Thursday, April 2, 2015

Diagenesis returns to Boston!

What a great trip! Jen and I arrived in Boston on March 3 for our masterclasses at Boston Conservatory and our concert with the Equilibrium Concert Series. A highlight of this trip for us was reconnecting with composer Mischa Salkind-Pearl and soprano Tony Arnold. Those two were both part of our first projects as a duo - full circle!



We love working with composers when we visit conservatories and universities, and the composers at Boston Conservatory were no exeption. On March 4th we spent almost 2 hours presenting for the composition seminar. It was fun to show them excerpts of the music that has been written for us and to introduce them to the possibilities of writing for soprano and cello.

March 6 was our masterclass for the chamber music department. We presented about our projects and day-to-day ensemble function as a duo, then performed for the students. Next two fantastic chamber groups performed for us. The class asked great questions and played beautifully - it was so fun to work with them.

Our concert on the 6th was at a great venue in Inman Square, The Lilypad. It's an intimate setting and was the perfect place for our repertoire. Jen has been working on Jackson Mac Low’s Asymmetries for some time now, and I requested that we perform one for the concert. SO COOL. I can see why she is so into them, and I'm looking forward to performing them with her again.

It was a great, productive, and fulfilling trip. Looking forward to the next one!

-Heather

Friday, May 30, 2014

The Montana Tour!

Wow! This was such a great Diagenesis Project! We were so fortunate to receive a Myrna Loy Grant to Artists grant to fund the tour. We did SO much.

Jen arrived in Montana on March 14th and the very next day we were off to our first stop on the tour - Lewistown, Montana.



The Lewistown Art Center graciously hosted us and organized a concert in their gallery space. We even had a chance to work with local young dancers from the Lewistown Dance Syndicate, who choreographed a dance to one of Lynn Petersen’s Four Songs. The next day we performed short sets at St. James’ Episcopal Church and Rising Trout Café, then spent the afternoon rehearsing.

Before heading back Helena on Monday, we met with music students at Fergus High School. We had a great time performing bits of our repertoire and engaging the students in conversations about music-making and contemporary music.



Tuesday morning we went to Trinity School, a two room school house with 16 students, two teachers, and two para educators where I teach music. Trinity School is a public school and the oldest continuously operated school in Montana (it was started in the 1860’s). It's such a great place and I love teaching there!

Jen and I performed for Trinity School last year, and I think Jen and her cello made a lasting impression! The kids were giddy with excitement when the cello showed up again! This year we did something a little different - an interactive presentation on the science of sound, instrument building, and improvisation activities from our NewSonics: a New Music Workshop for Kids program.

Wednesday we headed over to Central School to perform for the 3rd and 5th grade music classes. and finished up our afternoon with an interview with the Missoulian. Check it out here.

On Thursday we headed over to the University of Montana in Missoula. Five students - Jake Whitecar, Hillary Lester, Zach Mauer, Jesse Davis, and Qi Shen - wrote compositional sketches for a reading and workshop. We were absolutely inspired by the composers' music and engagement. They were an absolute pleasure to collaborate with. We wrapped up our work with UM's music students with a presentation/discussion for the voice department on the art and business of being a musician.

On Saturday we performed a recital as part of University of Montana's Faculty & Guest Artist Series in the music departments wonderful recital hall. One of the program's highlights was our performance of Morton Feldman’s Two Voices and Cello. We've wanted to perform Two Voices and Cello for a long time and were so excited to get the chance to collaborate with Dr. Kimberly Grantland.

Our time in Missoula wrapped up on Sunday with a performance for the kids at the Missoula Children’s Museum.



Next we needed to build an incredible record-inspired score for Sympathetic Magic - a piece we commissioned from Adam Tinkle for cello, soprano, and improvising children’s ensemble - and prep for our NewSonics workshop at Exploration Works.



The two-day workshop was a blast and we were able to perform the second movement Sympathetic Magic. WATCH the video and see the score in action!



Our very last event was our capstone concert at the Myrna Loy Center. Way back in May of 2011 we performed our very first concert as a duo in Helena, so it was a special homecoming to give a concert nearly three years later in March 2014. I was so proud to perform with Jen and play our beautiful music for my community, including the premiere of Adam Scott Neil’s Travels.

A great tour with great concerts, collaborations, and outreach work that makes us even more excited for our next project - our final recording session for our debut CD!

- Heather

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Monday, September 23, 2013

Diagenesis 2012-13 Season in Review

It's been nearly three years since Diagenesis first formed and each year has been more exciting than the last. We had a FANTASTIC 2012-2013 season!



September: We started our season with a Florida Tour! School outreach, University Masterclasses, Community Concerts, and University Concerts - It was fantastic and you can read all about it here.

October: JEN GOT MARRIED!!



November: The Helena Pierrot Project was an awesome event celebrating the 100th anniversary of Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, and one of the highlights of my professional career. The concert was hosted by the Myrna Loy Center in Helena, a wonderful arts center that has performances, films, and arts events throughout the year.

We began the evening with lectures from Carroll College professors that gave context for the creation of Pierrot Lunaire : Dr. Roncalli, a philosophy professor, spoke about the collective mindset of 1912, history professor Dr. Glaes outlined basic events in Europe around 1912, and Dr. Petersen, professor of music, described how Schoenberg arrived at the distinct musical sound of Pierrot Lunaire.

