Open Waters

Duke's Fantasy I (2023),
Wenbin Lyu

Duke's Fantasy I is a graphic score piece with optional fixed media for open instrumentation, composed in June 2023. As a composer trained in classical music, I continually seek to push the boundaries of my creativity. Composing this piece presented a significant challenge, as I could not directly control the sound world through traditional notation. However, I could guide the performers through detailed instructions, allowing for a unique and expressive interpretation. Duke’s Fantasy I is divided into three distinct sections: Droplets' Dance, Digital Hearts, and Cosmic Reverie. Each section captures my curiosity and imagination, evoking a sense of wonder and exploration. Through the graphic score, I invite the performers and listeners to embark on a journey into a world of doodled fantasies and capture their own imaginations.

Manos de Tierra (2022),
Mariel Teran

The installation would create an immersive experience where live and recorded sounds would interact creating a complex sensorial atmosphere. This piece was created based on the sound instincts that every person possesses and also thinking about interactions of present and past, creating an atmosphere of different layers of sound in space.

Connections (2020),
Anthony R. Green

When a fully functioning body loses one of its senses (the ability to see, for example), the brain readjusts its connectivity to strengthen the other senses. In essence, it makes new connections in different ways. If we view humanity as a body, then 2020 was a year when the body of humanity was severely deprived of a major sense: its main mode of connection - physical interaction. Yet the collective brain reconfigured itself, and humanity strengthened connections in different ways. Humanity collectively released a silent message: connections are important and necessary for sanity, growth, development, existence. Connections is an acknowledgement of this collective statement.

Aguas da Amazonia, Philip Glass, orch. by Olivier Glissant for Symphonic Ensemble (2024)

In the early 1990s Philip Glass was traveling to Brazil every year.  One of the enduring interactions which happened at that time led to a commission to write music for the dance troupe “Grupo Corpo.”  The resulting piece, “Seven or Eight Sketches for a Ballet” (later 12 Pieces for Ballet) was originally performed by the Brazilian percussion group Uakti. Uakti arranged these compositions and renamed them as they appear on the Aguas da Amazonia CD.

"Years ago when I first met Uakti, I saw their music and performance as a unique and beautiful contribution to the world of new and experimental music. I became friends with musicians; I especially came to admire Marco’s extraordinary ear for color and composition. I was therefore very pleased when some years later they proposed a collaboration. It would be a dance score for the ballet company Grupo Corpo of their city, Belo Horizonte. This CD represents a true melding of my music with their sensibilities. For me, it is a delight and a pleasure to hear the final result.” - Philip Glass

Many of the pieces in this collection of sketches for the ballet were later taken by Glass and made into the first set of piano etudes which started to appear in 1994 as well as other things. Some selections like Japurá River ended up in his 1995 opera La Belle et La Bête; Negro River became Etude No.9, Tapajós River became Etude No.4,  and the most famous Amazon River became his most famous Etude No.2. The album ends with the appropriately named Metamorphosis No.1 as Uakti was taking this musical material from Glass’s hands and transforming it into something new.

Despite the enduring quality of the music itself, which has existed in these many forms (most persistently as piano etudes), the work known as “Aguas da Amazonia” doesn’t have a large performance history. The Chicago-based percussion group Third Coast Percussion made their own adaptations to perform, and in 2017, encouraged by conductor Kristjan Järvi had arranger Charles Coleman make an orchestral version, expanded with Järvi’s Absolute Ensemble, to perform in multimedia shows around the world. Considering this unwieldy performance history, conductor/composer/arranger Olivier Glissant took it upon himself to create a new orchestration for the Brooklyn Orchestra which would not require specialty percussion instruments and could be performed by any symphony orchestra around the world. Glissant's objective was to manage to recreate the rhythms and "feel" of the Brazilian elements introduced by Uakti using “only” the symphony orchestra, thus increasing opportunities for ensembles around the world to perform this astounding work.

Wenbin Lyu (he/him) is a Chinese composer based in Cincinnati. His compositions blend contemporary Western techniques with ancient Oriental culture, drawing inspiration from nature, science, and video games. His works have been featured at over 70 music festivals, such as Cabrillo, Tanglewood, SCI,  NYCEMF, IRCAM, SEAMUS, and ICMC. He has collaborated with acclaimed  ensembles, including the Buffalo Philharmonic, Albany Symphony, Beijing Symphony, Akropolis Quintet, Capitol Quartet, Sandbox Percussion, and Eighth Blackbird. Lyu has received one ASCAP Young Composer Award and five The American Prize awards. He holds degrees from the China Conservatory, NEC, and CCM.

Mariel Terán (1991), is a composer and performer from Bolivia. Her creative approach ranges from the intersection between sound and movement to sound experimentation through the use of different tools, also integrating technology into her musical practices. She composed for sound objects, varied instruments and post instrumental experiments, composing for ensembles such as UL from Colombia, Maleza from Bolivia and Hand Werk from Germany. She participated in the OneBeat residency in the US in 2023 in which she developed different musical collaborations from popular music to the development of sound installations and a bank of samples designed from the sounds of instruments from the Bolivian Andean tradition. Her work as a performer in Bolivia is developed in her own projects such as the Experimental Duo "txio-txio" where she has premiered her own pieces and performed others by different national and international composers with the interest of disseminating contemporary music in Bolivia.

