Kyle Bartlett was among the composers I profiled in my 2008 NewMusicBox article, "Lend Me a Pick Ax." You can hear a couple of performances of her music in Philadelphia in a couple of weeks; she's also playing flute in the concerts.
Friday, December 11th, 8pm
Settlement Music School—Germantown
6128 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia
Sunday, December 13th, 7pm
Settlement Music School--South Philadelphia
416 Queen Street (between Catharine and Christian)
Both concerts are free.
Program highlights:
The Lost Child tells the story of Ana, a mysterious half-wild woman
who appears unexpectedly on the streets of Nuremburg. Drawn out of her isolation by the kind Dr. Nassar, Ana’s development is marked by a number of unsettling complications. Composer Kyle Bartlett plays amplified flute with live electronics; Benjamin Pierce serves in many roles as actor and Kristopher Rudzinski plays percussion.
Also on the program are three other Bartlett works. The decadent LushLife for electronic and recorded sounds emerges from the famous Coltrane/Hartman realization of the Strayhorn standard.
Mari-Liis Pakk (violin) and Jason Calloway (‘cello) will present Night Vision, a dramatic duet about transformation. They are joined by Kristin Ditlow (piano) for The Obligations of Memory, a searing yet simple meditation on overcoming isolation.
The Lost Child is made possible by the Independence Foundation as part of the Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts program. This concert is also generously supported by Settlement Music School and the Philadelphia chapter of the American Composers Forum.
Performers:
Kyle Bartlett, flute
Benjamin Pierce, actor
Kristopher Rudzinski, percussion
Mari-Liis Pakk, violin
Jason Calloway, ‘cello
Kristin Ditlow, piano
I love "Lush Life," the Coltrane quartet version as well as the Coltrane-Hartman. Strayhorn wrote it at age 17, which I think shows in the lyrics--"a trough-full of hearts" (to make an internal rhyme with "awful") is really awkward, and "A week in Paris/Could ease the bite of it" is a little overdone from a kid who had never left Pittsburgh. But the tune and the chord progressions are amazing, even if the lyrics aren't exactly Yale Younger Poets-worthy.
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