{"id":247,"date":"2014-06-25T15:38:40","date_gmt":"2014-06-25T19:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/?p=247"},"modified":"2020-12-15T13:56:05","modified_gmt":"2020-12-15T18:56:05","slug":"premiere-of-dai-shizen-great-nature-for-guitar-and-flute-at-boston-guitarfest-june-28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/premiere-of-dai-shizen-great-nature-for-guitar-and-flute-at-boston-guitarfest-june-28\/","title":{"rendered":"Premiere of &#8220;Dai-Shizen (Great Nature)&#8221; at Boston GuitarFest, June 28"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4>UPDATE: video recording of this performance is now online!<\/h4>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/99759861?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Movements (played continuously):<br \/>\n<em>California<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Topaz<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Sunset<\/em><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_252\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-252\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/profiles_ulibarri.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-252\" src=\"http:\/\/nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/profiles_ulibarri-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Devin Ulibarri\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/profiles_ulibarri-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/profiles_ulibarri.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-252\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Devin Ulibarri<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The World Premiere of<strong>\u00a0<em>Dai-Shizen<\/em><\/strong><i style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> (Great Nature)<\/i> for guitar and flute will be performed by fellow New England Conservatory alumni\u00a0<strong>Devin Ulibarri<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>Alicia Mielke<\/strong>\u00a0on the Emerging Artists concert at the 9th annual\u00a0<strong>Boston GuitarFest<\/strong>\u00a0this\u00a0<strong>Saturday, June 28, 3:00pm<\/strong>\u00a0in\u00a0<strong>Jordan Hall<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_253\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-253\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/profiles_mielke.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-253\" src=\"http:\/\/nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/profiles_mielke-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Alicia Mielke\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/profiles_mielke-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/profiles_mielke.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-253\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alicia Mielke<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I am honored to have my music presented on this prestigious festival by these two wonderful performers!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bostonguitarfest.org\/2014\/concerts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Visit the Boston GuitarFest website for more information about this concert and for tickets.<\/a><\/p>\n<h3><em>Dai-Shizen<\/em>\u00a0and Chiura Obata<\/h3>\n<p>When guitarist\u00a0Devin Ulibarri\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0who I previously collaborated with in 2011 on\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nellshawcohen.com\/music_chamber.html#triptych\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Triptych<\/em><\/a>\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0asked me to write a piece for him and flutist\u00a0Alicia Mielke\u00a0relating to\u00a0Boston GuitarFest&#8217;s theme of &#8220;American Odyssey,&#8221;\u00a0I gravitated towards the woodblock prints and ink and watercolor paintings of \u00a0Japanese-American artist\u00a0<strong>Chiura Obata<\/strong>\u00a0(1885-1975).\u00a0Obata lived and worked primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area and devoted himself to bringing traditional Japanese aesthetics and techniques into American art. Obata&#8217;s own &#8220;American Odyssey&#8221; as an immigrant deeply devoted to the culture and landscape of California was complex and richly represented by his artwork.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_251\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-251\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Mono-Crater-Sierra-Nevada-California-.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-251\" src=\"http:\/\/nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Mono-Crater-Sierra-Nevada-California--300x214.jpg\" alt=\"Chiura Obata, &quot;Mono Crater, Sierra Nevada, California&quot;\" width=\"300\" height=\"214\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Mono-Crater-Sierra-Nevada-California--300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Mono-Crater-Sierra-Nevada-California--1024x731.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Mono-Crater-Sierra-Nevada-California-.jpg 1220w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-251\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chiura Obata, &#8220;Mono Crater, Sierra Nevada, California&#8221;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>While composing this piece, I considered specific images and qualities I perceived in Obata&#8217;s art and used those as prompts for musical ideas. I felt the lush yet restrained, and powerful yet delicate expressiveness of Obata&#8217;s prints and paintings would be reflected very effectively by flute and guitar. On a more personal level, my choice to respond to Obata&#8217;s artworks relates to my own background as a Bay Area native and love for California landscapes, as well as Devin&#8217;s deep commitment to Japanese culture and language.<\/p>\n<p>I was particularly inspired by Obata&#8217;s ability to follow his philosophy of <i>dai-shizen<\/i> (Great Nature), nature as a source of artistic inspiration and spiritual harmony, throughout the best and worst moments of his life. Obata and his family spent over a year in internment camps during World War II, primarily in Utah. Despite these demeaning conditions, Obata strove to bring meaning into the lives of those around him. He founded an art school with his fellow internees and created stunning, emotionally charged watercolor paintings juxtaposing the dreary manmade structures of the prison camp against broad expanses of desert, mountains, and fiery sunsets.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_248\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-248\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Sunset-Watertower-March-10-1943.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-248\" src=\"http:\/\/nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Sunset-Watertower-March-10-1943-300x226.jpg\" alt=\"Chiura Obata, &quot;Sunset, Watertower, March 10, 1943&quot;\" width=\"300\" height=\"226\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Sunset-Watertower-March-10-1943-300x226.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Sunset-Watertower-March-10-1943-1024x772.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Sunset-Watertower-March-10-1943.jpg 1193w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-248\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chiura Obata, &#8220;Sunset, Watertower, March 10, 1943&#8221;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UPDATE: video recording of this performance is now online! Movements (played continuously): California Topaz Sunset The World Premiere of\u00a0Dai-Shizen (Great Nature) for guitar and flute will be performed by fellow New England Conservatory alumni\u00a0Devin Ulibarri\u00a0and\u00a0Alicia Mielke\u00a0on the Emerging Artists concert at the 9th annual\u00a0Boston GuitarFest\u00a0this\u00a0Saturday, June 28, 3:00pm\u00a0in\u00a0Jordan Hall. I am honored to have my &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/premiere-of-dai-shizen-great-nature-for-guitar-and-flute-at-boston-guitarfest-june-28\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Premiere of &#8220;Dai-Shizen (Great Nature)&#8221; at Boston GuitarFest, June 28&#8243;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,28],"tags":[81,23,72],"class_list":["post-247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art-and-music","category-performances","tag-art-and-music","tag-concerts-and-events","tag-new-england-conservatory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nellshawcohen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}