Iran/America:
Common Themes, Difference Worlds
The Old Church
Monday, January 22 • 7:30 pm
1422 SW 11th Ave, Portland, OR 97201
••
Iran/America: Common Themes, Different Worlds presents works by Black American composers Brittany J. Green, Jordyn Davis, Shelley Washington, and Iranian composers Niloufar Nourbakhsh, Aida Shirazi, and Anahita Abbasi. These captivating compositions explore the transnational intersectionalities of violence, trauma, struggle, and glimmers of hope.
Composers (clockwise from top left): Shelley Washington, Brittany J. Green, Anahita Abbasi, Jordyn Davis, Niloufar Nourbakhsh, Aida Shirazi
PROGRAM
Niloufar Nourbakhsh - Aid for Sex
Amelia Lukas, flute; Kirt Peterson, clarinet; Keiko Araki, violin; Nancy Ives, cello; Monica Ohuchi, piano; Michael Roberts, percussion
Brittany J. Green - bluedream
Monica Ohuchi, piano
Aida Shirazi - Vestiges
Amelia Lukas, flute; Keiko Araki, violin; Amanda Grimm, viola; Nancy Ives, cello
INTERMISSION
Jordyn Davis - What Have You Done? (Who Are You?)
Greg Ewer, violin; Amanda Grimm, viola
Anahita Abbasi - No, I am not roaming aimlessly
Amelia Lukas, flute
Shelley Washington - Say
Greg Ewer & Keiko Araki, violins; Amanda Grimm, viola; Nancy Ives, cello
Clockwise left to right: Keiko Araki, violin; Michael Roberts, percussion; Inés Voglar Belgique, violin; Kenji Bunch, viola; Amelia Lukas, flute; Monica Ohuchi, piano; James Shields, clarinet; Nancy Ives, piano
Program Notes & Artist Biographies
Aid for Sex (6’)
Niloufar Nourbakhsh
PROGRAM NOTES FROM THE COMPOSER
The idea behind “Aid for Sex” is inspired by a U.N. Population Fund report published in November 2017 that is titled “Voices from Syria 2018”. In this thorough report that investigates all forms of sexual violence that take place in Syria on a regular basis, stories of sexual exploitation seemed so bleak that it was almost impossible to believe: “Sexual exploitation by humanitarian workers at distributions was commonly cited by participants as a risk faced by women and girls when trying to access aid ‘The more the girl gives to the distributor, the more aid she will receive. (Adolescent girl from Badama sub-district, Idleb governorate)’” (voices from Syria 2018, P.32).
Sexual exploitation by U.N. aid distributors would not be possible without the extreme environment of chaos that war brings. Is it possible to create a sonic chaotic environment in which absurd musical events can become the reality of a piece of music? By structuring a chaotic texture that keeps surprising the audience by using extremes of dynamic and timbre within a non-tonal harmony, almost any sound can become a musical reality. Once such a chaotic soundscape is established, the emergence of tonal harmony and predictable structure towards the end of the piece would be deciphered differently, as if this arrival could never be imaginable in such chaos. “Aid for Sex” aims to present the traumatic experience of a Syrian woman who managed to survive. The reality that follows the trauma is never the same.
BIOGRAPHY
Described as “stark” by WNPR, and “darkly lyrical” by the New York Times, a winner of 2022 Beth Morrison Projects Next Generation, National Sawdust’s 2nd Hildegard competition, and a recipient of the 2019 Female Discovery Grant from Opera America, Iranian-American composer Niloufar Nourbakhsh’s music has been commissioned and performed by Nashville Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic musicians, Library of Congress, I-Park Foundation, National Sawdust Ensemble, International Contemporary Ensemble, Camerata Pacifica, Shriver Hall Series, Center for Contemporary Opera, Women Composers Festival of Hartford, PUBLIQuartet, Forward Music Project, Calidore String Quartet, Cassatt String Quartet, Akropolis Reed Quintet, and Ensemble Connect at numerous festivals and venues including Carnegie Hall, Washington Kennedy Center, Mostly Mozart Festival, Ojai Festival, Seal Bay Festival of American Chamber Music, and many more. A founding member and co-director of the Iranian Female Composers Association, Nilou is a strong advocate of music education. In 2014, she worked as the site coordinator of Brooklyn Middle School Jazz Academy sponsored by Jazz at Lincoln Center. She is currently co-artistic director of the Peabody Conservatory Laptop Orchestra and teaches composition at the Longy School of Music of Bard College. Nilou also regularly performs with her ensemble, Decipher.
