Puerto Rican poets set to music by Gabriel Bouche Caro.
Americas Society Presents “Que tus ojos no se cansen de brillar”
Chamber Music with Poetry by Julia de Burgos, Pedro Pietri, Giannina Braschi, Angelamaría Dávila
Gabriel Bouche Caro, Composer
Sebastian Zubieta, Conductor
Music of the Americas Series at The Americas Society, 680 Park Avenue, New York City
December 9th 2022
Puerto Rican Art Song Cycle: Que tus ojos no se cansen de brillar
Contemporary Chamber Music for Soprano and Ensemble
PROGRAM NOTES
“Que tus ojos no se cansen de brillar” is a new song cycle for clarinet, violin, flute, cello, percussion, piano, and voice (soprano). In the words of composer Gabriel Bouche Caro, “this song cycle, featuring texts by Giannina Braschi (selected by the composer) and other Puerto Rican poets (selected by Braschi), will focus on the idea of “puertorriqueñidad” (what makes one Puerto Rican) and identity in exile.
- Aliana de la Guardia, soprano
- Gleb Kanasevich, clarinet
- Thomas Giles, sax
- Jay Sorce, guitar
- Marina Kifferstein, violin
- Carrie Frey, viola
- Jessica Tsang, percussion
Puerto Rican composer Gabriel Bouche Caro composed a new song cycle for clarinet, violin, flute, cello, percussion, piano, and voice (soprano). In the words of the composer, “this song cycle, featuring texts by Giannina Braschi (selected by the composer) and other Puerto Rican authors (selected by Braschi), will focus on the idea of “puertorriqueñidad” (what makes one Puerto Rican) and identity in exile.
“The evening-long work aims to explore the idea of a non-traditional sound world to represent the issue of identity. The style of the music is, at its core, influenced by traditional Puerto Rican music, but it purposefully does not portray these elements clearly. It includes tonal and atonal elements, a variety of textures, and a rich rhythmic structure. The idea behind my work is to represent the wide cultural variety that exists inside the Puerto Rican and Caribbean experience. In this project, it will be evident because of the sonic qualities of the work and also through the variety of styles in text. The text will deal with themes of the history of Puerto Rico, such as colonialism, exile, the beauty of and love for the island, and individual struggle. In the field of “art music” from Puerto Rico, there are not many (if any) evening-long vocal works (excluding opera) that deal with the issue of identity through the lens of colonialism and exile, especially not ones that venture outside the tonal language and evident folk styles. I want to not only expand the vocal repertoire but to broaden the artistic representation of my generation, who has been faced with the culmination of more than half a millennium of colonialism and oppression—to speak for myself and a generation that has felt excluded, abandoned, and even forcibly ousted and to make something that can give back to where we I come from. This piece is an extension of my desire to become more connected with my home and wanting to highlight the issues we face to an audience that may be familiar with them at a base level but has probably never really listened to those that suffer through it. My collaboration with Braschi is also an ongoing one that has allowed me to see some of my ideas about identity clearly represented in text. This has led to a series of compositions (both vocal and instrumental) based on her work.”
Born in Puerto Rico, Gabriel Bouche Caro is based in New York City. He holds a PhD from the CUNY Graduate Center. Gabriel explores concepts and perceptions of personal and musical identity through language and the experience of life as part of a colonized people and society. Identity, authenticity in a non-native environment, and foreignness are all tints that color the artistic conception and eventual discourse that is communicated in his work. His music has been performed in North America, South America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. His music has been featured in the Havana Contemporary Music festival, sound SCAPE, and New Music on the Point festivals. He has been commissioned by the Baltimore Classical Guitar Society, the Canva sounds Collective, the Music of the Americs Series, and the Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts. He has also written music for soprano Ah Young Hong. His music has been performed by the JACK Quartet and Evan Runyon. He is the recipient of the Randolph S. Rothschild Award in Composition (Peabody Institute) and the Augusto Rodriguez Prize for musical achievement (University of Puerto Rico). Gabriel holds an MM in Composition from the Peabody Conservatory and a BA in Music from the University of Puerto Rico.
Contemporary Chamber Music and New Opera Artists
Aliana de la Guardia is a multifaceted Cuban-American soprano who specializes in new music and new opera. She is co-founder and Artistic Director of Guerilla Opera. She has collaborated with Beth Morrison Projects, Center for Contemporary Opera, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Boston New Music Festival, Dinosaur Annex, Enigma Chamber Opera, Ludovico Ensemble, Monadnock Music, New Gallery Concert Series, Transient Canvas, Winsor Music. Her labels include Navona and Ravello Records, BMOP Sound. She collaborated on genre-bending works with Mountain Time Arts and Atlas UNLIMITED. She has been a guest artist at Harvard, Lawrence Conservatory, Vermont College of Fine Arts, and New England Foundation for the Arts, with speaking engagements at Washington National Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Singers Resource, and Classical Singer and National Opera Association conventions.
