meg's new music blog

Performing “the newest music for the oldest instrument,” Ekmeles (ancient Greek music theory term for “disallowed tones”) is a new vocal group that performs solely contemporary music. I caught up with the founder and director of Ekmeles, Jeffrey Gavett, to ask him a few questions about the group:

I know you formed Ekmeles with the thought in mind that new vocal music needs an advocate in NYC. Who are some contemporary composers of vocal music that you feel people should know about?

Meet Jenny Q Chai, a pianist who performs solely contemporary music.  I recently had the pleasure of attending one of Chai’s “lecture recitals,” in which she talks about the pieces she plays, and encourages the audience to share their reactions to the music.  On this particular evening, Jenny, whose playing is the perfect marriage of precision and passion, presented works by four relatively established new music composers, three of whom are still living: Hungary’s György Kurtág, France’s Olivier Messiaen (who died in 1992), Italy’s Marco Stroppa, and New York City’s own Nils Vigeland.

Say hello to Kate Soper! Kate’s a New York City-based composer and vocalist and is a co-director of the Wet Ink ensemble.  She graciously agreed to answer a few questions about herself for me yesterday. Below is a video of my brief interview with Kate, which is followed by a piece she wrote this year, called Voices from the Killing Jar, where you can here her sing (the track playing underneath the interview is also by Kate, called Wolf).