Terrance McKnight: Live from the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park, I'm Terrance McKnight from WQXR 105. 9 FM, New York City's number one classical music station, (applause) and it's wonderful to see and hear this live audience out here in Central Park.
(applause and cheers)
Tonight we're going to broadcast a concert by the Boston-based ensemble A Far Cry. A Far Cry is a self-conducted chamber orchestra with a mission to ignite a love of music and utilize its power to bring people together locally and across the globe.
Now tonight they're going to bring us a program with themes of home and migration. A program featuring music that depicts a multiplicity of time and place. There's a Palestinian folk dance. There's a postlude about a 12th century Muslim mystic and philosopher. And a concerto about a clarinetist's immigration from Syria to the U. S. And that's all before intermission. We're going to learn more about this program.
Here from one of the Criers, please meet violinist Jae Cosmos. Jae.
Jae Cosmos Lee: Thank you, Terrance. Good to see you again.
Terrance McKnight: Always.
Jae Cosmos Lee: Yeah, it's a beautiful day. I'm glad the gods just decided to whiff that moisture away.
Terrance McKnight: I think they wanted to be sure they heard this program that you put together.
Jae Cosmos Lee: I think they really wanted to hear it.
Terrance McKnight: Tell us about it. What was the inspiration for the theme of migration, home and migration?
Jae Cosmos Lee: Yeah I am an immigrant myself. I am a naturalized citizen. Also, the two composers on this program. Thank you.
We have Dinuk Wijeratne, who's a Sri Lankan Canadian, and Kinan Azmeh, who's a Syrian American, who also just got naturalized not too long ago. Um, yeah.
One of the things about being an immigrant, it makes you, makes you think about the home country that you left behind. And one of the things I, I wanted to talk about, when we actually first concocted this program a few years back, was the idea of home. And, is home where the heart is, as we all say? And it is. Is it a place? Is it actually a geographical location? Or is it somewhere where you go to sleep? Is it somewhere that you actually find the most solace and comfort in? And for me, that was a big question, especially with a lot of migration that's happening now because of expunged borders and the kind of chaos that we have going on in the war, in the world right now.
So it was something that we wanted to bring together to really reflect and think about and it was originally conceived as a, as a title called Homeland.
Terrance McKnight: So how do you get a group of musicians, 15, 20, 25 musicians to buy into that, that concept? Because this is more than, it's music but it's about something else other than music. It's broader than music. How do you get everybody on one page to say that this is important, we're going to spend time practicing this, working on this, presenting this music around the, around the world?
Jae Cosmos Lee: Right. And, well, what makes it easy for that, for that buy in to happen is the music is great. And this music is really excellent. And when we actually heard the piece for the first time and we played it through, especially Dinuk's clarinet concerto that was written for Kinan when we were, when we first started playing it, as we were learning the piece, we just realized this is something electric that not only is it about a story, about, about a man's journey, but also where, where the interplay between the orchestra, the piano, and the clarinet is so dynamic that we just could not stop humming or playing it. So that really makes the buy in so much more easier for it to happen. And I think all of us have really enjoyed, I mean, even, even just Kareem's play piece that, we'll, we, we will begin with is an Arabic dance of festivities. And we actually, like just two days ago when we were in, when we were in in Boston, Kareem came to the concert and taught the audience how to dance a dabke. I mean, what other concerts do you actually get to do that? And I, I don't see anywhere else in Boston, but maybe not in New York either.
Can I just say, A Far Cry is now 18 years old.
Terrance McKnight: Congratulations.
Jae Cosmos Lee: Thank you.
Terrance McKnight: And A Far Cry is, we were out here last summer, so nice to have you guys back. And to our radio audience, we're going to get this concert started with this first piece, Dabke.
It comes from the Arabic for "stamping of feet" or "to make noise." Jae Cosmos, thanks man.
Jae Cosmos Lee: Thank you, Terrance.
Terrance McKnight: So it seems fitting to ask you to make a little noise for A Far Cry, welcoming them back to New York. (applause) And this music. By Kareem Roustom on WQXR.
MUSIC - Kareem Roustom: Dabke (2014)
Terrance McKnight: That piece, Dabke, composed by Kareem Roustom. Performed live by the ensemble A Far Cry.
