After all of the featured performers of this year鈥檚 arrive in Columbus later this month 鈥� after the performance venues have thrown open their doors, the tickets have been bought and the audiences have gathered 鈥� violist, composer and VIVO Music Festival co-artistic director won鈥檛 be there.
At least, not in the traditional sense.
But thanks to modern technology and artistic ingenuity, Stulz will be at the festival as a disembodied performer in the world premiere of his brand-new work Second-Hand Time on the VIVO Music Festival鈥檚 opening concert Aug. 31 at 7 p.m. in the Green Room at the Short North鈥檚 .
Presented in collaboration with the Johnstone Fund for New Music and New Music at Short North Stage, the Aug. 31 concert - "Harp with Its Hair Down" - will feature rising-star harpist and Ohio native and other musicians in a program of works by Elliott Carter, Kati Agocs, David Bruce and Sebastian Currier, along with Stulz's new work.
Composing Himself (In)
When Stulz learned that scheduling conflicts with his work with the Paris-based and other obligations would prevent him from returning to his native Columbus for this year鈥檚 VIVO Music Festival, his colleague and festival co-artistic director came up with the idea for Stulz to compose himself into the festival and into a new piece of music for recorded viola and chamber ensemble.
Stulz liked the idea and eventually came up with the idea to compose a work for violin, harp and recorded viola. Stulz鈥榮 Second-Hand Time will receive its world premiere by Kim and VIVO festival guest artist harpist Bridget Kibbey, who will play along with Stulz鈥檚 recorded viola line.
鈥淭he whole piece is based on an improvised viola line that I recorded in my apartment in Paris, and it鈥檚 based on sighing motifs. So instead of a steady pitch, the pitch falls constantly,鈥� Stulz said.
The piece then calls upon the violinist to play the same melody but in what Stulz describes as a 鈥渇aulty transcription鈥� with certain details omitted. Then the harp plays the same tune by sliding a piece of metal along the instrument鈥檚 strings. Each time the melody is played, it becomes increasingly distorted, increasingly distant from its original form.
鈥淭he whole idea is basically consecutive voices following each other, but kind of erasing themselves and transforming into something completely different,鈥� Stulz said. 鈥淚 like the idea of not actually having exact copies. And I find it very interesting, even if two musicians are playing the exact same notes, how different (they) can be in performance.鈥�
The Politics of Wrongness
Stulz took the idea to compose a piece of music that unfolds in imprecise copies of itself from the world of Russian politics.
While browsing in the famed bookstore on Paris鈥� Left Bank, Stulz came across a copy of the English translation of Nobel Prize-winning Belarusian journalist 鈥檚 book Second-Hand Time, a collection of interviews with Russians immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union and 10 years later.
鈥淚 stole the name of my piece from her book Second-Hand Time,鈥� Stulz said, 鈥渁nd what was interesting about the book is how everybody has diffe