Princess Galyani Vahana Institute of Music International Symposium 2021 (online)

TRADITIONS IN TRANSITION

Curated Paper Session, Invited Paper Presentation

‘INTERFACE’ IN CONTEMPORARY ART MUSIC

HOST: PROFESSOR DR. MIEKO KANNO Sibelius Academy DocMus Doctoral School, Finland

PRESENTERS: VILLE RAASAKKA, LUCY ABRAMS-HUSSO, MARIA PUUSAARI

MODERATOR MARGARET HAYNE KIM

This session features ‘interface’ as a shared theme, approached by three music practitioners at the DocMus Doctoral School of the Sibelius Academy, Uniarts Helsinki. The three musicians (composer, clarinetist, and violinist) search for an appropriate ‘interface’ in their individual specialist practice in contemporary art music. They present solutions to specific challenges encountered in their own work, and suggest new directions in the practice of music-making as part of a larger community practice.

CONSIDERATIONS, OBLIGATIONS, AND EXPECTATIONS: PERFORMER PERSPECTIVES ON CONTEMPORARY MUSIC PERFORMANCE

LUCY ABRAMS-HUSSO Sibelius Academy DocMus Doctoral School, Finland

Abstract

My doctoral research project is an artistic and sociocultural study of contemporary clarinet repertoire composed by Finnish and American composers. The aim is to further develop my artistic practice in new music repertoire, and to understand how and why contemporary American and Finnish repertoire are performed and practiced differently.

I am currently halfway through the project and already I detect the effects that my research has had on how I execute my job as artist and performer. I have a newly heightened awareness of how and why I make artistic decisions, those that sound through the clarinet and as well as those peripheral to the music. I would argue that these performance considerations, obligations and expectations are unique to our present, and reflect an evolving contemporary music practice on local, regional and national scales.

To demonstrate, I will take three case studies from my research project: the recording of my first solo CD Duel that finished this spring, a concert series being organized for performance in Helsinki this fall, and my international contemporary music programming study comparing American and Northern European programming practices. Ranging in scale from personal to international, all three demonstrate the intersections between performer, audience and composer in the performance of contemporary art music.

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The program book can be found here.