Concert: “Nomads-Oasis” with Agustín Castilla-Ávila & Friends

The Anderson Center at Tower View presents Nomads-Oasis, an evening of compositions by Wladimir Rosinskij, Richard Cameron-Wolfe, Scott L. Miller, and artist-in-residence Agustín Castilla-Ávila, on Friday, July 29 at 7 p.m. in the Tower View Barn. Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $15 general admission and $10 for Anderson Center members & youth under 18. Arrive early to the concert, as Agustín is also offering a brief artist talk in Barn for his Still Life with Silence exhibition at 6:30 p.m.

Featured performers include cellist Ruslana Prokopenko (Ukraine), pianist Gayle Blankenburg (California), guitarist Agustín Castilla-Ávila (Spain), as well as outstanding Minnesota musicians James DeVoll (flute), Pat O’Keefe (clarinet), and Tracey Engleman (soprano). All four of the composers will be in attendance.

Highlights of the program include two world premieres and three U.S. premieres by Castilla-Avila and Rosinskij, plus a solo piano work by Richard Cameron-Wolfe dedicated to the late composer Franz Kamin, who lived in St. Paul for many years. This program is also being presented at Studio Z in Saint Paul on Saturday, July 30 and at the National Opera Center in New York on August 6.

In reference to the program’s title, composer Richard Camron-Wolfe explains, “Agustín, Wladimir, Gayle, Ruslana, and myself are ‘nomads’ that travel the planet in search of ‘oases’ – fertile environments in which to collaborate with local musicians and share our music.” Adding that, “We each met other in various locations across the world and next year, following this tour, we’re traveling to Belgium and the Baltic States – for new partners, new audiences, and new musical offerings.”

Nomads-Oasis and the Still Life with Silence exhibition serves as a residency capstone event for interdisciplinary artist Agustín Castilla-Ávila, a July artist-in-residence at the Anderson Center through a Salzburg-Minnesota Artist Exchange program with City of Salzburg, Austria. Minnesota visual artist Emily Donovan is in turn living and working at the City of Salzburg’s Künstlerhaus the month of July. Agustín is participating in Meet & Greet events in for Still Life with Silence in the Tower View Barn July 27 – July 29 from noon to 2:00 p.m.

Agustín Castilla-Ávila is a pioneer in microtoal music, particularly with guitar scordaturas. Originally from Spain, Agustín’s research is based in Salzburg, with the Ekmelic Society at the Mozarteum. As a composer, he has worked in Europe, Asia and America. His music has been conducted by D. Russell-Davies, J. Kalitzke, and H. Schellenberger, among others. He has written for soloists, chamber ensembles and orchestras, plays, choreographies and five chamber operas. His music has been played at international centers including Brucknerhaus in Linz, Glinka Hall in Saint Petersburg, Harpa Hall in Reykjavik and Musiekgebouw in Amsterdam.

Program

Agustín Castilla-Ávila
True Love is Not a Flower (Ibn Hazam, poetry) – 2021
Tracey Engleman, soprano,
Agustín Castilla-Ávila, guitar
Gayle Blankenburg, piano

Suite of Movements – 2017 – PREMIERE
Ruslana Prokopenko, cello

Geminiden – 2017 – U.S. Primiere
Agustín Castilla-Ávila, guitar

Richard Cameron-Wolfe
Time Refracted – 1990
Ruslana Prokopenko, cello
Gayle Blankenburg, piano

As Above, So Below, and Autopoiesis
from An Inventory of Damaged Goods – 2015
Gayle Blankenburg, piano

Memory of the Loss of Wings from Labyrinths – 1979
(W.S. Merwin, poetry)
Tracey Engleman, soprano
Gayle Blankenburg, piano

Wladimir Rosinskij
Music No.7 – 1999 – US Premiere
Ruslana Prokopenko, cello

Evanescencia 2  – 2020 – PREMIERE
James DeVoll, flute
Pat O’Keefe, clarinet

“Keinem, Junge, lass dir reden…” – US Premiere
(Robert Schneider, poetry) – 2015
Tracey Engleman, soprano
Pat O’Keefe, clarinet
Gayle Blankenburg, piano

