October 3rd will be a first for me: my music will be performed in two countries located on different continents on the same day. In Toronto, Canada there will be the premiere of The Three Woes for three trumpets and string orchestra at Top Brass presented by Soundstreams. Earlier the same day, Ilana Waniuk will play the new violin version of The Child, Bringer of Light in Selianitika, Greece. And just a few days ago, Wild Shore New Music and Cipher duo premiered Lullabies for my unborn children while on tour in Alaska, USA. I feel like a pretty lucky duck all around.
I am currently in Toronto – feeling very giddy and under slept from all the time-zone travel – getting ready for the premiere of my latest work The Three Woes for three trumpets and string orchestra commissioned by Soundstreams for their Top Brass concert happening on October 3. The work will be performed by three world-renowned trumpet soloists, Ingrid Jensen, Jens Lindemann and Ole Edvard Antonsen, and a string orchestra conducted by Joaquin Valdepeñas. I am, understandably, quite elated.
The work is quite unusual for me in terms of subject matter. I tend to write things that are intensely personal, fussing endlessly tiny details performed by small ensembles, but for this piece I turned to the end of the world prophesy from the Book of Revelations. Since I wasn’t raised Christian (or with any religion at all), this prophesy, with all its highly imaginative horrors, initially read as delightful mythology to me. Flying locusts with lion heads and scorpion tails! Blood soaked oceans! Armies of 200 million led by rogue angels! It all seemed kind of cute and sensationalist in its extravagance, that is until I started noticing the eery parallels between the catastrophes the prophesy promised and the current and predicted effects of climate change. With its creative metaphors, the prophesy is actually describing what is happening to us. The piece became rather unsettling once this thought invaded my brain…
The concert also features premieres from Heather Schmidt and Brian Current. Heather will be playing in her own double concerto, and Brian is responding to R. Murray Schafer’s Trumpet Aubade (also on the program). I am honoured to be in their company and to be working with such incredible players.
You can read more about this piece and the concert as a whole in one of these delightful articles:
I am traveling around Alaska for the next ten days with the Wild Shore Festival, stopping in Anchorage, Talkeetna, Kenai and Homer. Wild Shore commissioned a brand new piece from mefor the combined forces of Wild Shore Trio (Katie Cox, flute, Andie Springer, violin, Mary Kouyoumdjian, piano) and Cipher Duo (Justine Aronson, soprano, Sarah Goldfeather, violin). Lullabies for my unborn children is a set of songs which explore my complex maternal feelings in all their tender and painful shades. We are also performing my violin duo Through closed doors, notated on an antique door (unfortunately, the door itself was too difficult too ship) and Keening, a quartet originally commissioned by UltraViolet Ensemble and rearranged especially for this festival. There will also be works by Sarah Goldfeather, Kamala Sankaram and Kate Soper.
09/22/2019, 7:30pm – CIPHER Duo + Wild Shore Trio play music by Anna Pidgorna, Sarah Goldfeather, Kamala Sankaram, & Kate Soper. Sheldon Community Arts Hangar Talkeetna, AK 99676 Tickets: $15 suggested donation
09/26/2019, 6:30pm – CIPHER Duo + Wild Shore Trio play music by Anna Pidgorna, Sarah Goldfeather, Kamala Sankaram, & Kate Soper. Kenai Fine Art Center 816 Cook Ave., Kenai, AK 99611 Tickets: Free! General Admission
09/28/2019, 7:30pm – CIPHER Duo + Wild Shore Trio play music by Anna Pidgorna, Sarah Goldfeather, Kamala Sankaram, & Kate Soper. Bunnell Street Arts Center 106 W. Bunnell Ave., Homer, AK 99603 Tickets: Purchase here
09/29/2019, 7:30pm – CIPHER Duo + Wild Shore Trio play music by Anna Pidgorna, Sarah Goldfeather, Kamala Sankaram, & Kate Soper. University of Alaska Anchorage 3211 Providence Dr, Anchorage, AK 99508 Tickets: Free! General Admission
I recently spent a week in Russell, a small town smack in the middle of Kansas, and almost in the very center of America. This is my second visit to this community which hosts an annual three-week music festival called Ad Astra. The festival, with the participation of the whole community, is commissioning a full-length chamber opera from me and my writer sister Maria Reva, which will premiere at Prairiesta 2021, a giant town fair that happens once every ten years. It’s been an incredible experience getting to know this fascinating, art-filled community while researching the story of local art teacher Trudy Furney. While last year Maria and I conducted a bunch of interviews who knew this remarkable lady, this year we introduced the community to some of my music and Maria’s writing. Can’t wait to get going on this project!
