The tri-annual newsletter of RED LIGHT NEW MUSIC Issue 5

A Word from the Red Light Directors

Greetings from the land of Red Light! Fall is in full swing here in NYC, and we’re all looking forward to that an-nual day of gratitude and food. This Thanksgiving, we at Red Light would like to express our thanks for everyone in the Red Light family: our dedicated performers, the generous audience, the imaginative composers, and our invaluable donors. Each concert, we feast our ears and toast the wonders of collective efforts and vibrations. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Now is the time of year, when we hope that the spirit of giving will inspire you to support Red Light. Bringing new music to a broad audience becomes more and more difficult each year, but we have a wonderful family of donors and patrons who have helped support us from the be-ginning.

Enjoy our new issue of the “News,” and we hope to see you at a Red Light concert soon.

Sincerely, The Red Light Directors

Second Annual Holiday Gala Help support the Red Light Musicians by attending an evening of drinks, cheer, raffle prizes and music. On December 12th Red Light will host its second Holiday Fundraising Gala at the International House in Morningside Heights. The event will feature the Red Light En-semble performing The Grinch, The Nutcracker and The Twelve Days of Christmas reinvented as only the Red Light Musicians can do. All of the funds garnered will go directly towards fund-ing Red Light events in 2010. Please join us and our wonderful family of musicians.

The Red Light Ensemble in performance last spring at the Chelsea Art Museum, Manhattan, NYC. Above (left to right): Yegor Shevtsov, John Popham, Eileen Mack, Natacha Diels, Ted Hearne,. Below: Kyle Hillbrand, Natacha Diels, Liam Robinson. Photo by Fedele Spadafora.

Red Light New Music Holiday Gala

Saturday, Dec. 12th, 7-10pm International House

500 Riverside Dr. (at 122nd St) $20/$15 students and seniors

Winter/Spring ‘09 -’10

Performer Spotlight: Erin Wight

Q: What role does education play for you as a performer? Education is definitely much more on my mind now that I’ve stopped being formally educated, though I’ve al-ways been devoted to school and learn-ing. I genuinely like going to classes and absorbing information from experts and doing reading and listening assignments. During my undergrad I took so many courses I ended up in the emergency room with strange mystery stomachaches doctors eventually attrib-uted to high stress levels and a lack of sleep. It’s not too shocking then that in the year and a half since swearing off my own formal education (for my health--two performance degrees were quite enough stress, thank you), I now find myself active in the education field. As a Teaching Artist for several arts organizations in the city, I’m privileged to go into the public schools and help children develop their own meaningful relationships with music. This kind of work is re-warding for all the reasons one might expect. However, there’s been one big bonus I had not anticipated: teaching first graders is an amazing education in how to be a good performer; their honesty as an audience is unmatched. Here is a sample of some of the things they’ve shown me: They know when you’re faking it, but can also tell when you are really excited about the music. Therefore, it’s vital to find something you love in any piece you’re sharing. That ex-citement will be infectious. They are easily confused. So, be clear. Be concise. De-cide what’s truly important and exaggerate it. It’s all about exploring. You may not always have a definite answer, but it’s okay as long as you have an interesting question and you make the exploring engaging and intriguing. (Just a reminder, you explore with all your senses, including your ears.) New things don’t have to be scary and this includes all strange and weird sounds. There’s always lot to talk about when you hear something new. Moreover, teaching has been a re-education in how to be a good learner. As I watch my kids soak up and engage and create, I’m getting a better sense of what is needed for people to learn and grow. Unfortunately at some point, that kind of active participation in education diminishes and passivity takes hold. I can’t afford that passivity; now that my education is over, I have to get on with this active business of learning. Af-ter all, practically speaking a musician spends about 95% of their time learning a piece with perhaps 5% performance time thrown in at the end. As I see it, this “learning” education my students are giving me will make all the difference in that 5% of my time I get to share with the world outside my practice room. I hope it makes sense then that my goal for the year is to be more like a 6-year-old, at least when I’m getting ready to perform. Erin Wight is a violist in Toomai String Quintet and the Red Light Ensemble as well as a teaching artist with the New York Philharmonic, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall.

