Composer and performer Clarice Assad presents Ventos, a piece she wrote at age 13, for Metropolis Ensemble’s House Music Series. Ventos is the Portuguese word for winds, and here, Assad meditates on the lack of control she felt at that time in her life. It was a difficult period, where she couldn’t control what was happening to her; the music presents itself as a contemplative response to those feelings.
Assad’s work with Metropolis Ensemble began earlier this year, when she was commissioned to adapt a work for hers for their concert at (le) Poisson Rouge. Ciranda was an event that sought to explore the links between New York’s contemporary classical music scene and folk-inspired Nuevo-Latino music. For Assad, the event, which took place in January prior to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, was a blast, and performing as part of the House Music Series was a logical next step.
Assad’s concert comes to us from her living room, recorded using two iPhone cameras that provide different angles of her space. Her music is effortless and drifting, flowing like the wind between notes and melodies. In choosing to perform Ventos, she brings to life the introspective uncertainty of our current times. But, most of all, she hopes that this piece will bring its listeners joy. — Vanessa Ague
Episode: 02Date: April 2, 2020Artist: Clarice AssadInstrumentation: Voice, PianoWork: “Ventos”Composer: Clarice AssadLocation: Chicago, ILMore from House Music