Ångström Brass presents: resonances

resonances is based around a constellation of emotional vignettes, brought to life through pairings of instrumental music and poetic texts. The title of the program alludes not only to the gorgeous acoustics of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, but also to the mutually enriching emotional “resonances” between the selected poems and musical pairings.

resonances explores themes of love, loss, and living, through the subjectivity, yet universality, of the human experience. This program serves as something of a counterpart to one of our previous concert programs, Memento Mori (Latin for “remember that you will die”).

These programs in some ways run counter to conventional classical performance practices, but follow the continuing evolution of Ångström Brass as a creative force in the chamber music space. For example:

resonances is a one-hour program; in order to allow the audience to be more deeply immersed in the reflective experience, there will be no intermission or applause between pieces.

In lieu of program notes or informative speeches relating historical anecdotes or musical analysis, the poetry readings will orient your emotional, rather than intellectual, experience of the music. This is a slight change of emphasis from our Memento Mori program, in which the music was presented as an opportunity for meditation on scriptural texts.

Thus resonances, without letting the music strictly speak for itself, does not set out to educate. This is not music or poetry that needs to be explained to be felt and understood. We invite you to bring your own life experiences into this moment, and we hope that you leave having felt the resonances.