Revolution

03/03/20 • 51 min

1. Danny Elfman’s Violin Concerto “Eleven Eleven”:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/02GpGlIYSLjPzANbHE9YBQ
2. Julius Eastman’s Gay Guerrilla:
https://open.spotify.com/track/3cSpVzEmTjohDSWxJtt5oS
3. A reinterpretation of Mendelssohn’s Op. 44 string quartet:
https://youtu.be/EZg31DhIrZo

You can listen to these before or after the episode, or you can pause our podcast and go listen to each piece as we introduce them.
Panelists:

Rafaela Dreisin is an arts engagement and marketing professional in Baltimore City. Formerly the Director of Audience Development for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Rafaela currently serves as the Associate Director of Marketing for Baltimore Center Stage. Additionally, Rafaela is the co-founder and co-organizer of Classical Revolution Baltimore, a chamber music series which has been brining classical music to new audiences for the past 9 years through performances in non traditional venues. Rafaela has been featured in the Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Magazine, the Baltimore Jewish Times and was invited to speak at TEDxMidAtlantic 2012.
Stephanie Ray is a versatile performer and curator of musical projects in Baltimore City. Equally at home on flute, piccolo and alto flute, Stephanie loves exploring repertoire from living and diverse composers and styles. Since 2011 Stephanie has co-directed Classical Revolution Baltimore, which brings free classical music performances into non-traditional spaces such as cafes, bars and public spaces. She curates and performs with Pique Collective, an experimental ensemble that explores sensory enhanced experiences, original compositions and unique collaborations. She enjoys a busy freelance schedule, regularly performing with the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, Maryland Symphony Orchestra and as a core member of Mind on Fire.
With over 30 years of experience, Dominic “Shodekeh” Talifero continues to make musical strides as a groundbreaking beatboxer, vocal percussionist and breath artist who pushes the boundaries of the human voice within and outside the context of Hip Hop music and culture. He currently serves as a musical accompanist and composer in residence for Towson University’s Department of Dance and is the founding director of Embody, A Festival Series of the Vocal Arts, which strives for artistic and cultural convergence through a variety of vocal traditions from the worlds from opera and throat singing to the many forms of vocal percussion. Over the years, Talifero has moved from Beatboxing’s Hip Hop roots to explore innovative and convergent collaborations with a wide range of traditional artists. He serves as the Beatboxer and vocal percussionist for the globally renown Alash, one of the world’s leading Tuvan Throat Singing ensembles, and features on their recent Smithsonian Folkways album release of Achai; and is serving as the resident Beatboxer and cultural ambassador of the local Baltimore chapter of Classical Revolution.
More information at pauseandlisten.com. Pause and Listen was created by host John T.K. Scherch and co-creator/marketing manager Michele Mengel Scherch.

You can listen to these before or after the episode, or you can pause our podcast and go listen to each piece as we introduce them.
Panelists:

Previous Episode

STEM

1. Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s In the Light of Air:https://open.spotify.com/user/yd3pvj6u9lur21sni8znarqmh/playlist/22MsIEjWfcXFJQrrESB745?si=eLm5qw_YRF6qbU_haMHawg
2. Gregory W. Brown’s Missa Charles Darwin:
https://open.spotify.com/album/7fSXwqsyBjRmreve9R6dwr?si=u7xKb6KxQJaeJa2wfS4Bwg
3. Enno Poppe’s Keilschrift:
https://open.spotify.com/track/7va4X4tNwmThivQeBCHKg4?si=1HY70FFgQum9oyUQzypcCg

You can listen to these before or after the episode, or you can pause our podcast and go listen to each piece as we introduce them.
Panelists:

Richard Drehoff Jr. is a composer and pianist interested in creating works that explore a level of intimacy between performers and audiences. His music strives to manipulate our perceptions of time to develop a unique psychological affect for each piece, often juxtaposing the most fragile of sounds with obtrusive and harsh sonorities. Richard is the Co-Director of earspace, a North Carolina-based ensemble dedicated to the cultivation of invigorating and immersive performances of contemporary compositions, often featuring collaborations with video and mixed media artists. His works have been performed by earspace, the Mivos Quartet, the ECCE Ensemble, among others. He brought Enno Poppe’s Keilschrift.

Dorothy Couper, viola, was graduated from New England Conservatory and Tufts University with a dual degree in Viola Performance and English Literature and from Peabody Conservatory with a Graduate Performance Diploma in Viola Performance. As a freelance orchestral musician, Ms. Couper plays with the Amadeus Orchestra, the Apollo Orchestra, the Delaware Symphony, the Maryland Symphony, and the National Philharmonic, among others. Dorothy is also an active member of the D.C. Musicians’ Union. As a chamber musician, Dorothy is a founding member of the Laurel Quartet, and was also a founding member of the Syrinx Ensemble while studying in Boston. She has also been a regular collaborator with Classical Revolution Baltimore and has been a guest artist with the Evolution Concert Series, the Edwin Trio, the HexaCollective, and the Iris Quartet. She brought in Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s In the Light of Air.

