I used to be a spinner. From the time I could stand until I sat down at a piano at the age of 5, I would spin in a circle for hours. "Maybe he was a Whirling Dervish in a past life," my mother would say.
The Whirling Dervishes have since captivated me, and after digging around the internet, it turns out that the first Whirling Dervish was the famous Persian poet Rumi:
It is said that once when Rumi was walking in the marketplace in Konya, he heard the rhythmic hammering of a goldbeater's hammer. As he heard this sound, Rumi slowly opened his arms and began to turn around and around in ecstasy.
-Sufism Journal
Raymond Kraus and Sam Swanton spinning in the Movement Workshop.
Single movement string quartet where melodic lines emerge from progressions of tightly voiced suspensions. Composed and recorded at the Yellow Barn Young Artists Program in Putney, Vermont.
Sextet for piano, marimba, flute, clarinet, violin and cello. A lopsided tango motive develops in a series of variations. Premiered at Boston University Tanglewood Institute.
My first big piece with thanks to Bach. Written for a space-themed choral competition, ''Dinnertime on the Way to Jupiter'' calls upon two formative elements of my childhood: turtles and Bach.
Sound collage homage to the late Belgian Hot Jazz guitarist, Django Reinhardt for his 100th birthday. Snippets of guitar riffs borrowed from songs "Nuages" and "Djangology."
Synth whale calls + tacky kick drum = magic. The japanese female voice was taken from an obscure website with audio files of common animals in Japanese. There's also some Kraftwerk samples thrown in for good measure.
Original Music and Sound Design for 3D animator Matt Nava's senior thesis project at Otis College. "Lady of the Ruins" features gamelan kechak chanting.
Original Music for 3D animator Matt Nava's junior collaborative project at Otis College for a Ferrari Murvielago Advertisement. Layed down some serious breakbeats for this project.
Big news!! The Kronos Quartet is premering an acoustic version of "Djangology" in Fresno as part of the Summer Arts Festival! The piece is inspired by legendary Gypsy Jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.
Come to the premiere of Pillow Talk: a haiku chamber opera in one act.
It's a surreal love story about Kenji, a Japanese businessman who falls in love with a dakimakura (hugging pillow).
Kenji's loneliness unites him across time with the haiku poet Basho, but he is caught between ancient japan and modern illusion.
Isaac Pastor Chermak, cellist extraodinaire will perform a concert / lecture entitled "Why (not) play contemporary music?" My cello & found sound suite "Be Hear Now" will be included on the program. Not to be missed if you're in the Bay Area!
WHERE: The Albert Elkus Room, 125 Morrison Hall. UC Berkeley
If you're in the Bay Area, I hope you can come to the Garden of Memory solstice concert at the Chapel of the Chimes, a Julia Morgan morgue maze (say that 3x fast). Conceived and produced by the amazing pianist Sarah Cahill.
Albert Behar and the Movement West, a neoclassical quartet with violin, cello, laptop, and two Movers (dancers with Megaphone Helmets) will be one of 50 performances scattered throughout the crypt.
COMPOSER: Albert Behar
VIOLIN: David Boyden
CELLO: Isaac Pastor-Chermak
MOVER: Zach Behar
The first workshop of Albert Behar and the Movement, a newoclassical sextet featuring violin, cello, clarinet, and two Movers (dancers wearing Megaphone Helmets.) Performed at the NYU Tisch Dance Studio.
COMPOSER: Albert Behar
CHOREOGRAPHER: Claire Westby
VIOLIN: Kate Dreyfuss
CELLO: Bridget Pasker
CLARINET: Daniel Padmos
MOVER A: Sam Swanton
MOVER B: Raymond Kraus
A collaboration between the composers and percussion ensemble of New York University. With new works by composers: Albert Behar Randall Benichak David Boudreaux Chris Chappell Jonathan Knight Dosia McKay Zak Millman Gregory Polzak Peter Strumolo and Andrew Wollner.
Composer and sound artist Albert Behar (b. 1991, Los Angeles) writes acoustic and electronic music that aims to 'rehumanize' the digital world. His works have been performed by the Kronos Quartet, at the Ojai Music Festival, and at the Tanglewood Institute. Behar's ensemble, the Movement features dancers with custom Megaphone Helmets and acoustic musicians. Behar studies with composer Julia Wolfe, one of the founders of Bang on a Can. He is a junior pursuing a double major in music composition and French literature at New York University.
Behar apprenticed and collaborated with sound sculptor and MacArthur 'Genius' Trimpin. He was Trimpin's technical assistant in his Seattle studio and circuit-bent 24 plastic toy guitars for his sculpture "Giuter-Toy." Behar wrote a collection of short works for Trimpin's "Sound Arch." Albert will study at the Sorbonne in Paris next year, researching visual poetry and playing waltz-musette accordion. Past teachers include David Lang, Martin Amlin and Stephen Coxe.
