BlinDate (ensemble)

Description

Parts can be downloaded from the following links:
Flute
Bb Clarinet
Percussion 1
Percussion 2
Percussion 3
Piano
Violin
Viola
Violoncello
Double bass

If you want to understand the piece more deeply, you can download the guide from this link.

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BlinDate is a minimalist cumulative work.
It is dedicated to Inma Heredia, since the piece came to me just after leaving a Catholic mass with a rock band that she took me to, in New York, at the end of 2011. I’m not a big fan of religions, but that moment inspired me to create this piece.

The piece was born as a sound choreography, like a Down (impulse), Up (floating) and Down (falling). And those are the three movements that are implicit in each of the short phrases. I was influenced by minimalism because I had no choice. At that time, I was studying at the New York University on a Fulbright Grant and we were practically forced to be minimalists, because that’s what was fashionable in New York at that time… and me, who came to meet the avant-garde… what a fiasco… Luckily, I found it outside the university, but this work was to be premiered by the university ensemble, so no way.

The three choreographic movements, Down-Up-Fall, grow in duration and presence as the work progresses, and towards the end they disappear.

Coordination with the video does not have to be exact, as there are tempo changes. In the rehearsals, references have to be taken in order to finish the music as close as possible to the end of the video. The character of the video is actress Eva Guillamón. I recorded her at her home in Madrid via Skype, with my camera focusing on the laptop screen, and this is revealed at the end. I like the texture we get with this technique. I did the recording and editing by myself. The final video has the help and inspiration of artist Thessia Machado.

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Pics at the rehearsals:

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Audio from a rehearsal (march 2012):

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Video of the premiere (march 2012). Zoom effect done by Thessia Machado. Eva Guillamón, actress:

NYU Contemporary Music Ensemble:
· Anne Marie Dearth, flute
· Samuel Marques, clarinet
· Patti Kilroy, violin
· Yu Chieh Lee, viola
· Roxanne Hung, cello
· Pat Swoboda, double bass
· Matt Lau, percussion 1
· Jeremy Lowe, percussion 2
· Shaun Gallant, percussion 3
· Jeff Lankov, piano
Jonathan Haas, conductor