http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2009/05/music-for-viola-and-live-computer-at-la.html

The concert last night at the French Embassy was fantastic, and Mssr Manoury mentioned the upcoming performance in Mexico, as well other performances in the U.S., including NYC toward the end of the tour.

It was perhaps the best concert here of the past season. As performed exquisitely by Mssr Desjardins, the Grisey was poetic with subtle electronic effects, whereas the Manoury was an increasingly intense and layered, almost full-scale concerto for viola and ensemble (in this case, a well-balanced set of 6 surround sound speakers).

For those who can’t catch the concert in Morelia, New York City, or California, the Kairos label (Vienna) has just released a recording of Partita I, with the work’s commissioner Christophe Desjardins, but with a sound technician from IRCAM (Paris), rather than from GRAME (Lyon).

(Another great concert of the season here was NYC’s Argento Ensemble performing Georg Friedrich Haas’s ‘in vain’ at the Austrian Embassy. It is also available on Kairos.)

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/585

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Philippe Manoury (France) and Christophe Desjardins (France) will also be at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C. tomorrow night offering an appetizer to the Morelia festival:

- Gerard Grisey: Prologue (1976) 15’ for solo viola and electronic effects

- Sébastien Béranger: Le triangle de Pascal (2003) 10’ for solo viola

- Philippe Manoury: Partita I (2007) 45’ for solo viola and live electronic effects

http://www.la-maison-francaise.org/start.htm

I echo Steve’s sentiments: my family came over to the US during the Potato Famine, but my Irish and German heritage are significant parts of my family’s ‘story;’ as are New York City and Long Island!

Best,
C