INTERDISCIPLINARY

PHONOBELLOW

2015

A new music theatre work for violin, bassoon, saxophone, piano, percussion, electronics, and performative installation.

By David Adamcyk and Zosha Di Castri.

55 minutes.

Commissioned by ICElab with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Premiered March 5th, 2015 by International Contemporary Ensemble at Montréal Nouvelles Musiques.

In Phonobellow, a huge bellows spreads across the stage like an accordion or an old-fashioned camera. Through images, electronics, kinetic sculpture, lighting, and live music performed by International Contemporary Ensemble, this work seeks to capture how deeply two very different technologies--the high-speed camera and the phonograph--resonated with people in 1877, and how they continue to reverberate to this day.

Performance History: public showing at the Abrons Center (March 1st, 2015 - NYC), Canadian Premiere, MNM Festival (March 5th - Montreal), US Premiere, Women Music Power Conference (December 12th, 2015 - NYC).

DEAR LIFE

2015

For soprano, recorded narrator, and orchestra.

25 minutes.

Commissioned by the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Premiered September 16, 2015 by the NACO, directed by Alexandre Shelley, with Erin Wall.

Based on the short story "Dear Life", by Nobel prize laureate Alice Munro. In addition to being a piece of concert music, Dear Life is also part of a larger multimedia show developed by the NACO involving projections by Normal, featuring the stunning black and white photography of Larry Towell (directed by Donna Feore). In the show, the piece is partnered with three other pieces including works by John Estacio, Jocelyn Morlock, and Nicole Lizée. To learn more about the multimedia show, watch the promo video below produced by the NACO. 

everything too big to take apart

2012

For electronics (fixed tape + live wii) and dance.

11 minutes.

Collaborative project with choreographer Thomas Hauert, developed through the In Vivo Danse workshop at Ircam's Manifeste Festival. Premiered June 29th, 2012 with ZOO Contemporary Dance at the Centre Pompidou Grande Salle in Paris.

Inspired by Anne Michaels' poem Phantom Limbs. An excerpt can be seen in the trailer below, beginning at 2'38".

AKKORD 1

2012

For fl, pno, and electronics (w/ optional kinetic sculpture).

11 minutes.

Commissioned by Electric Noise duo.

Premiered March 9th, 2012 by Electric Noise at the Winnipeg Art Gallery as part of Cluster New Music and Integrated Arts Festival in Winnipeg.

The first piece in a cycle Zosha hopes to compose, for instruments, electronics and interactive sculpture installations. Here, a giant tapered bellows extends from around the body of the piano to the back of the flautist across the stage, expanding and contracting over time.

TRIO

2010

For 2 sopranos, 1 baritone, and video (*alternative interactive version exists with piano improvisation & Max MSP patch).

7 minutes.

Collaborative sound/video installation with artist Julia Sherman. Premiere November 21st, 2010 at Prentis Hall Open Studios Show. Interactive re-interpretation premiered October 14th, 2011 by the composer at the Cycling '74 Conference in New York.

Singers embody iconic operatic characters: the madwoman, the patriarch, and the castrato lover. This absurdist score borrows cheekily from cliche singer warm-ups, bird imitations, cat calls, and operatic tropes. Though recorded separately, the singers were directed so as to re-create their relationships to one another, as if on stage as an ensemble. The final piece is a fractured ensemble cast, projected on teetering sheets of plywood. The three videos are synchronized, creating the impression of a well orchestrated performance that never happened in real time.