Queering Chopin: Research at the Brook Center’s Foundation for Iberian Music Antoni Pizà has recently edited a compilation on Chopin’s sexuality for ITAMAR of the Universitat de València (see pp. 421ff). The dossier presents four essays. Pizà argues in “Love is a Pink Cake or Queering Chopin’s in Times of Homophobia” that Chopin’s heterosexuality has gone unquestioned for too long with terrible consequences. Moritz Weber analyzes in “Chopins Männer” the misleading translations of the composer’s letters, especially as they refer to his love life. Joan Estrany examines the composer’s intimate life as depicted in film in “Chopin y los Sand, amor a cuatro bandas. Aproximación a la esfera privada de Fryderyk Chopin a partir de la película Pragnienie Miłośc”. Finally, Javier Albo’s “¿Es gay la música de Chopin? Aspectos de la recepción de la música de Chopin en el siglo XIX” examines the role of women and the “feminine” in the contruction and dissemination of Chopin’s music. The articles highlight the right to know whether Chopin was gay and contextualize this inquiry in a very long and pervasive historiographical tradition, essentially two hundred years long, dedicated to examining Chopin sexual orientation, on the one hand, and on the other the more recent tradition of queering western classical music composers. The main point is not to demonstrate categorically that Chopin was “gay” (a relative, modern identity marker in any case) but rather to highlight the perversive discourses that have presented him as unequivocally heterosexual. After Antoni Pizà published an essay of Chopin’s sexuality in 2010, the controversy really took off in the winter of 2020 when Moritz Weber presented a two-part radio documentary on the mistranslation of the composer’s letters. This radio documentary was picked up by many important media outlets including CNN, El mundo, The Guardian, Le Figaro, etc., causing a small succès de scandale. See these links. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/29/europe/chopin-sexuality-poland-lgbtq-debate-scli-intl/index.html https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/nov/25/chopins-interest-in-men-airbrushed-from-history-programme-claims https://www.elmundo.es/loc/celebrities/2020/12/08/5fc93397fdddffc6248b462c.html https://www.corriere.it/esteri/20_novembre_26/chopin-era-gay-ma-lettere-che-scriveva-polacco-uomini-sono-state-tradotte-femminile-6a13e724-2fe1-11eb-a612-c98d07fbf341.shtml https://www.lefigaro.fr/musique/lumiere-sur-la-passion-entre-chopin-et-george-sand-20210131 https://www.haaretz.co.il/gallery/music/classicalmusic/.premium.HIGHLIGHT-1.9345220?utm_source=App_Share&utm_medium=iOS_Native https://voi.id/en/lifestyle/21449/misteri-surat-cinta-gay-komposer-frederic-chopin-yang-timbulkan-perdebatan https://www.welt.de/kultur/klassik/plus220820920/Frederic-Chopin-Der-schmutzige-Traum-den-ich-von-Dir-hatte.html
Understanding Ukraine Through Its Music The bandura is a traditional Ukrainian folk instrument. To understand a country you need to understand its culture and of course its music. Our colleague Jane Sugarman, Professor of Ethnomusicology and Director of the Ethnomusicology Program at the CUNY Graduate Center, has compiled some links to that effect. The last (extramusical) link includes a list of charities to help the Ukranian people. You will also find an annotated bibliography on Ukranian music at the very end of this post. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex6R1-XGg9s Maria Sonevytsky, “Understanding the War on Ukraine through Its Musical Culture” Talk that Maria gave on 2 March 2022 hosted by Michigan State University. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxg1dL_x0gw A live performance from 2017 of the group Dakha Brakha–the GC hosted them for a concert several years back. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/03/arts/music/dakhabrakha-ukraine.html An article on Dakha Brakha in yesterday’s New York Times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewsQMDQdJzs New York’s own Ukranian Village Voices, featuring two of our CUNY Graduate Center ethnomusicology students: Brian Dolphin (vocal trio and conductor) and Natalie Oshukany (vocal soloist). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KdMG1NkrWg&list=TLGGf0cXQJBISd0wMzAzMjAyMg A short video on the “Polyphony Project,” founded by young people to document rural music. https://www.polyphonyproject.com/en Polyphony Project website. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2J1LGc9PVI Ruslana – “Kolomiyka” https://www.today.com/news/news/5-verified-charities-working-help-ukrainians-invasion-rcna17590 A list of charities offering aid in Ukraine and surrounding areas. Sounding a history of Ukrainian sovereignty: An annotated bibliography Image: “bandura players” by polandeze is marked with CC BY-NC 2.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/?ref=openverse
“La veuve andalouse”: New Research from the Brook Center’s Foundation for Iberian Music Antoni Pizà and Maria Luisa Martínez have prepared a facsimile edition of “La Veuve andalouse” by Gioachino Rossini (Kassel: Reichenberger, 2022). Last fall, on 21 November 2022, the Fundación Juan March of Madrid presented this song in this new edition in their prestigious concert series “Rossini en España.” Pizà and Martínez were also interviewed on Spanish National Radio and Television, click here to hear and see the interview. Also on 11 November 2022 Pizà and Martínez lectured on their edition at the Real Conservatorio de Música de Madrid. See here photos of the event.