Thomas Giles is a saxophonist working at the intersection of contemporary music, improvisation, and interdisciplinary collaborations. He has premiered more than 200 new works, many of which are dedicated to him, and performed in over 30 states and 10 countries, including venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Constellation (Chicago), SFJAZZ (San Francisco), Princeton Sound Kitchen, Harvard University, and internationally at Bachfest Leipzig, Szczecin International Saxophone Festival, Utrecht Bartholomeus Gasthuis, and the Citè de la Musique de Strasbourg.
Gleb Kanasevich is a clarinetist, composer, and noise/drone musician. He works a lot with feedback and modified instruments, while exploring expressive possibilities in very simple electronic processing. He works often as a soloist and collaborates with composers, chamber music groups, improvisers, noise musicians, death metal bands, and many more types of artists. Since 2013, Kanasevich has been a core member of Ensemble Cantata Profana – a group based in New York City. (Puerto Rican Poets Set to Music).
Jay Sorce is a founding member Hypercube, an ensemble of guitar, piano, percussion, and saxophone, and of Sorce/Lodge Duo, a piano and guitar duo. He has premiered/commissioned hundreds of new works by composers including Eric Wubbels, Nicholas Deyoe, Alexandre Lunsqui, Michael Fiday and Juan Trigos. Projects include residencies with Columbia University, NYU Steinhardt and Bowling Green, concerts with Hypercube and the International Contemporary Ensemble, and appearances at the Dimenna Center and the Johnstone Fund for New Music. Collaborative projects: electronic musician Drake Andersen and the electric guitar duo, KillDry, with composer/guitarist Nicholas Deyoe. Jay is a graduate of Manhattan School of Music, University of Arizona, and Stony Brook University, where he completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree. He is a faculty member at Adelphi University. (Puerto Rican Poets Set to Music)
Marina Kifferstein is a violinist and generative artist based in NYC. She enjoys a diverse career with a focus on contemporary chamber music. Marina is a founding member of TAK ensemble and The Rhythm Method string quartet, and is a principal member and curator with the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra. She is on faculty at the United Nations International School and the Composers Conference, and with TAK, they are currently serving as the Long-Term Ensemble-in-Residence at the University of Pennsylvania.
Carrie Frey is a violist, teacher, and composer based in New York City. Frey is the violist of the Rhythm Method (“a group of individuals with distinct compositional voices and a collective vision for the future of the string quartet” – I Care If You Listen) and a founding member of string trio Chartreuse and string quartet Desdemona. She has performed with many of New York City’s notable new music groups, including Wet Ink Large Ensemble, AMOC, Talea Ensemble, and International Contemporary Ensemble. Frey is a member of Simone Baron’s genre-bending Arco Belo ensemble and records with electroacoustic trio Hierophant. Rhythm Method, Arco Belo, Adrianne Munden-Dixon, and Kallie Sugatski have performed her works.
Jess Tsang is a percussionist, researcher, and improviser dedicated to the creation of new interdisciplinary works. Jess is the founder of listenbeer, a series of multi-sensory concert experiences merging craft beer with experimental music. She was a 2018 Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab Fellow and a 2019 OneBeat Fellow. Residencies at the Banff Centre, The Hambidge Center, and Residência São João. Her debut album, sound shadows, was released with madefor Records in 2021. Jess completed her graduate studies at McGill University, under the guidance of Aiyun Huang. She holds a B.M. from The New School. www.jesstsang.net.
Que tus ojos no se cansen de brillar. Que yo lo quiero todo. Que los ojos brillen como las estrellas. Que yo tenga estrellas en mis manos. Que pueda dibujarte los cometas. Que haya aire y haya tierra. Que tú tengas lo que tienen las estrellas. Que ellos tengan lo que tiene el mar. Que todos tengan manos y cometas. Que se cumplan todos tus deseos. Que tus esperanzas no dejen de esperarte. Que te espere la estrella. Que te esperen tus deseos. Que te amen. Que te quieran todos. Que te llenes de todos. Que todos te colmen de inocentes bagatelas.
Giannina Braschi (Asalto al tiempo)
Music of the Americas Series Funders
The MetLife Foundation Music of the Americas concert series is made possible by the generous support of Presenting Sponsor MetLife Foundation. The Fall 2022 Music program is also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and by the Howard Gilman Foundation.
Additional support comes from New Music USA’s Organizational Development Fund in 2022-23, the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, and The Amphion Foundation, Inc.
The commission of Que tus ojos no se cansen de brillar is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Tags: Puerto Rican art song cycle, Latinx chamber music, world music, Puerto Rican song cycle, Puerto Rican poets set to music, Contemporary Chamber Music for Soprano, New operatic works, Experimental music, New music for chamber ensembles, Julia de Burgos, Pedro Pietri, Giannina Braschi, Ángela María Dávila.
https://www.as-coa.org/events/gabriel-bouche-caro-que-tus-ojos-no-se-cansen-de-brillar