kallisti
kallisti was established by Susan Narucki at the University of California, San Diego in 2009. kallisti is dedicated to giving audiences a chance to experience modern works for voice in an intimate, direct forum. kallisti repertoire includes modern chamber opera, experimental music theater and performance in unconventional spaces Its members are drawn from the Graduate Program in Contemporary Music Performance at UCSD.
kallisti made its debut in May 2010, presenting the West Coast premiere of Pascal Dusapin's haunting chamber opera To Be Sung, with text by Gertrude Stein in three performances at the Black Box Theater of the Conrad Prebys Music Center. Cast members Stephanie Aston, Tiffany Du Mouchelle, Leslie Leytham, Meghann Welsh and guest Philip Larson were led by conductor Jullian Pellicano and directed by Susan Narucki, with lighting design by Nick Patin.
To Be Sung was presented in conjuction with the Capita Foundation's Sound and Vision Project, which brings the arts to partial-hearing , deaf and partially sighted community. Click here to hear the KPSB "These Days" Interview with Susan Narucki, Jullian Pellicano and American Sign Language interpreter Billie Anne McClellan. Read more about Sound and Vision Project.
kallisti projects for 2010-11 season included instant operas, world premieres of portable, fifteen minute music theater works written by UCSD graduate student composers, and 'a sound, vast and summerlike' presented in May 2011. 'A sound, vast and summerlike' , juxtaposes the music of two seminal figures of modern music: Eric Satie and Morton Feldman, presenting works for concert performance in an original music-theater production conceived by Susan Narucki and Aleck Karis.
The cornerstone of the production is Eric Satie's masterwork, Socrate. Written in 1918, Socrate is considered to be one of the precursors of minimalism and a turning point toward modernity. With a musical language that is both accessible and gently arresting, Socrate is a work of great elegance and restraint.
Surrounding this is chamber music of Morton Feldman; a composer in whom we see the influence of Satie in its full mid-century flower. Feldman's delicate, pulsing works can be compared to the painting of Mark Rothko; multi-layered, with exquisite instrumental and vocal color. The cast included members of kallisti, Jessica Aszodi, Tiffany Du Mouchelle and Meghann Welsh, UCSD faculty members baritone Philip Larson and conductor Aleck Karis, and the musicians of Palimpsest.
During the 2011-12 season, kallisti projects include concert performances of Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians, in collaboration with Bang on a Can, redfishbluefish, and conductor Steven Schick, both in Los Angeles at Disney Hall, and at the Conrad Prebys Music Center in San Diego in collaboration with ARTPOWER.
The Spring chamber opera project for 2012 is Viktor Ullmann's The Kaiser of Atlantis. Members of kallisti will join guest artist Brian Wahlstrom and baritone Philip Larson in three performances, led by conductor Steven Schick. The Kaiser of Atlantis, Ullman's masterpiece, was written during the composer's interment in Theresienstadt; its thinly veiled references to the Nazi regime had dire consequences for Ullmann. This powerful work, by turns satirical and heartbreakingly poignant, speaks to the senselessness of war. Performances will take place on May 30, June 1, and June 2, 2012 at 7 p.m. in the Black Box Theater of the Conrad Prebys Music Center.
For more information on kallisti, please contact Susanna Waiche, Administrative Assistant to Susan Narucki at swai1@susannarucki.net
To view Videos of kallisti, visit our Vimeo channel http://vimeo.com/susannarucki
Ives and Memory
Susan Narucki, soprano
Donald Berman, piano
The songs of Charles Ives could be described as a kind of scrapbook. Wiley Hitchcock, in his introduction to the critical edition of Ives' 129 Songs, observes,
“Into such a receptacle Ives tossed irregularly, if not casually, his reactions —in the form of songs— memories, personalities, places, events, discoveries, ideas, visions, and fantasies in his life.”
Captured memories — real or idealized, distant or near— are the materials for the music.
We hear surface details which evoke familiar sounds and draw us into the music, such as the spinning-wheel figurations of Two Little Flowers, the popular song snippet which begins The Things Our Fathers Loved or the bass drum thumps that propel the march General William Booth Enters into Heaven. These details develop and deepen, and we become aware of one moment, one universal experience— not always great or grand— but captured perfectly in sound.
Ives and Memory is drawn from material on The Light That is Felt: Songs of Charles Ives, Narucki and Berman's recent recording on New World Record, which includes Ives' earliest songs, to the masterworks of his maturity.
The Light That is Felt: Songs of Charles Ives received national and international acclaim; Andy Hamilton of WIRE wrote "There's probably no finer introduction to Ives' songs, or indeed to his output as a whole". The recording earned a five star rating and was named Editor's Choice of BBC Music Magazine. Read more. Susan Narucki and Donald Berman received the 2009 Samuel Sanders Collaborative Award from the Classical Recording Foundation for The Light That is Felt: Songs of Charles Ives.
Susan Narucki and Donald Berman's recent recital appearances include Cornell University, the American Academy of Rome, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Monadnock Music Festival, the University of California, San Diego and at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.
For booking information, please contact Susanna Waiche, Administrative Assistant to Susan Narucki at swai1@susannarucki.net
Chance Encounter
Chance Encounter was co-conceived by Rome Prize winning composer Lisa Bielawa and soprano Susan Narucki as a way to offer audiences the unexpected pleasure of an encounter with modern art music in public spaces.
Chance Encounter had its world premiere in 2007 in Seward Park on the Lower East Side of Manhattan with Narucki and members of The Knights, the Brooklyn based chamber orchestra founded by brothers Eric and Colin Jacobsen.
Chance Encounter has since been performed at Yale University, and at the Whitney Museum of Art.
In 2010, Chance Encounter was presented in Rome at the opening of the MAXXI Museum and in performances alongside the Tiber, in conjunction with the American Academy in Rome and visionary urban planner Robert Hammond. It had its Canadian premiere at Music on Main in Vancouver in October, 2010.
Chance Encounter is a Project of the Creative Capital Foundation.
