Perpetual Chant: The Chamber Music of Gilbert Galindo

Join for the first ever concert of chamber music by Gilbert Galindo! The DiMenna Center for Classical Music Cary Hall 450 W 37th Street New York, New York 10018 Doors open: 7:30 PM Performance begins: 8:00 PM $15 Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2560800 Complimentary wine and edibles provided. Featuring: Roberta Michel, flute Ian Shafer, oboe Tom Piercy, clarinet Markus Kaitila, piano Chris Graham, percussion Jessica Park, violin Sasha Petrin, violin Liuh-Wen Ting, viola Eric Allen, cello Kate Dillingham, cello Gilbert Galindo, conductor ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ For the past 10 years in New York, Gilbert Galindo has been busy writing chamber works for various groups and soloists in and outside of the city. Here with this concert, he presents some of his best works from the last decade and this decade. Seven works for winds, strings, piano, and percussion, will be heard ranging from a duo to a sextet, and they are: “Blind Arrogance” for flute, violin, violoncello, and percussion (2012) “Echoes of the Divine” for piano quartet (2014) “Entangled Chant” for flute, oboe, clarinet, violin, violoncello, percussion (2008) “Living Oblivion” for violin & violoncello (2009) “Perpetual Drive” for pierrot ensemble (2013) “Praise by Your Being” for string quartet (2016) “Secret Nights” for clarinet, violin, violoncello, piano (2011) The title of the concert, “Perpetual Chant” combines two titles of pieces on the program and speaks to the truth that music sings, chants, and expresses human spirit and energy continually, developing as it wills, in perpetuity with or without the intention of the composer. Gilbert Galindo’s music is no different. The character and style of the works from the late ‘00s to now changed from more fragmented and abstract modernist influenced music to more romantic and melodic creations always with an underlying modal harmonic color. But all the pieces on this concert reflect varying energies and human expressions, from rugged, aggressive, playful, to ethereal, serene, and lyrical. Here is what Gilbert says about his music: “My music is about energy, varying intensity, fragmented tunes, melody, drama, color, and expression. Melody and lyricism come most natural to me and from that come the passionate, free, sensitive, virtuosic, or rhapsodic spirit which aims to communicate and speak to the listener. Energy is the fuel that drives my music, either it be calm, relentless, gentle, unhurried, or ready to explode. Fragmented abstract tunes bring out the scatting jazz man inside of me, and my use of harmony sets the overall colored tone for my music, utilizing modal elements, blues and jazz notes and chords, spiced with modernist dissonances, or from time to time you may hear harmonic stasis with nuance, which is my love to enjoy the moment—a respite from the chaos of life. I use these ideas, take them, alter them, or let them be, and form them into a human sonic expression.” And here is his take on the composer, performer, and listener: “Let it be a striking chord, the beautiful color of a complex sound, the harmonic world, a pulsating rhythm, or the intensity of a piece—something must draw the listener to the music. That key opens the imagined world of the composer to them. It is up to the composer to bring the listener into his or her sound world, to welcome them by providing music they have never heard, bringing them into uncharted territory, but yet relating and communicating to the listener and giving them something to remember. With the informed mind of what has occurred before, what occurs now, intuition, creativity, craft, and skill, the music must be of the utmost quality the composer can create. It must be captivating, intriguing, compelling, and enticing. Creating music is sharing: one creates a genuine and earnest sound entity and shares it with others to experience. Composing is the transformation of the composer’s excitement and enjoyment of the created work through the hard work of the performer to the listener—allowing them to perform or listen to something new, different, original, and personally unique.” Always feeling the desire to produce concerts, Gilbert’s curatorial and production inclination has led him to co-found a multi-media music and arts series, NYsoundCircuit and become the artistic director of Random Access Music, a composer and performer collective. And now Gilbert produces a concert of his own music, presenting the works that express his musical statement. