In getting to know these composers and the nuances of their compositional styles in the process of developing these new commissions, I realized over time that they shared something in common that I found to be artistically fascinating and vital: an open and deep curiosity for exploring diverse source material and developing new and highly individual systems of compositional techniques to absorb these modes of representation. After two preview concerts at the Americas Society in May and at (Le) Poisson Rouge in September, we're ready to hear their newest creations all together in one evening.

Composers, after all, live - like all of us - in the present, and contemporary society and the highly divergent cultural ideas, technology, historical viewpoints, and indigenous folkways that consistently inform the present find their way into their consciousness and artistic expression. With their very different views of music, its perception, and its role in society, this concert of works by four very talented young people will represent an important contribution to the dialogue between performer, composer, and audience.

Listen to two excerpts from Erin Gee:

Watch Erin demonstrate her technique in the Mouthpiece series:

Here's a performance by Vivian Fung and Dharma Swara Balinese gamelan ensemble from Metropolis Ensemble's Glimpses concert on May 6, 2009:

Vivian discusses Dreamscapes:

But although I have quoted, sometimes liberally, from traditional Balinese sources, they are not the focus of the concerto. I am not an ethnomusicologist and am less concerned with replicating anything akin to an exact version of these works than with the way I have internalized the shimmering harmonies and interlocking rhythms of their traditions into my own original voice. So, to that end, the origins of my musical material should be of secondary concern.

I. Prologue: Mesmerizing Birdsongs
II. First Vignette: Savage and Brutal
III. Second Vignette: Jazzy but Steady
IV. Third Vignette: Sweetly Dreamful but with Ghostly Undertones
V. Fourth Vignette: Rude Awakenings; Schizophrenic Dreamscapes
VI. Postlude: Calm and Tranquil
(Performed without pause)

I have organized the work into a series of "Vignettes" that are all to be played without pause. The concerto is meant as a single movement work that has many different scenes. It begins with an unusual set-up in which selected musicians begin in the audience blowing bird whistles that I purchased for the premiere from a street vendor in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The prologue gradually builds into the First Vignette, fast and relentless with gamelan-like interlocking rhythms. The Second Vignette takes my earlier solo prepared piano work "Kotekan," written for Jenny Lin, and greatly expands on it. The Third Vignette brings a temporary relief from the fast tempi of the first two, and presents a beautiful singing part for the piano. Around the solo, the orchestra weaves in and out with dreamlike chords and whispers. The Fourth Vignette sounds suddenly and is meant to recap previously heard themes and musical material. The postlude brings a calm ending, but includes some surprise sonorities at the very end of the score.

Soloist Jenny Lin demonstrates a prepared piano:

Here's the second movement of Glimpses, performed by Jenny Lin at Metropolis Ensemble's Glimpses on May 6, 2009:

I constantly immersed myself in sounds that shared one common principal: rhythm as the driving force of music that inspires and compels movement. In order to learn more about afro-brazilian music I took dance classes. The classes were accompanied by three Brazilian drummers dictating the tempo, style, and accent of our steps. While they beat fervently in variations on a 6/8 rhythm, the instructor had us dancing in a 4/4 pattern. The juxtaposition of the two opposing time signatures created a rich and complex rhythmic texture. I fell in love with the sense of suspended time that those polyrhythms created. For the past two years I have traveled to Salvador Bahia, Brazil to study the rhythms, instruments, and musical traditions of the country.

Here's the original work Jolt, performed by Jenny Lin, Meia Noite, Britton Matthews, and Rachel Calin at Metropolis Ensemble's Glimpses on May 6, 2009:

JOLT begins with a solo berimbau, a single-stringed instrument that is used in Brazilian martial arts capoeira. From the polyrhythmic line of one player it then erupts into a multi-layered groove for all three percussionists. The marimba keeps time in a 6/8 pattern while two percussionists play in 4/4. While one percussionist's music is written out, the other one is improvised. I wanted to allow room for spontaneous expression in the first percussionist's music throughout the piece. Much like in jazz, I created a map of rhythms and breaks from which the percussionist improvises. Other members of the orchestra join in the marimba line starting with the cello. The 6/8 groove subsides, again led by the marimba, and flows directly into the second movement.

Cristina discusses her involvement with Metropolis Ensemble:

The second movement of JOLT is the most rhythmically layered of the piece. I wanted to create the same sense of rhythmic ambiguity that I felt while in the afro-brazilian dance class. Half of the woodwind section has phrases that are 3 beats long. The downbeats to their phrases shift constantly since the movement is written in 4/4. The other half of the woodwinds are playing in a different time signature, 6/8. They are joined by the bass that reinforces the complex meter with a pizzicato outline. The high strings and marimba consistently play an opposing groove in 4/4, obscuring the sense of pulse. The percussionists then come together playing a rhythm that is from the afro-brazilian religion of candomblé. This particular rhythm is played in ritual ceremonies to Oxum, the goddess (orixa) of beauty and fertility. There is a specific melody and rhythm for each of the orixas of candomblé; the rhythm of Oxum is one of the most used in Brazilian pop music. It is characterized by a syncopated agogo bell pattern. Throughout this section the bass and cello act as part of the percussion section with a pizzicato ostinato. The second movement concludes with a return to the polyrhythmic texture of the opening. The orchestra fades out to reveal the flute and clarinet playing the rhythmic kernel of the whole movement.

Soloist Meia Noite demonstrates the rhythms employed in Jolt:

Call-and-response is the driving gesture of the third movement of JOLT. There is call-and-response on a small scale among the percussionists and on a larger scale between the percussionists and the orchestra. Here the soloists become integrated into the sonic landscape of the orchestra; each player's rhythm is mimicked by the orchestral instruments creating a direct communication between the percussionists and the orchestra. Percussionists open the movement with a six measure phrase. It begins with one player on the timbau, a large and resonant drum that is characteristically used in Carnaval and other street performances. That exact rhythm is then reproduced by the woodwinds in a dialogue with the brass and low strings. There are two more patterns of call-and-response between the percussionists and the orchestra before a new rhythm is established. The surdo, a large bass drum, establishes a samba-reggae beat that sets the pace for the middle of the movement. After the percussion subsides the orchestra continues with rhythmically unison syncopated gestures that resemble percussion breaks. The percussion then takes on these breaks and leads the orchestra back to the call-and-response dialougue.

Jakub discusses his recent work in experimental pop and high art:

Here's Morning Tale, performed by Jenny Lin at Metropolis Ensemble's New Music 101 on September 16, 2009:

Jakub performs his unique theremin and laptop gesture-controlled system at New Music 101: