Longtime friends, composer Michael Hersch and sculptor Christopher Cairns have closely collaborated for almost two decades, Cairns' sculpture populating the earliest productions of Hersch's monodrama, On the Threshold of Winter, amongst other projects.
Years ago, Cairns would host small private concert events in his studio which would feature Hersch's work, often with musicians who have subsequently become those most closely associated with his music.
In the face of the pandemic both artists decided to craft a series of concerts to take place during the 2020/21 season, but this time Cairns opening the studio space to the public. The series will include five world premieres, and many works seldom heard in the U.S.
a collection of programs designed for
an intimate audience
amongst the sculptures of
christopher cairns
featuring performances by
miranda cuckson, ah young hong, emi ferguson
coleman itzkoff, conrad harris,
and the FLUX quartet
of music by
liza lim
guillaume de machaut
missy mazzoli
meredith monk
isabel mundry
matthias pintscher
josquin des prez
rebecca saunders
salvatore sciarrino
dmitri shostakovich
iannis xenakis
world premiere
harrison birtwistle
anthony braxton
john cage
alican çamci
morton feldman
christopher fox
orlando gibbons
georg friedrich haas
michael hersch
patricia kopatchinskaja
györgy kurtág
sculpture/sound installations before and after each performance with music by:
MILTON BABBITT • JOHN CROUCH • JASON ECKARDT • ERIN GEE • TIM HOLT • ORLANDE DE LASSUS • WANG LU • SEAN MCFARLAND • ROSCOE MITCHELL • TRISTAN MURAIL • LUIGI NONO • HALEY OLSON • CHAZ STUART
STRICT COVID-19 PROTOCOLS WILL BE EMPLOYED FOR ALL PERFORMERS AND AUDIENCE MEMBERS
for current information, please visit: www.pa.gov
OCTOBER 24
MIRANDA CUCKSON | EMI FERGUSON
*world premiere
ONLY
Morton Feldman
DOULEUR ME BAT
Josquin des Prez
IN THE SNOWY MARGINS
Michael Hersch
PUIS QU'EN OUBLI
Guillaume de Machaut
*UNWRUNG, APART, ALWAYS
Michael Hersch
PUIS QU'EN OUBLI
Guillaume de Machaut
THE WEATHER AND LANDSCAPE ARE ON OUR SIDE
Michael Hersch
DOULEUR ME BAT
Josquin des Prez
ONLY
Morton Feldman
In the snowy margins
BRUNO SCHULZ
from the collection:
“Letters and Drawings of Bruno Schulz.”
translated by Walter Arndt
…Thus Far and no Further.
But what has become of the end of the world…
..........................
Only
RAINER MARIA RILKE
from Sonnets to Orpheus Part I, No. 23 (Feb. 1922),
based on the translation by J.B. Leishman
Only when flight shall soar
not for its own sake only
up into heaven's
lonely silence,
and be no more
merely the lightly profiling, proudly successful tool,
playmate of winds, beguiling time there, careless and cool:
only when some pure Wither outweighs boyish insistence
on the achieved machine
with whom has journeyed thither be, in that fading distance,
all that his flight has been.
..........................
Douleur me bat
ANONYMOUS
translated by Emi Ferguson
Douleur me bat et tristesse ma folle
Amour me nuit et malheur me console
Vouloir me suit mais aider ne me peut
Jouir ne puis d’un grand bien qu’on me veut
De vivre ainsi, pour Dieu, qu’on me decolle
Struck by sadness, driven mad by sorrow.
Hurt by love, consoled by misfortune.
Plagued by yearning, that offers no comfort.
I find no solace in good wishes,
Dear God, I’d rather lose my head than live like this.
Puis qu’en oubli
GUILLAUME DE MACHAUT
translated by Emi Ferguson
Puis qu’en oubli sui de vous, dous amis,
Vie amoureuse et joie à Dieu commant.
Mar vi le jour que m’amour en vous mis,
Puis qu’en oubli sui de vous, dous amis.
