New York City-based Bowers-Fader Duo showcased compositions in the Redfern Arts Center Alumni Recital Hall Friday, Feb. 17.
The Bowers-Fader Duo consists of guitarist Oren Fader and mezzosoprano Jessica Bowers. The duo has two albums “Between Us All” and “People, Places, and Pets,” which consist of compositions written directly for them. Additionally, they were featured on the album “Der Weg ins Freie,” written by William Kenter Anderson and featuring various artists. Keene State Composition Coordinator Dr. Heather Gilligan and Dr. Justin Casinghino both wrote compositions that were featured during the showcase.
Additionally, composers Tim Mukherjee and Paul Salerni had compositions presented during the performance by the duo.The first set of compositions was Mukherjee’s “Excerpts from i carry your heart (ee cummings).”
“Mukherjee has been fortunate enough to have composed no less than three song cycles for the Bowers-Fader Duo. Tonight’s performance is dedicated to them and their consummate artistry,” the program notes said.
Following was Salerni’s “Something Permanent (Cynthia Rylant).” The composition consisted of seven poems: “Land,” “Mission,” “Minstrels,” “Boys,” “Apartment,” “Bed,” and “Rocker.”
“Paul Salerni’s music pulses with life, witty musical ideas and instrumental color… has been described by the New York Times as ‘impressive’ and ‘playful,’” the program notes said.
Gilligan’s song cycle “Hold Fast to Dreams” consisted of four parts: “Sea Calm,” “Aunt Sue,” “Lenox Avenue: Midnight,” and “Dreams.” “They’re all poems by Langston Hughes,” Gilligan said. “I’ve been in touch with [the Bowers-Fader Duo] throughout the writing process, I’ve been sending them my songs as I wrote them and we’ve also been in touch just planning the logistics of the residency.”
Even though the duo has helped support Gilligan’s work throughout the process, they did not meet in person until performance night. “I haven’t actually met them in person, but I’ve met them several times over Zoom and lots and lots of times through email,” Gilligan said. Casinghino’s song cycle “For my Four” was inspired by his four daughters.
“When I decided I wanted to write this piece, I wrote each of the four girls a poem… I came up with a particular poet structure,” Casinghino said. “Each poem kind of references something about them… I thought about what I would say to my kids.”
Casinghino added, “Each piece is actually based on what we call a cipher, I use musical notes to stand for their letters of their names so that’s where the pitch content for each song comes from. And the structure of the piece is actually based on their birth dates in terms of sections and measures and how long things are.”
Casinghino said that the Bowers-Fader Duo performance was special because it consisted of repertoire from composers who were all in the audience.
“On Friday, I think it’s so cool that there’s four composers on the program and all four composers [were] there,” Casinghino said. “What keeps new music going is really discourse about new music and our ability to just talk about it… at a concert like this, you have the ability to have all four, what a cool way to ask questions about it.”
Nicole Dumont can be contacted at
ndumont@kscequinox.com
