fall 2020

The Music Department is excited to announce its first-ever virtual music series!

Hosted by Wesleyan’s Music graduate students, this series showcases the performance, compositional, and research capabilities of Wesleyan graduate music students, alumni, and other Wesleyan affiliates. We recognize the creativity of this diverse group and encourage collaborations as well as individual performances. Panels will be presented in 7 weekly installments on Wednesdays at 8 PM during September, October, and November 2020.

Performances will be available for viewing starting from 8 PM on the scheduled dates and will remain available for the duration of the week. All videos will be re-posted to our YouTube channel for unlimited viewing at the end of our season.

Viewers may access our YouTube channel at this link:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLB2eWWh3MBAH1KTHXxqeWg

 

Performance Schedule:

Wednesday, 9/23, 8 PM: Bianca Iannitti, Stuart Wheeler

Wednesday, 9/30, 8 PM: Noah Baerman, Anya Shatilova & Max Gibson

Wednesday, 10/7, 8 PM: Garrett Groesbeck, Suhail Yusuf

Wednesday, 10/14, 8 PM: Jocelyn Pleasant

Wednesday, 10/21, 8 PM: Ryan Seward

Wednesday, 10/28, 8 PM: Thembela Vokwana, Aliya Ultan

          Wednesday, 11/4, 8 PM: Ian Davis, James Falzone

 


About the Performers

 

Noah Baerman

Musical Vulnerability

Noah Baerman, Director of the Wesleyan University Jazz Ensemble, previews some of the music on his forthcoming tribute album Love Right and discusses the different layers and types of vulnerability he has had to navigate to create and present the work.

 

Ian Davis

imdavis@wesleyan.edu

“Mom (2019)” for clarinet, trumpet, and tape machine
Adam Brisbin (clarinet)
Mikey Buishas (trumpet)
“Who You Say You Are” by Ian Davis: Rock Band
Jason Burger (drums)
Michael Coleman (synthesizer)
Dandy McDowell (bass)
Renata Zeiguer (synthesizer)

 

James Falzone

Microtonality and Approaches to Non-/Dys-Functiomal Harmony

 

Max Gibson

mgibson@wesleyan.edu

A piece for domra, voices, and electronics: a collaboration between Max Gibson & Anya Shatilova
For more information: maxgibsonmusic.com

 

Garrett Groesbeck

ggroesbeck@wesleyan.edu

Koto and Guzheng: a public-facing introduction

With streaming sites such as Youtube becoming a major point of access for information on music and global cultures, developing our ability to share clear, accessible information about ethnomusicology online is one way of increasing awareness of our field and the work that we do.

 

Bianca Luisa Iannitti

biannitti@wesleyan.edu

Una Storia “Italiana”: An Autoethnography

An autoethnographic case study of the 2018 song “Italiana” by Fedez and J-Ax.

“Italiana” by J-AX & Fedez [Official Music Video]

 

Jocelyn Pleasant

jpleasant@wesleyan.edu

Music in the African Diaspora

Jocelyn Pleasant presents recent music from her ensemble, The Lost Tribe, and discusses the inspiration behind the songs and the musical direction of the group. Say Their Names features Wesleyan alum Sam Dickey (MA ’14) on guitar, while Diaspora Sings features Uasuf Gueye on balafon, Menes Yahudah on djembe, and Dylan McDonnell on flute.

 

Ryan Seward

rseward@wesleyan.edu

take any flat, plain piece of land, give it a name—
Inspired by the opening lines of poet Lawson Fusao Inada’s “Utica, North Platte,” this fixed media work for field recordings and sine tones was realized by the composer at Cromwell Meadows Wildlife Management Area in Cromwell, Connecticut and at his apartment in Hartford, Connecticut.

 

Anya Shatilova

ashatilova@wesleyan.edu

A piece for domra, voices, and electronics: a collaboration between Max Gibson & Anya Shatilova

 

Aliya Ultan

aultan@wesleyan.edu

Songs for Escapism

Songs for Escapism is a series of pieces old and new about the ways in which music helps one cope with trauma. Cellist and singer Aliya Ultan, navigates a series of found objects in relation to her instrument often engaging with trash and recycling. In this material focused solo set, Ultan depicts a playful death and rebirth of values.

 

Thembela Vokwana

Amakwaya/Ikwayala: History, practice, publics and futures of Black choral music in South Africa

I present a historical overview of the roughly 145 history of amakwaya/ikwayala vocal genre as practiced in South Africa from the colonial times, through apartheid till the present moment.

 

Stuart Wheeler

swheeler01@wesleyan.edu

“MR. BERNARD SHAW” from On Vivisection

A song for 1-13 voices on a chord using the 3rd and 7th primes.

 

Suhail Yusuf

syusuf@wesleyan.edu

The Ritual Poetics of Rāg: from the Mystical to the Worldly

While identifying the value of tales in ethnomusicological research, Suhail Yusuf will discuss a chapter from his ongoing dissertation. In addition, he will perform melodies on the Sarangi (North-Indian bowed instrument) composed in Rāg Shahāna, with Tabla player Bhupinder Singh Chaggar.