Composer Spotlight: Kyle Hillbrand

Q: To what extent do you think the environment you live in effects your music? And what prompts your desire to create music? I can certainly reflect on how my music has changed while living in different cities, and I find it is true that one's physical surroundings have some effect on the creative process. However, I believe the more interesting and significant consid-erations for me are the internal and communal environments with which I am involved. For the communal aspect, having lived exclusively with musicians for the past four years, I have found that it is very important for me to have immediate feedback from other composers and performers. Especially in the past two years, being more involved with Red Light and its community, I feel my compositional process has changed significantly due to be-ing in an environment that encourages friendly critique among its composers and experimentation with its performers. I have had several instances where another composer and I have been sharing ideas for new pieces and have realized that we are ex-ploring the same idea, albeit unknown to each other up until that point. This both clarifies that we are apart of a larger crea-tive flow and at the same time solidifies our individual perspec-tives. My music is inspired by the silence we all have within which is both very personal and at the same time that which unites. In order to access this silence, I need to be in an internal space that allows for maximum solitude. Composing, as well as listening, is a very personal act that necessitates a certain mode of concentration. All sound points towards silence, but we are not always aware of this fact. I believe if we can realize this and are able to concentrate on it effortlessly, we will be able to ap-preciate the sounds to the fullest extent. My music attempts to articulate the relationship between sound and silence so that the listener may reflect on this relationship in all other aspects of life. Kyle Hillbrand is a member of the Red Light Composer Collective and is living in New York City. He also designs and maintains the Red Light website.

Red Light on the Web

If you haven’t visited our website recently, you’ll find new info and media, including video, audio, and news up-dates. Designed by composer Kyle Hillbrand, <redlightnewmusic.org> is the best way to learn more and to stay in touch.

Wollschleger, Satie, and Méliès at the Tank

Thank you to our donors!

Directors’ Circle ($2,500-$4,999) Aaron Copland Fund for

Music Amphion Foundation

Commissioners’ Circle ($1,000-$2,499) Argosy Foundation Foundation for Contemporary

Arts Meet the Composer/JP

Morgan Chase

Benefactors’ Circle ($500-$999) Jason Dickinson The Fannie and Stephen Kahn

Foundation The Puffin Foundation Alexander Raikhel Natasha Raikhel Ruskin Moscou Faltischek,

P.C

Sponsors’ Circle ($250-$499) Dominick and Rita Cavouto Michael and Rose M.

Emanuele Jane Blameuser and Brock

Robinson Joanne Chory & Steven

Worland

Patrons’ Circle ($100-$249) Leslie & Erik Andresen The Appleton Family Burt Building Materials

Corporation Rosalie Bulger Buzzi Phil & Diana Caparotta Lisa & Michael Ceriello Barbara & Ben Cerrone Federico & Rebecca Cerrone Reiko Fueting Peggy & David Little Mary Marino Gerard and Geraldine Melato Dax de la Monta Grant and Meredith Robinson Florence & Steven Roffman Bill Sims Richard and Norine Sims Shelly Cryer & Michael Stern Janet Struckley Nils Vigeland Ann & Dave Wollschleger

Friends’ Circle ($10-$99) Josephine Arduini Joan Asher Patty Bullock Joseph Carvelli Karen and Bill Franke Pamela Green Chuck & Valerie Hashim Carol B. Levin Denise Melato Mary Jo Melato Olga Palermo Robert and Rosemary Sieffert Cathy Testani Ilia Tsinadze

Fall Chamber Music in NYC

Red Light at Café Orwell

On November 17th, members of the Red Light Ensemble performed a concert at The Tank, a cozy black box theater located in the Theater District of Times Square. The concert was part of a larger series, curated by AMP. The concert series featured the work an emerging composer paired with an established composer. For Red Light’s installation of this series co-founder Scott Wollschleger was chosen to be paired with the music of Erik Satie. Adding an extra twist to the event, Scott and other Red Light composers, Kyle Hillbrand, Christopher Cerrone, Liam Robison, and Vincent Raikhel all arranged a number of Erik Satie piano works for small ensemble. These collections of Satie works were performed alongside several classic silent films of Georges Méliès, bringing to life the amazing work of this early film pioneer. Ensem-ble members Kevin Sims, Erin Wight, Liam Robinson, and John Popham performed the mu-sic in an exhilarating manner. A panel discussion followed, moderated by Lisa Abbott-Canfield, a New York City based visual artist. Everyone in

attendance was delighted. The screened Méliès films with the music from the concert will be posted on Youtube shortly.

On November 13, 2009, Red Light per-formed a concert of works by John Cage, Iannis Xenakis, Andrew Norman, Vincent Raikhel, Kyle Hillbrand, and Scott Wollschleger to a ca-pacity audience at Cafe Orwell. Cafe Orwell is an exciting up-and-coming venue in the Bush-wick section of Brooklyn. In the concert, violist Erin Wight performed Raikhel's Mobius Ascent and Norman's Sabina, and was joined by Kevin Sims for Scott Wollschleger's Larval Soup. Kevin also performed John Cage's 27'10.554 For A Per-cussionist. The program was concluded with a exciting performance of Xanakis's Kottos by cel-list, John Popham.

Above (left to right): Christopher Cerrone, Kevin Sims, Scott Wollschleger, Liam Robinson, John Popham, Vincent Raikhel, Erin Wight, Natacha Diels. Below: Kevin Sims and Erin Wight. Photos by Ted Gordon

At The Tank (left to right): Kevin Sims, Liam Robinson, John Popham, and Kyle Hillbrand.