Note to a Friend, opera da camera scritta da David Lang per voce solista e quartetto d'archi ispirandosi allo scritto di Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) Memorandum per un vecchio amico, è documentata anche in un cd prodotto in edizione limitata da Cantaloupe Music nella versione registrata nell'ottobre 2023 da Theo Bleckmann con l'Attacca Quartet (Amy Schroeder, Domenic Salerni, Nathan Schram, Andrew Yee). Spiega Lang: "The idea for it came out of a conversation I had with the Japan Society’s director, Yoko Shioya, who asked if I would consider writing a stage work that was somehow related to Japan. I immediately thought of the writer Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, whose I work I have been a fan of since I was 16. Growing up in Los Angeles, my high school had a class in film studies, and we watched the film Rashomon, which is based on two of Akutagawa’s short stories. After that I kept reading his work, and eventually I discovered the famous letter Akutagawa wrote to a fellow writer, explaining and justifying his decision to kill himself, which he did do, in 1927. After his death, this letter was published in English as A Note to a Certain Old Friend."

Conceived as a chamber opera for solo vocalist and string quartet, the work is also the perfect vehicle for singer Theo Bleckmann, who brings a profound emotional weight to his performance, in collaboration with the inimitable Attacca Quartet. The result is a stunning and haunting monodrama that addresses our eternal human fascinations with love, death, family and the phantoms of our daily existence.

https://cantaloupemusic.com/albums/note-to-friend
https://davidlangmusic.bandcamp.com/album/note-to-a-friend
https://sites.socsci.uci.edu/note_to_an_old_friend.pdf

Raro doppio passaggio alle nostre latitudini di Theo Bleckmann, sempre e ovunque impegnatissimo tra insegnamento, conferenze, produzioni senza sosta e concerti in ogni guisa: nei giorni scorsi lo si è visto a Ferrara con Timo Vollbrecht e Harmen Fraanje nel Tether Trio, mentre a Bolzano e Trento è stato ammaliante interprete e protagonista assoluto dell'opera da camera di David Lang Note to a Friend (2023), messo in scena da Fabio Cherstich. Se ne ritrova qualche passaggio su YT.

https://vimeo.com/787576255

Gli studenti del primo anno del corso di Esecuzione e Produzione musicale presso l'University of East London hanno oggi l'opportunità di presentare al pubblico presente in sede o collegato da remoto l'esecuzione collettiva di Conspiracies, composizione di Chris Cutler con notazione grafica divenuta negli anni quasi un classico presso la Facoltà. Con loro ci saranno Yumi Hara Cawkwell e Guy Harries, che all'UEL sono di casa come professori associati, e per questa occasione anche William Hayter, Nick Haeffner e Jon Owen, tra i titolari del progetto non-floydiano Household Objects. L'appuntamento è al Black Box Studio in Stratford alle 14.00.

1st year students of Music Performance and Production at University of East London will perform Chris Cutler's instruction/game/graphic score piece 'Conspiracies', with Chris Cutler, Yumi Hara, Guy Harries, William Hayter, Nick Haeffner and Jon Owen. We have always encouraged students to incorporate found objects, but this year, it becomes obligatory coinciding with the 50th Anniversary of Pink Floyd’s abandoned project ‘Household Objects’, now materialised as double album by various musicians including Yumi Hara, Guy Harries, Nick Haeffner and Jon Owen, compiled by William Hayter and Barry Lamb, distributed from ReR Megacorp run by Chris Cutler.

US.3.38 Black Box Studio,
University Square Stratford,
University of East London
E15 1NF

https://www.facebook.com/events/914679208214394
https://www.youtube.com/@YumiHaraMusic