“Site-specific, ambulatory concerts are disrupting the normal, stationary concert experience.”
(Wall Street Journal)
About the Album
Released December 21, 2017 on Metropolis Ensemble
Ricardo Romaneiro’s The Coarse Air explores the boundaries of electronica and classical, weaving through layers of pulsating grooves and radiant harmonies, creating a kaleidoscopic tapestry of sound and rhythm.
This work for soprano Ariadne Greif is backed by chamber ensemble, solo percussion, and electronics in quadrophonic sound, based on texts from poet C.Cahill and building on the instrumentations found in Metropolis Ensemble’s Brownstone and Memory Palace to create a dramatic culminating experience.
The live recording of The Coarse Air was presented as part of Brownstone: a site-specific, 360-degree concert at the AIHS, that featured three electro-acoustic works from Ricardo Romaneiro, Jakob Ciupinski, and Chris Cerrone where audience members leave their chairs behind to choose their own unique experience of each piece.
Each work involved musicians and electronic elements placed throughout the main spaces of a gloriously restored, turn-of-the-century mansion facing The Metropolitan Museum of Art, unified by each composer's exploration of electro-acoustic composition coupled with experiments in audience perspective, control, and acoustic/architectural space. There were no gaps between pieces, creating a magical "concert-installation."
“Metropolis Ensemble achieves something of a different sort, rare and alchemical. They make their brand of music look cool.” (Brooklyn Magazine)
Recent Reviews
“Brownstone is an evolution of the salon, keeping the arts together and cooking it up in a pot. It’s not just a concert—it’s a mix of everything.”
Ricardo Romaneiro
A long-time Metropolis collaborator, Ricardo Romaneiro’s premieres over the years include The Rite: Remixed, Hallucinations, Strata, and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis.
About the Album
The Coarse Air presented in the Brownstone concert uses a technique called "controlled or limited aleatorism," pioneered by 20th Century Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski, allowing the composer to introduce randomness and freedom into a synchronized whole. Fellow Metropolis composer, Jakub Ciupinski, adapted this system to achieve a coherent and compelling musical experience.
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Ricardo Romaneiro: The Coarse Air (2015); for soprano, chamber ensemble, solo percussion, and electronics in quadrophonic sound
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Andrew Cyr, Artistic Director / Conductor
Ariadne Greif, Solo Soprano
Ian Rosenbaum, Solo Percussion
C.Cahill, Poetry
Ricardo Romaneiro, Live Electronics
Leo Leite, Live Electronics / Engineer
Kristin Lee, Violin
Karen Kim, Violin
Emily Smith, Violin
Fabiola Kim, Violin
Siwoo Kim, Violin
Yves Dharamraj, Cello
Ashley Bathgate, Cello
Jacqui Kerrod, Harp
Mélanie Genin, Harp
Andrew Rehrig, Flute
Nathan Mills, Oboe
Brad Balliett, Bassoon
Britton Matthews, Percussion
Sean Statser, Percussion
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Brownstone is collaborative production of Metropolis Ensemble and Friends of Metropolis and artist Jennifer Salomon. Select sound effects from the BBC Nature Sound Effects Library provided by Pro Sound Effects.
This concert was produced in collaboration with Ricardo Romaneiro as part of Metropolis Ensemble’s Artist-in-Residence program.
Ricardo Romaneiro
Composer
Ricardo Romaneiro was born in 1979 in Sao Paulo, Brazil and currently lives in New York City. He earned his undergraduate degree in composition at the Manhattan School of Music under the tutelage of Richard Danielpour, and following private studies with Samuel Zyman completed his Master of Music degree at the Juilliard School, studying with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Christopher Rouse.
As a composer, Romaneiro seeks to synthesize his interest in electronic music with his background in classical composition. His music has been commissioned and performed by ensembles and institutions such as the Metropolis Ensemble, the Museum of Modern Art's Summergarden Series, Wordless Music, the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, the New Juilliard Ensemble, Quintet of the Americas, the Colorado Ballet, and the Sacramento Ballet. In 2010 his composition "Sombras" was featured in the American Composers Orchestra's Underwood New Music Readings, where he was the recipient of the People's Choice Award. Romaneiro's composition process and music was featured in Esquire Magazine's 2007 "Best & Brightest" issue.
His work with Metropolis Ensemble includes "The Rite: Remixed", a re-imagination of Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" for brass ensemble, percussion, and live electronics, and "Two-Part Belief", featuring Grammy Award-winning soprano Hila Plitmann. Presented by Wordless Music Series as part of "Celebrate Brooklyn!" summer concerts, both were premiered in Prospect Park Bandshell for an audience of 10,000 and nationally broadcast live on NPR. More »
In the Upper East Side townhouse that the American Irish Historical Society calls home, a violinist ambled down the stairs while tuning her instrument and a harpist improvised with electronic sounds that came from the walls.