INTRODUCTION

As part of a residency and commission by the 2019 Pikes Falls Chamber Music Festival in Jamaica, VT, composer Nathan Lincoln-DeCusatis will create a new chamber piece for clarinet, flute, violin and violoncello that will be performed as a live soundtrack to a series of photographs by legendary photographer Rebecca Lepkoff documenting the Lower East Side of New York City between 1937 and 1950. Using the visual images of Rebecca’s photography as a backdrop, the new piece will bring back to life the now vanished world of this culturally rich urban microcosm, using quotations from the many folk music traditions of the immigrant communities that once filled its streets and tenements.

BACKGROUND

Since its inception in 2012, Pikes Falls Chamber Music Festival (PFCM) has commissioned at least two new pieces each season. Last year’s 2018 season featured a new initiative of commissioning a new piece by Nathan Lincoln de Cusatis that connects to the local community. To do this he contacted the family of famed local photographer Rebecca Lepkoff (1916-2014) who documented life in rural Southern Vermont through her photographs in the 1950’s. Her family provided the composer with the original photographs to be turned into a film using Ken Burns effects and transitions to create a visual narrative to which Nathan composed a piece for sinfonietta inspired by the imagery. This piece was then played during the festival as a live soundtrack with conductor to accompany the film, and for the 2019 season of PFCM, Nathan will create a similar soundtrack to a series of Rebecca Lepkoff’s photographs of the Lower East Side between 1937-1950.

ABOUT THE PIECE

Life on the Lower East Side will be a quartet for flute, clarinet, violin and violoncello performed by members of the Inscape Chamber Orchestra who are the resident musicians of PFCM. By creating a film from Rebecca’s photos using the same transitional effects he used in his 2018 project, Nathan will synchronize the score rhythmically to the transitions and movements of the images by using a conductor who uses an in-ear click track. The film is projected in the hall while simultaneously transmitting the click track to the conductor who in turn cues the musicians so that the piece becomes a live, synchronized accompaniment. Also, like the 2018 project, the video will be combined with a recording of the live performance, published online, and donated to the Jamaica Historical Society.

TIMELINE AND PERFORMANCES

June, 2019 – film and commissioned piece delivered to festival musicians

As part of the second week of the Pikes Falls Chamber Music Festival, this piece will receive four performances:

August 7 – Jamaica State Park Pavilion (version without film), Jamaica, VT

August 8 – Grafton Community Church (version without film), Grafton, VT

August 9 – Preview concert at Brattleboro Performing Arts Center, Brattleboro, VT

August 10 – PFCM closing concert and official premiere: Jamaica Town Hall, Jamaica, VT

As part of the Inscape Chamber Orchestra 2019-2020 season, the piece will receive additional performances in Washington, DC and New York, NY.