Then the performance! We had such a great ensemble: conductor Breanne Cepeda, violin/violist Stephan Cepeda, pianist June Lee, clarinetist Christopher Kirkpatrick, flautist Rachel Beetz, cellist Jennifer Bewerse, and me, the soprano! It was an honor to perform such a great piece with these fine musicians.

The entire event was backdropped by a gorgeous large-scale artwork made of layers of paper by Natalia Hayes.



The evening ended with a question and answer period (such great questions from a very involved audience!), then a reception generously hosted by the Helena Music Teachers Association. The auditorium was absolutely packed! It was an incredible night for Schoenberg’s piece - a true 100th anniversary celebration!

April: Diagenesis was honored to be the Guest Ensemble in Residence for the University of California, San Diego’s Springfest. We premiered a new song cycle by Steve Lewis and a piece by Yi Hong Sim, then performed Birtwistle’s 9 settings of Lorine Neidecker on an all Birtwistle concert. In a very memorable final performance, we presented excerpts of Mischa Salkind-Pearl's Hands and Lips of Wind in front of a giant fish tank as part of a installation-style concert at the Birch Aquarium. You can read more about it on our blog here.



May: In our second residency of the year, Jen and I traveled to Salem, NY for the Music from Salem Cello Seminar. It was WONDERFUL.

Living on a beautiful, magical farm, we enjoyed inspiring work with wonderful musicians: Rhonda Rider, Judith Gordon, and David Russell. Much of our time was spent working on a new piece, Attention by Matthew Whiteside, which we premiered on a recital at SAW (Salem Art Works). What an INCREDIBLE venue! The folks at SAW were excellent hosts. If you are in Salem, NY, you should go there - take a lunch, hang out.



For the week's final concert at Hubbard Hall, Jen and I performed Attention for a second time then came together with all of the other cellists to perform Bachianas Brasileiras by Heitor Villa Lobos.

June: I traveled back to San Diego to begin work on our new recording! While we're going to keep most of this info to ourselves for the time being, let's just say that, through a generous recording grant from UCSD, there will be a Diagenesis CD in the near future!

Jen and I are so grateful for all of the opportunities we've had this past year and especially for all of the support you, our fans, have given us. We couldn't have done it without you.

We're very excited for what the 2013-2014 season will hold and will be sure to keep you posted!

-Heather

Monday, May 6, 2013

Diagenesis Duo’s Montana Tour!!!


We are so excited to announce our plans to tour Montana in March 2014!! We have received the Myrna Loy Grant to Artists and will be performing a concert at the Myrna Loy Center in Helena, Montana as part of the tour. We also hope to do educational outreach programs at Montana schools, perform community concerts throughout the state and maybe a couple of college concerts! Montana is a huge state and we hope to cover a lot of it!

Would you like us to come to your town? Do you have an idea for a place we could do a concert? Let us know! We would love to hear from you!

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Saturday, April 13, 2013

Springfest Guest Artist Ensemble in Residence

We are having a great time as the University of California San Diego Springfest guest ensemble in residence!



Jen and I had a wonderful concert on Thursday night where we performed world premieres of pieces by Steve Lewis and Yi Hong Sim. It was very exciting and rewarding performance! Tomorrow, we will perform in front of the Kelp Tank at the Birch Aquarium and Tuesday we will perform 9 Settings of Lorine Neidecker at the University as part of an all Birtwistle concert. We are really looking forward to it!!

- Heather

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Saturday, April 6, 2013

California!

I arrived in California last night for my latest project with Jen! We have been very busy preparing for the trip and our very special project, premiering 2 new pieces, one each by husband and wife Steve Lewis and Yi Hong Sim. You may remember that last year when I was here we met with Steve to discuss a project - now, just a little over a year later,  here I am! The project is happening!

Vocalette by Yi Hong is a setting of a beautiful Halldor Laxness text about love while Steve set Latin text in his con mortuis lingua mortua about a worm making new life out of death, much as a musician's performance revives the music.

We will give the world premiere of these two pieces at Songs in Ulterior Time on Thursday, April 11th at 8PM in the Conrad Prebys Music Center's Concert Hall as part of springfest at the University of California San Diego. While we are here we will also participate in two other springfest performances: springfest @Birch Aquarium, an installation concert immersed in the sea life at the aquarium, and Lightness & Darkness, a program of music by Harrison Birtwistle. Read more about (and listen to) our other Birtwistle experiences here.

We will keep you posted!
- Heather

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Sunday, February 17, 2013

Jen’s Married!

On October 13, 2012 at the beautiful Bernard Winery in Rancho Bernardo, California Jen married Tim Clark. It was a great wedding! Jen and Tim put so much thought into planning a wedding that would be welcoming and fun for their friends and family who came from all over the place –Boston, Florida, Montana.



Jen made a lot of the wedding things herself and you can see them at her blog www.insideways.com. A friend to Diagenesis, Mischa Salkind-Pearl composed the processional music which had me in tears! I had the honor of being one of Jen’s bridesmaids and had a wonderful time with her friends and family.


Jen looked absolutely gorgeous in a lace dress and had a great paper flower bouquet. The whole wedding was very Jen and Tim (who are adorable) and I was so happy to part of their very special day!


Jennifer & Tim // San Diego, CA from FortyOneTwenty on Vimeo.

-Heather