Blog posting written by Shea Lynch, Documentary Studies ’13, FLEFF Intern, Glens Falls, New York

Pianist Jairo Geronymo will be joining us all the way from Germany for the unique FLEFF concert special, Carmina Burana Tuesday April 2nd 8:15 p.m. 

Blog posting written by Shea Lynch, Documentary Studies and Production '13, FLEFF Blogger, Glens Falls, New York

Joy to bitterness. Hope to grief. FLEFF's exclusive Carmina Burana show premiers Tuesday, April 2nd and the performers, Ithaca College's Brad Hougham and Deborah Martin, are hard at work planning the event, continuing to tweak the 25 song setlist and choreograph the many trombonists that will accompany this performance. Tonight, they gave interns a discussion on the poems and a preview of the music.

Written between the 11th and 12th Century, Carmina Burana is a collection of over 250 manuscripts from students and clergy; sexual, satirical, and full of youthful mischief. These poems explore the human reality of lust, pleasure, and pain of Western European youth. Infused with Monteverdi, Canto Gregoriano and Stravinsky, this musical contata is a unique experience.

FLEFF will be inviting Jairo Geronymo back for a two-piano performance, this time accompanied by violins, percussions and flutes; a diversified look at music and emotion. FLEFF interns will also be creating new media art for projection during the performances. This will be a show like no other, stay tuned for more updates!

What are you looking forward to most?

 “If utopias are nowhere, microtopias are everywhere.”

Microtopias never stay the same. They are alive. Like an audience, they move, respond and engage.

The concert was harmonious in its differences, overlapping in a seamless manner. It took the microtopias concept of a shared world, applying it to the worlds of music, theater, poetry and live audio/visual mixing.  

Everything was fantastic and vital to the concert. The pianos. Brad Hougham’s angelic voice. The poetry brought to life. The visuals. My favorite use of the visual mixing was the combination of past rehearsal films and in-the-moment monologues. Also the overlap of close ups on hands with the larger shot of the piano performances was unique and strikingly beautiful.

Each aspect of the concert was a small place, a microtopia within the microtopia of the concert.

The performers, the visuals, the music all engaged in a conversation with each other, but also with the audience. They broke all performance boundaries — because there are no such things as boundaries within a microtopia. The possibilities are endless. Grow and see the world with different eyes and different perspectives; acknowledge different concepts.

For example, the purple fabric was transformational. Depending on the context, the small space within the concert, the fabric went from water to a small child being sung a lullaby. At one point, when the fabric represented the tide, it skimmed my foot as it was dragged down the stairs. Invested in the concert and the moment, I could have sworn water trickled over my toes.

But even with its different purposes, the transparent cloth was a constant throughout the entire concert. It was a staple uniting the pieces. It also united the audience, being carried over the their heads. The moment when everyone reached up, mystified, to touch the fabric was extremely powerful.

Jairo Geronymo told me this concert would be different than anything I ever could expect. He was so right. The Concert for Microtopias flooded me with passion and moved me to tears -- it shocked me in all the best ways possible. And now all I want to do is talk about it.

Welcome to FLEFF week. 

 Jairo Geronymo is taking part in a “musictopia” at the Concert for Microtopias, happening on Tuesday March 27th at 8:15 p.m at Hockett Recital Hall.

Geronymo is the pianist for this concert, which is embracing this year’s theme in a unique and exciting way. The repertoire greatly contrasts. The musicians are using the pieces to try to portray images of various utopias, all contrasting and connecting at the same time.

“I hope the audience will enjoy. It will be a trip through different worlds of music,” said Geronymo.

Geronymo has been playing the piano his entire life. Geronymo, originally from Brazil, said his mother’s family was very poor.

“So when people ask me how did I choose piano, I say I didn’t have a choice!”

However, after playing for nine years, he realized piano was an art he really enjoyed. He went to the United States to go to college and get his masters degree. After living in Seattle, he came to Ithaca College to teach for four years. Now Geronymo has been living in Berlin for four years. Yet, throughout his time at IC and in Berlin, he has been an engaged participant and performer in FLEFF—a festival he is intrigued with because of the mixture of having a multimedia experience on so many levels, with the music, the beautiful poems, the singers and of course with the images through film.

“It’s about the collaboration and creation of these works,” Geronymo said. “I think many times people think classical music can be elitist. I dare everybody who thinks that way to come to our concert because it will certainly be something very different, not what you expect.” 

And that’s something he believes college students should embrace to get the full college experience—the different, the unexpected.

