Princeton Sound Kitchen Presents

Polyptych

Performing New Works by:

• Elliot Cole

• Christopher Douthitt

• Alex Dowling

• Emma O'Halloran

• Anna Pidgorna

Performed by:

• Polyptych

Location: Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall
Ticketing: Free admission
Date: Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Start time: 8:00 pm

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PSK presents 'POLYPTYCH,' Princeton composers Elliot Cole, Christopher Douthitt, Alex Dowling,
Emma O'Halloran, Anna Pidgorna perform their original songs at Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall on Tuesday, March 1, 2016, 8pm.

CHRISTOPHER DOUTHITT: Polyptych

ELLIOT COLE: Hanuman’s Leap 

ALEX DOWLING / EMMA O’HALLORAN: Intro, Nixie, Courtship, Gone 

ANNA PIDGORNA: Teach your daughters, Over on the mountain (Oj tam na hori) 

THE ARTISTS

Since its formation in 2011, aTonalHits has been dedicated to bringing contemporary and lesser-known works of music to light. Its founding members are Illya Filshtinskiy (piano) and Katha Zinn (violin), although aTonalHits has swollen its ranks with many collaborators of all art forms. Beyond the standard violin and piano repertoire, Illya and Katha first found a taste for newer music in the work of Alfred Schnittke. They have released an album of Schnittke Sonatas, an album entitled 1910 – 1920, and an album, ORIGINS, of entirely new works. They have been featured artists on the websites of The Juilliard School, Mannes School of Music at the New School, MySpace, and Avaloch Farm. Aside from performing, the group regularly focuses on film and music work, producing many classical and new music films, as well as a documentary focusing on John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes and Sofia Gubaidulina’s Dancer on a Tightrope. aTonalHits performs regularly at different styles of concerts and masterclasses around the globe, including tours of both Holland and Turkey, in Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Germany, Mexico, and closer to home at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall, Liederkranz Hall, Symphony Space, and Spectrum among others. aTonalHits has also worked closely with the Société de Musique Contemporaine du Québec, presenting a recital with three of Québec’s foremost composers, including a premiere of Jean Lesage’s Portrait of a Sentimental Musician in a Distorting Mirror. They have premiered over 90 works.

Elliot Cole is a composer, singer, and programmer. Postludes, his book of bowed vibraphone quartets, is a new staple of percussion repertoire, having been performed by over 140 ensembles all over the world. He has sung his Hanuma’'s Leap, a bardic epic for voices and drums, in 15 cities, and will record it with Grammy-winning vocal group Roomful of Teeth in 2016. His creative friendship (part band, part book club) with Brad and Doug Balliett has produced opera and lit-hop collaborations with the Chicago Composers Orchestra, New Vintage Baroque, Metropolis Ensemble, the Berkshire Fringe Festival, and the Lucerne Festival Academy, where they were Spotlight Artists in 2011. He lives in Jersey City and teaches at the Manhattan School of Music, The New School, and Sing Sing correctional facility.

Christopher Douthitt is a composer, guitarist, and songwriter from Spokane, Washington.

Alex Dowling makes music for real and imaginary instruments.

Mark Eichenberger is a freelance percussionist based out of Lawrence, New Jersey. He holds a DMA in Percussion Performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As a soloist, he has appeared with the University of Texas-Brownsville Wind Symphony, University of Illinois Wind Symphony and Wind Orchestra, as well as the Overton High School Wind Ensemble from Memphis, Tennessee. In 2010, he was selected as one of the thirty finalists to compete in the TROMP International Percussion Competition, held in the Netherlands. Mark is an artist with Majestic and Mapex Percussion, as well as a member of the Vic Firth Education Team.

