Cornelius Dufallo Celebrates 5th Anniversary of JOURNALING Series at Spectrum Tonight

Composer and violinist Cornelius Dufallo presents the fifth anniversary of his Journaling concert series at Spectrum tonight, June 1, 2013.

Inaugurated in 2009, Journaling is a series of performances in which Dufallo documents his own work with extraordinary living composers while tracking various paths in twenty-first century music. The next installment is Part Five featuring a world premiere by Todd Reynolds and a U.S. premiere by Syrian composer Kinan Azmeh with works by Kinan Azmeh, Cornelius Dufallo, and New York based Israeli composer Guy Barash. Alongside Dufallo, Reynolds and Azmeh will perform in their pieces. Dufallo's mutifaceted capabilities as curator, composer and performer especially thrive in this realm.

Journaling (Part Five) will be followed by a set by Kinan Azmeh and Syrian cellist, Kinan Abou-Afach, long time friends and collaborators. The set shall introduce new works composed for this concert ranging from the fully improvised to the fully composed, from the acoustic to the electric. Some of the presented pieces are inspired by poetry from around the world, while others such as Azmeh's older piece, "walls and towers," will feature guest performers as well as video art by the Syrian Armenian artist and long time collaborator, Kevork Mourad.

SPECTRUM is located at 121 Ludlow Street, Second Floor, New York, NY. Subway: F, M, J & Z trains to Essex/Delancey station Admission: $15/$10 Students & Seniors www.spectrumnyc.com/blog.

About the Program

sans mémoire, sans désir... by Cornelius Dufallo
With chance determined electronic structure by John King.

For violin and electronics Dufallo on the piece:

"In sans mémoire, sans désir... I bring new musical material to an electronic structure that John King originally designed for his piece Prima Volta. When I played Prima Volta, I had this strange sensation that the electronics were producing a kind of musical primary process thinking - like a musical unconscious, with all the unpredictable, irrational, contradictory, and symbolic thoughts that we encounter in our dreams. In this new piece the performer enters into a state of empathic attunement with the electronic sounds, which, being chance determined, are different with each performance. The title alludes to the great British psychoanalyst Wilfred Bion, who once wrote that the analyst should begin every session "without memory or desire."

The Complexity of a Chair by Todd Reynolds World Premiere Reynolds on the piece:

"I am so happy to be have been invited by Cornelius to contribute to his Journaling project. Neil and I have carved out similar paths in our lives, traveled them with as much passion and inventiveness as we can find, and offered our contributions as powerfully as possible. We share membership in a somewhat exclusive club, as Neil took my place in the string quartet that I originated so many years ago, and has now moved on as well to broaden his horizons. When he approached me to write for us both, it was a thrilling prospect to think that with all we share, we could finally take the time to make music together, and to celebrate our parallel paths. At the time I write this, the Working Title of the piece is "The Complexity of a Chair." When you hear us play, though, it could be something entirely different. (see title above). It's written as a string quartet of sorts, with plenty of samples and electronic sounds and processing as is my custom, and counts on the same level of conversation as is necessary between players in that ensemble. At the same time, it is also designed to be performed by one player, a testament to the constantly malleable paradigm of leadership and cooperation necessary in the pursuit of a happy marriage, band, or family."

How Many Will It Take? by Kinan Azmeh Azmeh on the piece:

"How Many Will It Take? for clarinet, violin and tape, was commissioned by American Violinist Cornelius Dufallo in 2012. The basic structure of the piece and the melodic material were composed during my long visit to my home country Syria during March and April of 2012, back then marking more than one year of an incredibly tragic and sad times for all Syrians. The piece asks the general question "How Many Will It Take?" after the death toll has reached over 10,000 people, most of which were innocent civilians. To all of these, I dedicate this piece."

We Are All Optimistic by Kinan Azmeh U.S. Premiere Azmeh on the piece:

"The title says it all, a modest attempt to keep my personal morale up given the tragic humanitarian surrounding. The piece was written in 2012 and was featured in the film "The Light In her Eyes," and was revised in January of 2013 inspired by a photo album that a dear friend posted on Facebook of smiling Syrian friends."

A Scattered Sketchbook by Kinan Azmeh (acoustic clarinet and violin) Azmeh on the piece:

"A Scattered Sketchbook was commissioned by Canadian clarinetist Romie de Guise-Langlois in 2012 and received its premiere in Philadelphia in January 2013. The piece is a suite in six independent miniatures reflecting different moods and representing different characters. It can be described as a world-inspired journey since each of the movement is based on an idiom specific to some folk music element from around the world. Writing these miniatures was therapeutic for me as they were composed during a very difficult time back home in Syria. This "scattered sketchbook" was rather an "escape book" that I built for myself during these dark times."

