Ithaca Community: Alumni Spotlight
Percussionist Michael Compitello Presents Concert of Percussion Works Inspired by Text
Ithaca, NY — Percussionist Michael Compitello will present a new and recent works for percussion inspired by words on Saturday, Feb. 9, 8pm at Barnes Hall on the campus of Cornell University.
Compitello, visiting lecturer in percussion at Cornell, will be joined by cellist Hannah Collins (with whom he performs as New Morse Code) and pianist Xak Bjerken for a program of music by Andy Akiho, Marc Mellits, Iannis Xenakis, Alejandro Viñao. The concert also features a world premiere by Tonia Ko.
The concert will feature music inspired by written or spoken words. In Andy Akiho’s Stop Speaking, the solo snare drummer hits, scrapes and rubs the drum with a variety of implements to produce a dialogue with a recorded voice aware of its own mortality. Iannis Xenakis’ seminal percussion solo Psappha combines the rhythmic scansion of ancient Greek poet Sappho with the structural awareness that belies Xenakis’ career as renowned architect. Alejandro Viñao’s virtuoso marimba solo Khan Variations is based on the melismatic music of Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, which, Viñao to explore complex rhythmic and melodic ideas.
The program will also feature the world premiere of Hush, for cello and percussion, by Tonia Ko, a DMA student in the Cornell Department of Music. In Hush, a rumination on Virginia Woolfe’s short story “The String Quartet,” the performers are asked to speak and sing in addition to playing. Compitello and Collins will also perform Andy Akiho’s 21, for marimba, cello, and pre-recorded loop, where the repetition of a rhythmically ambiguous fragment forms the basis for myriad variation. The two will be joined by Cornell’s professor of piano Xak Bjerken for Marc Mellits’ vibrant and clever Tight Sweater.
Michael Compitello
Percussionist Michael Compitello is guided by his passion to create new art through collaborations with composers, performers, actors, and artists in all mediums. Michael has worked with composers David Lang, John Luther Adams, Martin Bresnick, Helmut Lachenmann, Alejandro Viñao, and Marc Applebaum on premieres and performances of new works, and has performed as a chamber musician and soloist in diverse locations such as the Darmstadt Summer Course, the Banff Centre, the International Festival of Arts and Ideas, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and the Kurt Weill Festival. From 2009 to 2010, Michael performed and studied contemporary chamber music with the Ensemble Modern and the International Ensemble Modern Academy in Frankfurt, Germany on a Fulbright Grant from the US Department of State.
Michael earned a BM in Percussion from the Peabody Conservatory and an MM and MMA from the Yale School of Music. In 2012-2013, he is a Visiting Lecturer in Percussion at Cornell University,and in fall of 2012 was Interim Lecturer in Percussion at UMass Amherst. New Morse Code (Hannah Collins, cello; Michael Compitello, percussion) is dedicated to enriching contemporary culture by advocating for new expressions in music and art.
Inspired by their experiences at the Yale School of Music as well as performing and living in Europe, New Morse Code strives to present bold, engaging performances of new works while catalyzing collaboration with instrumentalists, actors, dancers, and visual artists.
During the 2011-2012 season, New Morse Code worked with composers Paul Kerekes, Robert Honstein, and Andy Akiho on premieres of new works and new arrangements at venues such as 92Y Tribeca, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and Dwight Chapel at Yale University. NeMoCo has worked with renowned composers David Lang and Kaija Saariaho on performances of their works and shared the stage with pianist/composers Timo Andres and Paul Kerekes.