I'm Terrance McKnight and we're broadcasting live from the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park.
Now the next piece on the program is by Kinan Azmeh. The work is based on the life journey of 12th century philosopher.
Jae Cosmos Lee: We've been having such a great time actually working again with Kinan and Dinuk. I just wanted to say that how much of a privilege and honor it's been to work together with him again after two years and. Just getting this tour together, it's been such an honor. I just want to bring to the stage Kinan Azmeh and Dinuk Wijeratne.
Kinan Azmeh: Good evening, New York. Thank you so, so much for being here. It's wonderful to be playing in this wonderful space, the heart of the city, the city that I call home for 24 years. I think it's wonderful to be playing at a place where you can get in touch with the soil. Maybe both the soil and the soul.
New Yorkers sometimes tend to forget that we also have soil in the city. And and, you know, I think when you get in touch with the soil of a place and its soul, that's where home is. And home is, like Jae said earlier, is the the theme of this concert. The question of home and, you know, all the above and after. The first, we're gonna play two pieces both one, the first one, is that I've composed. And the other one is by my dear friend Dinuk Wijeratne. This first piece that I've written, titled, Ibn Arabi's Postlude. Ibn Arabi is a Sufi Muslim philosopher, was born in Andalusian Spain, back in the 12th century. And he traveled east looking for both, I think, to be inspired, and to inspire. Which also, I think, is another definition, wonderful definition of home. He traveled east and he was buried in Damascus, my city of birth. And this piece we're going to play tries to really summarize his journey. Again, somebody who's looking for knowledge. And if you read his writings, and maybe some of you are familiar with his writings, and if not his writings, you might be familiar with the writings of one of his students, which is Rumi. Rumi is one of his students. And you see the word love all over the place. And also one of the things that actually I love the most about his writings is that sacred well, freedom of thought for him was as sacred as religious beliefs were. And I love that, something that resonates with me very much.
Kinan Azmeh: The piece tries to depict his journey, both trying to inspire and be inspired. And I hope you enjoy this. I'm going to give the microphone to my dear friend Dinuk, who's going to tell you about his clarinet concerto.
Dinuk Wijeratne: Thank you, Kinan. I hope you can hear me. Greetings everyone. What a pleasure to be here. Greetings from a Canadian. I lived in the city as a student for many years. Long enough to feel, long enough to feel like a New Yorker. So it feels like coming, thank you, thank you very much. It feels like coming home, in a sense.
The theme of home is very much apropos for this concert. Beautifully curated by this wonderful orchestra, it touches on themes of home and migration, and even in the clarinet concerto, themes of exile.
I believe you already have a program note about this piece. It's in six continuous movements. But if I could give you a bird's eye view, this is a piece told through the lens of this clarinet protagonist. Let's call him the traveler. And in six phases, he experiences all kinds of questions to do with where his place is. Indeed, one of the remarkable things about music, I think, is its ability to create in the listener's mind, a sense of place. So you and I could be listening to the same piece of music and somehow be transported to two different imaginary places.
So like I said the bird's eye view of this concerto is actually the question, how do we human beings define the word home. Is it is home defined purely by geography and location? Is it defined by the whereabouts of the ones we love? Is it a state of mind? Is it a place to to which you feel compelled to contribute?
But in many places in the concerto, it is also suggested that home is also bound, for better or worse, by time. It is an ephemeral window in time, and perhaps when the window of time closes, maybe that is why we feel this bittersweet melancholy that is home. Complex and ever shifting, we believe it is all of these things and more.
And perhaps if you get a chance to speak to us after the show, we'd love to hear your definitions of home. So please enjoy next Ibn Arabi's Postlude and the Clarinet Concerto. Thank you.
Terrance McKnight: We're live at Central Park with A Far Cry at the Naumburg Bandshell.
MUSIC - Kinan Azmeh: Ibn Arabi Postlude
Terrance McKnight: Ibn Arabi Postlude. Music by Kinan Azmeh. The Boston-based ensemble A Far Cry performing, performing that music right here in Central Park. Naumburg Orchestral Concerts on WQXR.
Coming up next on this program is a clarinet concerto by composer Dinuk Wijeratne. And the soloist on that piece is gonna be the composer of the last piece. He was featured playing clarinet.