“People can just go to Ithaca College and go to classes and do nothing. But the college has so much more to offer. It’s a question of personal; it’s a personal choice. People can come here and do nothing or they can take part in something—like FLEFF. It’s a really unique experience to really open up your minds.”

So open your mind, and your ears, at the Concert for Microtopias. Click the link for more information!

Blog was written by Kelsey Greene, Documentary Studies and Production, '13, FLEFF intern, Buffalo, New York

The opening concert held tonight in Hockett Hall was was amazing!  

The event lasted over an hour but time flew by as audience members were captivated by the extremely talented performers.  Pianists Jairo Geronymo and Deborah Martin electrified the keys while vocalist Brad Hougham eloquently sang  a German opera.  

The projections continuously playing behind the performers were also a spectacle!  

The perfect alignment of everything throughout the concert was astonishing!

The event was definitely a once in a lifetime experience!  I'm so glad I was able to attend!  

Blog was written by Kelsey Greene, Documentary Studies and Production, '13, FLEFF intern, Buffalo, New York

I had the opportunity to interview the incredibly talented Brad Hougham.  He is a well known and respected baritone vocalist who also teaches at Ithaca College's School of Music.  

In combination with Jairo Geronymo and Deborah Martin, he will be performing Rite of Spring with Gustav Mahler's Ruckert Lieder at 7:00 p.m. in Hockett Hall on Monday, April 11. 

KG: Why do you have a passion for music?  Is there a particular type of music you are fonder of? 

BH: I have always loved music. I remember being moved by music at a very young age, either to dance or sing or laugh or cry.  

I think like many people, music has been a source of comfort to me throughout my life and I love being able to teach in this field, because it allows me to share this love with others, hopefully helping them to develop their passion for it as well. 

I like all kinds of music – I don’t mind saying that I’ve been entertained and moved by a huge variety of artists. You should see who is in my iPod.

KG: What have been some highlights in your life pertaining to your vocal careers?

BH: I’ve been very lucky to have many wonderful opportunities. I sang for eight seasons in the chorus at the Metropolitan Opera. 

During those years, I was able to watch the greats up close. I think that is very interesting from a teacher’s perspective. How does Placido Domingo breathe? How does Renee Fleming move on the stage? How does a big voice sound up close as opposed to from far away – like from the back row of the opera house? 

I have sung world premieres and worked with composers on their own pieces. I have sung many opera roles with various opera companies. 

I love recitals of art song more than anything, and my job at Ithaca College has fostered that love and afforded me many opportunities to perform a wide variety of repertoire with some incredible musicians.

KG: You will be performing with Jairo Geronymo and Deborah Martin. Have you had any previous experience working with these individuals? 

BH: I have worked with both before. 

The last time I worked with Dr. Geronymo was three years ago when we did excerpts from West Side Story for the FLEFF Opening Ceremony. 

The last time I worked with Dr. Martin was two years ago, when we did a piece together with the concert band in the Ithaca College School of Music. 

KG: Can you please briefly describe the importance of the music you will be performing Monday night, both in its historical context and to you?

BH: The songs I’m singing are gems in the German Lied repertoire. When Gustav Mahler composed these, he was stretching the definition of ‘Lied’. Previously, they had been much more ‘miniature’ in genre. His songs are much longer (usually), constructed with more complicated musical language, require a greater range of pitch, mood, dynamics, vocal color and rhythmic variation than many of the songs composed with German texts before his time. 

The accompaniment for these songs can be either piano or orchestral and you can hear a great demand for color and texture variation in the accompaniment part.  

I am lucky to have two such wonderful pianists who will be capturing these colors beautifully in their playing. 

The reason I love to sing these songs is that for me, these poems are very powerful and the musical gesture that Mahler uses to express them form an absolutely perfect union.  

KG: Can you please give us a glimpse behind the scenes as to what you went through and are going through to prepare for the upcoming event?

BH: Well, I have known these songs for a couple of years now, so I have not had to learn any new music, per se, but I have had to re-think them. I believe that many singers feel this, and that is that each time you come back to a piece of music you have sung at a different time, you learn something more about it. 

In addition to that, I have had to think of these songs in relationship with Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, and how they can interplay with that larger work. The pianists were great about finding places in the Stravinsky into which the songs could be inserted. 

KG: What are you looking forward to about this year’s event?    

BH: Just having a chance to share this beautiful music with a new audience and having a chance to work with these wonderful artists. 

I love the idea of faculty from schools coming together to pool their talents. When they do, something amazing always comes of it; this will be no exception.