Tune in to CAP UCLA’s Tune In Festival
Thalea String Quartet | Credit: Titilayo Ayangade As the fall season has kicked into high gear — certain COVID-19 restrictions, aside — so, too, has UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA), with the return of the Tune In Festival. Taking place online Nov. 4–7, the four-day convening of more than 30 artists and ensembles will pay homage to the traditions of music and poetry. Creative Advisor Kristy Edmunds (she recently left CAP UCLA to become director at MASS MoCA) gave associate curatorial honors to award-winning performance poet J. Ivy and pianist Lisa Kaplan for this year’s festival.
The roster is decidedly rich and features, among others, poet Sunni Patterson, Lebanese-American tenor Karim Sulayman, the contemporary violin duo the Furies, American folksinger/songwriter Mariee Sioux, Mina Tindle with Bryce Dessner, poet Jessica Care Moore, and composer Errollyn Wallen. But wait, there’s more! As Kaplan is founding pianist of the four-time Grammy Award winning sextet Eighth Blackbird, this ensemble is also featured prominently.
And while last year’s iteration drew thousands of viewers from 15 countries and presented more established artists, including Kronos Quartet, Kaplan explained that this celebration is “perhaps very different in that it contains a lot of artists who are more at the beginnings of their careers. The focus is on new compositions and groups that commission new works [including] the Thalea String Quartet.
“What I love about them,” added Kaplan, “is that they’re so talented, they’re passionate, and they’re commissioning a lot of people to write works for them. They remind me of Blackbird 20 years ago.”
Kaplan, on the cusp of 47, said that the Thalea, which performs on the first and last day of the program, recorded nearly 75 minutes of music, including Andy Akiho’s Prospects of a Misplaced Year, with Kaplan on piano. “I really wanted to program this epic piano quintet. I’ve known Andy for a long time and I love his music. This piece is only three years old and Thalea agreed to play it with me. It’s a beautiful kind of massive work and I’m looking forward to people hearing that.” — Victoria Looseleaf, Nov. 1, 2021
This post is an excerpt. Read the full article on the San Francisco Classical Voice website.
HEADER IMAGE: Eighth Blackbird | Credit: Aaron Sepsey
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