Malavika (Mika) Godbole recently completed her DMA at Rutgers University. Her freelance activities include performing with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, the Richmond Symphony, among others. She has also been involved in summer music programs including the Aspen Music Festival, Sō Percussion Summer Institute, the Artosphere Festival, and the China International Summer Music Academy. She has collaborated with conductors and artists including Sir Simon Rattle, Michael Tilson Thomas, Charles Dutoit, Martha Argerich, Yefim Bronfman, and Christoph Eschenbach. As a teacher, she maintains an active studio of thirty students at various levels of ability at the Westminster Conservatory, York College of Pennsylvania (as Adjunct Faculty), and other private students. Recent activities include collaborations with Sō Percussion for a performance of Steve Reich’s Drumming at (le) Poisson Rouge and a duo recital with organist Rob Ridgell for a webcast performance at Trinity Wall Street in Manhattan.

Rosalie Kaplan is a vocalist and composer. Her most recent album is an EP of her arrangements of Benjamin Britten’s Songs from the Chinese with versatile downtown guitarist Marco Cappelli. Dollshot, the art-rock band she co-leads, will release their second album, LALANDE, in the coming year. She has performed in venues throughout New York City including Le Poisson Rouge, The Stone, and Galapagos Art Space. In addition, she collaborates with composers, writers, and artists as a producer for the slipstream music label Underwolf Records.

Emma O'Halloran is a composer from Ireland.

Anna Pidgorna is a Ukrainian-born, Canadian-raised composer and media artist who combines sound, visual arts, writing and carpentry to create works that are dramatic and picturesque. Her music has been performed throughout Canada, as well as in Italy, Austria, Germany, Uruguay, and the United States. Anna’s fascination with Ukrainian folk singing took her on a journey through Ukrainian villages in the fall of 2012 and 2013, with generous funding from the Canada Council for the Arts. These experiences have resulted in numerous instrumental pieces and have inspired her to learn this particular singing style herself. Anna uses her carpentry and visual arts skills to create illustrated and tactile scores, exemplified by Mirror, mirror, which consists of five hand-printed mixed-media panels, and Through closed doors, an illuminated score inscribed on an antique door. Anna is a recipient of two SOCAN Foundation Emerging Composers’ Awards and has taken part in composition workshops at Carnegie Hall with Kaija Saariaho, Ottawa’s National Arts Centre with Gary Kulesha and Chen Yi, and Toronto’s Soundstreams with R. Murray Schafer and Juliet Palmer. Her Light-play through curtain holes represented Canada at the ISCM World New Music Days 2013 festival in Vienna. Anna holds an MMus from the University of Calgary, where she studied with David Eagle, and a BA from Mount Allison University. She is currently pursuing doctoral studies at Princeton University.

Yumi Tamashiro trained as a pianist but “converted” to percussion, drawn by the allure of teaching drumline. From there, her undergraduate 20th century music history class sparked an interest in contemporary music that has persisted to this day. Since acquiring her master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music, Yumi has worked as a freelance percussionist based in New York City. She has developed a strong interest in performing with electronics and visual media and has begun collaborating with animation artists and dancers. Yumi is a founding member of Mobius Percussion and Ensemble Sans Maitre. She has performed at venues including the Tennessee Theater, the Kennedy Center, The Stone, the Bohemian National Hall, and (le) Poisson Rouge, and has participated in a range of projects including the Big Ears Festival (2014), Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concerts, the Ecstatic Music Festival, and Found Sound Nation. Her repertoire includes works by Elliot Carter, Steve Reich, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Daniel Wohl, and Iannis Xenakis, among others. She has had the privilege of performing with groups such as Nexus, Ensemble LPR, Acopladitos, and the Mivos Quartet. Yumi is the Managing Director for Sō Percussion and Festival Coordinator for the Sō Percussion Summer Institute. Her work as an arts administrator includes tour managing, grant writing, and production managing. She has also been on the production team for several performances by the Talea Ensemble.

Frank Tyl is a freelance percussionist based in New York City and specializing in contemporary solo and chamber music repertoire. He has worked with and performed alongside Mobius Percussion, Sō Percussion, Ensemble LPR, Nouveau Classical Project, Cadillac Moon Ensemble, Ensemble sans maître, Blind Ear, Circles and Lines, MuSE (Multicultural Sonic Evolution), Tristan Perich, Niia Bertino, and the New York Pops. He has appeared in projects including Make Music New York, MADE Fashion Week, Found Sound Nation, and Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concerts.