Future Classic Women Awards – Chromatikon Project, Trio Sonorite 061221

Hello and welcome to Future Classic Women Awards with me, Stefania Passamonte, on Women's Radio Station, the program where we search for the most amazing new female artists on the classical panorama. Today on Future Classic Women Awards, this is the 4th edition, we will be talking to the Trio Sonorité that we interviewed in June 2019, our 2nd edition, with Özlem Çelik, clarinet, Daryl Giuliano, cello, and Yelena Makarova, piano. And Dr. Ruta Vitkowskaite, composer, and Amy Birnbaum, visual artist, from the newly formed Chromaticom. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Lovely to hear so many good mornings. So first of all, Ozlem, Daryl, and Jelena, welcome back, and very pleased to meet you, Ruta and Amy. Amy, so tell us about how this Trio Sonorité expanded into this new group called Chromaticone. Hi Stefania, this is Özlem. Yes. And yeah, yeah, as you know, as a trio we are, we were working together since 2017, and then thanks to Jelena, first we met Ruta and work on her Edge of Time project in 2020 in the lockdown period. Then we had a concert in 1901. During our preparation process, Ruta and Amy working together and they came up with the idea of having the paintings of Ruta's music, which was great idea for all us, for all of us, and we really liked the idea. And then Amy worked on Ruta's music. And this is how we come together actually. Then we call our group Chromaticom, because it means and covers the tone of colors and tones. So it put all of us together. Yeah, this is how we met and we wanted to work together. Amazing. So, um, I'm sorry if I ask again, so this is a group that basically was born during the lockdown? Yes. Amazing. And I'm very interested about the visual part of it. How, um, Amy, How did you come into this group of contemporary music? Oh, thank you. I came in because Jelena invited me to collaborate with them, and it's been very, very exciting to put my imagination to work on Ruta's music. So far, she seems happy with what I'm doing. It's a big responsibility to to visualize what is abstract, because music really is abstract. But, um, Ruta's music is very suggestive, and it's also very spatial and has a lot of contrasts and color. So it gives me a lot of material to work with. Have you been working before with music and art? Yes, yes, I did a project with another composer But it was a very short project. We made it into a publication. Well, it was published by a publishing company, but then that project finished and I was offered this, and I felt very comfortable in this medium working with musicians and working with composers. So I'm absolutely thrilled. This is an ongoing relationship that we have, not just a one-off publication. Mm-hmm, absolutely. Well, are you gonna record the CD and maybe Amy is gonna do the visual part of it? So this is Ruta. Hi. Yes, hi, Ruta. Yeah, so we actually currently, we have an offer to publish a CD of our latest project, The Music Shell. And so it will have the music. It will have also narration of the text. So it will be quite similar to the audiobook accompanied with contemporary music. And it will have the brochure as well. And in the brochure there will be less text, but there will be printed Amy's artworks that she created especially for this project. And so our publisher is Lithuanian Music Information and Publishing Center in Lithuania. And, um, yeah, so this is something we're looking forward to it in 2022. We hope to release it, um, before our Lithuanian tour, which we'll speak about later on, and before the September 2022. We hope to have it ready. Amazing. Well, um, Ruta, straight away to you then. Um, when you composed your music, was that composed before you met, uh, the Trio Sonorité and Amy, for example, or was that all born and inspired by them during the lockdown? So actually, the very first piece, Edge of Time, which we worked on, it— I already had it written, and I have— I had it written for much bigger orchestra. It was a commission of Como Contemporary Music for All for orchestra and choir, and I really wanted to work with Trio Sonoritas. So I— we worked over a number of Skype sessions, actually— sorry, Zoom sessions, actually— and we rearranged that piece basically together so it can be performed by the trio. And initially it had a backing track. Now it's just a trio, just clarinet, violoncello, and piano. And I— this was the first work. But now since we work together already, I think it's coming to a second year, we've done a few projects, 3 quite substantial projects by now. And Some of the pieces I take from my past portfolio and rearrange for them, and some of the music I compose especially for Chromaticom's original new works. Okay, now to the Trio Sonorité then. I'd like to ask you, how did you meet Ruta and Amy, and how did you think about expanding towards such a more all-around, right, performance, way of performing classical music? Sure, I think I might answer that. So, Jelena here on the line. So, as the girls already mentioned, that we worked with Ruta on Edge of Time, which