The AIC is delighted to announce that Karen Power’s 2013 work for string quartet, hearing leaves, has been selected as one of 62 works from around the world for the International Society for Contemporary Music World Music Days Festival in Beijing in May 2018.
A versatile, enthusiastic and well-received Irish composer, improviser, educator and curator, Karen Power seeks to stimulate, engage and interact with audiences. Karen writes:
“hearing leaves was written while on residency with The Galway Music Residency to celebrate 10 years of music in the city. A key component of this residency lay in delivering workshops to primary and secondary students, therefore much of the origins of this work are connected with explorations made with students during these composition workshops. In particular, why do children play with wrapping paper as excitedly as they play with the toy that's inside! This piece is a celebration of the excitement that each of us feels, or felt as young children, when we explore sound. The whole work moves through a series of texture and gesture-based sounds, which are not necessarily immediately recognisable as sounds of a string quartet, but which 'grow into' the quartet while also opening up new sonic avenues. Large chords are plotted throughout the piece and allude to a more angular and sharp sound-world then is at work throughout the rest of the work. These chords bring the quartet together and allow individual instruments the freedom to meander and stray in between.”
The annual ISCM World Music Days Festival is organised each year by a different host country. The festival presents music from each of their members, showcasing the diversity of musical practice in our time. As the Irish Section of the ISCM, the AIC submits six works each year to the festival, selected from a call for scores.
For more about the festival, see www.bmmf.ccom.edu.cn
For more about Karen, see www.karenpower.ie