The four artists first collaborated together on the 2019 album El Chan. Six years earlier the Labèque Sisters and Chalmin recorded 2013’s Minimalist Dream House – an album of music by John Cage, Philip Glass, Michael Nyman, Arvo Pärt, Terry Riley and more. The newly named Dream House Quartet released their first album under that name earlier this month. It features works written by Chalmin, Dessner and Meredith Monk. They are now on tour with a performance on Sunday at Royce Hall with CAP UCLA; Wednesday, May 3rd at Toronto’s Meridian Arts Center and concluding on May 5th at Yale’s Schwarzman Center.

Late last week I spoke with Chalmin about the Dream House Quartet, his musical partners (one of whom, Katia, has been his life partner for 20 years) and Thom Yorke of Radiohead whose Don’t Fear the Light, Part 1 & 2 is being performed on their tour. What follows are excerpts from my conversation with Chalmin that have been edited for length and clarity. To see the full interview, please go to our YouTube channel.

Dream House Quartet is performing music by Meredith Monk on this tour. She is quoted as having said, “The more I go through life, I realize that there’s really no separation between practice and art at all. The two things, more and more, become one rather than two different aspects of my life.” Do you feel the same way and how much do you feel like your art and your practice are on parallel paths?

I totally agree. Passion is the main thing with music. In my case it comes with playing the guitar, some piano first, then the guitar, then discovering about electronics and all the mess you see around me. [Best experienced in our video.] You never feel like you’re making art. You actually always think you’re practicing and trying to make something better. To me it’s a craft also. I love thinking of myself as a craftsman. To me it’s a very noble thing. We have this word in French artisan and I like to think of this because after years of practice of many different things you create your own musical personality. My experience is also working with sound and manipulating sound, recording and mixing, so it’s all of these practices that actually make my art, if you want to call it that.

Do you feel like you live your life the way you create your art? Are those two similar for you?

It’s totally the same thing. Actually it’s continuous. It’s not a job. It’s not work. It’s making music, being with people I love. I admire trying to improve on my knowledge and in my instrument experience. It’s only one thing. Totally.

Your first collaboration with the Labèque Sisters was on 2013’s Minimalist Dream House, which obviously shares a bit of the ensemble’s name. That album shares two thirds of the ensemble that became Dream House Quartet. Are there any similarities or differences, or was it merely the introduction of Bryce Dessner as a fourth member?

It was definitely the beginning of that adventure. It was a huge thing for Katia, Marielle and I starting this project. We had other projects before that, but that one in 2013, that’s really when we discovered all the minimalist music. Of course we knew some of it… We were introduced to all these amazing composers and actually that was the moment where everything connected because Katia and I were coming from different backgrounds. [She’s] a classical musician and she’s played a lot of contemporary music and I come from rock/electronic music. Our goal was always to find something to do together. So for years we were looking. In the minimalist movement from the second half of the 20th century, we really found something that made sense for both of us. Because this is the moment when classical musicians decided to do something different and reconnect with folk music, with music from all around the world, and get out of the little elite genre that the contemporary music was finding itself. So that was the beginning of research and assimilation of this music.

Years after, after meeting Bryce Dessner, we became the Dream House Quartet. When we did the first Minimalist Dream House project, we played a lot of existing music and some re-interpretations. But now with the Dream House Quartet, we think more like a band. We play Bryce’s music, my music, and still, of course, some Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and Meredith Monk – the big composers of that musical genre. But now it’s become a band.

In a 2019 conversation I had with Katia and Marielle, we discussed their performing music by Radiohead’s Thom Yorke. She said, “What is really interesting with Thom is he thinks about atmosphere and mystery and it’s really good for us to work with a musician like that.” What are your thoughts about the role of atmosphere in relation to, or in the absence of, melody in a modern work? 

To me it’s essential because in the music I’m make, in the music I love, it’s a lot about that. I listen to a lot of ambient music or drone music where you can really get lost in one chord for 15 minutes. It’s actually very hard to reproduce, I think, in written music. But it’s a very interesting challenge. That’s why I believe our meeting, our encounter, is interesting because I can try to make that happen, to create atmosphere with my electronics using their sound. 

In the piece Thom Yorke wrote for the quartet [Katia and Marielle] use some electronics and that brings their craft to another level. Those mixes are really interesting. Of course Thom Yorke can play piano and he can program a synthesizer, but he will never be able to do what Katia and Marielle do to bring their hands to his brain and his music. That makes something really unique. 

What impresses you most about what Thom Yorke is able to accomplish with his compositional skills?