TalkBack II for violin and computer by Guy Barash

Barash on the piece:

"This piece is the second in a series of compositions for acoustic instruments and interactive computer processing. With Talkback, Barash explores new playing techniques, enhanced timbre and other sonic features that are characteristic of the instrument by magnifying subtle nuances of the instrument and bringing them to the foreground." (2009)

Cornelius Dufallo, Composer/Violinist: Cornelius Dufallo (composer/violinist) is a constant innovator at the forefront of the American contemporary music scene. The New York Times calls him one of the "new faces of new music" and praises his "alluring" solo performances and "imaginative" compositions. A virtuosic and versatile violinist, Dufallo plays both acoustic and electric violin and moves seamlessly from classical to pop and jazz styles. He often works with cutting-edge technology such as the K-BOW by famed instrument designer Keith McMillan. According to Allan Kozinn in The New York Times, Dufallo's performances on electric violin show "how much amplification can expand the instrument's palette. Far from robbing the violin of its beauty, electronics add textural elements and gradations of timbre that the acoustic instrument cannot approximate."

Dufallo's second solo album, Journaling (Innova Recordings, 2012) documents his ongoing work with many of today's extraordinary composers. The disc includes compositions for solo violin and violin + electronics by John King, Joan Jeanrenaud, Huang Ruo, Vijay Iyer, John Luther Adams, and Kenji Bunch.

Dufallo has toured the US, Europe, Asia, and Australia as a soloist and collaborative artist, performing in the Aspen Music Festival, the Bang On A Can Marathon, the Melbourne International Arts Festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Ojai Music Festival, and the Taipei International Music Festival. He has played with a variety of jazz and rock artists including Ornette Coleman, Kurt Elling, Butch Morris, Okkyung Lee, Thomas Dolby, Todd Rudgren, and Jill Sobule. He has recorded for the Mode, Tzadik, Cantaloupe and Innova labels. He was a member of ETHEL (2005-2012) and a founder of Ne(x)tworks (2002-2011).

Dufallo's ongoing commitment to cutting edge musical ingenuity has produced collaborations with many of today's most adventurous composers including Osvaldo Golijov, Phil Kline, Joan La Barbara, Jacob TV, and Vijay Iyer. He appears as violinist on recent and forthcoming albums of music by Anna Clyne, Corey Dargel, John King, and Neil Rolnick. Dufallo recently inaugurated a recital series, Journaling, to chronicle his collaborations with living composers while tracking various paths in 21st-century music.

Dufallo's debut solo album, Dream Streets (Innova Recordings, 2009), is a collection of his own compositions for electric violin. Time Out New York calls it "a beautiful, evocative disc of electroacoustic soundscapes... all [of which] serve as apt reminders of this vital artist's considerable gifts." In a review for Arcane Candy, Garry Davis writes that Dream Streets ranges "from soaring, melodic notes to repetitive Terry Riley-like riffs... gentle sawing to all-out country-inspired hoe-downs... it's all reverb-drenched and spread across the stereo field like a rock band... squirrelly electronics and deep atmospheric field recordings - cawing birds, rain, traffic ambience - find their way into the mix, and it all melds together in a most pleasing manner."

Dufallo's compositions have been performed throughout the US and Europe. Recently commissioned works include Senescence Music (for ETHEL), Mindscape 1 (for OTHERSHORE Dance Company), and Night Visions (for pianist Jenny Lin's album American Insomniac). Dufallo was a featured American composer at the Library of Congress, where the Flux Quartet performed his Afterimage: the Crossing of Invisible Paths.

A dedicated violin teacher, Dufallo frequently presents master classes, guest lectures, and workshops at schools and colleges around the country. He has served as Assistant Professor of Violin at SUNY Fredonia and also as a teaching artist for the Lincoln Center Institute, American String Teachers Association, and the Grand Canyon Music Festival's Native American Composers Apprentice Project. With this spirit of service, Dufallo founded CBD Music, Inc., a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of public interest in and understanding of the musical arts through the presentation and promotion of new music. He holds Bachelors, Masters, and Doctoral degrees from The Juilliard School where he studied with Dorothy DeLay and Masao Kawasak. www.corneliusdufallo.com

Todd Reynolds, Composer/Violinist: Todd Reynolds, violinist, composer, educator and technologist is known as one of the founding fathers of the hybrid-musician movement and one of the most active and versatile proponents of what he calls 'present music'. The violinist of choice for Steve Reich, Meredith Monk, Bang on a Can, and a founder of the string quartet known as Ethel, his compositional and performance style is a hybrid of old and new technology, multi-disciplinary aesthetic and pan-genre composition and improvisation. Reynolds' music has been called "a charming, multi-mood extravaganza, playful like Milhaud, but hard-edged like Hendrix" (Strings Magazine), and his countless premieres and performances of everything from classical music to Jazz to Rock'n'Roll seem to redefine the concert hall and underground club as undeniably and unavoidably intertwined. Amazon rated his 2011 release, Outerborough best of classical. It's an Innova Recordings double CD featuring InSide, a collection of his own music, paired with OutSide, music written by a veritable who's who of contemporary composers. www.toddreynolds.wordpress.com

Kinan Azmeh, Composer/Clarinetist: Hailed as a "virtuoso" and "Intensely Soulful" by The New York Times and "engagingly flamboyant" by the L.A. Times, and "Incredibly Rich Sound" by the CBC, Kinan Azmeh is one of Syria's rising stars. His utterly distinctive sound across different musical genres is now fast gaining international recognition.

