Evento

Black Cedar at the Berkeley Arts Festival

Black Cedar presents a concert at the Berkeley Arts Festival celebrating themes of rebirth and renewal inherent in April's annual Earth Day, Arbor Day, Passover, and Easter events:
Garrett Shatzer (b. 1980) Trio (2015), World Premiere
Ross Carey (b. 1969) Te Whanganui-a-Tara (1994)
Dusan Bogdanovic (b. 1955) Over The Edge (2001)
David Smith (b. 1961) At A Busy Intersection (2013)

As an ensemble, Black Cedar itself represents the birth of a new kind of chamber music montage, and with their 2014 grant from the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music, they commissioned local composer Garrett Shatzer to compose a trio that explores the color palette of this unusual combination. Te Whanganui-a-Tara (1994) by Ross Carey (b. 1969) of New Zealand displays his passion for his country's natural world and history. The title is the original Maori name for Wellington Harbor, and it translates as The Great Harbour of Tara. In the words of Carey, the first movement "relates a time before any human presence around this body of water; the hills and valley are alive with the sounds of birds and insects." In the second movement, "energetic motions convey the great Earthquake of the 1400's, which raised the land where Wellington airport now stands." The third movement is "a contemporary portrait; the busy lives of the inhabitants scattered all around the quiet presence of the Great Harbour of Tara." Bay Area composer David Smith depicts his own modern sketch of humanity in all its energy in At A Busy Intersection, composed in 2013. Dusan Bogdanovic wrote Over The Edge in 2001 while holding the position of Professor of Guitar at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. The work is inspired by Baby Tortoise, one of The Tortoise Poems by American poet D. H. Lawrence, which deals with the birth of a baby tortoise as it struggles through its first day of life on earth, alone with the unimaginable weight of its home on its back.