By Betty A. Little, Killington Arts Guild
posted
Nov 14, 2012
Mohammed Fairouz's Piano Miniatures attracted attention at Katie
Reamer's surprise concert at the Gables at East Mountain just
before Hurricane Sandy. Was this the impact of the composer, the
skills of the pianist or an untutored audience awaking to new forms
and possibilities?
The first Piano Miniature "Nocturnal Snapshot" was written by
Fairouz in the middle of the night when the he realized it was 2
a.m. and he was still contemplating what to write. His notes
provided other insights: Miniature #2 was the result of a challenge
to write a piece without dissonance. It's a slow dance of
arpeppios. #3 incorporates a snippet of Bach's Art of the Fugue and
#4 is a musical joke. Each piece of the Piano Miniatures offered
something different.
It was amazing that on Monday the pianist Katie Reimer could
divert the audience from the sounds of the wind and the threat of
purple clouds gathering. The whole experience was energizing rather
than depressing.
Fairouz is a prolific NYC based composer, age 27, whom Reimer
has collaborated with over the past nine years. Reimer is the
Artistic and Executive Director of the Mimesis Ensemble, a NYC
based group dedicated to performing 20th and 21st century music,
they released their debut CD with Bridge Records on Oct. 1, 2012.
It features Mohammed Fairouz's opera, Sumeida's song. The composer
was born after most the audience had finished their piano
lessons.
In addition to the surprise concert, the week also brought Ann
Day's newest Calendar, "Poetry through the Years" with its rose
covered doorway. The text ended with a word of gratitude to "my
poetry friends in Killington Arts Guild"-the first time we were so
honored. When she brings her photographs for the new Killington
Arts Gallery show that opens Nov. 24 she will bring the 2013
Calendar with its fresh new poems and provocative photographs.
A final picture this year is a striking view of a whirling icy
river with this line "No brook is too little to seek the sea"
(unknown author.) On the October page Ann Day has a poem of her own
that ends "… and now, above, the snow geese fly; I soar with them
on a delirious high."
Killington Arts Guild activities and programs are found at
www.killingtonartsguild.org
Tagged:
Killington Art's Guild
