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#windquintet #worldpremiere Nicky Sohn - A Night at Birdland - I. Ornithology (2024 World Premiere) - WindSync https://www.chelseamusicfestival.org Follow us! https://linktr.ee/chelseamusicfestival Performed and recorded on June 21, 2024 at Genesis House, NYC 00:00 Intro 00:09 A Night at Birdland - I. Ornithology (2024 World Premiere) by Nicky Sohn (b. 1992) 02:19 Credits WindSync Clarinet | Graeme Steele Johnson Flute | Garrett Hudson Oboe | Noah Kay Bassoon | Kara LaMoure Horn | Anni Hochhalter Visual Credit - Eric Bowers, Eyefisher Studios Chief Audio Engineer | Brett Leonard Video Director | Lauran Jurrius Video Editor | James Williams With Special Thanks to our 2024 Sponsor-- Tae Family Featured Ensemble - WindSync - https://www.windsync.org https://www.chelseamusicfestival.org/2024/artists/#windsync Music featured on playlists: 2024 Connecting the Dots - Chelsea Music Festival playlist - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCsv8wzPRqw&list=PLWIgLmkq5gpZFMn7TDrRT7in56Lp9AeHw Female Composers at Chelsea Music Festival playlist - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqZcajuPDwE&list=PLWIgLmkq5gpba5zrFONOCOIBJJWic6iSN Chamber Music at Chelsea Music Festival playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWIgLmkq5gpbDekd2V24t9Fw2AEnVLCeZ 21st Century Composers at Chelsea Music Festival playlist - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqZcajuPDwE&list=PLWIgLmkq5gpZ3vX812pU6TqByCEHaxxK6 THANK YOU for watching! Please consider contributing to the Festival & its artists: https://www.chelseamusicfestival.org/support Subscribe to our YouTube channel and click the bell icon to turn on notifications! #ChelseaMusicFestivalNYC #cmfnyc

Tanglewood Music Festival Orchestra with Stefan Asbury Movement III. Fading Blue Program note — edited by Justin Son Symphony No. 1 intertwines the depths of my personal experience with the boundless, inescapable realms of universal truths. Rooted in the transformative journey of being part of the Composing Earth Cohort through the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, the work serves as a reminder of our planet's precarious state that urges contemplation and action. My childhood in Korea was cradled under an expansive cerulean sky. Over my days of unburdened innocence and vibrant playgrounds, there it was, watching over me and my old neighborhood friends. Yet, upon my return to Korea as an adult after decades abroad, I was confronted with a grave reality: the once vivid blue had succumbed to a somber urban grey, an undeniable testament to the nation’s unsuccessful battle against air pollution. This shift in the skies above—so different from the memories of my youth—was poignantly symbolized by the children of today, who, I discovered, reach for grey crayons to color it instead of the stubby blue ones that colored the skies of my own childhood. In the midst of these reflections, another memory of blue seemed to bloom inside me. It was a recollection of blissful afternoons in the remote countryside of southern France in May of 2022. This epiphany came as I pondered the sky, realizing why those weeks in France felt like something that could most accurately be described as childlike euphoria. The uninterrupted blue, morphing into a pallet of rich tones with the day's progression, formed a canopy over a rose-adorned garden where I stayed, enveloped by nature and the warmth of a cherished love. Though the skies and the people of my life had since changed, the blue sky that hung over that secluded French garden was precisely the one I remembered. That blue has been woven into the very fabric of Symphony No. 1. The symphony unfolds in four movements, each symbolizing stages of change, loss, introspection, and hope. A melody conceived in the summer of 2022, shortly after my time in France, threads through the work as a leitmotif. In the opening movement, “Memories of Blue”, the melody presents itself delicately, painting an expressive landscape of past moments. This nostalgic feeling then transforms itself into an assertive force in “The Blue Hour”. It then is filled with great tension, dancing between the edge of beautiful memories and stark realities in “Fading Blue”, the third movement. Finally, in "Letter to My Blue," the symphony's finale, the recurring themes culminate with a powerful resonance to create a hopeful, invigorating closure. The influence of Berlioz’s “Symphony Fantastique” has been profound in my musical odyssey. His portrayal of personal experiences and emotions has been instrumental in shaping my creative ethos. Drawing inspiration from his innovative use of the "Idée fixe" to embody emotional states, I have too composed my symphony with a similar thematic persistence, creating an exploration of memory, sentiment, and transformation that echoes Berlioz's masterpiece. In Symphony No. 1, I seek to illustrate that the most personal of experiences often resonate with what is universal. The symphony’s narrative reflects a quintessential truth of life: while we cannot reclaim the past, we can find solace and hope somewhere in our own memory. It reminds us that in times of illness, we yearn for health, and during the long, grey winters, our hearts await the first of May. In the same vein as Berlioz's symphonic journey, this work is a tribute to the past, a reflection of the present, and an ode to the future. With the passing of one thing comes another. With the loss of an envisioned future there will be another dream to be had. With old dreams and new hopes in mind, Symphony No. 1 paints an auditory canvas that calls for introspection, transformation, and the enduring spirit of eternal renewal.