Mais ce tenray que je vous ay promis,
C’est que ja mais n’aray nul autre amant.
Puis qu’en oubli sui de vous, dous amis,
Vie amoureuse et joie à Dieu commant.
Since you have forgotten me, my love
I give my love and joy to God.
Dark was the day that I gave you my heart,
Since you have forgotten me, my love.
But I will keep my promise to you,
And shall never love another.
Since you have forgotten me, my love,
I give my love and joy to God.
..........................
The weather and landscape are on our side
BRUNO SCHULZ
from the collection:
“Letters and Drawings of Bruno Schulz.”
translated by Walter Arndt
1. Please let me know the diagnosis…
2. What is the hospital world like?
3. Waiting for news…
4. There will be more and better shortly.
5. Gombrowicz also advised me to get a passport right away…
6. I have seen beautiful, shocking, terrible sights…
7. The weather and landscape are on our side.
8. I grow more and more conscious of how remote I stand from real life…
9. For a few steps you may actually pretend you are losing the ground under your feet, confident that at a certain point the parachute will open and carry you off to safety.
10. May we be granted the opportunity to continue our exchange, which is important and real, peacefully…
11. No one will be left, all of it will become mere legend.
unwrung, apart, always
ANJA ÜTLER
translated by Kurt Beals
again, then again came
unwrung, apart, always, bare
am murmur am: as if
wounded, raw
under cilia,
raw
**** **** ****
streaked, [the swellings, the fibers released from the] inside
enwombed: so they wanted to germinate …
sprouting layers, they wanted to hem in …
… to lift and to lower the ribs
underneath is: the lung, now laid bare, but still bundled,
pressed under the air …
… finger through trace the darkening furrows serratus
abdominal muscles …
… this precipitous wound
the mouth: deepened …
… and it wells out it gurgles it screeches out from him - a moan -
… abandoned quenched like ashen tunnels …
… they loom up behind, in silence, they carry it out …
… through the veins, capillaries they draw -
what was breath - that unravels …
… and for now just: unbound [by the horror turns marsyas turns-]
finally: flows out and into the waiting land …
MA
Y
1
6
MIRANDA CUCKSON
EMI FERGUSON
COLEMAN ITZKOFF
de terrae fine
for solo violin
GEORG FRIEDRICH HAAS
...un jour
for solo flute
ALICAN ÇAMCI
*world premiere
Sonata No. 2
for solo cello
MICHAEL HERSCH
Fantasia
for flute, violin, and cello
ORLANDO GIBBONS
arr. MICHAEL HERSCH
JUNE
12
EMI FERGUSON
COLEMAN ITZKOFF
CONRAD HARRIS
AH YOUNG HONG
We Were Together
for soprano and violin
Dmitri Shostakovich
Mikka "s"
for solo violin
Iannis Xenakis
Three Settings
from Nine Settings of Lorine Niedecker
for soprano and cello
Harrison Birtwistle
Bioluminescence
for solo flute
Liza Lim
O Lord, I lift my heart to thee
for solo violin
Orlando Gibbons
arr. Michael Hersch
Sea Poppies
for soprano and flute
Christopher Fox
*world premiere
Figura V
for solo cello
Matthias Pintscher
Balancen
for solo violin
Isabel Mundry
WE WERE TOGETHER
Alexander Blok
translated by David Angell
Мы были вместе, помню я...
Ночь волновалась, скрипка пела,
Ты в эти дни была моя,
Ты с каждым часом хорошела.
Сквозь тихое журчанье струй,
Сквозь тайну женственной
улыбки К устам просился поцелуй,
Просились в сердце звуки скрипки...
We were together, I recall...
Violins sang in vibrant darkness;
Day after day you were my own,
With every hour you grew more fair.
The secrets of a woman's smile,
The quiet whispering of breezes
Set tender kisses on my lips,
And filled my heart with violin songs...