Henry S. Gibbons, microbiologist by day and baritone by night, currently serves as the Bass section leader of the Handel Choir of Baltimore. Previously, while in North Carolina, he created the role of Malvolio in the world premiere of Joel Feigin’s Twelfth Night with Long Leaf Opera. Other operatic roles included Antonio in Hoiby’s The Tempest, and Balthazar in Amahl and the Night Visitors, and Bogdanowitsch in The Merry Widow with the Opera Company of North Carolina. He also performs oratorio and soloist roles, including Brahms’ Deutsches Requiem and numerous Bach cantatas, among others. He currently serves as a Research Microbiologist and principal investigator at the US Army’s Chemical Biological Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. He brought in Gregory W. Brown’s Missa Charles Darwin.
More information at pauseandlisten.com. Pause and Listen was created by host John T.K. Scherch and co-creator/marketing manager Michele Mengel Scherch.

Next Episode

The Nice Thing About New Music

1. Terence Blanchard's "What Makes a Man a Man" from The Champion:
https://www.facebook.com/SmithsonianNationalPostalMuseum/videos/10154947576381054/ (at 32:50)
2. Julia Wolfe's Fire in my mouth: III. Protest
https://open.spotify.com/album/6ko1tkGEWoWUx6xt3u9g9D
3. Kirsten Childs' Big Booty Tupelo Gal from Bella: An American Tall Tale
https://open.spotify.com/album/3kbplywvgcmfNJsYYYyKEg
4. Laura Elise Schwendinger's The Artist's Muse
https://soundcloud.com/user527919643/01-schwendinger-the-artists-muse

Panelists:

Jarrod Lee bass baritone, hails from Alabama and presently resides in Maryland. He has received rave reviews from Maryland Theatre, Opera News, and The Washington Post. Last season Jarrod made a Metropolitan Opera debut as one of the featured soloists in Porgy and Bess and a role debut as the Undertaker in the same opera with Atlanta Opera. Past roles include: Elviro in Tale of Serse with the In Series, Angelotti in Tosca with Annapolis Opera, and Le Bailli in Werther with Opera Delaware. Jarrod has performed in community outreach works commissioned by Washington National Opera called In the Smoke of the Sting and Just out the Window by Tom Minter. Jarrod has been a finalist in the Annapolis Opera, Harlem Opera Theater Vocal Competitions and a semifinalist in Austria’s Meistersinger. In new works, Jarrod premiered the roles Levi in Cloud Nebula by Scott Patterson with Afro House Baltimore, and Joe Louis in Shadowboxer by Frank Proto with the Maryland Opera Studio. As a librettist, Jarrod’s work aims to contribute in the canon of stories by Black Americans which are rarely seen on the operatic stage. JarrodLee.com
Frances Pollock‘s music is inspired by a variety of artists including Missy Elliot, Dolly Parton, Whitney Houston, Joni Mitchell, Stephen Sondheim, Beyonce, Julia Wolfe, and Billy Joel. She has written operas for Washington National Opera, the PROTOTYPE Festival, Chicago Lyric, Seattle Opera and American Opera Projects. Her opera, Stinney (Co-librettist Tia Price), won the “Best of Baltimore” award in 2015 and was programmed at the 2019 PROTOTYPE Festival. Her opera “Earth to Kenzie” (librettist Jessica Murphy Moo) is currently touring with both Chicago Lyric and Seattle Opera in the 2019-2020 season. Frances is a founding member of the new music non-profit, Prima Volta. When she is not writing music, she is singing in choirs, cooking dinner for friends and family, exploring New Haven, running with her wife and best friend, Emily, and cheering on her favorite minor league baseball team, the Hartford Yard Goats. francespollock.com
Melissa Wertheimer is a flutist and piccoloist who specializes in new music. She performs throughout the Baltimore-DC region, and is a core member of Great Noise Ensemble and Occasional Symphony. Melissa melds her passions for music, research, and cultural heritage into a career as an archivist and librarian who shares historic musical documents with all lovers of music. Melissa is a Music Reference Specialist at the Library of Congress, Archivist of the Music Library Association, and board member of Occasional Symphony in Baltimore. She formerly held adjunct faculty positions at the Johns Hopkins University and Howard Community College. Melissa holds a M.L.I.S. in Archives and Digital Curation from the University of Maryland, a M.M. in Piccolo from the Peabody Institute, and a B.M. in Flute from Ithaca College.