You're listening to WQXR. I'm Terrance McKnight here with you in Central Park. This is the third WQXR broadcast from the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts this summer, but we're going to come back. We're back Tuesday, July 23rd at 7:30 p. m. with Handel and Haydn Society. They're going to play a Baroque program with pieces by Handel, Corelli, a guy named Johann Sebastian Bach, so you don't want to miss that. We're going to be right here in Central Park where the weather is gorgeous. It's cooperating. Everybody seems so happy. All the chairs are full. People sitting out front.
We're about to hear some more music here on WQXR. Boston-based ensemble A Far Cry here at the Naumburg Bandshell. The concert will include music by Janáček a little bit later, but right now this composition by Dinuk Wijeratne.
MUSIC - Dinuk Wijeratne: Clarinet Concerto
Terrance McKnight: Clarinetist, composer, Kinan Azmeh, performing that music with A Far Cry. The work is Dinuk Wijeratne's Clarinet Concerto, written for his good friend, who you just heard playing it right here on WQXR.
I'm Terrance McKnight and we're broadcasting live, you can hear it, with the Naumburg Bandshell here in Central Park. Beautiful night. My goodness, people are standing and it's just intermission out here in Central Park.
Some of the movements from that work describing immigration from Syria to the U. S., Foretelling, that was part one; then we heard The Dance of Ancestral Ties; Flux; The salt and bread of rhythm; The cadenza was called Solitary Traveler; and then the final movement epilogue was Home in Motion.
Well, this is Classical New York. WQXR 105. 9 FM and HD Newark, 90. 3 FM WQXW Ossining and WNYC FM HD2 New York.
It's intermission here at the Bandshell in Central Park for this broadcast by A Far Cry. Now this is the third of our broadcasts from the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts this summer. While these concerts are free and open to the public in Central Park, you can also catch them on the radio.
We're going to be back here Tuesday, July 23rd at 7 30 for another concert. It's going to be the Handel and Haydn Society with a program featuring music by Corelli, Handel, Johann Sebastian Bach, complete with an organ in the middle of the bandshell, so you don't want to miss that. Either come down here where there are hundreds of seats set up in front, and I'll tell you, every seat is filled. Every seat here at the bandshell, here in Central Park.
I'm going to speak to the composer and the clarinetist to get their take on this work. They present so much work that's new to our listeners, new to our audience, new to me. So we're going to meet some of these performers here with A Far Cry.
They were out here with us last summer at Central Park. It's nice to be back out here with them for this program.
We began tonight listening to a piece that describes a sort of Palestinian folk dance, a piece called Dabke. And then we heard Kinan Azmeh's composition, and we just heard from Dinuk Wijeratne, a composer who's greeting folks as he's coming over, making his way over here to the table to have a conversation with us about the piece that he composed for his good friend, Kinan, who you just heard. Dinuk Wijeratne sitting here at our table here at the WQXR table. Welcome to the radio, we know we're doing some radio now.
Dinuk Wijeratne: Absolutely, thank you.
Terrance McKnight: Yeah, we just, we just heard your your composition, that clarinet concerto, and I'm just wondering, man, a piece like that you wrote a lengthy piece for Kinan, who, and you guys are good friends.
Dinuk Wijeratne: Absolutely, we go back about 25 years now.
Terrance McKnight: Yeah, when did, when did you all, whose idea was it for this composition?
Dinuk Wijeratne: Well, I mean, we met at, students at the Juilliard School. We actually started by improvising on the music of our heroes, you know, Béla Bartók. And then we started writing original music. And then, I think maybe about 10 years later, I just thought, you know, gosh, I would love to write you a concerto, and he was very excited about it. But it took some time to find, you know, the subject matter. And what we realized was that every time we would meet in a new city and tour and everything, of course we would talk about, you know, our families and everything, and the music industry, but we always came back to this topic of home, migration, how is life as immigrants, and, you know, where, where do we feel at home?
Terrance McKnight: How, how is your family?
Dinuk Wijeratne: They are well, thank you.
Terrance McKnight: Kinan, welcome.
Kinan Azmeh: Thank you. Thank you for having us.
Terrance McKnight: You're not out of breath?
Kinan Azmeh: Slightly.