Research at the Foundation for Iberian Music The Body Questions: Celebrating Flamenco’s Tangled RootsConference (2019)Book (2022) Tomás Bretón’s Piano Quintet in G Major Work première (2018) Publication (2022) Queering Chopin, special issue of Itamar: Revista de investigación musicalVolume (2021) Natives, Africans, Roma, and Europeans: Transatlantic Rhythms in Music, Song, and DanceConference (2019)Special issue of Música Oral del Sur (2020) Spaniards, Natives, Africans, and Gypsies: Transatlantic Malagueñas and Zapateados in Music, Song, and DanceConference (2017)Book (2019) The Life and Music of Enrique Granados (1867–1916): A Centennial CelebrationConference (2016)Special issue of Diagonal (2017) Spaniards, Indians, Africans and Gypsies: The Global Reach of the Fandango in Music, Song, and Dance.Conference (2015)Special issue of Música Oral del Sur (2015)Book (2016)
Responses in Music to Climate Change: Program Responses in Music to Climate Change_Final Conference Program
Conference Schedule: RESPONSES IN MUSIC TO CLIMATE CHANGE (All times are given in Eastern Daylight Time, EDT/GMT-4) Monday, 4 October 2021Welcome and Opening RemarksMichael Lupo (The Graduate Center, CUNY) and Barbara Dobbs Mackenzie (Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation)9:00—9:10 am Keynote Address: Hearing Heat: An Anthropocene AcoustemologySteven Feld (University of New Mexico)9:20—10:35 am New Music for a Changing Climate10:50—11:30 am Sabine Feisst and Garth Paine (Arizona State University), Listening to Environmental Change: Teaching Acoustic Ecology Through John Cage’s 49 Waltzes for the Five Boroughs Nicolas Donin (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique [IRCAM]), Signaling Climate Change in Music: From Data-Driven Composition to Meaningful Ambiguity Chair: David Grubbs, Brooklyn College, CUNY Voices from South America3:00—4:00 pm Beatriz Goubert (Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale [RILM]), Songs for the Younger Brothers: Native Ecological Knowledge Education to Save the Water in Bogotá Juan Fernando Velasquez (University of Michigan), The Call of the Sirirí: (Post)Conflict, Avitourism, Biodiversity, and Epistemologies of Sound in Twenty–First-Century Colombia Emily Hansell Clark (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Colonialism and Climate Change: Listening to Culture and Nature in Suriname (Screening of prerecorded presentation only) Chair: Elizabeth Martin-Ruiz, The Graduate Center, CUNY Down the Mountain: A Prerecorded Presentation by John Luther Adams4:30—5:00 pm Tuesday, 5 October 2021 Audiovisual Ecocriticism: Film, Television, and Videogames10:00—11:20 am Michael Lupo (The Graduate Center, CUNY), Performing Environment: From Radiohead’s “Bloom” to the Radiohead/Zimmer Collaboration “(Ocean) Bloom” Gabrielle Cornish (University of Miami), On Posthuman Soundscapes and Nuclear Futures Karen M. Cook (University of Hartford), Playing with Fire (and Other Natural Disasters): The Sounds of Climate Change in Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm (2019) Revisited Chair: Jason Lee Oakes, Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale (RILM) Composer Spotlight: In Conversation with Christopher TinDiscussants: Michael Lupo (New York) and Christopher Tin (Los Angeles)3:00—3:30 pm Environmental Multimediality4:00—5:00 pm Oli Jan (University of Glasgow), Le Carnaval des Animaux en Danger: A Piece Exploring the Effects of Visual Imagery and Emotional Contagion in Experimental Music Theatre Kimberley Bianca (University of Colorado, Boulder), A Camouflage Opera: Audiovisual Design for Kurtág—Attila József, Fragments Josh Wodak (Western Sydney University), Probing Anthropocene Extinction and Evolution in Popular Music (Screening of prerecorded presentation only) Chair: Martha Schulenburg, The Graduate Center, CUNY Wednesday, 6 October 2021 Politics, Pedagogy, and Activism10:00—11:20 am María Edurne Zuazu (Cornell University), Because Sirens Are Not Enough: Emergency Sounds, Environmental Crisis, and the Control of Wild- and Human-Life in Times of Disaster Capitalism Ben Safran (Temple University), “Art Music” as Nonviolent Direct Action for Environmental Justice: An Autoethnographic Case Study Karine Aguiar S. Saunier (University of Campinas), Gambás from Maués: