American Composers Forum

LECTURE II: THE HERITAGE OF THE SOCIALIST CITY: THE SPOILED SPLENDID
2021-10-21 11:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago)
Aida Miron & Sven Eggers
Second one of the two talks about entering the continuous foyer of architecture cosmos connecting urban fabric and landscapes, highwalks and underground, east and west, megastructures, cafes, socialist housing complexes and public thresholds.

Date & Time: Thursday, October 21, 2021 at 11 AM CT | 12 PM ET
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FREE Courtroom Concert featuring Twin Cities Hot Club
2021-10-21 12:00 - 13:00
The Twin Cities Hot Club (TCHC) represents Minnesota in the burgeoning revival of gypsy jazz originally popularized by Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli and the Hot Club of France. They recreate not only the famous la pompe that distinguishes this romantic brand of acoustic jazz but also gypsy bossanova, musette, bolero, and swing. TCHC perform this timeless deep-rooted music that is physical, alive and speaks directly to the heart. Composed by Abbie Betinis (a McKnight fellow and a ChoralQuest composer).
Date & Time: Thursday, October 21, 2021 at 12 PM CT
Location: Landmark Center, Saint Paul, MN
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Astronautica: Voices of Women in Space
2021-10-21 18:30 - 21:45
A newly commissioned work of music, voice, and video by women composers, with a libretto drawn from the words of the women who have traveled in outer space and seen our world from a dramatic new perspective, Astronautica will be performed by the women of Trio Triumphatrix with stunning NASA footage at Symphony Space’s Leonard Nemoy Thalia.
Date & Time: Thursday, October 21, 2021 at 6:30 PM CT | 7:30 PM ET
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Robert Ashley's eL/Aficionado
2021-10-21 19:00 - 19:30
IN-PERSON PERFORMANCES (post-performance videos)
Dates & Times: Thursday – Saturday, October 21-23, 2021 at 7 PM CT | 8 PM ET
Written in 1987 and last performed in 1995, Robert Ashley’s eL/Aficionado (72 minutes) is an opera scored for four voices and a pre-recorded electronic orchestra. It is the trial of a mind or an imagination, of “every person” coming in contact with something foreign — the unknown. Mezzo-soprano Kayleigh Butcher will sing the lead role of the Agent, a part originally written for baritone Thomas Buckner. The other vocalists are Bonnie Lander, Paul Pinto, and Brian McCorkle. Music direction and sound design are by Tom Hamilton, and lighting and stage design are by David Moodey.
Although the opera’s mysterious mood owes much to John LeCarré’s world of espionage, it is not a spy story. The four scenes of the narrative are progressively concerned with events of an otherworldly nature while delving into the Agent’s different life stages, from the present time to her earliest memories. Unique to the opera is a vocal technique, in which Ashley assigns a defining pitch to each character. Guided by a harmony or specific set of alternate pitches, the singers are asked to improvise around the pitch and invent vocal inflections that express the intent or meaning of the text. The result is a hyper-dense score propelled by lush live voices, at times tense and suspenseful, at other times deeply lyrical and moving.
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