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ GILBERT GALINDO (b. 1982) Gilbert’s compositions offer the listener a kaleidoscope of textures, sounds, challenging harmonies, and crisp and vibrant melodies, providing a rewarding journey from the first notes to the last beat. Many are written for multi-combinations of instruments, solos, duets, trios, small ensembles to full-blown symphonic orchestral music, to the most personally poignant songs for voice and piano. A native of west Texas, Gilbert Galindo’s music has been heard nationwide, at diverse venues from The Green Mill in Chicago, the University of Wyoming Art Museum, to Symphony Space, Cornelia Street Café, and the Tenri Cultural Institute in New York City. His music has also been featured on festival programs at the American Composers Alliance Festival of American Music, the Cortona Sessions for New Music, the Etchings Festival of Contemporary Music, the New Frontiers Festival, Make Music New York, the Sonic Fusion Festival, and the Queens New Music Festival. He has also established his presence across Europe in France, Germany, Italy, Scotland, and Switzerland. Additionally, his commissions include those from the Chicago Fine Arts Society, the New Thread Quartet, the Lone Star Brass, and Project Infinity with further premieres and performances from the Bard Institute Orchestra, DuoSolo, the East Coast Contemporary Ensemble, Ensemble Dal Niente, ensemble mise-en, the Gotham Ensemble, Iktus Percussion, the Lost Dog New Music Ensemble, the Midland Odessa Symphony, newEar, Parthenia, the Southwest Trio, Yung-Li Dance as well as pianists Amir Khosrowpour and Mabel Kwan, clarinetist Thomas Piercy, cellist Kate Dillingham, and tenor Ulises Solano, among others. His music has also been heard on WWFM Midday Classics and WQXR in New York. Recently in February 2015, Gilbert Galindo’s cello and piano piece, “Almost within reach…” was released on a new album entitled, “Crossings: New Music for Cello” with cellist Kate Dillingham and pianist Amir Khosrowpour available on New Focus Recordings. Other recent activity has included “Ampelmännchen Stroll” for ensemble mise-en, “Not the light, but the fire that burns” for Iktus Percussion, “Perpetual Drive” for the Lost Dog New Music Ensemble, and various works for Random Access Music. In previous years his chamber and club music were featured on the 21st Century Schizoid Music Series in New York, and his orchestral work, “Awakening—Inevitable” was featured in a documentary film entitled “Barbarossa and the Towers of Italy,” directed by Tony Schweikle. His awards and recognitions include: Composers Assistance Program grants from the the American Music Center and NewMusicUSA, a Van Lier Fellowship from Meet The Composer, two BMI Student Composer Awards, First Place in the Ohio Federation of Music Clubs Young Composers Contest, winner of Northwestern University’s first orchestral competition, the Cacavas Award, two awards from the Chicago Union League Civic and Arts Foundation Music Competition Contest, and Northwestern Univeristy’s William T. Faricy Award for Creative Music. While at Northwestern University (BM) – where he studied with William Karlins, Augusta Read Thomas, Amnon Wolman, and Jay Alan Yim – he co-founded “EXPOSURE: musicians for new music.” Afterwards he received a degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music (MM) – studying with Margaret Brouwer and Zhou Long – where he served as the conductor and graduate assistant of the CIM New Music Ensemble. Additional studies include the Bard Conductors Institute as a conducting fellow and composer participant with Harold Farberman, and the Brevard Music Festival, studying with Donald Freund. In Germany, as a result of a full scholarship awarded to him by DAAD, he studied with Samuel Adler at the Freie Universität International Summer University Composition Course in Berlin, and privately with Jason Eckardt. Residing in New York, Gilbert is a Co-founder and Co-curator of NYsoundCircuit - an evening-length multimedia salon series of new music and visual arts showcasing the work of composers, ensembles, and artists (currently on hiatus) - as well as Artistic Director of Random Access Music, a composers and performer collective. His music is available from Cuicatl Publications (BMI). For more information, scores, and recordings, please visit: www.gilbertgalindo.com or www.soundcloud.com/gilbertgalindo.