A Memorial Tribute to Ingram Marshall
Friday, October 21, 2022 — 7pm — The Greene Space — 44 Charlton Street NYC and LIVE via YouTube
The late American composer Ingram Marshall pioneered the use of tape delay, and later, digital delay, as part of the architecture of a composition. His works often incorporated post-Minimalism, ambient electronic effects, and echoes of Indonesian gamelan music, along with the occasional nod to Beethoven or Sibelius. Many had a dark, nocturnal aspect, which led to the use of his piece “Fog Tropes” in the Martin Scorsese film Shutter Island.
Marshall died this spring at the age of 80, and on October 21, musicians and colleagues will gather to perform some of his electroacoustic works: pianist Timo Andres, guitarist Benjamin Verdery, electric violinist Todd Reynolds, pianist Sarah Cahill, oboist Libby van Cleve, and Metropolis guest conductor Raquel Acevedo Klein with members of Metropolis Ensemble.
Marshall was mentor to Metropolis’ own Timo Andres while at Yale University and brings a unique look into his influences through this special event.
Hosted by John Schaefer. Produced by New Sounds. This concert is made possible in part by the Thendara Foundation.
On the Program
Ben Verdery
Soepa (guitar, tape) 10’
Timo Andres and Sarah Cahill
Five Easy Pieces (piano 4 hands) 11’
Libby Van Cleve
Dark Waters (English horn and tape) 20’
Todd Reynolds
September Canons (violin and electronics) 13’
Timo Andres
Authentic Presence (piano) 12’
Metropolis Ensemble/Raquel Acevedo Klein
Fog Tropes (brass sextet, tape) 10’
Meet the Artists
Remembering Ingram Marshall
“He was the type of teacher who believes the best lessons come from observation and exploration. His music allows the listener to do the same.” —Nadia Sirota
Ingram Marshall was a composer who lived and worked in the San Francisco Bay Area from 1973 to 1985 and in Washington Sate, where he taught at Evergreen State College, until 1989. He studied at Lake Forest College, Columbia University and California Institute of the Arts, where he received an M.F.A., and was a student of Indonesian gamelan music, the influence of which may be heard in the slowed-down sense of time and use of melodic repetition found in many of his pieces.
In the mid-seventies he developed a series of “live electronic” pieces such as Fragility Cycles, Gradual Requiem, and Alcatraz in which he blended tape collages, extended vocal techniques, Indonesian flutes, and keyboards. He performed widely in the United States with these works. In recent years he concentrated on music combining tape and electronic processing with ensemble and soloists.
His music has been preformed by ensembles and orchestras such as the Theatre of Voices, Kronos Quartet, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, and American Composers Orchestra. He has received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Rockefeller Foundation, Fromm Foundation, Guggenheim Foundation, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Recent recordings are on Noneseuch (Kingdom Come) and New Albion (Savage Altars). Among recent chamber works are Muddy Waters, which was commissioned and performed by the Bang on a Can All-Stars, and In Deserto (smoke Creek), commissioned by Chamber Music America for the ensemble Clogs. January 2004 saw the premiere of Bright Kingdoms, commissioned by Meet the Composer, and performed by the Oakland-East Bay Symphony under Michael Morgan. The American Composers Orchestra in New York premiered his new concerto for two guitars and orchestra, Dark Florescence, at Carnegie Hall in February 2005. Orphic Memories, commissioned by the Cheswatyr Foundation, was composed for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and premiered in Carnegie Hall in April 2007. He died in May 2022.