Also, I got to see an albino donkey. How cool is that? He’s hiding in the little donkey house. You can see him peaking out shyly…
I was lucky enough to spend four weeks of June at the I-Park artists’ residency in East Haddam, Connecticut along with six other incredible artists: Sarah E. Brook, Gina Kamentsky, Sharon Koelblinger, Brenna K. Murphy, Clarisse Baleja Saidi and Hui-Ying Tsa. The place is like adult summer camp and we were a fun crew enjoying happy hours on the Floating Living Room on the pond, swimming at various local beaches, sweating in the sauna and improvising an endless stream of songs ranging from the heartfelt to the comedic (or both). In between the merriment, we also got a little work done. I made many recordings of the local soundscape (the frog choruses here are incredible!) and worked on a commission for the Wild Shore Festival in Homer, Alaska. This set of lullabies explores my maternal feelings and draws poetic imagery from my visit to Homer in March during a residency at the Bunnell Street Arts Centre.
Rehearsals are in full swing at the Shalin Liu Hall in Rockport, MA for an hour-long concert of my Invented Folksongs, which I’m performing with the Boston-based Ludovico Ensemble. I started writing these songs, which borrow elements from Ukrainian folk music, three years ago after arriving at Princeton University. This is the first time that these songs will be performed together in one show along with the premieres of the brand-new “Walk under the moon” and the radical reworking of an older piece under the new name, “Another meditation on an invented folksong”. The concert will feature Nick Tolle on the cimbalom, a rare beast in North America. I am so grateful to Nick and Rockport Music for inviting me to perform in this amazing space! This is truly amazing!
The concert takes place on Wednesday, May 9 at 7 pm at the Shalin Liu Hall in Rockport, MA. It is free!
Program:
What else can I give him? Teach your daughters Another meditation on an invented folksong Drown in the depth Walk under the moon
Performers:
Anna Pidgorna, voice
Mike Williams, percussion
Nick Tolle, cimbalom
Yoko Hagino, prepared piano
Gabriella Diaz, violin
Leo Eguchi, cello
Randall Zigler, bass
Last November, I performed for the very first time with composer-vocalist Annika Socolofsky, who is a fellow student at Princeton University. My piece, The Mint Picker’s Man, for two voices, percussion and string quartet, was our very first duet. We love how our voices sound together and plan on creating more duo repertoire. Stay tuned!
Coming in from the garden,
your hands perfumed
by vines and marigolds,
you slide your palm
up my flowing weightless dress
and you mark me with your scent.
(I once met the Cinnamon Peeler’s Wife,
her body streaked with yellow brown dust.)
Your grassy whisper upon my lips,
you name me the Tomato Grower’s Wife.
Thus titled, I run my mint-stained fingers
through your golden curls,
and I crown you the Mint Picker’s Man.
– Anna Pidgorna
Annika Socolofsky and Anna Pidgorna, voices
Mark Eichenberger, bass drum
Min-Young Kim and Anna Lim, violins
Jessica Thompson, viola
Alberto Parrini, cello
My music is going to Carnegie Hall next week! Boston-based Trio Klaritas will perform Like doves with grey wings embracing at the Weill Recital Hall on January 25 at 8 pm. This is going to be my second Carnegie Hall appearance. The first was the 2012 premiere of my solo cello work, The child, bringer of light, performed by Paul Dwyer as part of the week-long workshop with Kaija Saariaho and Anssi Karttunen. For more information about the upcoming concert, please visit the Carnegie Hall website.
Last weekend, Princeton University celebrated the opening of the new Lewis Centre arts complex with a big multi-day festival. The door-score for the violin duo Through closed doors and the set of prints that make up the illustrated score for Mirror, mirror were on display at the Co-lab located on the forum level of the new complex. Through closed doors received its US premiere as part of two sound walks, which took visitors through a series of performances located throughout the three buildings. I thoroughly enjoyed working with violinists Andie Springer and Olivia De Prato at this event.
Andie Spring and Olivia de Prato performing Through closed doors
This week, Princeton University will celebrate the opening of its new multi-building centre for the arts, the new Lewis Centre. As part of this festival, the music department is hosting various performances and sound events. The ‘door score’ for my violin duo Through closed doors is making its premiere appearance in the US as part of this festival. The piece will be performed by Andie Springer and Olivia De Prato as part of two walkthrough tours of the New Music building starting at 12:00 pm and at 1:30 pm.
My hand-crafted illustrated score for the mini-opera Mirror, mirror will also be on display during the walkthrough. For more info about the performances, click here.
