Japanese Gagaku and Western instruments that play the music live with the video projection. The dance sequences feature the experimental dance artist Nicole Bindler. See a video sampler of this work here:
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"Wave upon Wave" is a new music and video work by Gene Coleman, based on the music and ideas of composers Claude Debussy and Toru Takemitsu. It is scored for an ensemble of Japanese Gagaku instruments plus cello and electronics. The work has a dream like quality and explores the connections between the work of Debussy and Takemitsu, using their music as a part of a collage of images and sounds in homage to modern Japanese cinema.
This program is part of PIFA (Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts), a city wide festival taking place in April 2011 and produced in association with Network for New Music. Featured performers from Japan include Naomi Sato (sho), Toshimaru Nakamura (electronics), Naoko Kikuchi (koto) and Yumi Kurosawa (koto). Special thanks to the Japan FoundationNew York and The Center for East Asian Studies for their support.
tickets at: www.pifa.org International House Philadelphia 3701 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia
Cherry blossoms in the spring form the perfect backdrop for the music of Debussy, who was deeply influenced by picturesque Japanese woodcuts at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. The nuanced colors and luminous imagery of those arts found their way into Debussy's work; those qualities in turn inspired generations of Japanese composers who followed him. Network explores those connections in a performance of music by Debussy, Toru Takemitsu, Toshio Hosokawa, and a new commission by brilliant young international star Dai Fujikura. And composer Gene Coleman creates a new video that becomes a poetic accompaniment to the music of Debussy and Takemitsu.
Co-presented by International House Philadelphia, in collaboration of with the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts - see www.pifa.org for more information about an exciting series of events exploring the creativity and innovation of Paris at the beginning of the 20th century, and Philadelphia at the beginning of the 21st!
April 17th 2011 7:30 PM Calvary United Methodist Church 801 South 48th Street (at Baltimore Avenue) Philadelphia
Crossroads Music Philadelphia and Soundfield present members of Ensemble N_JP in a program of traditional music from Japan.
Featured musicians will be Naomi Sato (sho), Naoko Kukuchi (koto), Ralph Samuelson (shakuhachi) and Yoko Hiroka (biwa). This concert is a collaboration between Crossroads Music Philadelphia and Soundfield. More info and tickets at http://crossroadsconcerts.org/