was adapted for online online rehearsals followed by the performance, which we actually did an online performance. So all what we rehearsed on Edge of Time then was made into video and released online. And videos were literally— we were in different locations then around the world. Özlem was in Turkey, I was in UK, Dara was also in UK but in different part of London because it was isolation period, so we couldn't meet. So we literally did homemade video and we had very, very basic means to create this wonderful work. And actually, upon the performance, online performance, we realized that we could do more with the visuals. And then I suggested, I contacted Ruta and I suggested that how about doing it with the visuals, with the projection, because I knew we have a concert coming up with the Tree of Sonority. And because we liked the work so much, Ruta's work, we thought we could perform it. And we were performing a concert at 1901 Arts Club in London, and they have a projection screen. And so, so we put two and two together, and I knew Amy from before, and Ruta knew Amy from before, so it was only very natural for us to approach Amy. And we knew of her work, and this is how it was phone, and we actually received lots of, lots of views because it was, uh, live streamed. That concert was live streamed, and we received more than, uh, about 2,000 views. And we thought, oh look, well, people like it, people like this idea, so we shouldn't just stop here. And then we decided, as Eslam already said, we decided to form a group and do more projects. And there's so many themes to explore. Amazing. Very Well, I'm, uh, this is one of the limitations of being on the radio. I love radio because it makes the listener to concentrate so much more on our voices, on the music that we're listening. But, and in this case, you know, you can imagine, uh, the beautiful art by Amy. But Amy, would you just give a quick description so we can think about it while we're listening to Edge of Time, of what you did? For these first tracks that we're going to listen today? Well, I think I was listening to the vibrations of Ruta's music, and it starts out with waves like a sea. So that's how it was suggested to me, a shimmering sound. So I tried to put this into the music, into the visuals. Fantastic. Let's listen then, the Chromatican project, Edge of Time for trio with music by Ruta Witzke. Koskaitä, performed by Özlem Çel clarinet, Daryl Giuliano cello, Yelena Makarova piano, and Imagining Amy Bimbaum artwork projection. Chocolate cake. Chocolate cake. Chocolate cake. Chocolate cake. Jump up, Link. And this was an extract from Edge of Time, performed by the trio Sonorité for the Chromaticom project. Music by Rūta Vītkoskaite, and we imagined the art, the visual made by artists Amy Birnbaum. Now, I really loved who was talking in the track, who was putting their musical voice instrument into the trio. That was actually the trio itself. As we were performing, we were also speaking. Ah, amazing. And so what were you saying? I couldn't really catch it, sorry. It's a mix of crunch, shuffle, sniff, which is drawn out, and mumble over top of the music. Amazing, really, really beautiful. I really liked it. And now I'd like to ask you then, I think in a way you answered already the very first question, how was your lockdown? I think very productive. Yeah, I would, I would say quite productive. We managed to do obviously this Edge of Time project, as well as the livestream performance at 1901 Arts Club, and put together a whole new ensemble. So yeah, I felt pretty, pretty productive. And you already performed at the club 1901, that is a wonderful venue here in London, in South London. Do you have more concerts coming up with the Chromaticon project. So, uh, in addition to the 1901 Arts Club, we also performed at MAL Galleries, a project called Bright. That was in May of this year. And we just recently performed at the Lithuanian Embassy, a project called the Music Shell, which Ruta already mentioned. But right now we're focusing on preparing for the Kaunas Culture, uh, Kounos Cultural Year, which is coming up next year. We're going to be performing there this music shell project in 2022. So how was the first time you met in person altogether? Well, it was actually— When was it? When you had the concert at the 1901 or at the embassy? Sorry. I think it was for a photo shoot and recording when we finally met in— was it July or August of this this year, all of us together. Yeah, well, I don't know you, but I've been in July. I've been working on, uh, you know, in remote. We are still on the radio in remote, so we're actually not all together in person. Um, and I had a concert, uh, just like the night before, and I met people that we've been talking online, and it felt like we've been friends forever because we've been talking for, for 2 years almost, isn't it? And then you meet in person and actually it's the very first time you, you, you actually see each other. Um, but I think it was quite a powerful experience in a way. It's, it's, it is, we are in remote, but somehow everything is like more