He has something really special and amazing in the way he uses harmony, I think, because he uses the canvas of normal songs. I mean, they’re never normal and they’re never standard form, but still it feels like a song. But there is always a twist somewhere. There is no Radiohead song that is like a normal folk song. The way that he manages to make that sound normal, natural and beautiful to me, it’s the ultimate goal. It’s the same for any kind of modern music. Like making something weird, new with a twist, but making it feel not simple at the same time is the ultimate and beautiful. Aways there’s like the strange chromatic chord sometimes or the way he uses the melody to make things seem simple when actually it’s all weird in the back.

When you’re curating this tour with Dream House Quartet, what is the conversation that you would like to have with your work, Bryce Dessner’s and Thom Yorke’s works to have with older works by Philip Glass and Meredith Monk and Steve Reich?

I think we’d like the audience to feel that it’s the same musical realm. That there is a sense of all these musicians being on the same program and that it’s not weird; that there is not the classical one and the popular one. That’s the way to tell people it should be less classified and we’re more diverse than when people are seeing music as just one thing. 

When I listen to your EP Innocence I get the feeling that there is somehow an examination of how technology encroaches on our daily lives. You have these beautiful melodies and then there’s the technology, there’s the distortion, etc. I don’t know if that was your point, but I find it interesting that you’re using the same technology to express that sentiment. What was that your goal with these five songs?

It was not really conscious, but I’m glad you felt that. To me they’re my tools. I feel as touched by the small keyboard and the upright piano or my electric guitar. They’re just tools and I try to use them in a soothing way for me. The kind of music I make I like is indeed something that I try to cut out from the craziness and puts you more in a calming state. I like to take the time and use repetition to force you into relaxing. Taking a step back to just relax. It’s true we’re always like acting crazy to what’s around us.

What concerns do you have now with all the conversations that are going on about what AI can create and what AI can do and whether that’s going to encroach on originality and creativity?

As far as music is concerned, I’m really not worried at all. I find it’s a very interesting tool and a very scary one at the same time for many different uses. But it’s what people are going to do with it that will make it a problem or not. I guess we’ll have to find out. But as far as music is concerned, I don’t think it’s a problem because the kind of music I listen to or I like or the people I love who make music, they bring something that no machine will ever be able to to recreate. And if the machine starts making the hits of tomorrow, it won’t bother me. It can totally happen. It’s already something like that with 16 guys who know how to do certain things. So to me it’s a bit soulless already. What I like in music is the opposite. It’s where something magical happens and where there is soul and a life behind that’s never going to be predictable.

Philip Glass said, “The past is reinvented and becomes the future, but the lineage is everything.” What do you feel your lineage is as a composer to the past and what would you like others who will compose 30, 40 or 50 years from now to see in your work?

That’s really interesting because I think as composers we have to be humble and know that we are reassembling knowledge and using our heart to put it together and make something unique. Some people may like it or not. In my case it’s really a sum of a lot of different influences.

In terms of lineage, I’m very linked to Baroque music. My parents organized concerts. My father plays the organ and the harpsichord and he also builds harpsichord and organs. So I grew up listening to a lot of Baroque music. Even though as a teenager I got bored by it, I quickly came back to it. It’s a huge influence in my musical life.

Then there is rock; sixties/seventies rock mainly from the Beatles to Led Zeppelin. Then the era I grew up in the nineties with grunge, Nirvana and then Radiohead and then electronic music. It’s so many different things. People can grab sometimes the little things. Or listen to a piece I wrote for a Baroque ensemble which sounds like maybe minimalist music, but it’s played by Baroque instruments. Or in my songs sometimes find that there is very Baroque harmony. Or they use a sound that is similar to something Thom Yorke did. It’s all in there. But I like this idea that we’re just rebuilding and reassembling the parts that the authors have left us.

To see the full interview with David Chalmin, please go here.

All photos: Dream House Quartet (Photo by Graham Macindoe/Courtesy CAP UCLA)

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The list begins with performances that have specific dates and start times. After those listings are performances you can discover at your leisure with their end dates included.

Here are my Classical Best Bets for the Holidays:

Bang on a Can Marathon 2020 – December 22nd – January 1st

For classical music fans who like very contemporary composition, you won’t want to miss this marathon streaming of all 90+ performances that were part of the four Bang on a Can Marathons this year.

Bang on a Can’s marathon presented 31 world premieres during their online festivals held in May, June, August and October of this year. If you didn’t catch the marathons as they happened, you ordinarily wouldn’t get a second chance to view them. Now you can.