Resistance, Eco-Spirituality and Environmental Activism of a Musical Culture in the Amazon Rainforest Thomas Ciufo (Mount Holyoke College), Teaching Acoustic Ecology and Sonic Art in the Age of Environmental Crisis Chair: Claudia Calì, Queens College, CUNY The Nature of Sound, Sounding Nature11:40 am —12:20 pm Konstantin Vlasis (New York University), Anthropocentric Sounds: The Sonic Measurement and Preservation of Nature within National Park Systems Joshua Groffman (Southern Connecticut State University), Where I Come From, Rain is a Good Thing: Country Music, Nature, and Community in New York’s Hudson Valley Chair: David McCarthy (Michigan State University) Humanities in a Changing Climate2:45—3:45 pmA presentation by Rebecca Dirksen (Indiana University), Yan Pang (Point Park University), Mark Pedelty (University of Minnesota), and Elja Roy (University of Memphis) Adaptations: Confronting Climate Change Amid COVID-194:00—5:00 pm Roundtable Discussants:Aaron S. Allen, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Mark Pedelty, University of Minnesota; Alexander Rehding, Harvard University; Jeff Todd Titon, Brown University; Denise von Glahn; Florida State University; Holly Watkins, University of RochesterChair: Steven Feld, University of New Mexico Thursday, 7 October 2021 Organological Considerations10:00—11:00 am Althea SullyCole (Columbia University), Organology and Anthropogenic Climate Change Talia Khan (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Eco-Organology: Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Greening Up of the Guitar Making Industry Chia-Hao Hsu (Curator for Asia, Musical Instrument Museum), Toward a Sustainable Acoustic Ecology: Revitalization of Indigenous Paiwan Flute-Making Chair: Eliot Bates, The Graduate Center, CUNY Indigenous Epistemologies2:00—3:00 pm Birgit Abels (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen), Sound Knowledge, Sinking Islands: Music-Making in Micronesia in Times of Crisis (Screening of prerecorded presentation only) Abimbola Cole Kai-Lewis (New York City Department of Education), Lonta!: Environmental Sustainability Messages in the Music of Sierra Leone’s Freetong Players Kate Galloway (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Sonic Ecologies, Environmental Monitoring, and Anticolonial Approaches to Listening through Playable Interactive Media Chair: Beatriz Goubert, Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale (RILM) The Anthropocene and Place3:10—4:10 pm Rowan Bayliss Hawitt (University of Edinburgh), Temporal Affect as Ecocritical Discourse: Sounding Multispecies Temporalities in the UK Folk Music Scene Stephen Lett (Independent Scholar, Norman, Oklahoma), Debts of the Settler’s Tin Ear Andrew Chung (University of North Texas), The Music of New World Coloniality Is Music of the Anthropocene Chair: Russell Skelchy, Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale (RILM) Friday, 8 October 2021 Composers Forum10:00—11:00 am Lola Perrin (ClimateKeys), An Introduction to ClimateKeys Priya Parrotta (Music & the Earth International), Climate Soul: Climate Change, Song, and the Geopolitics of Deep Feeling Kevin Malone (University of Manchester), “Troubled Waters” Chair: Rebecca Lentjes, Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale (RILM) Concluding Remarks 11:00—11:15 am
Sound Art, COVID, and the First Mediterranean Conference on Music and Science With COVID raging on both sides of the Atlantic, scholars and musicians are finding ways to continue their activities. ZOOM has become an indispensable tool for our work, whether in the classroom, the e-concert hall, or its use in professional conferences. Ferrer-Molina At the end of November 2020, organized by Fundació Assemblea de Ciutadans i Ciutadanes del Mediterrani (FACM), a group of scholars and artists in both music and the sciences gathered via Zoom to present their work under the aegis of the I Congrès Mediterrani Música I Ciència. One of the highlights of the conference was the intervention of Ferrer-Molina with a sound installation titled CONCIERTO PARA TRENES DE METRO Y BANDA, which includes an intervention in the Alameda train station in Valencia (Spain) for fifty-two players within the “natural” environment of train sounds. Ferrer-Molina has participated in