Interval 7.1 Blog 3

From curator Ray Evanoff:It's concert week!  This Friday, Issue Project Room will host Mabel Kwan in her New York City debut recital as she works her way through engaging, prickly pieces by Stefan Prins, Aaron Cassidy, Evan Johnson, Ramteen Sazegari, Eliza Brown, and myself.  As the concert approaches, I thought I would set the scene by providing some glimpses into how we got ourselves here.February 2013: Mabel and I are huddled around my laptop, pouring over scores by Evan Johnson as I wax hyperbolic about its extraordinary impracticality.  I mention that Evan has an as-yet unpremiered toy piano piece from 2007.  Mabel is intrigued.  The following day over coffee we discuss, among many other things, Mabel's recent performance of Stefan Prins' Piano Hero #1 and her interest in learning #2.July 2013: I ask Mabel if she's interested in proposing a joint project for MATA's Interval series.  Mostly it's an excuse to dream up a bucket list-esque program with Mabel showcasing some of our favorite composers and people.  She's in.  We kick ideas around.  As much good music gets excluded as included as we whittle down the works to a set for the proposal.September-November 2013: We're accepted!  What follows is a bevy of email exchanges as we try to sort out the pragmatics of obtaining the instruments involved.  MATA Executive Director Todd Tarantino scours the greater New York City area in search of a clavichord.  One person is worried about how we will amplify the instrument (“condenser mics positioned overhead: we promise not to touch the inside!”), another is concerned that we will pluck/scrape/etc the instrument's interior (“we promise not to touch the inside!”), and many an otherwise-promising candidate is turned away for not being the specific make up we need (a four octave unfretted clavichord – they can differ a fair bit in the particulars).  By the end of the process, we realize that, there just aren't any clavichords available to rent in New York.  Todd suggests we start a clavichord rental business, but immediately rescinds, realizing the clientele would be limited, to say the least.December 2013: With the above in mind, Mabel loads up her car with a trio of toy pianos and a clavichord and makes the drive from Chicago to New York City.That's just a small window into our road to Friday.  It's already been a great experience, from working on the program order with Mabel to getting to know Todd and Alex Weiser, MATA's Manager of Operations and Development, albeit through a purely electronic medium.  I can't wait to have us all in the same room, after months of planning and preparation, to finally sit back to appreciate the whole reason we go through this trouble: the music.  Yesterday in an email with Mabel, she said, “I will say, I love every single piece on this program, so I'm really excited about the music.”  And that's all that really matters!