Performance by Isidore String Quartet (https://www.isidorestringquartet.com/) and Sarah Rothenberg on September 29, 2023, Cullen Theater, Wortham Theater Center Program note: “Time's Dialogue” delves into the theme of time and its influence on our perceptions of the future. Inspired by personal experiences and reflections on the complexities of life, the work is an exploration of contrasting perspectives, the interplay between optimism and pessimism, and the ever-present diðculty in navigating the passage of time. "e composition takes its initial inspiration from the introspective jazz standard, "Bye Bye Blackbird," a timeless melody that resonates with themes of loneliness and introspection. Drawing upon the dynamic energy of Miles Davis and John Coltrane's rendition, the piece pays homage to this classic tune while venturing into new territories of musical expression. "rough its episodic structure, the composition captures emotions of isolation, loss, and the struggle to accept progress and healing as a positive force. Conflicting feelings surface as the desire to be loved intertwines with the reality of separation. After the all the many remnants of conflict have settled to the bottom and the heartaches of the past begin to look beautiful, it is almost as if time had secretly visited and swept up the messy details—as if time is a diligent housekeeper. In the quiet aftermath, one has to learn to handle the state of being alone again, but this time with a head full of charming memories of something that can be no longer. “Time’s Dialogue” contemplates the idea that memories can never be true; whether it is erasing the misshapen parts of truth, or distorting them until they appear to be something new entirely, everything that is graced by time is illusory. "e piece attempts to empathize with the universal experience of navigating our own minds at a time of loss. At times like these, all we wish for is to live it through again. But the things we remember do not equal the things that we have lived through.

Thank you to Nicky Sohn for writing the most beautiful piece dedicated to my dear Cynthia Burton in honor of Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day. Tonya Burton, viola Yvonne Chen, piano

Performed live by Kinetic Ensemble and guest collaborators in March 2023. Soloist: Mary Grace Johnson Choreographer: Kayla Collymore Composer: Nicky Sohn Dancers: Amanda Monteith, Isabella Mireles, Jessica Luz Figueroa Audio Engineer: Francis Schmidt Videography: Bend Productions

Program note- written by James Palmer In 2021, I launched a multi-composer commission project called “What is a Piano Prelude?” As an experiment, each composer involved was asked to compose a “piano prelude” in their own style/vi- sion with the goal of answering the question in the commission’s title. Humidity Rag was Nicky’s response to this question. Marked “Sticky,” this charming piece is essentially a written-out jazz solo for piano that easily matches in substance, originality, and difficulty the similarly-oriented writing of composers like Niko- lai Kapustin. The right hand’s opening motive turns out to be the main theme of the piece; this versa- tile motive, with slight variations, is the backbone of each major section in a loose, small-scale sonata form. At the beginning of Humidity Rag, the main motive is situated in a murky whole-tone sound world that gives the sense of stickiness indicated by the composer. The harmonic fog begins to lift as this section continues; the theme is then presented extrovertedly atop a soulful, repeating I-IV pedal, reminiscent of the harmonic rocking-back-and-forth of twelve-bar blues. A short developmental section ensues, incorporating grand, virtuosic gestures that perhaps re- call the ecstatic writing of Scriabin. We then re-enter the murky, sticky sound world that opened the piece, this time punctuated with short riffs and cadenzas. After landing on a dominant pedal, the mu- sic builds intensely into an impassioned statement of the main motive, marked “Nowhere to escape.” After this emotional climax, the music winds down, aided by the markings “Even stickier than before” and “Sorry ... even stickier!” The main theme is again the backbone for the closing material, a nostal- gic, endearing dénouement to this quirky piece. Humidity Rag comes to a close with an ascending arpeggiated flourish and a spunky, sticky, sforzando chord.

Jennifer Parker-Harley, flute; Ari Streisfeld, violin; Claire Bryant, cello; Phillip Bush, piano; Jeff Francis, recording engineer; and Michael Calamas, videographer; Southern Exposure New Music series: J Michael Harley, Artistic Director and David Kirkland Garner, Assistant Director Commissioned by the Southern Exposure New Music Series at the University of South Carolina. This work is partially supported by a Racial Justice and Equity Fund award from the Office of the Vice President for Research at the University of South Carolina.

