FRIDAY
OCT 18
7:30PM

Art+

Francosonic

Contrasts in sound and light

Musiqa presents an evening of contemporary music by French composers including the world premiere of a commission by Raphaèle Biston with light installations by visual artist Olivier Modr.

Friday, October 18, 2019 | 7:30pm

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MATCH – Midtown Arts & Theater Center

3400 Main Street
Houston TX 77002

Parking

Free street parking after 6:00pm. Paid parking across Holman St at MidMain garage.

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1 hr 50 min

with intermission

What’s special about this program

  • Experience an evening of adventurous music by living composers from France—diverse sound worlds that are at times fluid and lush to frenzied and chaotic.
  • You’ll hear the world premiere of new work by Raphaèle Biston commissioned by Musiqa with the support of the FACE Foundation in partnership with the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States.
  • You’ll see a light/music installation by French visual artist Olivier Modr. 

The Program

Raphaèle Biston: "Repercussions"
Biston’s music is highly rhythmic, often turning melodic instruments like the violin and the flute into percussion. Listen for how the instruments are used in non-traditional ways, and how the ensemble creates a mini-orchestra with woodwind, brass, strings, and percussion working together to create new timbres and sound worlds.
Guillaume Connesson: "Songs of Agartha"

This piece for cello and piano engulfs you in a musical journey to the center of the earth to the legendary kingdom of Agartha, in which we visit its halls of ancient wisdom and ceremonial court. A single lyrical melody plunges into darkness, evolves into contrasting, jumpy themes, and finally ends in trancelike, “devilish” ecstasy.

Marc-André Dalvabie: "Palimpseste" for sextet
A palimpseste is a page of manuscript where the original writing has been scraped off so the page can be reused for another document. Dalvabie uses a Renaissance motet by Gesualdo as his own palimpseste. The result is a fluid work that ebbs and flows between lush Renaissance harmonies and Dalvabie’s more edgy, rhythmic musical language.
Betsy Jolas: "Trio sopra 'et sola facta'"
Inspired by Jolas’ grandson who could only play two notes on a recorder, this piano trio explores how the ensemble blends and works together in different ways. While not necessarily melodic, listen for the instruments’ lines weaving together to create unique textures and timbres.
Luis Naon: "Alto Voltango'"

Alto Voltango is a series of free interludes which deals, in its way, with high voltage current. This current that crosses the instrumentalists is revealed by musicians’ velocity and dexterity, in a perfume of tango that would be overcharged too.

The concert experience

Musiqa programs are full of surprises on stage. Here’s what’s you need to know about everything else:

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Pre-concert talks begin 30 minutes before the show

Dress is casual, like you’re going to drinks and a movie

Bring your drinks to your seat

Phones on silent, no flash photography

Share on social in the phone rows. Tag Musiqa!

The Artists

Preview

Leone Buyse, flute
Dan Gelok, saxophone
Jackson Guillen, violin
Jeremy Kreutz, cello
Tali Morgulis, piano

Michael Webster, clarinet
Blake Wilkins, percussion

Jerry Hou, conductor

Olivier Modr, visual artist

The commission, Repercussions by Raphaèle Biston, has been made possible through the New Music Fund, a program of FACE Foundation, with generous funding from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States, Florence Gould Foundation, Fondation CHANEL, French Ministry of Culture, Institut français-Paris, and SACEM (Société des Auteurs, Compsiteurs et Editeurs de Musique).

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