concentrated and, uh, it's, uh, um, how would you say, it's more intense than when you just meet for a coffee. You have someone bringing, you know, the waiter waiting, bringing the coffees, and you get interrupted, distracted by people around you. While when you are on Skype, Zoom, or any other meeting platform, then it's just you and only you. And so what do you think about this? Do you agree, or, or you still think it's much— well, there is of course the energy of meeting in person as well that comes in, but what's your point of view? I can say that I just wanted to mention that because I live in Scotland, so quite much, quite much farther away from where Tria Sonority are based. So I, during the lockdown, I actually quite quickly adapted to Zoom conversation, listening to music, rehearsing on Zoom, and it was great. It was very encouraging and very very exciting, and it felt the same. It felt, uh, it felt really good. I really felt the connection and community. But when I finally managed to come to London, uh, in June for Edge of Time recording, um, uh, the experience was really powerful. Um, I think, I think the feeling of having real people around, uh, with all their energy is really strong, but also Only then I realized that this was the first time I heard "Edge of Time" played live by Trias Sonority, which was really incredible. Yeah, I think it almost brought me to tears, really, because the vibration of music and the vibration of people who play it is just so strong, and nothing really can replace it. So it's really interesting. I also just wanted to mention here that we are really grateful for John Niles, who was our sound engineer and who also— we can't see it, but he also produced a film, very, very beautiful video film for Edge of Time, which is currently available online on YouTube. Amazing. And yeah, it's a really, really gorgeous recording, was made at the Royal Academy of Music in London. And we also should thank our sponsors and supporters, which is Help Musicians UK and Lithuanian Cultural Fund, for helping us during this really quite challenging time. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, how was it for the Trio Sonorité performing separately? You know, a trio, you need to be together, isn't it? And not being able to perform, many musicians really suffered in the lockdown because they lost their main income revenue. That would be the live performances. So how was it for you? I hope you don't mind if I answer that question, everybody. Well, actually, as Ruta mentioned already, the Lithuanian Council for Culture actually helped us a lot with that because exactly the revenue— a lot of musicians really suffered financially, and we were so, so grateful First of all, to help musicians UK and then to Lithuanian Council for Culture to backing this project so enthusiastically. And so that helped us a lot, you know, to set up all the online platforms because we all were new to it. And of course, that encouraged us because I'm sure that many musicians were a little bit disheartened during the first lockdown period. It was all just around first lockdown period. I'm sure many musicians would have been disheartened and lost motivation. And when you get back like that by funding organization, someone who believes in you, and when you get in touch with other musicians and composers and artists, in our instance, it just gives you that encouragement and hope. And this is actually what our group is about, and the Edge of Time project was about. It's all about the hope, is giving new hope for sort of keep going even in most difficult circumstances. So, so if we actually had, I think all of us had to come out of our comfort zone in some ways, but at the same time, it was great to discover, and we can adapt it to our rehearsals in the future. We can adapt online thing and we realized we can have online discussions which we previously didn't practice before the lockdown. And so actually, although it was tricky, at the same time it gave us new possibilities, if you like. Absolutely. Well, you know, I remember last year, what was it, in September, October, we had that funny post that was actually a repost from a campaign before of inviting young people and going into IT and technology. And I was the post of the ballerina, not Fatima, that she could, uh, that she should retrain, reboot, and reskill. Um, but that, you know, it was wrongly taken and wrongly placed as well, most probably by, um, you know, political enemies. But that's exactly what happened in the way that didn't mean that you change your job, but in the mean that you adapted and you reskilled yourself as a musician, and now you are more prepared and you have extra tools that you didn't have before. It was the ability of working online and creating things. So actually it expanded as well your vision and your possibilities. Yes. Exactly, exactly. And it gives us a lot more possibilities to explore other realms of doing things, which is great. Yes, well, you know, it's something I've been really trying to push forward as well. Technology in classical music has always been neglected