Nilou is a music graduate and a Global Citizen Scholarship recipient of Goucher College as well as a Mahoney and Caplan Scholar from the University of Oxford. Among her teachers are Lisa Weiss, Kendall Kennison, Laura Kaminsky, Daniel Weymouth, Matthew Barnson, Margaret Schedel, and Daria Semegen. She received a Ph.D. in music composition from Stony Brook University under the supervision of Sheila Silver.
bluedream (9’)
Brittany J. Green
PROGRAM NOTES FROM THE COMPOSER
bluedream (2019) for piano and fixed media grapples with the conflicting feelings of contentedness, restlessness, and stagnation places of familiarity often evoke.
BIOGRAPHY
Brittany J. Green is a North Carolina-based composer, creative, and educator. Her music facilitates intimate musical spaces that ignite visceral responses at the intersection of sound, video, movement, and text. Recent works engage sonification and black feminist theory as tools for sonic world-building, exploring the construction, displacement, and rupture of systems. Her artistic practice includes spoken and electronic performance, interdisciplinary collaboration, experiential projects, and acoustic and electroacoustic chamber and large ensemble works. Her music has been featured at TIME:SPANS, NYC Electronic Music Festival, WoCo Fest, and Experimental Sound Studio. Her collaborators include the International Contemporary Ensemble, JACK Quartet, Transient Canvas, Castle of our Skins, Emory University Symphony Orchestra, and Wachovia Winds. Brittany holds awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, ASCAP Foundation, and New Music USA. She is a doctoral candidate at Duke University, pursuing a PhD in music composition as a Dean’s Graduate Fellow.
Vestiges (5’)
Aida Shirazi
PROGRAM NOTES FROM THE COMPOSER
Vestiges is written for flute and string trio. The myth of Orpheus, a legendary musician in ancient Greek mythology, inspired this piece. The composer borrowed melodies from composers Claudio Monteverdi and Christoph Willibald Gluck. The flute in Vestiges is associated with Gluck’s lyrical quality of his melody to Orpheus, who has a charming character. Brief passages from Monteverdi’s Orpheus belong to a recitative from the second act of the opera, where Orpheus grieves the death of Eurydice and promises to bring her back to life. The lyrics of the recitative inspired Shirazi to write this piece; “if my songs have any power at all, I will surely descend to the deepest abyss and… will bring you back with me to see the stars again… Farewell, earth! Farewell, sky, and sun, farewell!”
BIOGRAPHY
Aida Shirazi, born and raised in Tehran, Iran, Aida Shirazi is a composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music. Shirazi’s music is described as ”unfolding with deliberation” by The New York Times, “well-made” and “affecting” by The New Yorker, and “unusually creative” by San Francisco Classical Voice. in her works for solo instruments, voice, ensemble, orchestra, and electronics, she mainly focuses on timbre for organizing structures inspired by Persian and English languages and literature. Shirazi’s music has been featured at festivals and concert series, including Manifeste, Wien Modern, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Mostly Mozart, OutHear New Music Week, MATA, Marlboro Music Festival, Direct Current, Taproot, and Tehran Contemporary Music Festival in venues such as Maison de la Radio France, Radialsystem Berlin, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Kennedy Center.
