The Latest SFCMP Concert of ARTZenter Works

Last night the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players (SFCMP), led by Artistic Director & Conductor Eric Dudley, presented the latest concert of world premiere performances made possible by the Emerging Composer Grant Program presented by the ARTZenter Institute. In order of appearance, the four beneficiaries of that program were as follows:

1. Viskamol Chaiwanichsiri (University of Missouri, Kansas City): Sky Lantern
2. David Vess (University of Miami): Eternal Threshold
3. Jaebong Rho (Yale University): nejimakiHaruki
4. Pablo Martinez Teutli (University of California, Berkeley): Nimbos de centellas

There was a brief intermission between the second and third selections.

A photograph of Haruki Murakami provided by the Ministerio Cultura y Patrimonio in Quito, Ecuador, and on display at the Conversatorio Haruki Murakami (photographer unknown, from Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

Each of the compositions had its own unique approach to “saying its piece.” “Sky Lantern” began with the quietude of the night sky, which then transformed into dark clouds of complex, diverse dissonance, only to disperse back into a concluding quietude. (ABA still rules, at least among some composers!) “Eternal Threshold” was conceived as a horror movie, trapping the listener in an endless hallway (possibly situated in Marienbad). Rho, the 2024/25 Composer-in-Residence of the Korean National Symphony Orchestra, was inspired by the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami to create “nejimakiHaruki” (wind-up Haruki), conceived as “a vast, imaginary music box.” The evening concluded with “Nimbos de Centellas” (nimbus of sparks), a sequence of four short movements that evoke the composer’s “rhythmic Latin spirit heritage.”

Each performance delivered its own unique rhetorical stance. Each composer had a clear sense of timing, so that none of the works overstayed their respective welcomes. In addition, every selection on the program was provided by a satisfying introduction to prepare the attentive listener for things to come; and the performance was followed by the composer taking questions from the audience. This made for a more than accommodating relationship between the audience and what was being experienced on the stage. ARTZenter seems to have discovered the “sweet spot” for introducing new music to those with the curiosity to experience it; and I have come to look forward to these events with expectations that are consistently satisfied.