Emerging Voices Project

New music in a library!?

2012-01-09T18:04:00.001-05:00

EVP is excited to present our commissioned music at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, MD! Come check us out on Feb 4 @ 2pm. We'll be splitting the program with Zach's colleagues Jeremiah Baker and Cara Salveson.

Navy Band Sax Symposium!

2011-12-05T22:56:00.000-05:00

We are honored to announce that our project was selected to present a recital at the Navy Band's International Saxophone Symposium! This yearly event is hosted at the George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. We will be performing the three commission pieces off our CD: Adam Knauss' Portrait, Kathleen Bader's Two Songs for the Sounds Outside, and George Lam's The Person In The Room Wishes To Be Left Alone.

All events at the symposium are free, so if you are in the area come see us Friday, January 20 at 6:30-7pm in the Chorus Room!

CD Released!

2011-10-07T13:22:00.001-04:00

Well, September flew by with lots of rehearsals, two CD release concerts, designing a store on Zach's website, and mailing out CDs to our donors. We had a wonderful time premiering the music from our new CD in Lexington, MA and NYC, but really we can't wait to get to more cities! On our list is Boston, Providence, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and DC. Of course as soon as concerts are booked, we'll post the info.

In the mean time, head over to http://www.zachherchen.com/store/ and check out our CD Emerging Voices!

One final thing, we had a pre-concert party in NYC that included desert on the subway ride to our concert. This picture is so awesome, we have to share:

Photos were taken by Anthony Trujillo. Check out his portfolio and tumblr!

Lexington on Sept 18

2011-09-01T23:09:00.001-04:00

Our Lexington, MA concert is officially rescheduled for Sunday, Sept 18 @ 2pm at Follen Church! We hope to see you (and no hurricanes) there!

Lexington Concert Cancelled

2011-08-27T13:20:00.002-04:00

The concert is cancelled!

If you were planning on braving the weather to see us play new music, then you are awesome. Please stay home and be safe! We'll reschedule for September.

For those of you who donated on Kickstarter, CDs and downloads will be sent out on Monday. For everyone else, CDs will go on sale through www.zachherchen.com starting late next week.

Keeping an eye on hurricane Irene

2011-08-25T11:46:00.000-04:00

Hurricane Irene is expected to reach Massachusetts just in time for our concert (thanks mother nature). Sunday morning we will check the latest weather report. If we need to cancel or move the concert we will post here, on our Facebook event page, and send emails.

It's All Happening!

2011-08-08T20:22:00.004-04:00

And we're off!

The CD release is upon us. Join us on Sunday, August 28th in Lexington, MA.

The concert kicks off at 2pm at Follen Church located at 755 Massachusetts Avenue in Lexington, Massachusetts. Tickets are $10.

Elisabeth and Zach will perform works from their new CD, all of which were commissioned by and written for the performers. As you all know by now, "Emerging Voices" features three young American composers: Kathleen Bader, Adam Knauss and George Lam. There will be a reception in the Community Center afterward, and CDs will be available for purchase!

Hope to see you there!

New Music in Hand

2011-05-02T11:34:00.002-04:00

This weekend we received our third score and have all the music for our CD in hand! Here's the breakdown:

Adam Knauss - Portrait
-soprano and bari sax

Kathleen Bader - Two Songs for the Sounds Outside
-soprano and alto sax
-two movements: "The Stars Are Laughing" and "Hush"

George Lam, libretto by Benjamin Rogers - The Person In The Room Wishes To Be Left Alone
-soprano, alto sax, and tape
-prologue, 5 chapters, and epilogue

I'll post detailed info on each piece as we record them. Many thanks to our composers for their hard work!

One Down

2011-05-02T11:29:00.003-04:00

Over the last two weeks we have been recording and editing Lori Laitman's I Never Saw Another Butterfly! We are nearly finished with her piece and will be tackling Adam Knauss' new composition throughout May. It feels great to start recording! Now we just gotta learn the three new pieces...

Congratulations to Amy Beth Kirsten!

2011-04-20T11:46:00.003-04:00

This month Amy Beth Kirsten was named a 2011 Guggenheim Fellow and recipient of a Levy Supplemental Stipend for music composition. You can read the press release here. Way to go Amy!

Amy is one of four composers writing music for our Emerging Voices Project. We are looking forward to working with her in the Fall.

Coaching with Lori Laitman

2011-04-15T13:38:00.006-04:00

Yesterday Elisabeth and I drove down to Potomac, MD to work with Lori Laitman on her piece I Never Saw Another Butterfly. Lori had great advice for us on the character of each movement and helped us with interpretive choices that we've debate over the last couple years. We're feeling ready to go and will start recording her piece next week!