Composer: Nicky Sohn (www.nickysohn.com) Violin I - Jacob Schafer Violin II - Nicholas Lindell Viola - Matthew Weathers Cello - Chris Ellis Program note: Inspiration can hardly be predicted nor deliberate. It could be from opening a packet of hot sauce, watching a flame slowly flicker to an ember, saying a forever farewell, missing someone—these were my sources of inspiration for “Burning”, for string quartet. Winter of 2020 was a strange time for me—I am sure for many, 2020 was odd, never turning the way you’d think. ... All the four events I’ve mentioned above somehow to me gave the sensation of burning. To get through the obvious, eating hot sauce and watching a fire is easily connected to burning—your tongue, desert fire. Often I feel as if I’m a person immune to goodbyes, as if I’ve been trained since birth to be a stoic. But when I haven’t primed myself for it, if I have the uncertainty, or rather the certainty, of the goodbye being the last one, there’s nothing like it. The sensation of heartache it feels physical, that tearing and searing feeling. Then missing someone, crying, feeling small in this world, hopelessness, it burns. Works presented at the special exhibition, “Wild Life of Elizabeth Murray and Jessi Reaves”, also have this spark of energy and color that to me felt like burning. My ideas often tend to be scattered and my inspiration may seem chaotic, but the burst of energy and ideas has resulted in a dynamic and lively work. This piece bends several adjectives that resemble a fire, and the process of burning: luminous, flaring, glowing, sparkling. “Burning” cites the changing sensation, from rapture to grief, every sound to deep, unending silence.

Composer: Nicky Sohn, www.nickysohn.com Choreographer: Jennifer Hackbarth Guitarist: Bokyung Byun, https://www.bokyungbyun.com This work was created as a part of the Cloud Collaboration 2021 with Sounding Board Project (https://www.soundingboardfest.com/) This year’s project, Cloud Collaboration, aims to bring artistic minds from all around the world to create multidisciplinary works through virtual collaboration. The extended isolation from the pandemic has made collaborative art making more challenging than ever, but through virtual collaboration, the Sounding Board Project was able to provide a platform where artists can meld their creative ideas and energy together for creation of new works regardless of any distances or barriers between them. The Cloud Collaboration invited a diverse array of four guitarists, four composers, and four choreographers from all around the world. Each group consists of 3 artists from each discipline, and together they will present multi-perspective and multi-cultural forms of expression through music and dance. The Cloud Collaboration will be premiered in August 2021.

For violin, flute, and piano Written for Dal Duo "The initial inspiration of the work came from the unique (Korean) genre called "Trot," a type of popular music that is derived from the country's folk music. Recurring themes of this genre are nostalgia, longing, and grief, and often includes crooning in the empty space where a lover used to be... The piece, through its personal and cultural nostalgia, holds gravity in these times. As a Korean composer living in the US, the recent Atlanta shooting was a direct shock to my identity in this country. "Whispers on a Sleepless Night" was my reaction to this horrific incident, tying the distinct sound of Trot and its motifs of grief and parting to a dark time in history." –Nicky Sohn

Created by violinist Lucia Lin, “In Tandem” is a non-profit initiative dedicated to bringing new voices to classical music through co-commissions of ten emerging composers with the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music. “Lullaby for Those Fast Asleep” by Nicky Sohn Gloria Chien - piano Lucia Lin - violin 2/2021

Composers program notes: "Stuck Song Syndrome" was written for bassist Andres Vela with the generous aid of the presser foundation. Stuck song syndrome, also known as ear-worm, is a common phenomenon in which a catch musical idea refuses to leave one's mind. I have been dealing with a rather sever case of this phenomenon ever since 2019 when i made a simple, silly melody on my toy xylophone. I had been saving it for the perfect moment, and that moment came when Andres approached me for a new piece for violin , bass, and piano. To recreate what had been reverberating inside my head for the last couple of years, i decided to compose a work where the melody continuously reoccurs through a landscape of musical episodes. The original form of the simple melody is introduced by the bass in the first four measures, and continues to transform further , expanding, shortening, made bare, and embellished. Often we try to get away from things that stay with us for great lengths of time. Sometimes, running away from these things can make you even more tangled up. With this piece, i faced it head on and finally gave this ear-worm the spotlight it had begged for. Mostly, though, i was hoping it would be contagious. Violin-Teresa Wang Piano-Charlie Tauber if you'd like the score, reach out directly to nicky312@gmail.com. :)