You can also catch all of the other performances which include pianist/composer Vijay Iyer; works by John Adams, Philip Glass, Ted Hearne, Missy Mazzoli and Steve Reich; pianists Jeremy Denk and Conrad Tao; composer/musician Tyshawn Sorey and dozens more. The complete list is on the event’s website.

There is no charge to view these performances. However, Bang on a Can is encouraging donations.

New York String Orchestra – Carnegie Hall – December 24th – 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST

A fifty-year traditions continues with this popular Christmas eve concert that finds the young musicians of the New York String Orchestra performing with established soloists. This year they are joined by pianist Emanuel Ax.

Jaime Loredo conducts. Not much is known about the program, but half-a-century of this tradition means they must be on to something. There’s no charge to watch this concert.

Peter and the Wolf – Teatro alla Scala – December 25th – 5:00 AM EST/2:00 AM PST

You’ll have to be up late or get up early if you want to experience this Christmas Day concert from Milan’s legendary Teatro alla Scala, but it will be worth it. And for those restless kids eager to see what Santa brought them, they’ll enjoy this, too.

Eun Sun Kim leads the La Scala Orchestra in a performance of Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. Mozart’s Concerto in A Major K. 622 for clarinet and orchestra will also be played with Fabrizio Meloni on bass clarinet.

Illustrations are part of the presentation of Peter and the Wolf.

The concert will stream on Teatro alla Scala’s website and also on their Facebook and YouTube channels.

Salute to Vienna and Budapest New Year’s Concert – December 27th – January 3rd

In a newly-filmed concert in Europe, operettas and waltzes are on the program. This Salute to Vienna and Budapest has been annual tradition for 25 years.

The concert has three premiere performances on December 27th: 5:30 PM EST/2:30 PM PST; 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST and 10:00 PM EST/7:00 PM PST.

Tickets are $20 and that allows for re-streaming the concert to your heart’s content through January 3rd.

United in Song: Celebrating the Resilience of America – PBS Great Performances – December 31st 

In this concert airing on PBS soprano Jamie Barton, violinist Joshua Bell, opera singers Renée Fleming and Denyce Graves, Josh Groban, Juanes, R&B legend Patti LaBelle, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Broadway star Brian Stokes Mitchell, 6-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet perform. The theme is celebrating Americans and their strength that has been required of us all throughout 2020. 

The concert was filmed at Mount Vernon and the Kennedy Center and opens with LaBelle singing Lady Marmalade. She also closes the concert and everything in between is a total delight.

As with all PBS programming, check your local listings for exact broadcast times. 

The Carnival of the Animals & Eine kleine Nachtmusik – Teatro alla Scala – January 1st – 5:00 AM EST/2:00 AM PST

Once again, the early riser or night owl will be able to watch this concert from Milan’s Teatro alla Scala.

As with their Christmas Day concert, Eun Sun Kim leads the La Scala orchestra. On the program are Camille Saint-Saëns’ The Carnival of the Animals and Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik.

The concert will stream on Teatro alla Scala’s website and also on their Facebook and YouTube channels.

Live with Carnegie Hall at Home – Carnegie Hall – Available now

If you haven’t taken a look at Carnegie Hall’s Live with series, luckily it’s still available for streaming. Amongst their guests during the year have been The Kronos Quartet, a celebration of violinist Isaac Stern; pianist Daniil Trifonov; pianist Emanuel Ax; cellist Alisa Weilerstein; violinist Joshua Bell and more.

Each program runs approximately one hour. There are also sessions with opera singers, Broadway stars, folk singers, conductors, world music singers and cabaret stars.

While you’re there you might want to check out their 2020 Opening Night Gala which combines new interviews and performances with archival footage from the venerable hall’s long history.

Los Angeles Philharmonic Watch & Listen – LA Phil – Available now

In addition to their Sound/Stage performances (click on the link built into Sound/Stage to read details on that series), the Los Angeles Philharmonic has a lot more to discover on their website.

Amongst the highlights are pianist Yuja Wang performing the first movement of John Adams’ Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? from a November 2019 concert; Thomas Ades’ Darkness Visible performed by LA Phil pianist Joanna Pearce Martin; timpanist Joseph Pereria performing Magnificent Obsession, a piece he wrote inspired by Buzz Aldrin’s experience on the moon; violinist Gabriela Peña-Kim performing Eugène Ysaÿe’s Obsession and more.

There’s plenty to entertain you and there’s no charge to watch the videos. If you haven’t watched Sound/Stage, I strongly encourage you to do so.

