By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
For three members of Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, the concert on Monday at Bowling Green State University is a homecoming.
The ensemble got its start here when three members met. Amanda DeBoer Bartlett, Liz Pearse and Kayleigh Butcher studied with Jane Schoonmaker Rodgers in the College of Musical Arts as graduate students. Carrie Henneman Shaw is the fourth member of the ensemble.
Fittingly their concert will be devoted to a single work “Love fail” by David Lang. They met the composer when he visited BGSU as the guest composer at the New Music Festival on campus.in 2011. The free Music on the Forefront concert will be Monday, Feb. 27, in Bryan Recital Hall in the Moore Musical Arts Center.
The hour-long piece is more than four women singing. They break into duos and trios, said Kayleigh Butcher, and each has a solo. They also are called on to play percussion and she even blows on a conch shell.
“Love fail,” was originally written for the early music group Anonymous 4. Since that venerable ensemble has retired, “we’ve taken up the reins,” Butcher said.
The piece with text written by Lydia Davis revisits the myth of doomed lovers Tristan and Isolde. This will be a concert version of the piece, though Quince traveled with Lang to the Kody Festival in Lublin Poland last year to perform a theatrical production.
“Love fail” is a haunting, spacious piece full of resonant dissonances and echoes of ancient chant.
“Love fail” is one of the rare pieces for women’s voices in contemporary music. The desire to promote chamber music for the female voice inspired the formation of the ensemble at BGSU in 2009.
BGSU is known as a Midwest hub music activity. “But we noticed there wasn’t a lot of avenues without starting it ourselves,” Butcher said. “Amanda and I wanted it to be an all-women’s group because there’s not a lot of that in the contemporary music world.”
Voice is used as a solo instrument, and in small ensembles with instruments. “We started it as just a way for us to have a contemporary music outlet,” Butcher said. “There’s nothing more fun than a one-on-a-part chamber music setting with all women.
Initially the ensemble started with five voices, hence the name Quince. By the time it settled into a quartet it was established enough that the name stuck, and the fruit quince worked as “a branding icon.”
Being concerned about branding and other business details are part of starting a contemporary music group. “That means running our own show,” Butcher said. “We are definitely like a lot of new music groups; we are self-run.”
Rodgers was not surprised that her former students are running their own ensemble. She remembers them all as strong musicians, and Bartlett in particular as a dynamo, someone who will take charge.
Butcher said the ensemble has a board, and those members can provide expertise in taxes, fundraising and grant writing.
Pearse is program director, but all the singers have a hand in deciding what music to perform and what composers to commission. With the singers each living in a different city, from New York where Butcher has recently moved to Omaha where Bartlett lives, that means a lot of email and Skype conferences.
The ensemble assembles for two-week residencies twice a year before they tour. Then they focus on the music they will be taking on the road.
They are active in commissioning work, four to five pieces a year.
A $17,000 grant from Chamber Music America will support a collaboration with Chicago-based composer LJ White, who often addresses gender identity in his music. Butcher said they have gotten a lot of interest from composers. They also have music in progress from math rocker David Remick, of Paper Mice, and Courtney Bryan.
They try to collaborate as closely as possible with composers, sending clips of rehearsals, giving detailed instructions about likes, dislikes, strengths and limitations, and, as they tour the country, face-to-face meetings.
Quince has just released its second album “hushers” featuring music by music by Kaija Saariaho, Kate Soper, Warren Enström, and Giacinto Scelsi.
Though the quartet will perform none of those works in Bowling Green, the CD will be available for purchase.