Terrance McKnight: Yeah. You've been playing for a while and then you just ran down the stairs to come over here to our table. We're so delighted to have you on air and speak to our listeners about the music you just played. I mean, there's so much happened. There was some vocalizing happening up there. Just a great night for this music.
Kinan Azmeh: Thank you.
Terrance McKnight: In this park. What does it mean for you guys to be back out here at Central Park for this audience?
Dinuk Wijeratne: Thank you.
Kinan Azmeh: Actually, I'm not back. I mean, I've been a New Yorker for 24 years. I moved here in 2001 and New York sucked me in like it does to many people. But actually to play here at the heart of the heart of the city, it's kind of beautiful. You know, like I said also earlier on stage, to be in touch with the soil and the soul of the place is very important to me. So to play also, you know, for the wide audience, you know, these are not necessarily just concertgoers. It's, you're playing for everybody. And music is about sharing, and home is about sharing. So it feels totally natural to be playing this here.
Terrance McKnight: You guys have taken me to a place where I've never visited before.
Dinuk Wijeratne: Well, that's the idea.
Terrance McKnight: Only in the imagination.
Dinuk Wijeratne: Yeah. Thank you.
Terrance McKnight: It's very personal. journey that we went on through your music, sort of telling his story, his immigration story. So, so how did, what was the first conversation? I mean, I'm sure there were many, but how do you set those conversations to music?
Dinuk Wijeratne: Well like I said, the, the subject matter kept coming up, sort of how do we, where do we feel at home? And I think in the music we play as a duo, we ask that question a lot, you know, and we're also trying to find some kind of intersection of cultures. Also a home between improvisation and composition. And out of that was born this story of, you know, could I sort of loosely tell this thing in about six movements through the lens of this clarinet protagonist, which is of course Kinan. And we call this person the traveler and and he's asking, you know, where do I feel at home? And perhaps, I don't know if I'm giving the end away, at the end he feels at home nowhere and everywhere. And certainly, certainly we do every time we play music.
Kinan Azmeh: I mean, yes, you know the thing, the music we play tonight reflects, maybe Dinuk told you that already, reflects hours of talking not about music. We discuss topics all the time, we're dear friends since many, many years. So discussing home and what that means has been always in the back of our minds. But also we talk about it. And I think we both have this notion that home should continue to expand. I think we all do that naturally. In terms of discovering different vocabularies, we do that in cuisine naturally. But then when you find something that you like, you start to dig vertically. And the more you dig vertically, the more at home you feel. And I think that happens when you plant a tree. Like, for example, I moved to an apartment in Brooklyn, we have a little backyard. The moment I planted a tree in this backyard, my connection with the city changed forever. And these kind of inspirations do find their way into the music we were writing because we actively, Dinuk and I, talk about that all the time. So when he was writing for me the concerto, it doesn't come from a void. It comes from endless late-night discussions and talks, and jam sessions, too.
Dinuk Wijeratne: Absolutely. And also this notion of becoming comfortable with fluidity, right? Which is almost this sort of counterintuitive thing. But I think music by definition is always in motion. It's always fluid. It never quite, quite arrives. And so I think, you know, music could be the best vessel for this kind of story.
Terrance McKnight: So when you guys are in an airport and you're looking at all of the signs at the gates, and you see LGA, or you see BOS, or whatever that acronym is for your city, the code. Where do you, what do you get excited about when you see those three letters? Is there a particular place? Because I know for me, having lived different places, when I see LGA…
Kinan Azmeh: Do you really get excited?
Terrance McKnight: …yeah, I feel like got to put on a little armor, but going home because the souls, the hearts, you know, the people are there, you know, waiting for you perhaps. Maybe that has something to do with home.
Dinuk Wijeratne: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I have a little girl now. We both have, you know, little ones. And I think the definition of home changes. You know, you feel a pull towards them and when you're on tour, you know, you feel like a limb is missing. But at the same time, it's this constant contradiction. You know, I mentioned in the concerto that it's all of these things and more, and I think you're wrestling with all of these things.
Terrance McKnight: What does this music, what does this programming mean for you guys in this moment in time of what's happening in the world, what's happening in our country, what's happening in the world? Is it important for you all to bring this music out in this moment?
Kinan Azmeh: I think it's important to bring music in the world anyway. I mean, I have this fundamental belief that making music is an act of freedom. And by practicing it you're hoping that it's contagious, that it also invites people to practice their freedoms as well.