Paul
when the leaves
fall
from their stems
that lie thick
on the walk
in the light
of the full note
the moon
playing
to leaves
when they leave
the little
thin things
Paul
LORINE NIEDECKER
O late fall
marsh —
I
raped by the dry
weed stalk
Sleep’s dream
the nerve-flash in the blood
The sense
of what’s seen
“I took cold
On my nerves” — my mother
tall, tormented
darkinfested
FUTURE CONCERTS
MIRANDA CUCKSON
AH YOUNG HONG
*New work, I
for soprano and violin
Missy Mazzoli
Kafka Fragments (excerpts)
for soprano and violin
György Kurtág
*New work, II
for soprano and violin
Missy Mazzoli
Kafka Fragments (excerpts)
for soprano and violin
György Kurtág
*New work, III
for soprano and violin
Missy Mazzoli
… From El Araïch
for soprano and violin
Georg Friedrich Haas
*world premiere
fragments, by Franz Kafka
Júlia and Peter Sherwood, translations
I Teil
2. Wie ein Weg im Herbst
Wie ein Weg im Herbst: Kaum ist er reingekehrt, bedeckt er sich wieder mit den trockenen Blättern.
4. Ruhelos
5. Berceuse I
Schlage deinen Mantel, hoher Traum, um das Kind.
6. Nimmermehr (Excommunicatio)
Nimmermehr, nimmermehr kehrst du wieder in die Städte, nimmermehr tönt die große Glocke über dir.
11. Sonntag, Den 19, Juli 1910 (Berceuse II)
Geschlafen, aufgewacht, geschlafen, aufgewacht, elendes Leben.
13. Einmal brach ich mir das Bein (Chassidischer Tanz)
Einmal brach ich mir das Bein, es war das schönste Erlebnis meines Lebens.
14. Umpanzert
Einen Augenblick lang fühlte ich mich umpanzert.
15. Zwei Spazierstöcke (Authentisch-plagal)
Auf Balzacs Spazierstockgriff: Ich breche alle Hindernisse. Auf meinem: Mich brechen alle Hindernisse. Gemeinsam ist das "alle".
16. Keine Rückkehr
Von einem gewissen Punkt an gibt es keine Rückkehr mehr. Dieser Punkt ist zu erreichen.
17. Stolz (1910/15. November, Zehn Uhr)
Ich werde mich nicht müde werden lassen. Ich werde in meine Novelle hineinspringen und wenn es mir das Gesicht zerschneiden sollte.
18. Träumend hing die Blume (Hommage à Schumann)
Träumend hing die Blume am hohen Stengel. Abenddämmerung umzog sie.
19. Nichts dergleichen
Nichts dergleichen, nichts dergleichen.
Part I (excerpts)
2. Like a pathway in Autumn
Like a pathway in autumn: hardly has it been swept clean, it is covered again with dry leaves.
4. Restless
5. Berceuse I
Wrap your overcoat, o lofty dream, around the child.
6. Nevermore (Excommunicatio)
Nevermore, nevermore will you return to the cities, nevermore will the great bell resound above you.
11. Sunday, 19th July 1910 (Berceuse II)
Slept, woke, slept, woke, miserable life.
13. Once I broke my leg (Chassidic dance)
Once I broke my leg: it was the most wonderful experience of my life.
14. Enarmoured
For a moment I felt enarmoured.
15. Two walking-sticks (Authentic-plagal)
On the stock of Balzac's walking-stick: "I surmount all obstacles." On mine: "All obstacles surmount me." They have that "all" in common.
16. No going back
From a certain point on, there is no going back. That is the point to reach.
17. Pride (15th November 1910, 10 O'Clock)
I will not let myself be made tired. I will dive into my story even if that should lacerate my face.
18. The flower hung dreamily (Hommage to Schumann)
The flower hung dreamily on its tall stem. Dusk enveloped it.
19. Nothing of the kind
Nothing of the kind, nothing of the kind.