Scott L. Miller
Katabasis – 2018-19
James DeVoll, flute  /  Pat O’Keefe, bass clarinet
Agustín Castilla-Ávila, guitar  /  Ruslana Prokopenko, cello

Composer-pianist Richard Cameron-Wolfe was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and received his music training at Oberlin College and Indiana University. After brief teaching engagements, Richard moved to New York City, where he performed and composed for several major ballet and modern dance companies, including the Joffrey Ballet and the Jose Limon Company. In 1978 he began a 24-year professorship at Purchase College, State University of New York. After resigning in 2002, he relocated to the mountains of northern New Mexico in order to dedicate his life to composing. Devoted to the promotion of modern classical music (which he prefers to call “sound art”), Richard has served as an administrator for several musical organizations. Over the past ten years, his creative output has increased immensely, producing a broad array of new works in various media performed throughout the US, Europe, and Russia.

Scott L. Miller is an American composer of ‘high adventure avant garde music of the best sort’ (Classical-Modern Music Review). Best known for his electroacoustic chamber music and ecosystemic performance pieces, his music is characterized by collaborative approaches to composition and the use of electronics, exploring performer/computer improvisation
and re-imagining ancient compositional processes through the lens of 21st century technology. Three time McKnight Composer Fellow, Fulbright scholar, and Hellervik Prize winner, his work is frequently performed by soloists, ensembles, and at festivals throughout North America and Europe. Scott is a Professor of Music at St. Cloud State University, Minnesota. He is Past-President (2014—18) of the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the U.S. (SEAMUS) and presently Director of SEAMUS Records.

Wladimir Rosinskij (of Austrian nationality and Russian origin) obtained his Honorable Diploma at the Academy of music, Krasnoyarsk in 1986. From 1990 to 1995 he studied at Hochschule für Musik in Vienna, and since then, he has been living in Spain. As a conductor he has led orchestras throughout Europe and Russia. Wladimir’s music has been premiered at prestigous venues such as Musikverein and Konzerthaus (Vienna), and Auditorio Nacional (Madrid), among others. His music has been conducted by Gianandrea Noceda Dima Slobodeniouk, and Kynan Johns; played by soloists including, Frank Stadler, Sabine Winter, Uxia Botana and performed by orchestras such as Wiener Kammerorchester, Orquesta Nacional de España, and Symphonie Orchester Vorarlberg. In 2013 he founded Camerata de la Or-questa sinfónica de Galicia.

Born in Odessa, Ukraine, cellist Ruslana Prokopenko began her music studies at age seven. Early in her student years she appeared as soloist in Haydn’s Concerto in D (Yalta, 1988), Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococó Theme (Odessa,1989) and Brahms’ Double Concerto. In 1990 she entered in the Tchaikovsky Conservatory (Moscow), receiving her Doctorate in 1997. During these years Ruslana participated in the Festival of Schleswig-Holstein (Germany), with Rostropovich in Evian (France) and toured Europe with several prestigious ensembles. She served as principal cellist of the Euskadi Symphony Orchestra (Basque), and in 2003 she became principal cellist of the Symphony Orchestra of Galicia. She is devoted to contemporary music, recently premiering Wladimir Rosinskij’s Concerto-Mystery and Last Dawn.

Pianist Gayle Blankenburg has performed extensively to great critical acclaim as a soloist and chamber musician. Among nearly a dozen award-winning CDs recorded for Southwest Chamber Music are her performances of Elliot Carter’s Of Challenge and of Love (with soprano Phyllis Bryn-Julson) and the Carlos Chavez Invencion for solo piano. Her recording of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire with the LA-based ensemble “inauthentica” has been highly praised in the media. She has performed at the Library of Congress, in NYC at Cooper Union, Tenri Institute, DiMenna Center and National Opera Center, in LA at REDCAT and Zipper Hall, at the Schoenberg Institute (Vienna), Hongtai Concert Hall (Xiamen, China), ASEAN Festival (Nanning) China, and Canterbury Performing Arts Center (Christchurch, New Zealand).

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Operating Support grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts & cultural heritage fund.