I also wanted to share Lori's awesome dog Kirby, who is a natural singer:

Recording Test!

2011-03-31T14:38:00.004-04:00

Elisabeth Halliday and I tested out a recording space earlier this week! We are getting ready to start recording the album for our Emerging Voices Project. Up next on our schedule is to rehearse with Lori Laitman and record her piece I Never Saw Another Butterfly for soprano and alto sax in April. Then in May we will rehearse and record Adam Knauss’ new piece Portraits for soprano and bari sax.

Kickstarter Successfully Funded

2011-02-01T00:22:00.004-05:00

Our Kickstarter fundraiser has finished at $4,220! A great big "Thank You!" goes out to our 57 backers who pledged 140% of our goal. Because of them we were able to commission a fourth composer and will expand our CD release tour.

Here's what comes next:
-we will create 10 one-of-a-kind recordings for backers (songs of their choice)
-the commissioned composers will write music
-1 backer gets a voice lesson with Elisabeth
-this summer we will record the album (and mail it to backers)
-6 backers will receive a limited run behind-the-scenes DVD
-then we'll tour and celebrate with you!

We will post updates at each step so check back regularly!

New York Concert a Success!

2011-01-31T14:27:00.000-05:00

We had a great time on Sunday - Neke Carson at the Gershwin Hotel was so welcoming. The Lobby really is one of my favorite New York venues.

This was our last performance before we start learning and recording our commissioned peices. Here we go!!

Sunday Concert in New York City

2011-01-28T15:46:00.000-05:00

This Sunday is the second performance of our kick-off promotional tour, this time in New York City!

Sunday January 30th, 3pm
Gershwin Hotel
7 East 27th St.
New York, NY 10016
$10 at the door

Zach and I performed at the Gershwin Hotel a little over a year ago, with Rhymes With Opera, and we had a great time - the space is eclectic and intimate, and we're thrilled to be performing there again.

Welcome to Amy Beth Kirsten

2011-01-27T13:50:00.003-05:00

We have met our second goal of $3,500! Elisabeth and I are excited to add Amy Beth Kirsten to our list of commissioned composers. Info about her will be posted in the composers section soon.

There is still a few days left to reach our final goal of $4,000. This would allow us to expand our CD release tour and reach a city close to you! Head over to our Kickstarter page to pledge your support.

106% funded!

2011-01-15T15:02:00.003-05:00

What a busy couple of weeks! We've been blown by everyone's support and the project is now 106% funded. What's this mean for us? We will be able to commission three new pieces for voice and sax from composers Kathleen Bader, Adam Knauss, and George Lam and create a CD with their new pieces alongside Lori Laitman’s I Never Saw Another Butterfly!

This doesn’t mean that we are going to sit back a relax though. We would love to add one more composer (TBA) to the project and expand our planned CD release tour (Boston and NYC) to include cities like Philadelphia, Baltimore, DC, or a city of your choice! Here are our new funding goals:

$3,500 – We will add one more composer

$4,000 – We will expand our CD release tour

Head over to our Kickstarter page to join in supporting the project.

Masterclass

2010-12-23T12:54:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I gave a masterclass on contemporary music at the Performing Arts Center in Duxbury, MA. It was great working with students from Duxbury High School's Wind Ensemble, which I performed in 10 years ago! I talked about performance techniques, working with composers, using electronic processing, and improvisation. At the end, I answered questions on life as a musician.

The original plan was to present alongside Elisabeth, but she became sick at the last moment and couldn't make it. She is starting to feel better though!

Consider it kicked-off

2010-12-23T12:51:00.004-05:00

Elisabeth and I performed in Plymouth, MA last Sunday. We had a great audience of friends, family (including my 93 year old grandmother), new acquaintances, my first sax teacher, and composer Jason Belcher. Many thanks to everyone for their support!

Duxbury Reporter Article

2010-12-17T12:40:00.003-05:00

The Duxbury Reporter published an article about our project in preparation for our Massachusetts kick-off events! Read the article here.

Up and Running

2010-12-15T13:51:00.008-05:00

After a late night getting everything ready, our Kickstarter page is live! We are raising $3,000 to cover the costs of commissions and recording/producing a CD. Help fund the project at: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zachherchen/emerging-voices-project-music-for-voice-and-sax.

From our Kickstarter page:

Elisabeth Halliday and I have created the Emerging Voices Project to commission, perform, and record music for voice and saxophone. We met while studying at The Peabody Conservatory and have performed together throughout the past 6 years. This is our first strictly duo project and we are excited to share it with you!

