presents:
Harry Partch – partners in muziek
Harry Partch in the early years and his collaboration with mainly female artists
Scordatura Ensemble specializes in music of the radical innovator Harry Partch. Chris Rainier, Partch historian, will show photos and film footage from his research on Partch's collaborative partners in the 1940s. These were mostly female musicians, some of whom he was still able to track down and interview. The members of Scordatura Ensemble play an array of custom-built instruments (adapted viola and adapted guitars).
For this concert, they will perform songs to texts by Li Po, Juliet's death scene from Romeo and Juliet and the famous hitchhiker cycle Barstow plus other Partch repertoire. This is a poetic recital of unheard sounds in Scordatura's "Tonality Flux" concert series.
Chris Rainier – stem, adapted guitars, lecture
Alfrun Schmid – stem
Elisabeth Smalt – adapted viola