Classics Today has given “MAMORU FUJIEDA PATTERNS OF PLANTS” a perfect 10 out of 10 for artistic quality and sound quality. From the Review: “Fujieda’s Plant Patterns are tonal (or modal), but their outward, post-minimalist simplicity conceals real sophistication of technique. The pieces are built out of a few basic ideas: repetition of the initial […]
2015 is the eightieth birthday year of composer-pianist Terry Riley, who has had a profound influence on generations of composers and musicians. As a master pianist himself, he writes virtuoso pieces which encompass his wide-ranging musical pursuits, from classical music to blues to ragtime, from Indian raga to jazz. This 80th birthday milestone deserves a […]
Looking forward to being at the Point Reyes Dance Palace tomorrow afternoon with two extraordinary musicians, violinist Stuart Canin and cellist Gianna Abondolo. We’ll play Schubert’s Trio in B-flat major, and Stuart and I will perform Beethoven’s “Soring” Sonata and Mozart’s E-minor Sonata. It’s an honor to be playing music with them. https://dancepalace.org/events/piano-concert-series-featuring-sarah-cahill-violinist-stuart-canin-and-cellist-gianna
Finally got a post up about the Art in Nature Festival in the Oakland Hills a couple of weekends ago… http://sfciviccenter.blogspot.com/2014/09/california-culture-5-art-in-nature.html
Join Pinna Records, pianist Sarah Cahill and composer Mamoru Fujieda at this special event in celebration of the release of Patterns of Plants on CD. Patterns of Plants, composed between 1996 and 2011, is Mamoru Fujieda’s magnum opus. Working with a device called the “Plantron,” the composer measures electrical fluctuations on the surface of the […]
Published on Sep 28, 2014 Sarah Cahill plays the Seventh Collection, Pattern B, from Mamoru Fujieda’s Patterns of Plants, at the Berkeley Arts Festival performance space on September 14, 2014.
Cahill has researched and recorded the music by the important early 20th-century American modernists Henry Cowell and Ruth Crawford, and has commissioned a number of new pieces in tribute to their enduring influence. She enjoys working closely with composers, musicologists, and scholars to prepare scores for performance. Recent appearances include a concert at San Quentin of the music Henry Cowell wrote while incarcerated there, Lou Harrison’s Piano Concerto with Steven Schick and the La Jolla Symphony, and Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet at the Yehudi Menuhin Chamber Music Seminar and Festival. She has performed chamber music with the Alexander String Quartet, New Century Chamber Orchestra, the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, and many other chamber groups. Upcoming concerts include a residency at Dickinson College with Sarah’s husband, video artist John Sanborn, a recital at MIT, and an all-Berio performance with pianist Adam Tendler at the Italian Academy at Columbia University.
Sarah’s most recent project, A Sweeter Music, premiered in the Cal Performances series in Berkeley in January 2009 and continued to New Sounds Live at Merkin Hall, Rothko Chapel, the North Dakota Museum of Art, Le Poisson Rouge, and venues around the country, with newly commissioned works on the theme of peace by Terry Riley, Meredith Monk, Yoko Ono, Frederic Rzewski, Phil Kline, and many others. The San Francisco Chronicle wrote that “the music, helped along by the impassioned force of Cahill’s playing, amounted to a persuasive and varied investigation of the subject,” and London’s Financial Times called it “a unique commissioning programme that unites artistic aspirations with moral philosophy.”
“the music, helped along by the impassioned force of Cahill’s playing, amounted to a persuasive and varied investigation of the subject”
She is working on two new commissioning projects: one explores our relationship to nature, and the other celebrates the eightieth birthday of Terry Riley in 2015. Most of Sarah’s albums are on the New Albion label. She has also recorded for the CRI, New World, Other Minds, Tzadik, Albany, Cold Blue, and Artifact labels. Her album A Sweeter Music is on the Other Minds label, and Pinna Records will release her two-CD set of Mamoru Fujieda’s Patterns of Plants. Her radio show, Revolutions Per Minute, can be heard every Sunday evening from 8 to 10 pm on KALW, 91.7 FM in San Francisco. She is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory, hosts a new music series at the Exploratorium, and curates a monthly series of new music concerts at the Berkeley Art Museum.
Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker Street, New York
Sarah performs A Piano Party for Terry Riley at 80, with new commissioned pieces in celebration of Riley’s eightieth birthday year by Pauline Oliveros, Gyan Riley, Samuel Carl Adams, Christine Southworth, Evan Ziporyn, Dylan Mattingly, and Danny Clay. Each of these new works reflects on Riley’s enduring legacy. Sarah also performs Riley’s Keyboard Studies from the mid-60s, Fandango on the Heaven Ladder, and The Philosopher’s Hand, in a transcription by Toon Vandevorst. This concert is part of LPR’s inaugural (New) Classical Series.
The Exploratorium Piers 15/17 San Francisco, CA
The Exploratorium presents Nocturnal, an event in its After Dark series of Thursday evenings. Sarah, Jerry Kuderna, and other pianists perform music associated with night, including Chopin Nocturnes, Debussy’s Soiree en Grenade, and other night-themed works. 6 to 10 pm.
Peace United Church of Christ, 900 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA
Sarah performs “Piano Reverie,” a program of assorted mystical and mysterious works including some of Ruth Crawford’s Preludes, excerpts from Larry Polansky’s B’midbar, Philip Collins’ Pleasant Dreaming, Berio’s Feuerklavier, Pauline Oliveros’ A Trilling Piece for Terry, and music by Dane Rudhyar, Lou Harrison, Annea Lockwood, and George Antheil. This concert is part of the New Music Works series.
San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak Street, San Francisco
Sarah performs Olivier Messiaen’s Oiseaux exotiques for piano and small orchestra on the BluePrint New Music Series under the direction of Nicole Paiement. Also on the program is the premiere of Robin Estrada’s Pagihip at Pagtaktak and Stephen Paulson’s Bassoon Concerto. Messiaen’s Oiseaux exotiques (1956) was the first of his major works to create a true synthesis between his music and his passion for ornithology, and in the score he specifies which birds he is quoting with remarkable accuracy.
If you go to your local record store, you’ll find Meredith Monk and Björk in completely separate categories, but as you’re about to hear, they’ve got a lot in common. Born a generation apart, both women have gained a reputation for creating adventurous music for the human voice, work that has taken them beyond the concert stage and into the realms of theater, film, visual art, dance, and performance art. Over the course of this hour-long program, these two artists share personal stories and trade ideas about music alongside illustrative samples drawn from their extensive recorded catalogues.
Curious how Elliott Carter, one of our most venerable composers of music for the concert hall, and Phil Lesh, best known as the bass player for the Grateful Dead, ever crossed paths? Though you might not ordinarily connect these two composers, there are some surprising musical links between them, supported by a friendship of many years.
Hear them speak with Sarah Cahill about their shared influences and the personal connections they’ve made through music.