The creative output of Anthony R. Green (b. 1984; composer, performer, social justice artist) includes musical and visual creations, interpretations of original and old or new repertoire works, collaborations, educational outreach, and more. Behind all of his artistic endeavors are the ideals of equality and freedom, which manifest themselves in diverse ways in a composition, a performance, a collaboration, or social justice work. As a composer, his works have been presented in 25+ countries across six continents by various acclaimed soloists and ensembles. Venues where his projects have been presented include Jordan Hall (Boston), Symphony Space and Lincoln Center (New York), Spike Gallery (Berlin), Cadogan Hall (London), and Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), amongst many others. Green has performed in 12 different countries, premiering original works and working with student, emerging, and established composers, including Renée C. Baker and George Crumb. He is currently visiting professor at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Olivier Glissant

Based in Brooklyn, NY, Olivier Glissant is a composer, conductor, producer and founder of Blacksalt Records. He created the Brooklyn Orchestra in 2015, a symphonic ensemble dedicated to new music and contemporary composers, working to fuse kinds of music that rarely meet on the classical stage. Glissant spent his childhood in his native Martinique, then went on to study piano in Paris before attending Berklee College of Music in Boston in 1988, where he studied music production & engineering, composition and conducting. His influences are many, including South American, Caribbean and African music, as well as European classical music. This brought him to collaborate through the years with Philip Glass, Norah Jones, Bill Frisell, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Vinicius Cantuaria, Pete Seeger, John Zorn, Tico da Costa, Thiago Thiago de Mello, Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Yasmin Levy.

He conducted his own creations with the Brooklyn Orchestra - Symphony No. 1, the tone poems "Charmeuse de Serpents", "Echaurren", and "Les Nuits d'Egypte" – at Carnegie Hall and the United Nations in New York, and in Paris in the Panthéon-Sorbonne's Cour d'Honneur and La Fab’ Gallery. After premiering his Ballet “Ladja” for the 2023 season he is currently working on two operas, “Six Scenes from Paradise” with libretto by Markus Kupferblum, and “Concert Baroque”, composed and written by Glissant based on the novel by Alejo Carpentier.

Brooklyn Orchestra

The Brooklyn Orchestra is a symphonic ensemble dedicated to new music, striving to focus on contemporary composers. Founded by composer/conductor Olivier Glissant, the group was conceived to fuse genres of music that rarely meet on the classical stage and to bring music from multiple cultures to the orchestral repertoire, in an effort to make symphonic music accessible to a wider and more diverse audience.

Since our creation in 2015 we have fought to achieve our mission of diversifying the orchestral and operatic stage and bringing modern works from different cultures to the classical mainstream, and have presented several new creations including multiple premieres, as we focus mainly on active composers.

Our 2023 Fall season included the World Premiere of artistic director Olivier Glissant's ballet LADJA featuring Yannick Lebrun, lead dancer for the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, and archive footage by Katherine Dunham, as well as the New York Premiere of Philip Glass's SYMPHONY No. 14 in the presence of the composer.

Our 2024 season will feature the World Premiere of Glissant's opera SIX SCENES FROM PARADISE with libretto by Markus Kupferblum,  a performance of the MATRIX SYMPHONY, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the movie release, and will end with the World Premiere of our production of Bernard Herrmann's A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

We are also developing educational programming and creating performing arts workshops for children that will provide exposure to opera, orchestral music and ballet in order to encourage creativity, experimentation and a collaborative spirit.

We believe in education above all and in the importance of the Arts. Children are welcome to all our events for free, and will always have some time reserved for direct interaction with the musicians of the orchestra (and their instruments!). Our first regular series SYMPHONIC SUNDAYS, designed to present the highest quality music to young listeners and led by Glissant and BKO’s co-directors Louis Arques and Ali Bello, takes place at the Old Stone House in Brooklyn on the first Sunday of every month.

Brooklyn Orchestra Musicians: Yulia Musayelyan (Flutes); Keve Wilson (Oboe); Louis Arques (Clarinets); David Nagy (Bassoon); Jasmine Lavariega (French Horn); Clyde Daley (Trumpet); Zander Theiss (Trombone); Luke Henderson (Violin); Ali Bello (Violin); Daniel Simmons (Viola); Sam Chung (Cello); Milad Daniari (Double Bass); Lora Al-Ahmad (Celeste/Keyboard); Isabel Cardenes (Harp); Katherine Fortunato (Percussion ); Josh Perry (Percussion)

Isabel Hagen, MC

Isabel Hagen is a stand-up comedian and classically-trained violist. As a stand-up, she has been featured on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and as a New Face of Comedy at the Just for Laughs festival in Montréal. Isabel started stand-up immediately after earning her Bachelors and Masters degrees in viola performance from the Juilliard School. As a violist, she has played in the orchestra of many Broadway shows, and worked with artists such as Bjork, Max Richter, and Steve Reich. You might be wondering if Isabel ever combines comedy and viola. The answer: sometimes!