What Have You Done? (Who Are You?) (6’)
Jordyn Davis
PROGRAM NOTES FROM THE COMPOSER
The city of Detroit has a unique & distinct identity that in recent years has been challenged by people who want to “improve” & “rebuild the city” in hopes of creating a “New Detroit.” Within the last 5 years, the city has completely transformed & is rapidly transforming every day. Although change can sometimes be for good, gentrification in the city has displaced thousands of people who have lived in Detroit for generations & is implicitly impacting the cultural identity of the city. Growing up outside of the city most of my life, my relationship with the city is constantly evolving & has recently challenged me to think more deeply about identity. As an artist & human being, I am constantly thinking about my identity & how society, my profession, my colleagues, friends & family challenges my identity & so this piece asks two very important questions while depicting an introspective reflection on this ever-evolving journey of defining your identity while others are also trying to define it for you.
This piece was composed for a commission from the Detroit Composers Project in 2018. It has since been performed at the Detroit Institute of Art, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra CUBE, University of Michigan, Michigan State University & GuarneriHall in Chicago, Illinois.
BIOGRAPHY
Jordyn Davis is a ground-breaking, multi-talented, and award-winning bassist, composer, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. She is the first African-American woman to receive a Bachelor's Degree in Music Composition from Michigan State University and the first Michigan State student to receive a Bachelor's Degree in Music Composition and Jazz Studies concurrently. Davis has also completed a Masters's Degree in Jazz Studies at Michigan State University and worked as a graduate teaching assistant. She recently relocated to Brooklyn, NY and was named one of two inaugural Jazz Leader Fellowship recipients by the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. Davis has worked on the Tony-Winning Broadway Musical New York, New York: A new musical and collaborated with Craig Harris & the contemporary dance company Urban Bush Women. Her work spans various musical styles and has been featured on the PBS Limited Series Music for Social Justice. Davis has also worked with renowned ensembles and institutions and collaborated with several notable musicians. She leads her own band/ensemble called Composetheway and has released an EP titled Connections in 2017. Additionally, Davis is passionate about teaching and mentoring young musicians, working with organizations such as the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Girls Rock Detroit, and Science Gallery. She is a shining light in the music industry and will continue to inspire the next generation of musicians.
No, I am not roaming aimlessly (9’)
Anahita Abbasi
PROGRAM NOTES FROM THE COMPOSER
“No I am not roaming aimlessly” is based on two ideologies; Dialogical Self Theory & Sufism. Dialogical Self Theory weaves two concepts, self and dialogue, together in such a way that a more profound understanding of the interconnection of self and society is achieved. Usually, the concept of self refers to something “internal,” something that takes place within the mind of the individual person, while dialogue is typically associated with something “external.”
The composite concept “dialogical self” goes beyond the self-other dichotomy by infusing the external to the internal and, in reverse, introducing the internal into the external. As functioning as a “society of mind”, the self is populated by a multiplicity of “self-positions” that can entertain dialogical relationships with each other.
The form and the context of this Dialogue are inspired and shaped based on a poem by Rumi (translation by Farah Aziz) and the sincere definition of Sufism; The search for the center, for the inner state of mystical love; a deeper identity or essential self and the Unity of Being. Sufism is the selfless experience and actualization of the Truth, which involves an enlightened inner being, not intellectual proof; revelation and witnessing, not logic. The practice of Sufism is the intention to go towards the Truth, using love and devotion. The truth of Sufism requires reformulation and fresh expression in every age. The Sufi is a lover of Truth, who is eager and persistent, and using love and devotion moves towards the Truth, Clarity, and the perfection which we are all seeking.
BIOGRAPHY
Anahita Abbasi’s music has been described as “a dizzyingly sophisticated reverie, colorful and energetic. It embodies tremendous timbral exploration and multilayered performance gestures”… (Classical Voice America and A Cunning plan).
