Bent Frequency is excited to open their 24/25 season with “TE;XT” featuring music by Daniel Felsenfeld, Stuart Saunders Smith, Anne LeBaron, Paul Lansky, and Charles Norman Mason.

Thursday, September 19, 2024, 7:00 pm

Kopleff Recital Hall–Georgia State University (15 Gilmer St. Atlanta, GA 30303)

 “TE;XT” refers to the fact that most of the pieces on this program utilize text as a primary component and deal with interruption and disconnection. The use of the semi colon indicates a pronounced pause, cut, or interruption. In Presidential Address and Songs I-IX the text represents a break in what is normal, what is expected. Felsenfeld uses the transcript of the now-infamous Access Hollywood tape to highlight the myriad ways Trump’s candidacy and presidency broke with norms of public figures and of public discourse. Whereas Smith uses text–which is often non-syntactical or outright gibberish–not for its meaning, but as musical material itself. (Smith passed away in June of 2024 after a long battle with cancer, we present this work in memory of him and his work.) Interruption, or perhaps more appropriately disruption, can be a symbol of hope and overcoming inequality, as seen in the amazing heroines LeBaron portraits. Of course, interruption is at the heart of Songs of Parting. Here, Lansky explores the sorrow and sense of longing associated with losing a loved one. Finally, Mason’s Short Circuit explores the misfiring of neurons in the brain, causing the disruption of memory and its relation to time and meaning.

As artists in residence, Bent Frequency is partnering with the Georgia State University College of the Arts and School of Music to present this program.  Additional funding is provided by season support from the Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, Fulton County Arts Council, the Amphion Foundation, and the Ditson Foundation.