Caroline Shaw, featured composer of 2010 Season
Read the article about this piece in the Cape Ann Beacon.
We are excited to bring you a world premiere this summer by our good friend Caroline Shaw. Caroline first came to Manchester as a participant in MSCM in 2009 and was moved by the beauty of the town, so when we decided to commission a work for this year's concert, we immediately thought of Caroline. We asked Caroline to write a short piece that reflects Manchester.
The piece she composed is entitled "Jacques Duran on the Beach, and is written for 2 violins and viola. Here is what Caroline told us about her piece:
Who is Jacques Duran? I'm not sure, since we've never actually met.
He is a physics professor at the University of Paris and probably
dines in nicer restaurants than I do. He is also the author of a
physics textbook called "Sands, Powders, and Grains: An Introduction
to the Physics of Granular Materials (Partially Ordered Systems)" -- a
book I came across while trying to figure out what makes sand "sing".The beach of Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, is called "Singing
Beach" -- named for those squeaking tones the dry sand makes when
walking along in bare feet on a hot summer day. I remember that sound
from August 2009, when I came to play at Manchester Summer Chamber
Music and spent an afternoon by the water. So when Sage asked me to
write a piece for the festival, I thought of that day and remembered
that sound and feeling of the sand under my heels."Jacques Duran on the Beach" opens with a gesture of a single note
growing to a sudden halt, with a little squeak of the bow as the
friction of the horsehair on the string grows to a breaking point. It
sounds like a miniature, delicate explosion, in reverse. While this
gesture doesn't exactly mimic the behavior of the grains of sand under
shear stress, it is my way, as a violinist, of translating that event
through my instrument. These gestures soon multiply and spin out into
a diatonic kaleidoscope until they collectively arrive at a new
breaking point and the real heart of the piece appears in pizzicato.
This wordless hymn is a nod to the rich singing tradition of the early
settlers on the coast of Massachusetts.The title is a play on the name of Philip Glass' famous opera,
Einstein on the Beach. Thanks to Sage, Lorna, and Jonina for playing!
With what we know of Caroline's breadth of expression and insightful artistic vision, we are sure that her music will be a source of joy for performers and audience alike. We look forward to sharing it with you on our August 26th concert!
Bio for Caroline Shaw
Originally from North Carolina, Caroline Shaw is a violinist and singer working in a broad range of styles and formats. Recent appearances include performing as vocalist with Alarm Will Sound, Roomful of Teeth, Signal, and The Yehudim; as a violinist with the Franklin String Quartet and Red Light New Music; and as baroque violinist with the Mark Morris Dance Group, in Moscow (Purcell's Dido & Aeneas). She is featured as a vocalist on two recordings with Signal, to be released in 2011, of Shelter (Gordon/Lang/Wolfe) and of Steve Reich's Music for 18. Her back is broken and her musical life is rich, thanks to a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship year in Europe a little while ago. Caroline studied at Rice and Yale (BM & MM, violin) and is currently in the composition program at Princeton.
