Pause and Listen

Pause and Listen explores the spectrum of new classical music through the lens of musicians, composers, and art appreciators. Each episode, three panelists join in conversation with John T.K. Scherch, bringing in three pieces of new notated music available on the internet that they feel others should hear. Listeners are encouraged to engage with the music as they see fit, be it listening to the pieces uninterrupted before playing the episode or pausing and listening to the pieces on streaming platforms along with the panelists.

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Pause and Listen

I Care if You Listen

August 21, 2020 • John T.K. Scherch and Michele Mengel Scherch • Season 2 • Episode 4

1. Icli Zitella - Zona, for violin soloist and 10 string instruments
https://soundcloud.com/iclizitella/zona-for-violin-soloist-and-10-string-instruments

2. Michael Abels - "Anthem," from the score to Jordan Peele's Us
https://open.spotify.com/album/1gkLMuAnI8U5z2yhyhhRQk?si=4gDbAGb3Q2-m2eFUjGmcIw

3.Nathalie Joachim - Suite pou Dantan
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1UfE5N84rXZzd8mWWqSwhG?si=VBC5-qKrQha3CJa2htJEig

Panelists:

Venezuelan violinist Natalie Calma, currently based in Boston, is an enthusiast of new music and improvisation. She is dedicated to promoting living, contemporary music in all of its forms. Natalie is a co-creator of Box Not Found, a violin and clarinet duo that seeks to build and cultivate the foundations for alternative streams of new music while also generating a positive impact on both the local and global communities. Natalie holds degrees from the Interlochen Arts Academy, The Boston Conservatory (BM), where she studied with Lynn Chang, and Boston University (MM), where she studied with Dana Mazurkevich. Natalie plays on a violin made by Venezuelan luthier Matias Herrera, and a bow made by Venezuelan luthier Eduardo “Guayo” Gonzales.

Sugar Vendil is a composer, pianist, and interdisciplinary artist based in New York City. Her artistic practice is strongly rooted in rigorous discipline as a musician and gradually expanded into performance that integrates music, movement, and unconventional approaches to the piano. She is a proud second generation Filipinx American. Vendil was recently awarded an ACF | Create commission to write a work for Boston-based duo Box Not Found (May 2020) and was awarded with 2020 Fellowships at the National Arts Club and Sokoloff Arts. She was a 2019 Artist in Residence at High Concept Labs in Chicago and was awarded a 2019 Chamber Music America commission to write a new work for her ensemble, The Nouveau Classical Project, which she founded in 2008. Vendil was a finalist in National Sawdust’s 2019 Hildegard Competition. ETHEL premiered her new string quartet in December 2019 as part of their Homebaked commissioning program. She was a 2019 resident artist at Mabou Mines and an artist in residence at Target Margin Theater. In 2016, she was a Fellow in the Target Margin Institute for Collaborative Theater Making, which encouraged her to further pursue composition and performance making. She holds a Master of Music degree in piano performance.

Amanda Cook is a Boston-based editor, writer, and arts administrator with a background in flute performance and higher education. She is the Editor-in-Chief of I CARE IF YOU LISTEN, an award-winning contemporary classical music magazine advocating for historically underrepresented artists and equitable programming. Her training as a performer coupled with her current work in music journalism and nonprofit administration provides a unique perspective from which to view the current state of classical music.

More information at pauseandlisten.com. Pause and Listen was created by host John T.K. Scherch and co-creator/marketing manager Michele Mengel Scherch.