III Teil
1. Haben? Sein?
Es gibt kein Haben, nur ein Sein, nur ein nach letztem Atem, nach Ersticken verlangendes Sein.
3. Meine Festung
Meine Gefängniszelle - meine Festung.
5. Elendes Leben (Double)
Geschlafen, aufgewacht, geschlafen, aufgewacht, elendes Leben.
7. Ziel, Weg, Zögern
Es gibt ein Ziel, aber keinen Weg; was wir Weg nennen, ist Zögern.
11. Staunend sahen wir das große Pferd
Staunend sahen wir das große Pferd. Es durchbrach das Dach unserer Stube. Der bewölkte Himmel zog sich schwach entlang des gewaltigen Umrisses, und rauschend flog die Mähne im Wind.
Part III
1. To have? To be?
There is no 'to have', only a 'to be', a 'to be' longing for the last breath, for suffocation.
3. My fortress
My prison-cell - my fortress.
5. Miserable life (Double)
Slept, woke, slept, woke, miserable life.
7. Destination, path, hesitation
There is a destination, but no path to it; what we call a path is hesitation.
11. Amazed, we saw the great horse
Amazed, we saw the great horse. It broke through the ceiling of our room. The cloudy sky scudded weakly along its mighty silhouette as its mane streamed in the wind.
IV Teil
1. Zu spät (22. Oktober 1913)
Zu spät. Die Süßigkeit der Trauer und der Liebe. Von ihr angelächelt werden im Boot. Das war Allerschönste. Immer nur das Verlangen, zu sterben und das Sich-noch-Halten, das allein ist Liebe.
4. Aus einem alten Notizbuch
Jetzt am Abend, nachdem ich von sechs Uhr früh an gelernt habe, bemerkte ich, wie meine linke Hand die Rechte schon ein Weilchen lang aus Mitleid bei den Fingern umfaßt hielt.
6. In Memoriam Joannis Pilinszky
Ich kann... nicht eigentlich erzählen, ja fast nicht einmal reden; wenn ich erzähle, habe ich meistens ein Gefühl, wie es kleine Kinder haben könnten, die die ersten Gehversuche machen.
Part IV
1. Too late (22nd October 1913)
Too late. The sweetness of sorrow and of love. To be smiled at by her in a rowing-boat. That was the most wonderful of all. Always just the yearning to die and the surviving, that alone is love.
4. From an old notebook
Now, in the evening, having studied since six in the morning, I notice that my left hand has for some time been gripping the fingers of my right in commiseration.
6. In memoriam Joannis Pilinszky
I can't actually... tell a story, in fact I am almost unable even to speak; when I try to tell it, I usually feel the way small children might when they try to take their first steps.
... from El Araïch ...
written and translated by Georg Friedrich Haas
Es wird wieder Konzerte und Opernaufführungen geben.
Die Museen werden sich wieder öffnen.
Und die Theater.
Nach der lange andauernden Phase der durch virtuelle Realität
wird der Hunger nach unmittelbarem zwischenmenschlichen Erleben gestillt werden müssen.
Es wird wieder Konzerte und Opernaufführungen geben.
Die Museen werden sich wieder öffnen.
Und die Theater.
(voiceless)
There will be concerts and opera performances again.
The museums will reopen.
And the theaters.
After the long-lasting period of being force-fed by virtual reality
the hunger for immediate interhuman encounters must be satisfied.
(with voice)
There will be concerts and opera performances again.
The museums will reopen.
And the theaters.
FUTURE CONCERTS
FLUX QUARTET
obsidian chorale
composition no.305
*new work
quietly
flowing along
unbreathed
quietly
flowing along
*new work
composition no.304
obsidian chorale
MEREDITH MONK
ANTHONY BRAXTON
PATRICIA KOPATCHINSKAJA
JOHN CAGE
REBECCA SAUNDERS
JOHN CAGE
PATRICIA KOPATCHINSKAJA
ANTHONY BRAXTON
MEREDITH MONK