Handel’s Messiah – Oratorio Society of New York – Now – January 10th

Every year since 1874 the Oratorio Society of New York has performed the Christmas portion of Handel’s Messiah for the holidays. In spite of the pandemic, they are presenting a virtual version to keep that tradition alive.

Kent Tritle conducts chorus, orchestra, and soloists Susanna Phillips, Heather Petrie, Joshua Blue, and Sidney Outlaw in a safely-performed and filmed concert.

Oratorio Society of New York received a Grammy nomination earlier this year for Best Choral Performance for their recording Sanctuary Road.

There is no charge to watch this performance.

Beethoven’s The Creatures of Prometheus – The Philharmonia Orchestra of London – Available Now

In February of this year, the Los Angeles Philharmonic had one of their most exciting concerts when Esa-Pekka Salonen, Simon McBurney and Gerard McBurney collaborated on The Weimar Republic: Salonen Conducts The Seven Deadly Sins.

Salonen and Gerard McBurney have once again collaborated on a concert. The Philharmonia Orchestra of London is performing Beethoven’s The Creatures of Prometheus.

Most concertgoers are familiar with the work’s overture; far fewer are familiar with the complete score Beethoven composed for this ballet that had its world premiere in Vienna in 1801.

McBurney has written a new script for this concert. There will be animation by Hillary Leben whose work has been seen in performance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Silk Road Ensemble and more.

When you add that the narration will be performed by Stephen Fry, what else do you need?

The link takes you directly to The Philharmonia Orchestra of London’s YouTube page where this performance can be seen for free.

Throughline: San Francisco Symphony From Hall to Home – San Francisco Symphony – Now available

This ambitious and exciting concert features performances of works by John Adams, Ludwig van Beethoven, Kev Choice, Ellen Reid and presents the world premiere of Throughline by Nico Muhly.

Joining Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen for this program are soprano Julia Bullock; composer/guitarist Bryce Dessner; Muhly on piano and conducting; bassist Esperanza Spalding and more.

Reid’s Fear/Release opens the nearly one-hour program. That is followed by Adams’ Shaking and Trembling from Shaker Loops; Movements by Choice; Beethoven’s Allegro con brio from String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Opus 95 and the concert concludes with Throughline.

There is no charge to watch this concert.

Jeremy Denk Recital – 92nd Street Y – Now available

If you didn’t get a chance to see pianist Jeremy Denk‘s recital from Caramoor in October, he’s performed the same program from New York’s 92nd Street Y earlier this month and it is still available for streaming.

The program is scheduled to include: Mozart’s Piano Sonata in C Minor, K 457; Thomas “Blind Tom” Wiggins’s The Battle of Manassas; Joplin/Chauvin’s Heliotrope Bouquet; Tania León’s Ritual; Frederic Rzewski’s Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues and Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No 32 in C Minor, Op. 111.

You’ll get two classical period compositions, ragtime, the work of a young Black man during The Civil War and the work of two contemporary composers. How’s that for diverse?

Tickets are $15.

Those are my dozen recommendations for Classical Music Best Bets for the Holidays. I also have recommendations for Dance, Jazz and Musicals/Cabaret if you want even more choices.

Enjoy the music and the season.

Photo: Yosemite Trees (Photo by Craig L. Byrd)

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The Labéque Sisters have been playing music for two pianos together for nearly 50 years. Their first recording was of Olivier Messiaen’s Vision De L’Amen in 1970. But it was a Gershwin recording in 1980 that firmly established their career by becoming one of the first Gold Records in Classical Music.

Carnival of the Animals was written as a celebration of Mardi Gras by the composer in 1886. However, he did not allow the work to be published until after his death in 1922. It’s a work commonly associated with children as it uses music to depict various animals. In the process it showcases various instruments in the orchestra. Ogden Nash wrote text for the piece. At Tuesday night’s performance, Sean Hayes (Will & Grace) will serve as the narrator.

Last week I spoke with Marielle and Katia about this work, their recent collaboration with Thom Yorke of Radiohead and why they wanted to travel all this way to play at the Bowl.

Your schedule only shows one concert upcoming and that is this one performance of Carnival of the Animals. What makes that so special for you that it would be worth your time and energy to fly all the way to Los Angeles to perform a 27-minute piece?

Marielle: It is a bit crazy. First of all because I love this piece and it such a wonderful experience to play the Hollywood Bowl. We love the place and the atmosphere. Also we come to Los Angeles quite often and it also a pleasure to be back. This is the first place we came in America.