by, you know, the purists of the old-time classical music tradition, where you can only do things the way it's been done for the past 300 years. The truth is we are in the 21st century and no one would have ever predicted something like the COVID pandemic. It was the very first time in the times of the times that the whole world stopped. And that was quite phenomenal. But it's brilliant to see an example like yours that instead thrived through with this incredible new project. And so I really want to listen now to the second track because your music is so inspiring. So that's O Mirum, am I right, Ruta? Yes, it's a project, it's called Bride Project. It's our second big project that we created for Marl Galleries, and it's actually about the bees, about how important the bees are for pollination and for ecology of this world. The message is brought quite in quite an abstract way, just through music and art. There is no text. And this Omiram is a part of this project, which is— you will hear all three musicians playing, although primarily it's focused on Ozlem's clarinet soloing as a clarinet solo instrument in this one. Okay, just a quick question to Amy then. Amy, what was your brilliant, uh, artistic mind visualizing in this piece? Well, as you can imagine, bees. Yeah, and I did put in some Lithuanian pagan symbols into the artwork because in Lithuanian culture there are there's a great importance on bees, and there's a goddess of bees, so a special goddess. I think it's Ostéa. Ruta, isn't that right? Ostéa is a goddess of bees, so I thought it was important to make a quotation about that. Well, I definitely recommend everyone to go and look to Amy Birnbaum's website and the Chromaticon project and the Trio Sonorité and Ruta, of course, for, you know, more of what we've been talking today. But let's Listen now to, um, the Chromaticode project Bright or Meroam. And this was an extract of Omirum from the Chromaticon project. Bright for clarinet solo, electronics, and piano and violoncello accompaniment. So the music was by Ruta Vitskoskaite, and the solo clarinet was Ozlem Çelik, accompanied at the cello by Daryl Giuliano and Yelena Makarova, together from the Trio Sonorité. And imagining the beautiful goddess of the bees as depicted by visual artist Amy Birnbaum, Wow. So we are now in the last part already of our interview. It goes very, very fast. So what I'm gonna ask you then is what was the most exciting moment for you as a group in the journey of this new ChromaticOn project? It's really hard to actually pick one moment because it was a long journey of getting to know each other, of creating art together, of discovering, discovering each other's artistic potentials as well, and just getting into that creative flow. I think I personally had so, so, so many realizations and so many wonderful moments of creation. And I think, I think maybe I have to say the further, the more we work, the further we go, the more we kind of become bind together as a, as a group, the more the the more we understand each other, how to work together. And I think especially on the last project, the music shell which we created together, it's been such a— we work harder and harder on each project and we dig deeper and deeper. But then I think it kind of really felt that we achieved something quite substantial and original with that project just by really putting lots of time and energy and our, our talents together. Now what I would like to ask the Trio Sonorité in particular, do you think this is, um, you know, when we talk about contemporary music, sometimes there is a sort of, um, um, reservation by the, the audience of, uh, you know, the large audience for classical music, thinking that it might be something very hard to understand. And so it's, uh, it's sometimes, uh, you know, less accessible for a younger audience, or, you know, for people that they're not, um, that they prefer, for example, to go to see the big opera. So you are quite specialized in contemporary music in this project, in particular with Ruta. What's your vision on classical contemporary music today? And combining with visual art as well. If I can, I was going to say, I think definitely it's possible that people have a— and is the case, I know many people personally who have a hard time experiencing contemporary music. But in, I think, our experience as a trio, it's always been an amazingly positive and warm reception to all the contemporary music we do. We work with Colin Riley, Anthony Esland, and with Ruta now. And every time we perform it, the audience is so excited and really, really invested in what we're doing, both as a contemporary music performance, but also with the visual aspect that Amy brings. I think this Chromaticom project, as, as Özlem mentioned towards the beginning, is, is so exciting for all of us involved because it's the intersection of sound and light and color, and all of those things are so raw and emotional and tangible for the audience, even if it's not necessarily your go-to or your cup of tea. I think people really really respond well to it. Yeah, no, absolutely. And, um, but, um, I