Density512 premieres
As the diva laments
by Yevgeniy Sharlat
As the diva laments is based on an aria from my opera PARADISO, written with librettist Stephanie Fleischmann, which takes place after a human extinction event. In that aria, Alma the sentient robot tries to remember a scene from another opera, in which the diva prays to gods for deliverance in the face of an impending catastrophe. ~ Yevgeniy Sharlat
Density512
Jacob Aaron Schnitzer, conductor
Annabel MacDonald, flute & piccolo
David Blackwell, oboe/music box
Ryan Stockhausen, clarinet/music box
Bryan Chin-Foon, bassoon/music box
Kyle Blake Jones, soprano saxophone/music box
Sarah Au, horn & kazoo
Kenken Gorder, trumpet/kazoo/music box
Michael Martinez, trombone/kazoo/music box
Yujung Um, keyboard/music box
Jordan Walsh, percussion
Nick Montopoli, violin 1/concertmaster
Zach Matteson, violin 2
Meagan Peaco, viola
Carol Anne Bosco, cello
CJ Johnson, bass
Yevgeniy Sharlat has composed music for orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo, theater, dance, mechanical sculptures, animations, and film. He has written string quartets for Kronos, Aeolus, Aizuri and Amphion Quartets. Other chamber music has been played by the NOW Ensemble, Hub New Music, Seattle Chamber Players, Trio Séléné, Quodlibet Ensemble, Le Train Bleu, and many others. Orchestral music has been performed by Kremerata Baltica, Seattle Symphony, Hartford Symphony, Mikkeli City Orchestra (Finland), and Chamber Orchestra Kremlin.
Mr. Sharlat is a 2020 John Simon Guggenheim Fellow; other honors include the 2006 Charles Ives Fellowship from American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Fromm Music Foundation Commission (2010), fellowships from MacDowell and Yaddo, and ASCAP’s Morton Gould (2003), Boosey & Hawkes (1997), and Leiber & Stoller (1997) awards.
Born in Moscow, Russia, Mr. Sharlat came to the United States as a refugee at age 16. He studied composition at the Curtis Institute of Music (BM) and Yale University (MM, DMA). Since 2005, he has been on the composition faculty at The University of Texas at Austin.
Density512 is a chamber orchestra and collective of brave and open musicians who champion contemporary programming. We tell stories through imaginatively curated experiences, amplify the voices of groundbreaking and emerging artists, and cultivate interdisciplinary collaborations.
Hailed as a“crack-new music ensemble” (Gramophone Magazine) and “musical performance incubator” (CTX Live Theatre), Density512's live productions include narrative concerts, opera, ballet, live-to-film, sound installations, and more. Density512's film and audio recordings can be found on its new music media and record label DensitySOUND and on Toccata Classics.
Additional collaborations include projects with the Austin Chamber Music Center, The Contemporary Austin, Blanton Museum of Art, Silent Films Out Loud, Fast Forward Austin, Thinkery, Liminal Sound Series, UMLAUF Sculpture Garden, HUB New Music, American Berserk Theatre, Red Night Fall Productions, Gilbert & Sullivan Austin, Golden Hornet, and the Austin Public Library.