I mean, you know, but also you realize, I'm playing on stage, you know, I think of many things. I think of what's happening in the country. I think what's happening in Gaza right now. You think of so many things. And you realize that what you're doing is very limited. You know, the music we play doesn't stop a bullet. It doesn't bring freedom to people. It doesn't bring, it doesn't bring, it doesn't, it doesn't feed the hungry. However it's an act of freedom that we should embrace and practice, because maybe in the audience right now, somebody needed that little bit of maybe hope, or maybe some, to be in touch with how they're feeling, and I think we helped do that. Not only Dinuk and I, but all musicians around the world do the same, I think.
Terrance McKnight: And it was a reminder of another place that, you know, it's a big place out, it's a big world out here. The sounds actually took us somewhere else, you know, and reminded us that there are actual people. That this music is about culture, it's about, it's about our common humanity.
I'm thinking about another great New York musician named Ellington, who used to write for his friends. And, you know, would say that Ellington would hear his friends practicing and he would just write a line and know what they were able to do with that. I'm wondering how much of this music, you guys have been friends a long time, was actually composed and how much did you just let him do his thing, Dinuk?
Dinuk Wijeratne: Actually, there is a fair amount of freedom in this piece. And we like to think that if you can't tell, then that's a good thing. If we've somehow blurred the lines between the composed and the improvised. But to answer your question, it was a sincere pleasure to be able to write for my, you know, one of my best friends. And I went as far as sort of leaving him little notes in the score. You know, just knowing that that would be the only score that went to him, I would sort of leave these cheeky notes. Yeah, so it's a, it's very much of an inside joke.
Terrance McKnight: It's so nice to see you all again, and I'll remind our listeners, we're out here at Central Park at the Naumburg Bandshell.
I'm Terrance McKnight. I'm sitting here with two composers, clarinetists. You play a little piano in that piece too. This is Dinuk Wijeratne, he's the composer of that clarinet concerto. The man he wrote it for, and who we heard playing it, Kinan Azmeh. We also heard his composition a little bit earlier here on Classical New York.
We're gonna say later on to you fellas, let you get back and do whatever you're gonna do next. We're going to continue listening to music here on the radio. Thanks for joining us.
Kinan Azmeh: Thank you so much.
Dinuk Wijeratne: Thank you so much.
Terrance McKnight: We're still at intermission here at the Naumburg Bandshell. Just a few minutes, we're going to be back on stage talking to another member of A Far Cry, violinist, Jesse Irons.
A reminder, just a reminder, you can sign up for our newsletter, our WQXR newsletter, WQXR newsletter, and you can do that through our website at wqxr. org. Our newsletter gives you great information on our programming and events around the city. So go ahead and take advantage of that.
The last piece on our program tonight is a work by Leoš Janáček. It's his Idyll. He wrote it for string orchestra. Now Janáček was great friends with Dvořák. Speaking of New York connections. In fact, the year before Janáček composed this piece, Dvořák and Janáček embarked on a grand walking tour in Bohemia. Janáček was inspired by Dvořák's use of large ensemble, his romantic style of writing, as well as his use of Czech folk songs.
But he was also specifically inspired by Dvořák's Serenade for Strings, which Janáček used as a model for his own Idyll. And we just happen to have a recording of that. We're going to hear A Far Cry perform that piece by Leoš Janáček, that Idyll. But before we do it, let's take a listen to a bit of the piece that inspired Janáček to write his Idyll for String Orchestra. This was performed right here at the Naumburg Bandshell a few years ago, 2016. It was performed by the East Coast Chamber Orchestra. Dvořák's String Serenade.
MUSIC: DVORAK: String Serenade excerpt
Terrance McKnight: And we're back. Live from the Naumburg Bandshell, Central Park, I'm still Terrance McKnight. We're back for the second half of this concert with the Boston based ensemble A Far Cry being broadcast live on WQXR. Perfect night for all the music we've heard, but the last piece is a piece by Leoš Janáček. It's called Idyll for String Orchestra. It's perfect for this picturesque scene here in Central Park. We're going to learn more about this piece talking to another one of the Criers. Please welcome Jesse Irons.
