Dal Niente closes the annual Frequency Festival with an ear-bending program of compositions by George Lewis, Rebecca Saunders, Raven Chacon, Nicole Mitchell, and Suzanne Farrin.

The composers on this program use whistle tones, breathless multiphonics, and haunting timbral shifts to vastly different effects. Rebecca Saunders’ Shades of Crimson: Molly’s Song, named for Molly Bloom’s breathless monologue at the end of Ulysses, weaves alto flute, viola, guitar, and music boxes into sensuous textures; Nicole Mitchell’s Cave of Self-Induction creates an otherworldly trialogue between two flutes and percussion; and Raven Chacon’s Atsiniltlish’ iye passes pitches and gestures between a quintet of instruments in a subtly shifting landscape. Soprano Amanda DeBoer Bartlett is featured in both George Lewis’ a whispered nine, which sets the rhythms of Lyn Hejinian’s poem into wheezing, grooving context; and Suzanne Farrin’s Prisoner Poems, based on the love poetry of Michaelangelo, in which bassoon and soprano become a single voice.

Program:

George Lewis a whispered nine   for soprano, guitar, flute, viola, and percussion
Rebecca Saunders Shades of Crimson: Molly's Song   for flute, viola, guitar, and music boxes
Raven Chacon Atsiniltlish’ iye   for flute, clarinet, bassoon, cello, and percussion
Nicole Mitchell Cave of Self-Induction   for two flutes and percussion
Suzanne Farrin Prisoner Poems for bassoon and soprano