Karen Bentley Pollick

In early August I spent a week residing at the Landesmusikakademie in Ochsenhausen, Germany rehearsing new pieces composed at the monastery during the week prior. With my colleagues cellist František Brikcius, pianist Sabine Sauer-Essl and percussionist Aurélien Hadyniak we premiered all seven compositions at the Joseph Dorfman Composition Competition held during the afternoon on Thursday, August 9. The same evening we performed John Zirkle‘s winning composition Structures in Space for piano trio at the ISAM Gala Concert concert and prize giving ceremony at the Bibliothekssaal Ochsenhausen.

Below are photos from the post concert Gala party with John Zirkle, Sabine Sauer-Essl and Aurelien Hadyniak.  Also enjoying the reception are Czech composer Jan Jirasek and German organist Juergen Essl.  I will reprise Jirasek’s Dilemma for viola on my upcoming Violin, Viola, Video & Virtuosity concerts and it was a pleasure to meet Jan at Ochsenhausen after having corresponded about and performed his compositions. Jurgen and I continued our collaboration with a September 11 Memorial Concert at Shove Chapel at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, featuring works of Vitali, Bach, Jirasek, Ofer Ben-Amots and Essl.

Congratulations to all the composers present at ISAM:  John Zirkle, Shuying Li, Thomas Kotcheff, Eva Kara, Renan Zelada, David Paul Vandervort, James Canepa & Daniel Bukin.  May you continue to follow your own muse and sonic visions!

At long last, we premiered Samuel Carl Adams‘ Piano Trio at Bargemusic on June 20, 2012 with TwoSense cellist Ashley Bathgate and pianist Lisa Moore, “a charismatic cello-and-piano duo whose new-music agenda focusses largely on composers from Yale.” New Yorker

A synopsis of the drama surrounding the closing of the Barge on September 28 – 29, 2011 is included in this review on Seen and Heard International. Chris McGovern was present at the Barge and wrote a glowing review of the evening for The Glass.  

Vulcanalia is an outdoor children’s dance piece that tells the story of Vulcan, the Roman god of the forge. With original music for violin and percussion composed by Phillip Ratliff  and Latin poetry by Julia Borek, Vulcanalia is a tour de force that we performed 2 dozen times at Vulcan Park‘s “Class on the Grass” at the base of Vulcan overlooking the cityscape of Birmingham, Alabama.  In this video featured on Alabama Public Television,  5 dancers from Alabama Ballet depict the love story between Vulcan and Aphrodite with choreography by Roger Van Fleteren.  Percussionist Grant Dalton joined me on May 8, 2011 for a concert version of Vulcanalia at the Unitarian Church of Birmingham that is captured in this video.

     Vulcanalia by Julia Borek

O Vulcan, ab oris Italianis, tu, fundor ferri, venisti,

doctum artes nobiles nobis, ostensum viam ad felicitatem —

metallum, carborem, ferrum, ignisque, et nostram aciem ingenii.

Cum Colossus sis, es claudus, sed levis pedem, agilis manum.

Fornax fumum fuliginemque eructat;

at ab obscuritate atri venit

artes magnificas, magicas quae tota orbs mundi miratur.

Ave, klutotechnes Birminghamiensis!

Translation:

Oh Vulcan, from Italian shores you, smelter of iron

Come to teach us crafts, to show the way to prosperity —

Metal and coal, iron and fire, and our own ingenuity.

A colossus, though lame, you are light of foot, nimble of hand

Your forge belches forth smoke and soot, but from that darkness come great magical works to astound the world —

Hail famed-for-skill Birmingham!

Alabamians All

While en route home to Alabama from Vienna on Lufthansa, I was reminded by the morning tea bag message that “Nature is a giver, a true friend and a sustainer.”   I have been surrounded by sympathy and concern while traveling with my Solo Violin and Alternating Currents recital, presenting pieces composed by 4 of my fellow Alabamians.   While in the Czech Republic I had no internet connection and was reliant upon the news updates that trickled in via email and phone to form a patchwork of data about the cataclysmic tornado that struck near my home. I was comforted to pick up the phone and hear familiar voices from diverse geographies seeking assurance that all was fine at my house in Shoal Creek, Alabama.  Aside from an uprooted oak tree in the woods all is fine.

I was honored to share the avant garde electronic music that included sound samples from Alabama and environs with the Olomouc audience, who likely had never experienced anything resembling that category of music.  Our southern sonorities included hound dog howling, blue grass fiddling, a quote from the UAB rally cry “Go Blazers”, Charles Norman Mason’s forays into hyper-connectivity, extended violin techniques and, of course, da blues.   Olomouc is a charming enclosed Moravian city, the home of Palacky University, preserved for centuries with cobblestone streets, abundant basilicas and monuments to victims of the plague, and an especially enthusiastic carillon from nearby St. Vaclav Cathedral that heralds the passage of each and every quarter hour while inviting all to rise for morning mass at 6:30 am.  Steeped in tradition and conservative courses of study, the audience on opening night of Music Olomouc 2011 embarked on their journey with courage and bravery while opening their minds, ears and hearts to different sounds.   I felt their energy en masse and sailed through the program inspired by the lush acoustics of the Corpus Christi Chapel at the Art Centre of Palacky University.

The next day Czech composer and festival host Jan Vicar led the caravan with our roadies Pavel Kuncar and Honza Kosulic to the mountain resort Jesenik Priessnitz Spa, where Vincent Priessnitz had pioneered coldwater therapies for a gamut of ailments.  We took a refreshing walk in the mountains and inhaled the air renowned for its purity and healing properties and drank cold water from the base of the spring.  The oxygen and hydrogen exchange within my body catapulted me into a blissful state and I was primed to serenade the audience at the Sanatorium.   When I entered the hall of mirrors at concert time, I noticed a cancer patient seated in the front row in a wheel chair with an attendant.  I could glimpse him beyond my music stand for the entire performance and his unflagging smile and attention became a kinetic fuel that enabled me to dive deeper into the alternating currents and textures.  After the concert I greeted my new muse and thanked him profusely for lending me his aura and energies.  He beamed and basked in the recognition and was hailed by the director of the spa as their most ardent concert attendee.

My awareness of the exchange of energy between performer and audience was intensified during my journey to Moravia and I departed for home fortified by the vibrations and experiences that we shared.  The paradigm shift between my contemporary repertoire and their architectural heritage and preservation, that has been substantially funded by Norway Grants, will continue to provide material for reflection in the days and months ahead as we return to normalcy in our tornado ravaged state.  My primary solace is that this week I will be performing daily at 11:30 am with Samford University percussionist Grant Dalton for the next generation of Alabamians at Vulcan Park in Phillip Ratliff’s intricate ballet score Vulcanalia for violin, percussion and 5 Alabama Ballet dancers, depicting the story of Vulcan, whose colossal cast iron statue overlooks our Magic City to inspire and forge our creative imagination and spirit.  We will celebrate rebirth and reconfiguration with the young audience while recognizing the future potential of the human energy, foundries and iron ore that abound in the surrounding hills and valleys. Today we are all Alabamians and shall overcome together to reconnect and rebuild our fortresses and sanctuaries, while discovering our themes and songs of tomorrow.

Karen Bentley Pollick

1 May, 2011