Anahita Abbasi’s music has been commissioned and performed by distinguished soloists and ensembles such as Mahan Esfahani, Steven Schick, Vimbayi Kaziboni, Rebekah Heller, Sergej Tchirkov, Artyom kim, Ensemble Modern, International Contemporary Ensemble, UmeDuo, Klangforum Wien musicians, Wavefiled Ensemble, San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, Disonart Ensemble, Platypus Ensemble, Quatuor Diotima, Mivos Quartet, Argonaut Quartet, Tak Ensemble, Schallfeld Ensemble, Zafraan Ensemble, Contemporaneous, Blaue Reiter, Off Spring Ensemble, and has been showcased at festivals all around the world among which: Mostly Mozart Festival, The Kitchen, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Niefnorf, Soundnow Festival- Bent Frequency, Roulette, National Sawdust, Mise -En festival (USA), Darmstadt Ferienkurse (Germany), IRCAM – Manifeste Academy (France), Matrix –Experimental studio des SWR, Alte Oper (Germany), BIFEM (Australia), Klangspuren Schwaz (Austria), Sound State festival (Southbank Centre, London), Tectonics (Glasgow), Akademie der Künste (Berlin), United Berlin, Klang Festival (Copenhagen), Tage Neuer Musik, Open music (Austria), Omnibus Ensemble (Uzbekistan), Contempuls (Prague), Tangram Trio (Switzerland), Tongyeong International Music Festival (Korea), neuverBand Ensemble (Switzerland), Ensemble Kollektive (Germany), Acht Brücken Festival (Cologne), Impuls Festival (Austria), Time of Music (Finland), Atlas Festival (Netherlands), Grachten Festival (Netherlands), duo Verso and Bilitis and many others.
Ms. Abbasi has received several awards, including a work-scholarship from the Experimentalstudio des SWR, Freiburg (2014), a Morton Gold ASCAP young composers award (2015), a nomination for “women composers of our time” (2017) as well as the composition prize of the Acht Brücken Festival (2020). In 2022 she has been awarded the Civitella Ranieri Fellowship in Italy and UCROSS Foundation residency in Wyoming.
Aside from teaching composition, giving lectures and curating workshops on fundamentals of creation, and serving as a juror at composition competitions, she is also a founding member of Schallfeld Ensemble in Graz, Austria as well as IFCA (Iranian Female Composers Association) in the USA, New York..; where she is curating concerts, workshops, conferences, creating platforms and advocating for young composers and acts as their ambassadors in presenting their music to others.
Anahita Abbasi (world citizen-1985) was born and raised in Iran. In 2005 she moved to Austria and pursued her undergrad at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, where she studied music theory with Clemens Gadenstätter and Christian Utz & composition with Beat Furrer and Pierluigi Billone; while working closely with Georges Aperghis, Franck Bedrossian, and Philippe Leroux. In 2014 she moved to the US to pursue her Ph.D. degree in Composition with Rand Steiger at UC San Diego.
Currently, Abbasi is residing in New York and in Paris, where she has been awarded a three-year-long residency with Fondation Singer Polignac and Ensemble Le Balcon (Paris, France). Her upcoming projects are commissions from ensemble “der gelbe Klang”, Kommas and New Babylon, Podium Esslingen, and Ensemble Modern for Darmstadt 2023.
Say (10’)
Shelley Washington
PROGRAM NOTES FROM THE COMPOSER
I must have been in 1st grade or Kindergarten
when some kid said the “N” word in front of me
and I didn’t know what it meant but I wanted to find out
It kept rolling around in my head
What is it? A name? Is it a good name?
I said it out loud at home, and remember my Dad looked sad.
I must have been in 4th grade
when we had to take the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) test
and to tell the state how smart we were
We also had to tell them what race we were
“Select One Answer” but I needed two bubbles to be honest
I asked my teacher “why can’t I fill in ‘black’ and ‘white’”
And she said “just fill in black”
and she looked sad.
In high school, I was on the swim team
My brother was on the swim team
We were both really good. We were both Varsity champions and captains.
