More Kurtág

Friday evening, Susan, Ellen and I drove up to Bellows Falls to hear a performance by Susan Naruki, soprano, of G. Kurtag's Kafka Fragments. Susan Naruki is an old friend of Ellen's oing back to the time she lived in Salem, OR, and was married to John Peel. Susan N., who specializes im singing contemporary music, was brought to Salem, to Willamette University, where John Peel was on the faculty, to perform his compositions. She met Ellen and their friendship began. Last night, Susan N. was performing in amall venue, an art gallery/bookstore called Art Around Bookson Canal Street in Bellows Falls, seating at most 30 people. We had actually heard Susan N. perform the Kafka Fragments many years ago, at the Yellow Barn in Putney. She had been singing them, she said, for 30 years, and she had gotten a grant to take them into new venues, like this one in Bellows Falls, so the concert was free. We haven't seen her for several years, and hadn't told her we were coming, so she was surprised and pleased. The performance, with violinist Curtis Macomber, was powerful. Here is something about the music: "Georgy Kurtag "Kafka Fragments" Op 24.***** Hungarian composer György Kurtág's seventy-five-minute multi-movement work uses fragments of texts from the diaries of Franz Kafka, to create a kaleidoscopic world of sound, sense and expression. Each fragment—some lasting less than a minute—is singular and potent; each movement offers a glimpse of a distinct viewpoint, and each gain in meaning through juxtapositions throughout the work as a whole. The accompanying exhibit, Approaching Kurtag, offers an additional avenue of juxtaposition and conversation. For each of the five artists in the exhibit, Jinane Abbadi, Michele Burgess, Bill Kelly, Olda Procházka and Jim Renner, have, contained within the borders of each print, a unique language. These images, which themselves have been created in conversation with poetry, prose, frameworks of language and broader ideas, resonate with recurring themes of the Kafka Fragments. The beauty and chaos of cities; the abyss of the divine, the unending complexities of human relationships, the loneliness of the outsider, the joyous heartbreak of living. Approaching Kurtag offers another space for the imagination of the listener and viewer to inhabit, wander and explore. –Susan Narucki******************** And about Susan Naruki:***************** Susan Narucki serves as Distinguished Professor of Music in the Department of Music at UC San Diego. Over the span of thirty-five years, the American soprano has forged a unique path. Her dedication to the music of our time has led to critically acclaimed performances with musicians of the first rank, award-winning recordings and close collaborations with generations of composers. Since joining the faculty at UC San Diego in 2008, Professor Narucki has been deeply engaged in commissioning, performing and producing chamber operas that illuminate critical issues in society. Her projects have earned support from Creative Capital, the MAP Fund for the Performing Arts, UC MEXUS, New Music USA and multiple awards from the National Endowment for the Arts. Her most recent project was Inheritance (2018), a chamber opera composed by Grawemeyer Award winning composer Lei Liang. Co-presented by ArtPower and the Department of Music at UC San Diego, Inheritance addressed the complex issue of gun violence in America, earning praise as a powerful and haunting work. Professor Narucki also commissioned, produced and performed Cuatro Corridos a chamber opera with libretto by renowned Mexican novelist Jorge Volpi. Based on true events, the opera confronted the subject of trafficking of women across the U.S.-Mexican border. The project's unique combination of art and advocacy created remarkable partnerships between cultural, civic and academic institutions. Premiered in 2013, Cuatro Corridos garnered support and critical praise in the United States, Mexico and Latin America. The opera was performed in San Diego, Tijuana, Dallas, Los Angeles, Albuquerque, Guadalajara, Colorado Springs, Amherst (MA) and Mexico City. A film of the opera, produced by Imaginante Productions, has had multiple broadcasts on CANAL 22, Mexico’s Art and Culture Broadcast station. Cuatro Corridos was recorded for Bridge Records and earned a 2017 Latin Grammy Nomination. Susan Narucki’s most recent recording was The Edge of Silence: Vocal Chamber Music of György Kurtág (AVIE Records) The recording was included in the New York Times Best Classical Tracks and earned a 2019 Grammy nomination for Best Classical Vocal Recording." We heard a performance of the Custro Corridos in Amherst a few years ago: before the pandemic, for sure.

Susan Naruki