Katia: It’s all our friends. It’s like a family. They know us and we’ve been doing so many things for them and it’s exciting. In one concert you can perform for as many people as in seven or eight recitals. It’s not a lot of pressure to do that. It’s pure pleasure.

For those who think Saint-Saëns wrote this piece mostly as a work for children, what would you tell them?

Marielle: Of course there is more to it. He wanted to do it with friends at his home and it became such a popular piece. Aquarium is played every year at the Cannes Film Festival. The Swan is so beautiful. I remember we did Carnival with Leonard Slatkin and the adults were laughing so much more than the children.

Why do you think Saint-Saëns did not want the work published until after his death?

Katia: I am thinking of that every time I play it. I think that’s ironic that this is probably his most famous piece and he didn’t want it published. He was afraid of the people he was mocking – like the donkeys for the music critics. The pianist is also mocking the pianist. We are supposed to play it as if we don’t know how to play. We don’t rehearse it. We don’t fake it, but we try to think of how do we do it if we don’t know how to play.

Composer Bryce Dessner told me that it was a joy to make music with you and that you work harder and that “they can play three notes and it can be just the most beautiful – you make music immediately.” How much work does it take to get to the point where a composer would say that about you?

Katia: It takes certainly a lot of work, but it’s only with this amount of work that you can make it natural. I remember Fred Astaire was asked all the time, “How did you get to dance so naturally.” He said, “I rehearse each movement 5,000 times. And then I can do it easily.” I always have this in mind. That’s the only way to do it.

Marielle: We fight for each note, it is true. We are like that, Katia and I, because we are hard workers. I was so happy when we played for him. We had this energy and desire, of course. If you don’t like the music you play you can’t give pleasure to anyone or the audience. Modern music we love it.

[Earlier this year Dessner released El Chan, which is a concerto who wrote specifically for the Labéque Sisters.]

In addition to working with Dessner, you’ve recently been working with Thom Yorke of Radiohead. What has that experience been like for you?

Marielle: I’m a fan of Radiohead because I really love this group, but Katia this was always her dream. She met him and asked him to write the music which isn’t easy. We worked also like crazy because it was a completely different language than everything we did before. It was two piano and one piece of electronics. 

Katia: Oh he’s a genius! He’s an amazing musician. We’ve been admiring his music since so many years. Radiohead is one of my favorite groups. It’s one of the rare groups that plays manages to produce interesting stuff. Thom was afraid. He said, “I don’t know how to write music.” But he sent .wav files and it was transcribed. From there we started to build up what we imagined of his music. What’s really interesting with Thom is he thinks about atmosphere and mystery and it’s really good for us to work with a musician like that. 

You are now fast-approaching fifty years since your debut. When you imagined your career, is the path you’ve taken so far the career you had hoped for?

Katia: We never imagined that. We had the idea it could be nice, but we never imagined this. Life is always a surprise.

Marielle: Of course we wanted to be together and play together. But it’s still a surprise to for us. It’s a joy to make music. I treasure each moment we have even more than when I was 20 years old. We work a lot but we have something between us like that for so many years. It’s amazing.

Katia: Our only ambition was just to stay together. We did not have this pressure on us when we started. We could concentrate on the music. Today I see a lot of young pianists and they are concerned about the image and things. But when do they practice? We had a very natural way to meet with people and to work and that was good. But you know at the time we started nobody wanted to hear piano duets. It was not very modern. In Europe really we did not have so many duets. Now it is great and we have a lot of [new] works and it’s good for us. We were kind of a model. We are proud of that.

In addition to Carnival of the Animals, the Los Angeles Philharmonic will perform Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. Juanjo Mena conducts.  For tickets go here.

Photos by Umberto Nicoletti/Courtesy of labeque.com

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Muhly has assembled a program that includes his collaboration with Thomas Bartlett on Peter Pears: Balinese Ceremonial Music. This album was released in 2018 by Nonesuch Records. It features nine songs the two wrote together and three transcriptions of traditional Gamelan music.

Philip Glass has long been an inspiration for Muhly. As part of this program he will offer his own interpretations of some of the composer’s lesser-known works. These will be performed with Nadia Sirota on the viola and Caroline Shaw on vocals and violin, Alex Sopp on flute, Lisa Kaplan on piano, Lisa Liu on violin, Patrick Belaga on cello and Wade Culbreath on percussion.

Rumors are circulating about some special guests who will be part of this concert. Since Muhly has worked with Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Benjamin Millepied and more, who could they be?