Someone said, “I didn’t even know black people could swim”
another said, “well, you’re only good athletes because you’re black.”
I was sad.
I went to college, and was the only mixed student in the music department.
-Another time being One of The Only and this never has seemed to change even now-
I played saxophone in all of the top ensembles- I was first chair bari sax in every group we had. I earned that.
A guy I knew made black jokes all the time.
“you’re so white though”
“haha it’s just because you’re black though isn’t it?”
I slapped him across the face at a party once. Hard. I wasn’t even drinking
I was just so mad.
So mad.
I live in New York City now.
You can be whoever you want
You can be nobody
The anonymity of solitude
The fame of individuality
I love it.
Every day I’m myself.
Just a drop of creamy coffee
in the pantone of people here
I am comfortable. I am happier.
But, I read the news
I read what the things people I went to high school with are posting
And how “all lives matter” though so why are you complaining
And “well, he shoulda just listened to the cop and that wouldn’t have happened”
And needing to build a wall
And needing to take back our country
And needing to keep our guns
And needing to build up our police force
And needing to these thugs
I cry a lot when I read the news
So much hurting
Because of the bubble they’re asked to fill out on an exam form
Because someone forgot to use a turn signal
Because they “fit the description”
I can’t breathe.
I am sad.
I am black, I am white. I am both. I get to be both. I can choose. I could choose.
But who cares?
What does my mask entitle me to?
I’ve been followed around a store before
I got a DWB (driving while black) in summer once when I was really tan
A coworker said the “N” word a bunch around me but “oh, well I thought she was Mexican”
I was accused of “using the race card”
My opinions have been scrutinized
It matters to me what I feel
But it doesn’t matter- does the 1 drop rule still apply?
not dark enough to shout it from the rooftops but not white enough to be alright either so
just another day being One of The Only
America is a big place.
A lot of people live in it.
Some people understand everyone’s pain
And some people want “the good old days” back.
We should be able to choose individually
Who we wanna be/what we want to do/how we get to live
But as of late we haven’t been able to, and it gets summarized in the headlines:
Rich White Dude Raped a Woman and Went to Jail for like 20 Seconds
Poor Black Kid was Killed for No Real Reason.
Was killed.
So what do we have to say for ourselves, hm?
What do you have to say for yourself?
What do we even say?
“liking” and hash-tagging have helped some so far
I don’t even know if God is listening – white jesus maybe but
We keep saying all these things over and over
But what’s the use? What’s the truth?
Dead horse is done beat to death more and here we are kicking away at it
so what do we do? What can we say?
So what do you have to say for yourself?
What do I have to say for myself?
What do we even say?
Say it
Say it
Say it
BIOGRAPHY
Shelley Washington (b. 1991) writes music to fulfill one calling- to move. With an eclectic palette, Washington tells stories focusing on exploring emotions and intentions by finding their root cause. Using driving, rhythmic riffs paired with indelible melodies, she creates a sound dialogue for the public and personal discourse. Shelley performs regularly as a vocalist and saxophonist, primarily on baritone saxophone, and has performed and recorded throughout the Midwest and East Coast- anything from Baroque to Screamo. She holds degrees from Truman State University; a BA in Music focusing on saxophone, and a Masters of Arts in Education. She also holds a Masters of Theory and Composition from NYU Steinhardt, where she studied with Dr. Joseph Church, Dr. Julia Wolfe, and Caroline Shaw. As an educator, she taught for the New York Philharmonic's Very Young Composers program and was acting Artistic Director for the Noel Pointer Foundation, located in Brooklyn, NY. In the Fall of 2018, she began studies at Princeton University in pursuit of the PhD of Music Composition. Shelley is a founding member of the composer collective, Kinds of Kings.
A special THANK YOU to Ronni Lacroute for sponsoring this concert season.
Fear No Music is also supported by grants from: New Music USA, Oregon Arts Commission, Multnomah County Cultural Coalition, and Regional Arts and Culture Council.