About the Event
Date and Time
Saturday | January 16, 2027 | 11 am
Plus scheduled rehearsals as outlined below
Performance Location
First Church of Christ, Scientist
2619 Dwight Way
Berkeley, CA 94720
Rehearsal schedule and location below.
Who should apply?
Everyone is welcome! Participants will be selected on a first-come, first-served basis.
For MAPS:
For CROSSING 3: All instruments except piano and guitar. 15 players max.
How should I prepare?
Parts will be provided for MAPS, but please remember that both MAPS and CROSSING 3 involve improvisation.
Is there a cost?
NO COST but participants must commit to all rehearsals and the performance.
How do I apply?
Space is limited! Register now to secure your place.
A collaboration with Left Coast Chamber Ensemble.
About the performance
MAPS by Brittany J. Green
Maps is an improvisation piece for open instrumentation. Inspired by the poem “Maps” by Yesenia Montilla, the piece is broken into four sections, marked by a quote from the poem. Each section portrays a step in the process of what could happen when we remove borders we allow to define us. The A section features two clusters divided by middle C. It reflects the tension and limitations boundaries can create. In the B section, middle C displaced in lower and higher octaves, allowing the clusters to move more freely, and even interact with each other. This gesture changes the relationship the pitches have with one another, a representation of the change in interaction people encounter when barriers are displaced or shifted. In the C section, the C, or border, is completely removed, allowing the clusters to interact with each other with total freedom. Lastly, in the D section all the pitches coalesce into a singular wash of sound and then fades away.
CROSSING 3 by Hesam Abedini
A newly-conceived improvisation led by Iranian composer and improviser, Hesam Abedini who will be Artist in Residence at the festival.
About Left Coast Chamber Ensemble
Founded in 1992, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble (LCCE) is a consortium of 17 San Francisco Bay Area musicians who create exciting performances of all types of classical music for all types of audiences. We work as a cohesive collective of artists who share values of integrity, quality, inclusion, service, curiosity, and advocacy. LCCE centers the music of our time in conversation with musical influences of the past, combining a vast repertoire into thematic performances in our established and well-received concert series. We are also committed to continuing and evolving our broad-based education program, sponsoring our annual composition contest, championing new music through the commissioning of new works, and collaborating with current and diverse artists, thinkers, and scholars.
LCCE brings all types of music including small ensemble, vocal, orchestral, multi-media, and operatic productions to our listeners, conveying an essential and profound experience. With Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, nothing is out of bounds, and anything is possible.
Workshop Materials
When
Volunteer performers are asked to participate in the following rehearsals and performance:
Tuesday, February 21
5:00-6:00pm | Rehearsal: Claire, musicians, and onstage volunteer performers
6:00-8:00pm | Rehearsal: Claire, musicians and all volunteer performers
Friday, February 24
3:00-4:00pm | Rehearsal: Claire, musicians, and onstage volunteer performers group
4:00-5:30pm | Rehearsal: Claire, musicians and all volunteer performers
5:30-7:00pm | TENTATIVE: Family meal with Claire, musicians and all volunteer performers
7.30pm | Concert
Where
Performances and rehearsals will take place in SoundBox, inside Davies Symphony Hall. The street address is 300 Franklin, between Hayes and Grove. The space is ADA accessible with no lifts or stairs required. There is one ramp to access the space.
Performance Attire
Dress is flexible! The orchestra will be in all black, but performers are encouraged to wear whatever they feel comfortable in. The Symphony will provide a fun wearable garment to all volunteer performers.
Questions?
Please contact us: info@amateurmusic.org
Maps
for Marcelo
Some maps have blue borders
like the blue of your name
or the tributary lacing of
veins running through your
father’s hands. & how the last
time I saw you, you held
me for so long I saw whole
lifetimes flooding by me
small tentacles reaching
for both our faces. I wish
maps would be without
borders & that we belonged
to no one & to everyone
at once, what a world that
would be. Or not a world
maybe we would call it
something more intrinsic
like forgiving or something
simplistic like river or dirt.
& if I were to see you
tomorrow & everyone you
came from had disappeared
I would weep with you & drown
out any black lines that this
earth allowed us to give it—
because what is a map but
a useless prison? We are all
so lost & no naming of blank
spaces can save us. & what
is a map but the delusion of
safety? The line drawn is always
in the sand & folds on itself
before we’re done making it.
& that line, there, south of
el rio, how it dares to cover
up the bodies, as though we
would forget who died there
& for what? As if we could
forget that if you spin a globe
& stop it with your finger
you’ll land it on top of someone
living, someone who was not
expecting to be crushed by thirst—
Copyright © 2017 by Yesenia Montilla. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on March 28, 2017, by the Academy of American Poets.
“This poem is a meditation on immigration and on dreaming of a borderless world. I am a daughter of immigrants and so I wanted to honor my parents and their journey. It is dedicated to Marcelo, a great poet, a dear friend, and someone who has suffered deeply due to our need to draw lines.”
—Yesenia Montilla