Canto Ostinato in Los Angeles

Mosaic

Marciano Arts Foundation

Los Angeles, CA

June, 2019

Photo by Lisa Hirsch

Monday Evening Concerts and the Marciano Arts Foundation are presenting two performances of Simeon ten Holt's magnificent Canto Ostinato next month, on Monday, December 7 and a week later on Monday, December 14. Both performances are at 7 p.m. Information here about visiting the Marciano Arts Foundation, which is housed in an amazing former Masonic temple on Wilshire Blvd.

I was lucky enough to review Sandbox Percussion and AMOC playing Canto Ostinato earlier this year; what a wonderful piece it is. I am debating a quick trip to LA to hear it again and the see the recent silent film that it's being performed with.

Here's the email I received about the performances:

On December 7 and 14 at 7pm, Marciano Art Foundation and Monday Evening Concerts (M.E.C.) co-present two live performances of late Dutch composer Simeon ten Holt's 1976 masterpiece, Canto Ostinato – widely considered one of the most significant works of Dutch contemporary classical music – to soundtrack Tacita Dean's silent 2011 work FILM in MAF's Theater Gallery.

Held one week apart, the performances will feature M.E.C.'s resident ensemble ECHOI, whose members include Vicki Ray, Gloria Cheng, Sidney Hopson, Tim Feeney, and M.E.C. Artistic Director Jonathan Hepfer, who will lead the quintet of two pianos, two vibraphones, and marimba. More ritual than conventional performance, Canto Ostinato unfolds through an expansive, open-ended structure of repeating musical cells, allowing performers to shape the work in real time.

PERFORMERS:

Vicki RAY, piano

Gloria CHENG, piano

Sidney HOPSON, marimba

Tim FEENEY, vibraphone

Jonathan HEPFER, vibraphone