the biophony project
Japanese Garden
Brooklyn Botanical Garden - 990 Washington Avenue 40.6687163 N, 73.9630636 W
Biomes Performed
Commissioned by the Metropolis Ensemble for the premiere in Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Twelve Miniature Etudes is inspired by the different techniques, music elements and timbre that can be produced by various instruments. Colors I is a movement of long holding notes that build chords. Bullet Notes are melodic lines produced by fast running notes connected from one instrument to the other. Ostinato Rocks are ostinatos with polyrhythms. Imitation You and I is created by musicians imitate each other’s sound, melody, and rhythms. Funky Chords is a movement with three sets of harmonic progressions that musicians use to improvise. In Scale Plays, players use octatonic scale(s) to build a three-part structure. The sound in Duets is produced by paring of instruments. In Unison Tuning, everyone starts by playing a single melodic line and then alternates after that. Composite Hockets is created by rhythmic hockets with different groups. In Chain II, short melodic lines are created and passed around musicians using eye contacts. Rhythm Blocks builds on single note chosen by each player and rhythmic patterns created by them. Colors II is an echo of Colors I.
Meet the Artists
Xavier Del Castillo is a saxophonist and composer based in Brooklyn, New York. He has performed with numerous Jazz, New Music and Folk ensembles including Adam O'Farrill's Stranger Days, Cat Toren's Human Kind, Inti and the Moon, Los Guachinangos, Ben Rosenblum's Nebula Project, Tim Rachbach's Under One Moon and Alec Goldfarb's Laughing Coffin…
Marina Kifferstein (she/they) is a violinist and generative artist based in NYC. Equally comfortable in major international venues and DIY performance spaces, Marina enjoys a diverse career that encompasses contemporary chamber music, improvisation, composition, and classical performance…
Pablo O’Connell (he/him) is an NYC-based oboist, multi-instrumentalist, and composer. Pablo’s varied musical life includes composing and interpreting contemporary concert music, improvising, performing music of the European Baroque on period instruments, writing and recording indie folk songs, studying traditional Andean music, and more…
Alec Goldfarb is a Brooklyn based guitarist, composer, and Hindustani classical musician. Active in the NYC improvised and new music communities, Alec directed the chamber ensemble “Laughing Coffin” and served as Jonah Bokaer Choreography’s inaugural Composer in Residence for 2018...