Born in Damascus, Kinan was the first Arab to win the premier prize at the 1997 Nicolai Rubinstein International Competition, Moscow. A graduate of New York's Juilliard school as a student of Charles Neidich, and of both the Damascus High institute of Music where he studied with Shukry Sahwki, Nicolay Viovanof and Anatoly Moratof, and Damascus University's School of Electrical Engineering, Kinan is currently finishing his doctoral work in music at the City University of New York.

Kinan has appeared worldwide as a soloist, composer and improviser. Notable appearances include: Opera Bastille, Paris; Tchaikovsky Grand Hall, Moscow; Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall and the UN's general assembly, New York; the Royal Albert Hall, London; Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires; der Philharmonie; Berlin; the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, Washington DC; the Mozarteum, Salzburg and the Damascus opera house for its opening concert in his native Syria.

He has appeared as soloist with the Bavarian radio orchestra, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, the NDR big-band, the Kiev Camerata, the Knights Orchestra, the Izmir State Opera Orchestra, the Corasara Orchestra, the Osnabruck Symphony, the Morgenland Festival Orchestra, the Qatar Philharmonic , the New Juilliard Ensemble and the Syrian Symphony Orchestra among others.; and has shared the stage with Marcel Khalife, Daniel Barenboim, Jivan Gasparian, Zakir Hussein Francois Rabbath, Simon Shaheen, Solhi-al- Wadi, Calefax Reed Quintet, and members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.

His compositions include several works for solo, orchestra, and chamber music; film, live illustration, and electronics. His discography include three albums with his ensemble HEWAR, several soundtracks for film and dance, a duo album with pianist Dinuk Wijeratne and a recent album with his New York Arabic/Jazz quartet. He serves as artistic director of the Damascus Festival Chamber Music Ensemble, with whom he released an album of new contemporary Syrian chamber music written especially for the ensemble by various composers and is also a frequent guest faculty at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music and is on the advisory board of the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra. www.kinanazmeh.com

Guy Barash, Composer: Guy Barash is a composer of modern music. Among his compositions are symphonic, chamber, vocal and electroacoustic works. He has written an extensive body of work that incorporates text in various settings and arrangements. As a humanistic artist with a great social consciousness, Guy writes for people. Whether for performers or audiences, he creates music that is challenging yet compelling.

His thesis "the analysis of the musical properties of Hebrew as a compositional tool", established a compositional system that is unique and gives him his Signature Sound. In his music he generates a multi metric environment where he explore temporal issues such as simultaneity and synchronicity. The contrast between improvised and written music, and such pitch relationships as fake polyphony and microtonality are evident throughout his writing. In works for traditional instruments, he derives his palette and concepts from electronic music sound world. He works closely with performers to develop the piece that is right for their personality and technique.

Born and raised in Haifa, Israel, Barash completed his B.A. in music composition and theory from The University of Haifa, having studied with renowned Israeli composer, Arie Shapira. Since 2008, he has been based in New York City. He holds a master's degree in music composition and theory from NYU Steinhardt, where he studied composition with Joan La Barbara and Morton Subotnick.

Guy Barash's collaboration with American author Nick Flynn on Proteus, a musical rendition of Flynn's selected texts and excerpts from his second memoir The Ticking Is The Bomb, had its world premiere at Galapagos Art Space in February 2010. A commission from the Jerome Foundation, as part of his 2011 composer-residency at Electronic Music Foundation, gave Barash the resources to compose and produce Blind Huber based on 7 poems from the eponymous book of poems by Flynn, alongside video projections by Jerald Handelsman. It was premiered fall 2011 in Greenwich House.

Barash's recent collaborations have been with a wide array of artists (poets, video-artists, musicians and choreographers) on innovative, multidisciplinary projects.

A winner of the ASCAP Plus Awards in both 2011 and 2012, Guy Barash is currently a composer-in- residence at Turtle Bay Music School as a recipient of Exploring the Metropolis' Con Edison Composition Award. He is also the contemporary music curator at The Tank Theater. This year, Barash presented Eavesdropping's third season of adventurous programming, which was hailed as a "a bold concert series" (icareifyoulisten.com) and recognized as providing a "stage for risk-taking and the exploration of non- conventional sound, to present a relevant boundary-breaking artistic work." (The Tank NYC)

Guy Barash is rapidly becoming an integral component in the international new music scene. His versatility with composing, arranging, performing and curating combined with a hearty passion for cross-collaboration among several disciplines has served to inform his work and further develop his unique voice. He is "a compelling composer/sound artist ... already making some serious contributions to the New York new music scene." (Urban Modes) www.guybarash.com

Photo by Jill Steinberg