think visual art as well is a fantastic way of, um, somehow crossing over and feeding the audience for, um, a better understanding of contemporary music. Something that was done already in the, uh, from, from forever and ever, really, since programmatic music started. Uh, what do you think about Oh, absolutely. I think the, the visual aspect is yet another avenue into experiencing what's, what's, what's happening. Even you mentioned opera, actually. It's, it is kind of, uh, in a way— I don't want to say a backdrop because it's not, it's definitely at the forefront— but it enhances that experience in that way, in a visual way. Yeah. Amy, um, you know, I had a lot of wonderful friends artists. When I was a student, we were living together and they would love— they always love to come into my practice room and create art while I was practicing, you know, inspired by the notes I was practicing, you know, for Scriabin. Um, do you have any music that you like in particular when you are in your creative mood, or, um, you, you are fine creating also without— in pure silence, say? Well, I find that music really helps me work. If I'm working on a project of Ruta's, I play her music and it helps me, I don't know, almost like dancing. It moves my body to make marks, to make colors. It's really like a kind of impulse that gets inside of me and moves my eyes, moves my hands around. So So that's really a kind of vitamin, you know, to get me going with creation. And the other thing that I should just mention, I'm also a photographer. So the actual physical production of the music is so exciting visually. You know, it's another dimension we lose in recording, you know, from vinyl or CD, whatever. And so I really delight in taking photos of of our musicians as they're playing because they're very expressive. It's very dramatic. You know, I'm so glad we are— we have you today because this is really— I, I am so passionate about art. And you mentioned, you know, losing, uh, the beauty of the performance when you're just listening to the visual beauty of the performance. But actually, in photography, there is that still moment that then is it will last forever, and that's an extra artistic input, more than actually looking at the video of a performance or live in a concert. Yes, that's right, I agree. Power— the power that comes out from a still picture is just phenomenal. But I think, you know, art in general, and that's this program, yeah, it's about women in music, but I'm very pleased Today we're expanding it to women in art in the large sense of it. So music, art, visual, and everything. And, um, art is such an incredible part of our life as human being to, to, to inspire us and to make us see the world for what it is. What do you think? You're absolutely right. And thank you very much for understanding what we're doing. Well, the next piece we're gonna listen now is— it's a short one. It's from the new project, so Music Shell, and it's called Goodbye. So it's about Jewish wedding folk song. I mean, Ruta, would you like to tell us more about this piece? Actually, this piece actually is not my original music. It's a quotation. It's a Jewish folk song. Goodbye Song, Wedding Song, which I arranged for the Music Shell project. Maybe if I could just tell a couple of words about the project to bring in the context. So yes, our latest, um, very, very big project we worked on over the summer and presented at Lithuanian Embassy during the Litvak Days conference, um, in October. And this is the project which is going to travel to Kaunas, European Capital of Culture. This is our contribution towards Kaunas Before working on this, we considered about a number of topics, but the one that really called to us was a topic of the Jewish community in Kaunas. For those who know the history of Lithuania, Lithuanian Jewish community suffered enormously during the Holocaust. Before, before the— in between the wars, there were about 32,000 Jewish people living in Kaunas. It was a so-called golden age. The community was absolutely flourishing. The arts, the music, the musicians were absolutely outstanding, the highest standard, the world standards, really. Lots of them were recorded on Columbia Records and touring around the world, and Unfortunately, the tragedy of Holocaust happened in 1944 when Soviet Army came to occupy Lithuania. They only found 90 Jewish residents in Kaunas. So, some of them managed to escape, but thousands and thousands were murdered in the concentration camps. It's a very, very tragic page in Lithuanian in history. I mean, it's just talking about this, I actually, yeah, I feel, I feel, you know, my heart and in my stomach because it's, it's very painful, painful, painful part of the history. So what we wanted to do, we wanted to actually create a project that is, in a way, is a healing project. So instead of focusing On the horrors, we actually focused our attention on that interwar period, the golden age, the music, the musicians, the names, including Moshe Hoffmeckler, who was absolutely outstanding virtuoso, and then Engel choir that was touring in