many events at the Foundation for Iberian Music, including the 2017 Sound Art Festival with Miguel Álvarez-Fernández, Isaac Diego García and others. Miguel Álvarez-Fernández Álvarez-Fernández and Ferrer-Molina were also guests at the CUNY Graduate Center’s Composers Forum, to discuss their music. As described by Antoni Pizà, the curator of the event, their creative work inhabits the margins between experimental music and sound art. It explores conceptual art, performance, experimental video, and other possibilities for developing the audience’s relationship with sound. They engage with these questions involving intersections through concert pieces, sound installations, sculptures, curatorial projects and many other manifestations. Moving forward a different kind of musical experience, of special interest was the intervention of guitarist Mirza Redžepagić, which explored some similarities between Bosnian traditional music and flamenco. The two-day event is on two different posts on YouTube corresponding to the first and second sessions. Also, check out the web of the Fundació Assemblea de Ciutadans i Ciutadanes del Mediterrani (FACM). About the conference they state: “The Mediterranean Congress “Music and Science” aims to be an annual event that brings together different personalities of music and science in the Mediterranean area in order to share aspects that year after year have affected the interrelation between music and music. science. In its first edition, on November 27 and 28, 2020, in online format, the central theme of the Mediterranean Congress “Music and Science” is the use of ICT in the Covid scenario, while the pandemic situation has forced the science and music, disciplines that require intense teamwork, to transfer a large part from its work to the internet. Organized by the ACM Foundation in collaboration with Mostra Viva del Mediterrani and the ACM circle of Sarajevo.” In the end, nowadays it all seems to be circling back to COVID and its consequences.
Sonoridad.es | Sound Landscapes in the Iberian Peninsula Sonoridad.es | Sound Landscapes in the Iberian Peninsula La Señorita Blanco Curated by our colleague Daniel Valtueña, Sonoridad.es is a program of artistic residences accompanying the creative process of two artists: Isabel Do Diego [isabeldodiego.com] and La Señorita Blanco [lasenoritablanco.me] during the next two academic courses. Please read the complete information here [kjcc.org]. Isabel Do Diego On Thursday October 29 at 2:30 pm EST we’ll open the project with the round table Sonoridad.es: Listening to the Iberian Landscape [kjcc.org]which will be broadcast live through the KJCC [facebook.com] Facebook page,as well as from the Youtube channel [youtube.com]. Read full information here: Sonoridad.es 1029
A Night at the Movies with Conductor Ángel Gil-Ordoñez Ángel Gil-Ordoñez, who is the conductor of one of the Foundation’s resident ensembles, can easily be characterized in Spanish as a todoterreno, a four-wheel drive who succeeds in traversing the most remote and distant zones of the orchestral landscape. His collaborations with the Foundation have helped present in New York the music of Benet Casablancas, Xavier Montsalvatge, Carlos Surinach, Manuel de Falla, Robert Gerhard, Mauricio Sotelo, Óscar Esplá, Ernesto Halffter, and many more. His latest project includes a survey of the Bernard Herrmann, composer of many soundtracks for Hitchcock, as well as other notable film directors. You can hear Gi-Ordóñez’s performance and commentary here. The recording includes Herrmann’s world premiere recording of Whitman a radio drama on the famous American poet (words by Norman Corwin) and Psycho: A Narrative for String Orchestra mixing words and musical splashes of cinematic color and words. He has tackled the film repertoire in concert and recording in many occasions including Redes, with music by Silvestre Revueltas and cinematography by Paul Strand, and The City with music by Aaron Copland. His, so to speak, ecumenical tastes have also taken him to present Gamelan music and programs dedicated to the musical traditions of Armenia. We are proud of his contribution through two decades to the programs of Foundation for Iberian Music and we hope to be able to continue working together for at least two decades more.