Lisa Moore and Julian De La Chica LIVE at The DiMenna Center in New York City
In a rare and intimate recital at the DiMenna Center in New York City, IGM presented pianist Lisa Moore “World Premiering” De La Chica's ambient, meditative ouevre: Preludes Op. 8 for piano and synthesizer. In the concert's first part, Moore captivated the audience, offering a masterful performance of works by Philip Glass followed by a very emotive musical trip: the premiere of De La Chica's Preludes, accompanied by the composer on the synth. Watch raw footage by IGM's collaborator, photographer Hassan Malik, for some of the concert's highlights. Australian pianist Lisa Moore has been described as “brilliant and searching… beautiful and impassioned… lustrous at the keyboard” (The New York Times), “visionary” and "New York’s queen of avant-garde piano” (The New Yorker).
The New Yorker Magazine, listed the concert as one of the events to watch in classical music.
Lisa Moore
Photo by Hassan Malik
Moore and her new Album:
Preludes Op. 8
Lisa Moore's repertoire and discography include a wide range of piano literature, from baroque to modern - where experimental music, minimalism, and post-minimalism play a important role. Her oeuvre continues to grow with the addition of this album, dedicated to New York-based Colombian composer Julián De La Chica’s Preludes Op. 8 for piano and synthesizer.
These 14 preludes are an example of “sensorial-minimalism” and perhaps they are a continuation of the composer's exploration in his two recent cycles: Nocturnal & Circular Images Op. 5 for piano (performed by the composer himself), and Experimentelle und Unbestimmte Lieder Op. 9 for soprano, piano and synthesizer (recorded by American soprano Rachel Hippert). In these works, and his piano Preludes, Mr. De La Chica organically oscillates between post-minimal and ambient music.
Links of interest
Video Prelude Op. 8, No. 13
Buy & Stream the album
Interview Lisa Moore CutCommon Magazine
Video
Watch some of the most stunning
moments of Lisa Moore & Julian De La Chica’s
performance.
Notes on the Program
With the constant evolution of music, each epoch engenders new bodies of both performers and audience. In this album, Ms. Moore presents a form of piano art that challenges itself and views virtuosity as a technical practice guided by the search for sound. The repertoire ultimately becomes a way to forge the pianist’s body and way of listening, and it evolves side by side with the creation of sound in time.
IGM Collaborator, American Soprano Rachel Hippert
during the presentation of Lisa Moore’s concert.
Photo by Hassan Malik
Every new school exists because it engages in a dialogue with tradition. Italian pianist and musicologist Luca Chiantore reminds us, for instance, that “what is modern about Beethoven’s research is that which the music score does not say: a reflection of the physiological components of the performance, the equilibrium of forces that the performer establishes with the keyboards, something that can also be produced in pages of great simplicity” (Beethoven al piano, 2010). I daresay, without a trace of historiographical reserve, that Lisa Moore’s work exemplifies that dialogue between exploration and the rigorous development of traditional performance practice.
Julián De La Chica’s Preludes Op. 8 for piano and synthesizer were composed in New York City between 2015 and 2017. About these works, the author says: “The Op. 8 cycle is a process that improvises the image that is absent. The hidden image creates emotion, truth and reality… The Preludes are an exploration of another kind of virtuosity... the virtue of sound. What lies behind, what we do not see.”
Lisa Moore
Photo by Hassan Malik
Julian’s music is unique and beautiful. It is unabashedly tonal. It is open, warm, inviting, and beguiling. Julian stretches time, easing pace while using clear, simple, tender melodies that line the air and sculpt edges across open harmonic spaces. His gentle blend of piano and synthesizer makes cushioned swirling textures that seem to coax memory and imagery. The music is soothing and consoling, yet at the same time it contains a mysterious complexity
— Lisa Moore
Read more about Lisa Moore's work and her album De La Chica: Preludes Op. 8,
in the complete interview by Stephanie Eslake for the
CutCommon Magazine, The new generation of Classical Music.
Julian De La Chica
Photo by Hassan Malik
The composer proposes ideas, then Lisa Moore’s performance creates a dialogue between those ideas and her performance and sound development. Essentially, what the score does not say exists in Lisa Moore’s unique sound as a pianist, and is what invites us to listen to these Preludes within our living time.
Lisa Moore &
Julián De La Chica
Photo by Hassan Malik
Concert Gallery
Photos by Hassan Malik
The Artists
Lisa Moore
Photo by Hassan Malik
The New York Times writes ‘Lisa Moore has always been a natural, compelling storyteller’ while TimeOut New York describes her as ‘the wonderfully lyrical pianist’. Lisa Moore has released 10 solo albums (Cantaloupe, Orange Mountain, IGM, Tall Poppies, Bandcamp) ranging from Leoš Janáçek to Philip Glass. Her 2016 album The Stone People (Cantaloupe), featuring music by John Luther Adams, Martin Bresnick, Missy Mazzoli, Kate Moore, Frederic Rzewski, and Julia Wolfe, made both The New York Times Top Classical Albums of 2016 list and Naxos’ 2017 Critics’ Choice.
Ms. Moore has recorded more than thirty collaborative discs (Sony, Nonesuch, DG, BMG, New World, ABC Classics, Albany, New Albion, Starkland, Harmonia Mundi, Bandcamp). She has worked with over 200 composers and performed globally as both a soloist and a collaborator with a large and diverse range of musicians and artists including the London Sinfonietta, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, New York City Ballet, Steve Reich Ensemble, American Composers Orchestra, Bang On A Can All-Stars (founding member ‘92-’08), Paul Dresher Double Duo, So Percussion, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Grand Band, TwoSense, and Ensemble Signal. Festival highlights include Lincoln Center, BAM Next Wave, Tanglewood, Aspen, Chautauqua, Gilmore, Huddersfield, Holland, Graz, Paris d'Automne, Rome, Milan, Turin, Hong Kong, BBC Proms, Southbank, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne Metropolis, Israel, and Warsaw - in venues - Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, La Scala, Musikverein, and the Sydney Opera House.
Julián De La Chica
Photo by Hassan Malik
Award-winning Colombian composer Julián De La Chica is a multidisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, NY, whose influences range from minimalism & post-minimalism to the alternative electronic scene. His work is often inspired by everyday images, the search for personal spiritual reflection, and inner darkness. It mixes piano, strings, and classical singers, with electronic keyboards and controllers, crossing over from classical to ambient, post-minimal and electronic music. His music has been recorded by artists around the globe and his discography includes more of 6 solo albums and 14 collaborative projects, some of which have been included by Spotify’s “Classical New Releases” playlist worldwide.