Lithuania around the world, very, very popular. Daniel Pomeratz, Danielius Dolks, who is the big pop superstar whose songs are still being played in Lithuania today, actually. And so we just wanted to bring all that music, musical memories back to life. And so the music shell actually has association with— in our brains there is this cortex, the part which looks like a shell maybe in a way, and this is where the longest musical memories are being stored in our brains. So this is the That's why this title of our project, and also we thought when you actually put the shell to your ear, you can hear almost whispers sometimes. It has this association of spirits and memories. And so, yeah, and we also just, I just wanted to say that we are very, very grateful for the curator of Kaunas Capital of Culture, Dalia Vaciūtvereinė, who who actually over the number of past years, she's been collecting memories of Jewish population in Kaunas. There are a few people who actually survived the Holocaust and are still alive today, still living in Kaunas. And we had a chance to use those interviews, the childhood memories of Fruma Kuczynski and Yudita Matskavichnyan, and Professor Diana Sipkin, and the things that they remember when they were children from before the war, this very, very bright, very sunny, very joyful memories of the past. And this is what the whole project is about, about recovering those memories. And because Shabbat forms a very big substantial part of Jewish life and It's a very big musical part of Jewish life as well. In the project, I arranged a number of Shabbat songs, and this Goodbye Wedding Song is one of the Shabbat songs that's been arranged by Joel Engel, and I found it in the old manuscript book. And so, yeah, arranged it for the Trio Sonore. Sorry, it was a very long introduction, but let's listen to it then. Goodbye, performed for the Chromaticom project. By and performed by the trio Sonority. And I also just wanted to say that actually we will be presenting this project in London. We are very lucky to be invited to do a fundraising event for Camden Psychotherapy Unit, which is this wonderful organization who provide psychotherapy treatment, very important treatment for, for people who can't really afford it and who need it. And we are very, very happy to contribute. So there will be a public, public performance of the music show in London in 2022. Yeah, if you, if you follow us, we are very active on social media, on Facebook and Instagram. If you follow us, you will hear all the news about— we would be very excited to see as many people as possible, and very likely we will also be live streaming the fundraising event so people from farther away can also join and watch it and support the Camden Psychotherapy Unit organization. Wonderful. Well, when is that gonna happen? Sorry. So we are planning to do it in 2022. We haven't got that date yet, but it will be early February or March. February or March, fantastic. Then we will be looking forward to that. Now the last track of today is taken from, again, from the Chromaticom project Bright, and it's called The World Is Quiet. This time we have— we will have the art, visual art, by Amy Binbaum. Amy, would you like to tell us what's the inspiration for this, the visual inspiration for this piece? It's hard to depict silence, isn't it? Uh, Ruta, would you like to say something about this? Yes, I, uh, since Amy's disappeared from our online, um, creation, um, so it's, it's the same. It's this last piece is part of Bright and, um The Bride, the whole project is about the bees, but actually in this particular piece, it kind of goes deep into the forest, and the image what you see is this quite dark night forest. It's nighttime, and you can see a silhouette of owl appearing in this darkness. So this is the silence. This is when the bees are asleep. Wonderful. Well, let's listen then. The world is quiet. Wow, so this was The World Is Quiet from the Chromaticom Project Bright, uh, for cello solo, electronics, piano, and clarinet accompaniment. So the music was by Ruta Vytkauskaitė, um, with the cello Daryl Giuliano, accompaniment by Aslam Chaliket. Karinett, Jelena Makarova piano, and the visual art of Amy Bimbaum. Um, I'd like to say to our audience, if you have any questions that you would like to ask to our guest or nomination for our future Classical Women Awards, please email presenters@womensradiostation.com or tweet us @WomensRadioSTN. A very big thanks to our guest, the Trio Sonorité, and, um, uh, Ruta Vít Koškaíte, composer, and Amy Binbaum, visual artist, for being with us today and talking to us about so many wonderful things of music and art and collaborations. Thank you all. Thank you so much for having us. Thank you so much, Stefania. Thank you so much, Stefania. Thank you, it's been a very big pleasure and I can't wait, um, to be able to hear your next projects. Um, if you want to listen to our interviews again or catch up on our previous programs, you can head to my presenter's page, Stefania Passamonte/Future Classic Women Awards on womensradiostation.com. Thank you for listening.