Season-opening premieres from new-music ensemble
“Mise en abyme” (roughly, “placed in the abyss”) is a term from visual art referring to a picture that contains a copy of itself. It also serves as the title of the seasonopening concert by the new-music ensemble Earplay, which includes a number of chamber works that draw on an analogous technique in music.
Among the premieres on this program, conducted by Mary Chun, are “Untamed Brush I,” a piece for solo viola by Santa Cruz composer Hi Kyung Kim, and “Flutter, Pulse, and Flight,” Charles Nichols’ commissioned work for instrumental quartet and computer. Both pieces are slated to receive their world premieres.
Also on the program are the U.S. premiere of French composer Tristan Murail’s “Paludes” — the title comes from André Gide — as well as recent music by Patricia Alessandrini and Stephen Blumberg.