Noa Even + RE:duo

PROGRAM:
Noa Even, saxophones
b(locked.orders) – Emily Koh, video by Michiko Saiki
Imprints in Time – Christopher Biggs
Do I Regret? – José Martínez, video by Sara Martínez

RE:duo (Elsie Bae Han, viola and Wilson Poffenberger, saxophones)
Rasch – Georges Aperghis 
Brick and Mortar, Movement III. Meditation – Samuel Larson
Improvisation – RE:duo
Being…. – Huang Ruo 
Cathy Mitchell stops shoulder pain with her great looking hair – Drew Farrar

Noa Even presents atomic, a multimedia program for solo saxophonist that addresses themes of human connection. Premiered in 2019, this long-term collaborative project features pieces by Emily Koh, Chris Biggs, and José Martínez. As a response to the travel ban of 2017 Koh sonifies stifled voices of immigrants through breath and microtonal gestures of varied emotion throughout b(locked.orders). Biggs’ Imprints in Time abstractly reflects how people are connected through their interactions. Through Do I Regret?, Martínez pursues the impossibility of undoing the past, of revisiting memories and changing them.
www.noaevenmusic.com

Since its formation, RE:duo (“Reply Duo”) has sought opportunities to merge artistic disciplines on the concert stage and connect with a broader audience. This program features compositions by friends that RE:duo has commissioned as well as pre-existing works for the ensemble. George Aperghis’s Rasch will open the program. The piece embodies an intense ping-pong battle as the viola and saxophone cycle through various different extended techniques shooting musical gestures back and forth. Brick & Mortar by Samuel Larson will then follow with the third movement adding a meditative feel featuring a lyrical solo played on baritone saxophone. RE:duo will then return to its roots with some free improvisation. The program will close with Huang Ruo’s Being…… and Andrew Farrar’s Cathy Mitchell stops shoulder pain with her great looking hair; both of which feature unique theatrical devices and interesting speech elements.