Hi friends!
Plenty of fun things happened in 2023 and I’m excited to share all of them with you!
FEBRUARY
My Time Machine – On February 28th, Thornton Edge premiered the piece I wrote for my dissertation, called My Time Machine. The piece, written for sinfonietta, revolves around a moment in my childhood in which I tried to build a time machine.
This project was an experiment with writing something about my inner child with bits of spectral “symbolism” thrown about. There are a couple of changes I’d make were the piece to be performed again, but regardless, I was really pleased and thankful with how dedicated the musicians of Thornton Edge were with bringing this piece to life.
My favorite movement is, of course, II. Stomposaurus, which (in my opinion) could work as a standalone movement in a program.
Check out the performance below!
March
Circles I – Blackhouse Collective held its 2023 workshop in Los Angeles and I had the privilege of participating in it both as a violist and a composer. (If you missed the performance they did of a previous piece of mine in 2022, you should totally check it out here.)
This year, I went with a goofy idea for the score – what if I based pitch content off of the harmonic series and in-score circles (as in, circles made with notes across the page)? Many people before me have played with drawing shapes in scores, so I acknowledge that this concept is nothing new, but I decided this would be a good opportunity to try it out. The result is the following below. And yes, I called it “Circles I” in case I ended up wanting to play with circles again. (We’ll see…)
April
University of Montana visit - In April, my good friend and colleague Dr. Bryan Kostors invited me out to do a brief residency with his students at University of Montana Missoula. After a couple days of lessons, the visit culminated in a workshop of an older conceptual piece I wrote called “what is music,” which uses text from an article in which Luciano Berio tries with great effort (and no progress) to describe what music is. Originally written for guitar, viola, and drumset with improvisation, this time I got to orchestrate it out to various percussionists, pianists, singers, and woodwinds, with opportunities for improvisation by the group’s more confident members. I loved how engaged the students were with something so weird! Here’s a clip of the workshop from my Instagram page:
May
Butcherbird – I wrote a cute piece called “Butcherbird” for the Rubik’s Collective, an extraordinary small ensemble out of Melbourne, Australia. I based the musical material off a recorded birdcall by a pied butcherbird. Their sounds are amazingly melodic! In the middle of the piece, you can hear imitated warbles of the Australian magpie. A special thanks goes out to Rubik’s for having me write for them!
Eternally in Memory: Lulu the bare-chested parrot – My long-time friend of (I think) 9 years passed on May 10th, 2023. Lulu was my hilarious muse and considered my family while I adjusted to living in LA. Vets say she likely passed from complications of old age (I never knew how old she was due to her being a rescue), but I’ll truthfully never know. All I know is that I gave her the best life I could have with what I had, and I’ll always be thankful that I shared my many days of grad school with this sweet little bird/dinosaur.
Rest in peace, my dearest Lulu bird. <3
I graduated with my doctorate! And got an award! – The day after Lulu passed, I went to an awards ceremony where I received the Peter David Faith Endowed Memorial Award for My Time Machine. And the day after that, I graduated with my doctorate! It was a crazy week.
July
Bang on a Can – I went to the Bang on a Can Summer Festival as a composition fellow! It was awesome! I met many amazing people and learned a lot. Most of it is documented on my Instagram if you’re curious about the adventure I had.
Tooting a Mark Stewart contraption. (2023)
The piece I wrote was for the summer festival’s 11-piece ensemble. all creatures small and LOUD was dedicated to Lulu. The title page features my doodle of an angry tiny frog of Youtube fame.
The musicians did an amazing job bringing my quirky music to life. As with most times I get a piece of mine played, I am super thankful for the collaborative experience I had with everyone involved and am thankful for everything I learned.
Presenting before the piece all creatures small and LOUD. (2023)
I’m still waiting on a video and will post it here when it is received.
September
Use Your Voice Global Collaboration – Back in 2020, when we were all separated from each other and reeling from world events, I was IMMENSELY blessed to work with Jae Deal and the brilliant minds of a global team of musicians who wanted to bring hope to a world that needed it - a global symphony! The result was an album that finally got released on September 15th, 2023. Most of the symphonic background was orchestrated by me and I composed much of it as well. My personal favorite is the track “My Mind” which features words by Jeena Earthiva, because almost everything underneath is my orchestration and composition.
Fun fact: I also made the cover art!
The credits boast many musicians of many different genres, including Tina Guo, Cory Henry, and Adam Blackstone. Working on this album three years ago made me learn a lot, especially as we were all working on it while practicing social distancing.
All proceeds from this album go to Guitar Center Foundation, which provides grants and funding for music education across America, so when you listen, you are donating to a good cause.
Since then…
Since mid-October, I’ve been laying low with my music-making, but I still have projects/announcements on the horizon (and I’m also teaching, so that takes up time.) I’ve reflected deeply about why I’m composing and what makes music special to me. The answer I keep returning to is how much I enjoy working with people and writing for them. I look forward to doing more of that in 2024.
In the meantime, meet our new birdie, Karpouzi!
Cheers and happy end-of-2023 to all,
Celka