Jesse Irons: Hey Terrance, thank you.
Terrance McKnight: Now Jesse, you're one of the founding members from back in 2007.
Jesse Irons: That's right.
Terrance McKnight: How's the journey been, man?
Jesse Irons: Oh, incredible. Yeah, back in 2007 we were all little grad students coming out of schools mostly around Boston and everybody just had this vision of, sort of, the world's biggest string quartet. And that's what we tried to carry off. I mean, thank you. It was a vision of musicians taking the lead, of musicians steering the ship of not necessarily no conductor, but all of us being able to be conductors and leading and following and being active and creating.
Terrance McKnight: Now all the music that we've heard tonight so far has been by living composers. Tell us just quickly about the range of what you all do.
Jesse Irons: Well, it's a big range. We don't have a set repertoire. I think the earliest piece we've played is maybe the 11th century chant music that we've arranged for strings. Yeah, the way it works is the different musicians in the orchestra, we call ourselves Criers, we all have the opportunity to come up with programs based on our own experience, our own interests. And if you get, you know, 18 great musicians together in a room, you're going to have about 500 amazing ideas. So we are not in any danger of running short.
Terrance McKnight: Tell us, you can't see this on the radio, but trust me, as I'm talking to Jesse, he hasn't stopped moving. It's like the music is already, the music is already in his head. I don't know if it's the last piece he played or the one we're about to hear. But tell us about the piece we're about to hear and the connection between what Janáček composed and perhaps what we heard on the first half of the show.
Jesse Irons: Absolutely. Well, as you will soon hear, the music on the second half is quite different from the music of the first half. Janáček is a, you know, incredible 19th century Czech composer. And he was a young man, he was 23 years old in 1877. And he was so excited because he'd had the opportunity to meet one of his idols, who was another Czech composer and organist, just about half a generation older than him, a little bit more established, a man by the name of Antonin Dvořák. They hit it off to the extent that they decided to spend the summer walking around Bohemia together. It's a little bit like if you met your mentor, like, just out of school, and then immediately decided to go walk the Appalachian Trail. It's, like, they must have had incredible connection, and I just love the image of these two gentlemen, probably wearing top hats, just strolling arm in arm around the Bohemian countryside all summer long, and I think that this trip had a profound impact on both of their music. Both of them, of course, Bohemian composers, and from that point on, you really hear that in the music. We've been talking about home and homeland, and Kinan and Dinuk spoke so beautifully about what that can mean to different people. And I, to me, this Janáček piece, the Idyll for Strings, depicts Janáček's love for his homeland, the rivers, the people, the folk tunes that he and Dvořák heard in the little villages. And so, in my conception the connection between these two halves is, is just another factor of home, and the people, and the surroundings, and the place, and the impact that home has on you.
Terrance McKnight: A reminder, we're gonna be back here July 23rd for another concert here in Central Park, Handel and Haydn Society, but now we're gonna hear the final work on this program. Idyll for String Orchestra by Leoš Janáček, performed by the Boston-based ensemble of A Far Cry on WQXR.
MUSIC – Janáček: Idyll
Terrance McKnight: Live from the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park, A Far Cry, Boston based ensemble, playing Idyll by Leos Janáček, idyllic evening out here in Central Park, I'll tell you. Beautiful weather, full house in the park, all the chairs are filled, folks standing around. Still applauding this group has played two halves of this concert, winding up this performance.
We're going to be back out here at Central Park for another concert of the Naumburg Orchestral Concert Series on Tuesday, July 23rd. That's a concert featuring the Handel and Haydn Society. There's going to be an organ on stage in the bandshell, so you don't want to miss that.
Our great thanks to Christopher London. Christopher is President of the Naumburg Orchestral Society, and his staff, including stage manager extraordinaire Pati Dynes, Also thanks to Wilson's Showtime Services and our friends at SummerStage.
The WQXR team includes engineers George Wellington, Duke Marcos, Neal Shaw, Ray Mandel-Mueller, and don't mess with Bill, Bill Siegmund.
Our production team includes Lauren Purcell-Joiner, Eileen Delahunty, Max Fine, David Norville, Aimée Buchanan, and Jade Jiang. I'm Terrance McKnight. I'm going to send it back over to the WQXR studios where Miyan Levenson will keep you company.