Brooklyn Botanical Garden - 990 Washington Avenue 40.6650237 N, 73.9626096 W
This piece is inspired by the feeling of watching videos of starlings flocks on the internet when I was 12. I spent a while researching the patterns and very complex communication behind their beautiful flocking patterns while writing this music. I was pretty staggered at the complexity of their communication amongst up to 750,000 birds. Apart from protecting itself from predators, these shapes also happen as an act of joy, a natural want to move and dance. A lot of the material in this piece comes directly and indirectly from these shapes. I’ve always been and still am very scared of birds but I really love watching them from afar.
Birds is inspired by bird sounds and their rhythmic sense. This concept reimagines the life of a bird from its morning rise to its last call. The bird seems to have a natural progression in which that happens, and allowing each section of this piece to flow into the next is the key to bringing this piece to life. All sections are meant to be repeated until the material is fully internationalized by listeners. This may mean repeating 4-5 times per section, the only section played 1 time is the last call. There must be at every performance a natural leader cueing each section and fermatas. The idea is to be musical interpreting those held notes to create a building effect leading up to the last call.
Raf Vertessen is a Belgian drummer, percussion player and composer based in Brooklyn. He is involved in New York’s avant-garde and improvised music scene. Vertessen has performed and/or recorded with artists such as Ingrid Laubrock, Joe Morris, Joe McPhee, Ches Smith, Anna Webber, Nick Dunston, Will Greene, Elias Stemeseder, Dan Pencer, Jesse Heasly…
Violinist and improviser Lauren Cauley has quickly risen in New York’s avant-garde as an artist known for genre-breaking performances that expand the sonic possibilities of her instrument. Now a “mainstay of the local new-music scene” (New York Times), she’s built a reputation as an interpreter of “fierce precision” and “excellence uncompromised” (Cleveland Classical)…
