DownEast New Music presents ‘Community’ on Sunday July 21 at 7:30 PM

DownEast New Music, an organization dedicated to bringing dynamic performances of chamber music by living composers to DownEast Maine, is pleased to announce Community: works by young American composers that reflect on community dynamics, spaces, and practices. DownEast New Music celebrates the exciting and diverse music of young American composers.

Of:

Conrad Winslow, Made of stony ground (2024) for clarinet, piano, cimbalom, violin, cello and double bass WORLD PREMIERE

inti figgis-vizueta, new cosmologies (2020) for mixed ensemble

Gabriella Smith, Flower animals (2018) for violin, cello, piano and percussion

Karel Simon, where two or three are gathered… (2017) for violin and cello

Co-Artistic Directors Clare Monfredo (cello) and Edward Kass (double bass) are joined by Conrad Winslow (composer/pianist), John Diodati (clarinet), MuChen Hsieh (violin), and Nicholas Tolle (cymbal)..

Community is built around the WORLD PREMIERE of the new work by Waldoboro-based composer/pianist Conrad Winslow (Homer, AK, b. 1985) Made of stony ground (2024), written for a sextet of clarinet, cimbalom, piano, violin, cello, and double bass. Winslow uses monophonic textures and brings disparate voices together in near unison, reflecting new social possibilities and the ways in which communities come together. As we listen to the different threads coming together, we are inspired to consider what it means for disparate ideas and voices to come together and become a single whole.

With similar inspiration, Karel Simon (Atlanta, GA, born 1986) composed where two or three are gathered… drawing on his youth, attending a small church where gathering and holding space for the community meant finding a greater purpose even when numbers were small, like the intimate violin and cello duo for which the piece was composed. Beginning with a meditative character, the mood gradually transforms into one of jovial energy.

In Flower animals (2018), Gabriel Smith (Berkeley, CA, b. 1991) finds community in the ocean, drawing inspiration from the vibrant ecosystem that forms around coral reefs. Using clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, Smith recreates the soundscape that exists beneath the water, giving us a mesmerizing visit to another world—an imaginary version of a distant reality.

We visit another imaginary reality in new cosmologies by Andean-Irish composer inti figgis-vizueta (Washington, DC, b. 1993). Figgis-vizueta relies on the improvisatory and interpretive processes in her music, asking us to imagine a new history for indigenous peoples, one free of violence and colonialism. In imagining a new history for her community, figgis-vizueta also gives us the opportunity to imagine a new future.

Bringing together music from young American composers from across the country, we seek common interests, shared experiences, and hope as we face the unknown.

General Admission Adult tickets are $20 in advance, $25 day of event, youth tickets are $10 each. Tickets can be purchased in advance at: https://waldotheatreinc.thundertix.com/events/227956. If this show is not sold out, a limited number of tickets may be available at the box office beginning at 6:30pm.