Sweet Thunder Festival, Day Two: International Contemporary Ensemble

By Grant Damron, 28 April 2014

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Reviewed at Fort Mason Center: Gallery 308, San Francisco on 25 April 2014

Lewis, Shadowgraph, 5

Davis, Ghostlight (Various)

Thorvaldsdottir, In the Light of Air (Luminance)

Steiger, Cyclone (Various)

Steiger, Mourning Fog

Lewis, Artificial Life 2007

International Contemporary Ensemble

Julia Bullock in Meditations for Joséphine at Adelaide Festival

Sandra Bowdler, 3rd March

A challenging depiction of Joséphine Baker brilliantly performed by Julia Bullock under the direction of Peter Sellars at the Adelaide Festival.

****1

ICE plays Jennie C Jones at the Metropolitan Museum

Kurt Gottschalk, 5th October

The Met Museum is currently home to three large sculptures by multidisciplinary artist Jennie C Jones, whose graphic scores are performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble.

****1

ICE shows a new and exciting side of Dai Fujikura at Miller Theatre

Kurt Gottschalk, 5th March

Building on 15 years of collaboration with the ensemble, Gilded Wings (for two clarinets and strings) revealed a new maturity in Fujikura's always enjoyable music.

*****

Jörg Widmann's somber humor at Carnegie Hall

Kurt Gottschalk, 28th January

In fragments and miniatures, the ensemble pieces were most satisfying, allowing Widmann not to build arguments but define subjects by contrast, showing a quick wit and a flair for suspense.

*****

Kopernikus revival finds inspiration – and cliché – in the afterlife

Kurt Gottschalk, 15th May

Composer Claude Vivier approaches the unknowable with a text delivered by a septet of vocalists in a language of his own invention. But the new production adds overly literal video, trading abstraction for the obvious.

***11

Steve Reich world premiere in New York

Stephen Pritchard, 6th April

London's new Centre for Music has much to learn from the Big Apple's mistakes.

****1

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Grant Damron