What does it really mean to be a composer?

[Click on images for enlargements.]

Erkki-Sven Tüür: 7 Etudes in Pictures (2010) A film portrait of Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür

February 24, 2011 at 4 pm

The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. (Auditorium)

What does it really mean to be a composer? How is a musical work born? How to the first shivers of a thought and a graphical image turn into the first bars and further to a whole piece? What is a composer's respensibility toward his audience?

The documentary by Marianne Kõrver observes the different sides of being a composer - from writing a piece in the solitude of the woods of Hirmuste in the island Hiiumaa to orchestral rehearsals in co-operation with acclaimed conductors Paavo Järvi and Anu Tali.

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Lou Harrison: A World of Music (2011)

February 26 at 4pm

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
East Building Concourse, Auditorium

World premiere
Director Eva Soltes in person

Music pioneer, writer, and activist Lou Harrison (1917–2003), an early experimenter with alternate tunings and intricate mergings of Western and Eastern styles, has been a legend of the American music scene since the 1950s. The culmination of two decades of research and documentation, Lou Harrison: A World of Music features rare footage, personal recordings, and informal conversations with Harrison, as well as extended passages of his hauntingly beautiful scores. The director leads a post-screening dialogue. Presented in association with Post-Classical Ensemble, The George Washington University, and the forum “Sublime Confluence: The Music of Lou Harrison.” (Eva Soltes, 2011, HD-Cam, 90 minutes)

Photo credits: (c) Art Frisch for the San Francisco Chronicle 1976/2011 and (c) Eamonn Mccabe 2010. Both copyright controlled.