New Music Live performance’s Composer-in-Residence Rashaan Allwood’s piece Black Ice will probably be premiering at NMC’s subsequent live performance on February 8. It’s a part of their live performance titled Schnee: A Window into Winter.
Schnee means ‘snow’ in German, and the music celebrates the season with sound. This system consists of two premieres, Allwood’s and Linda Catlin Smith’s We’ve gone forth for dancing.
We spoke to Rashaan in regards to the piece, and dealing with NMC.
Rashaan Rori Allwood
Rashaan lately obtained his PhD in Composition from Western College. He earned a Bachelor’s in Pano Efficiency from the College of Toronto, and a Grasp’s diploma in Organ Efficiency at McGill.
He received the 2022 Marilyn Mason Award in Organ Composition from the American Guild of Organists, together with a fee for a piece for solo organ that premiered in Washington in 2022. He’s the previous director of music at St. Ansgar Lutheran Church in Toronto, and has has toured Europe as an organ soloist, together with performances at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, UK, St. Nikolai-Kirche in Leipzig, Germany and St. Pierre’s Cathedral in Geneva, Switzerland.
“I did a Bachelor in piano first, after which a Grasp’s in organ at McGill,” he says of his musical trajectory. It was whereas finding out for his Masters that he found new music. It led to a want to jot down his personal.
“I began performing some composition.” That led to finishing his PhD on the College of Western Ontario.
“I assume I used to be so impressed by the composers as a pianist,” he says. “How can I be extra like them?” he puzzled. His first forays into writing music have been for his amusement solely; it steadily grew right into a critical endeavour. Allwood says he wished to take his time, and mature as a musician.
Right now, he performs organ at a small downtown church. “I might say most of my time now could be spent on my social media,” he says of his efficiency. He’s grown his Instagram account to greater than 30K followers performing largely on historic devices.
“I love to do all kinds,” Allwood says of his personal listening and performing tastes. “I like every thing, exploring music.”
NMC Composer-in-Residence
His piece Black Ice for 9 Devices was written in 2024. “I wished to discover essentially the most up to date sounds,” he says. “I used to be on the lookout for one thing that pushes the boundaries of the [piano],” he says, “like Beethoven, utilizing each key. That’s the vitality I’ve now for composition.”
He significantly appreciates the chance that being Composer-in-Residence affords. “Simply understanding that you could write one thing that skilled musicians can play [is great],” he says.
That’s vital when your music presents superior challenges from notation to efficiency. He creates soundscapes, and makes use of the devices in additional complicated methods. For example, he says he’s sourced an previous upright piano on-line that will probably be performed by a percussionist. “Enjoying the wooden of it with drum sticks and far more,” he explains.
“The entire piece is type of about fragility and hazard.”
Black ice is treacherous as a result of it’s largely unseen. He likens it to the place of marginalized communities, who cope with processes and techniques which can be invisible, but have an unlimited affect on their lives.
“The piano is type of a illustration of that,” he says. “At one level, it will get stabbed by a knife.”
Naturally, the sounds produced are equally unconventional. Rashaan tends to make use of densely layered strategies which can be developed over the course of the piece. He cites Stockhausen, and French pianist-composer Raphaël Cendo as influences. “They prioritize meticulously crafted textures,” he provides. “The music is saturated — mirroring our lives on this world.”
The rating requires the musicians to vocalize at some sections. As a result of they’re not singers, as Rashaan factors out, he has to take a unique strategy. He incorporates whispers, even shouting and different strategies into the rating. “I additionally experimented slightly with vocal fry on the finish of the piece.”
It’s a part of the movement of the worke.
“The primary motion is sort of a automotive crash on the black ice,” he says, “absolute chaos. The second motion is like the identical factor, however while you really feel it in gradual movement.” Vocalizations come into the piece as the principle function, together with the electronics he’s developed for the Moog Matriarch analog synthesizer.
“I additionally wish to mix it with samples,” he says, “to make the piece really feel like an out of physique expertise.” He’ll be performing the electronics reside. “That’ll be enjoyable.”
Rashaan gave the musicians a manuscript with numerous course, and his personal tackle notation. “Numerous it’s proximate, densely notated,” he says. There are passages, in distinction, the place he calls for his or her improvisation.
“I discovered it was a approach to free the performers.” Including improvised sections, albeit inside particular parameters, offers the musicians extra freedom, whereas different components are to be performed particularly as written.
“It was enjoyable working with that type of aleatoric strategy too,” he says.
Schnee: A Window into Winter (February 8)
The live performance begins at 8, with doorways open at 7 p.m.
- 7:15 p.m. Pre-Live performance Speak with Rashaan Allwood and Dr. William Gough (Professor of Climatology, College of Toronto).
- 7:45 p.m. Younger Artist Overture — Norma Beecroft (CAN) Jeu III (1987) for Viola and Tape, carried out by Mary Deck (The Glenn Gould Faculty).
The total program:
- Linda Catlin Smith (CA) We’ve gone forth for dancing (2023 World Premiere) for Trumpet, Horn and Trombone
- Rashaan Allwood (CA) Black Ice (2024 World Premiere) for 9 Devices and Electronics
- Hans Abrahamsen (DNK) Schnee – Ten Canons for 9 Devices (2008)
Linda Catlin Smith can even be readily available for her personal world premiere.
The performers embody: Amahl Arulanandam (cello); Gillian Chreptyk (trumpet); Stephanie Chua (Piano 2); Olivia Esther (horn); Catherine Grey (viola); Leslie Newman (flute); Gregory Oh (Piano 1); Clare Scholtz (English horn); Ryan Scott (percussion); Cathy Stone (trombone); Anthony Thompson (contrabass clarinet); Andréa Tyniec (violin).
- Discover extra particulars in regards to the February 8 live performance, and tickets, [HERE].
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Anya Wassenberg is a Toronto Metropolis Editor at Ludwig Van. She is an skilled freelance author, blogger and writing teacher.