We were inspired to create this project by Lori Laitman's "I Never Saw Another Butterfly", a musical setting of poetry written by children who lived in the concentration camp Theresienstadt. We've performed this piece several times and enjoy playing as a duo so much that we want to create more music for voice and sax! Elisabeth and I have selected American composers Kathleen Bader, Adam Knauss, and George Lam to write pieces for us based on the themes of childhood and loss of innocence. In 2011 we will premiere these new works and release them on CD alongside "I Never Saw Another Butterfly".

This is a big project for us and we've spent months planning. We are now ready to start the project, but we need your support to make it happen. Your pledge will help fund the cost of commissioning the composers and recording/producing the CD. We have great awards lined up for you so please consider giving what you can and help spread the word!

Masterclass in Duxbury, MA

2010-12-13T15:05:00.004-05:00

Elisabeth and I are excited to announce that we will be giving a masterclass for Duxbury High School students as part of our kick-off week! I graduated from DHS in 2002 and can't do enough to support their amazing music program. The event will take place at Duxbury's beautiful Performing Arts Center, across the street from the high school. We'll be working with their wind ensemble students on contemporary music performance, extended technique, and what it's like to be a professional musician. I'll be sure to post photos after the event!

Accepted by Kickstarter

2010-11-22T22:35:00.005-05:00

We've officially had our project accepted by Kickstarter! The next step is to create a video about the project, finalize our pledge levels, and post everything on their page. We will "go live" Dec 15th and can't wait to get this project going!

Fundraiser Kickoff Concert

2010-11-15T01:24:00.007-05:00

We are very excited to announce our fundraiser kickoff concert!

Sunday Dec. 19th @ 2pm (doors open at 1:30pm)
26 North Street, Plymouth, MA
Dr. Brian Whitfield's music salon, entrance through side door
suggested $10 donation

Program:
Lori Laitman: I Never Saw Another Butterfly, soprano and saxophone
Kevin Clark: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, for solo saxophone
Judith Weir: King Harald's Saga, for solo soprano
Jason Belcher: Continuous Cities 2 and Lavender and the Newt, soprano and saxophone

Dr. Whitfield was nice enough to offer us his beautiful music salon for our kickoff concert. We will be performing duo and solo pieces in what is sure to be a wonderful afternoon concert. Starting Dec 15th we will be fundraising through Kickstarter, the largest funding platform for creative projects in the world. There will unique rewards for pledges, so stay tuned!

Photo Shoot

2010-11-14T23:53:00.008-05:00

A few weeks ago Elisabeth and I spent a Sunday afternoon in Central Park taking press photos for the project. It was great weather for October so there were plenty of people at the park. We drew a lot of attention (formal attire and a saxophone will do that) and it was funny have strangers taking our photo as we posed for our own photographer. At one point a little girl ran around a corner, saw us (or more precisely Elisabeth in her gown), stopped suddenly, and said "wwwoooooowwww". Haha.

Here's a few of my favorite photos from the day:

Emerging Voices Project

2010-11-14T15:35:00.004-05:00

Hey everyone!

Elisabeth and I created this blog to share each step of our Emerging Voices Project. I thought I would kick things off with the story of how we got started:

I moved to NYC over a year ago and Elisabeth, who was already living here, asked me if I wanted to do more duo work with her. We had performed two pieces by Lori Laitman ("I Never Saw Another Butterfly" and "Living in the Body") while studying at the Peabody Conservatory and performing in our experimental chamber group No Signal. Elisabeth and I quickly decided to commission a few pieces, throw in one of Laitman's works, and make a CD.

After months of off and on planning we decided to get serious and set a deadline of Summer 2011. We needed to choose a theme to tie everything together and inspire the composers. Elisabeth really took lead here and suggested using Laitman's "I Never Saw Another Butterfly" as a starting off point. The texts (and title) used in this piece come from a collection of art and poetry under the same name, written by Jewish children who lived in the concentration camp Theresienstadt. We decided to ask the composers to write music based on the themes of loss of innocence and childhood.

Now we needed to pick out the composers to commission. We limited ourselves to 3 composers so that all of the music would fit on one CD and we'd have a reasonable budget. It was hard to narrow it down to just three (believe me there's plenty of composers we wanted to include, in fact if we raise more money I'd like to add on a few "bonus" composers). In the end we asked Kathleen Bader, George Lam, and Adam Knauss if they would write for us. They all said yes and we were starting to get really excited about the project!

Since then we have been getting ready to kickoff a fundraising drive for the project. We struggled with project names for a few weeks, including a few awful ideas, before settling on the Emerging Voices Project. We spent a Sunday afternoon in Central Park taking press photos. We booked a kickoff concert in Plymouth, MA on December 19th (full details in another post). We're planning a masterclass on contemporary music at Duxbury High School (my home town!). And we hope to get the project on Kickstarter in December.

Ok that's plenty for one post. If you read all the way through you get a special badge!