I’m hoping that one or more of his operas, Two Boys, Dark Sides or Marnie might be performed in Los Angeles sooner as opposed to later.  LA Opera? Beth Morrison Projects? REDCAT?

Until that happens, we’ll have Archives, Friends, Patterns which is our pick for Your Best Bet This Week in Culture.

For tickets go here.

Photo of Nico Muhly by Heidi Solander/Courtesy of Cap UCLA

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When something becomes taboo, it’s like the forbidden fruit. You know you aren’t supposed to try it, but inevitably you will. The realization of that cause and effect seems to be lost on politicians. As it was on Jesse Helms and others when an exhibition of photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe in Cincinnati became the front line in the culture wars in 1990. Not only did it capture the media’s attention, it became a pivotal moment for a then fourteen-year-old Bryce Dessner.

Dessner is known as one of the members of the rock band The National. He’s also known as a composer who has collaborated with the likes of Nico Muhly, Caroline Shaw, Philip Glass, Sufjan Stevens and Paul Simon.

On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Philharmonic will offer the world premiere of Triptych (Eyes of One on Another). The work is part of the Green Umbrella Series and was inspired by Dessner’s recollections of the controversy surrounding this exhibit and Mapplethorpe’s work. This premiere is the concert version of Triptych. A larger presentation, with full staging, sets and costume design, will have its premiere on March 15th at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Dessner wrote Triptych in collaboration with librettist Korde Arrington Tuttle (featuring words by Essex Hemphill and Patti Smith) and with the vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth in mind.

I recently spoke with Dessner about Triptych, Mapplethorpe and the new recording of his Piano Concerto for 2 Pianos featuring Katia & Marielle Labéque.

What do you remember most about the controversy and shutting down of the Mapplethorpe exhibit?

As a teenager born and raised in Cincinnati, those events really marked the city in a way that stuck with me. It was later on when I got into college and studied art more seriously that I got to know better his work. 

What is it about defining art, particularly the way these photographs were, that provokes greater interest?

I think it absolutely backfired. There is a beautiful essay, The Invisible Dragon [by Dave Hickey] where he talks about on some level Mapplethorpe needed Jessie Helms in terms of how it amplified his work and it became so much more scrutinized and into the bloodstream. It had the opposite effect.

How has Triptych evolved as you near the premiere and do you anticipate making changes before the subsequent performances?

I think the score has evolved dramatically. The process and timing was a bit later than I would normally be comfortable with. It’s a tricky subject matter in terms of getting a solid structure to what we wanted to say. It took a lot of revisions. The music has been shifting up to the last week. It will keep evolving. There’s a bit of pressure with a premiere like this. Ideally we could keep workshopping it and make it better. In June it comes to New York. Before then I would imagine I will revise the score quite a bit.

You’ve chosen to use a lot of vocals accompanied by a chamber orchestra. How did that decision come about?

My challenge on this piece, which is text driven, the libretto is substantial and important and a lot is said with unbelievable poetry. I hope my music measured up. The piece does have a wide range of sounds. I wanted the music to be heard. But here I was very focused on the text to the extent the piece is clear and can be sung. 

There’s a statement about Triptych that says the work “examines how we look and are looked at, bringing us face-to-face with our innermost desires, fears and humanity.” How did writing Triptych bring you face-to-face with those same things?

I try to let the piece guide me and to listen to my collaborators and the great musicians who are singing it and performing it and come to it with an open heart. And to be aware that these conflicts are in me, too.  Just because I’m making this piece, I’m not exempt from confronting these pieces the way others do.

You have a new recording coming out in April featuring your Concerto for Two Pianos and El Chan (also the name of the CD). The Labéque Sisters seem to be a muse for you. What is unique about them and your collaboration with them?

Katia and Marielle have been playing music together since they were kids. They also work 8-10 hours a day together. It’s a joy to make music with them. They’ve been through enough and seen enough and they are open-minded and supportive. It’s been a beautiful experience.

Mapplethorpe said, “My whole point is to transcend the subject…to go beyond the subject somehow so that the composition, the lighting, all around, reaches a certain point of perfection.” As a composer, do you aspire to do the same thing?

I get great joy when the notes on the page, through the interpretive experience and collaborative experience of mounting the performance with performers, almost lift off and I no longer own them. That’s definitely the case with the singers in this project. I hear them sing ideas I had in the studio, but it’s almost a new piece through their interpretation. That feeling is what keeps me going and why I keep doing this.

Main Photo by Shervin Lainez

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