“Victoire condense moments of focused beauty and quiet conviction from the pandemic distractions of modern life.” —Pitchfork
Minneapolis, April 13, 2015—Composer/electric guitarist Noveller, synthpop chanteuse Glasser, and new classical chamber ensemble Victoire join forces to explore the sonic intersections of woman and machine, manipulation and composition. Sarah Lipstate (Noveller) conjures dense, sweeping soundscapes from her guitar that “call to attention all senses at once, to the point where even the word music seems somehow limiting” (Time Out New York). Through soaring voice and rhythmically driven melodies, Cameron Mesirow (Glasser) creates “a methodical, computer-tethered expedition into the vast, wild expanse of human feeling” (Pitchfork). Hailed as a “postmillennial Mozart” (Time Out New York), Victoire founder Missy Mazzoli composes diverse, hypnotic pieces that encompass indie rock, meditative electronics, and classical minimalism for Victoire’s five virtuoso female players. The evening, Saturday, May 9, 8 pm in the William and Nadine McGuire Theater, features solo sets from each artist and culminates in a collaborative finale.
This event is copresented with SPCO’s Liquid Music series.
Tickets to Victoire / Glasser / Noveller are $22 ($18 Walker members) and are available at walkerart.org/tickets or by calling 612.375.7600
About Noveller
Noveller is the solo electric guitar project of Brooklyn/Austin-based composer and filmmaker Sarah Lipstate. Handling the guitar as her muse, Lipstate summons a sonic palette so rich as to challenge the listener to conceive of how it’s housed in a single instrument manipulated by a solitary performer.
She’s previously released records on No Fun Productions, Weird Forest, Important Records, and her own imprint Saffron Recordings. In 2014, Lipstate announced her signing with Fire Records. Fire released Noveller’s latest full-length Fantastic Planet in January 2015. Noveller has toured with St. Vincent, Radiolab, Xiu Xiu, the Jesus Lizard, U.S. Girls, Aidan Baker, and Emeralds. Lipstate has collaborated with several renowned musicians, including live improvised duo performances with Carla Bozulich (Evangelista, The Geraldine Fibbers), David Wm. Sims (the Jesus Lizard, Scratch Acid), Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth), and JG Thirlwell (Foetus, Manorexia).
She has previously performed as a member of Cold Cave, Parts & Labor, and One Umbrella. Lipstate has also participated in Rhys Chatham’s Guitar Army, Ben Frost’s “Music for 6 Guitars” Ensemble, and Glenn Branca’s 100 guitar ensemble.
About Glasser
Glasser is the ethereal electronic project of Cameron Mesirow, a Los Angeles native surrounded by classic and more challenging music since birth. Mesirow’s father is a member of the Blue Man Group, while her mother played with Human Sexual Response in the ’70s and ’80s. She grew up listening to Motown and new wave, but in her teens she discovered punk, grunge, and ska. By the time she was in her twenties, Mesirow felt ready to make her own music and, inspired by a vision she had of a figure hovering over water, her nom de musique became Glasser. She crafted GarageBand demos that pitted her delicate, swooping vocals over spare electronic rhythms and circular melodies that evoked avant-garde music and global folk at the same time. These tracks made their way to the labels True Panther and Young Turks, which released the Apply EP in 2009 and the Tremel single in 2010. Glasser toured with the xx and Sigur Rós’ Jónsi with a rotating cast of supporting players, including producers Van Rivers and the Subliminal Kid, who worked with her on her debut album, Ring (so named for its flowing structure), which arrived in September 2010. Re-teaming with Rivers, Mesirow continued her focus on the emotional and physical aspects of structures with her 2013 album, Interiors, which was inspired by her move to New York and Rem Koolhaas’ book Delirious New York, among other influences.
Artist Biography by Heather Phares
About Victoire
Missy Mazzoli, founder, composer and keyboard player in Victoire, was recently deemed “one of the more consistently inventive, surprising composers now working in New York” by The New York Times. Her music has been performed all over the world by the Kronos Quartet, eighth blackbird, pianist Emanuel Ax, the American Composers Orchestra, JACK Quartet, New York City Opera, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, cellist Maya Beiser, violinist Jennifer Koh, pianist Kathleen Supové, Dublin’s Crash Ensemble, the Sydney Symphony and many others. She is currently Composer-in-Residence with Opera Philadelphia, Gotham Chamber Opera and Music Theatre-Group, and in 2011/12 was Composer/Educator in residence with the Albany Symphony. Mazzoli was a visiting professor of music at New York University in 2013, and recently joined the composition faculty at the Mannes College of Music.
The 2014/15 season included a new work for the Ethel String Quartet, a performance on the New York Philharmonic’s CONTACT! series, and the second release from Victoire. Mazzoli and Victoire have teamed up with percussionist Glenn Kotche (of Wilco), synth producer Lorna Dune and virtuosic vocalists Mellissa Hughes, Martha Cluver and Virginia Warnken (of Roomful of Teeth) to record Mazzoli’s expansive new work, Vespers for a New Dark Age. Over two years in the making, Vespers for a New Dark Age is a brazen interpretation of the vespers prayer service that replaces the customary sacred verses with poems by Matthew Zapruder.
Mazzoli and Victoire recently joined Meredith Monk in a celebration of her work at Carnegie Hall. Along with librettist Royce Vavrek, Mazzoli is also working on Breaking the Waves, a chamber opera based on Lars von Trier’s 1996 film, commissioned by Opera Philadelphia, to premiere in 2016.
Mazzoli attended the Yale School of Music, the Royal Conservatory of the Hague and Boston University. www.missymazzoli.com
Violinist Olivia De Prato was born in Vienna and started her early musical studies in Udine, Italy. After recently moving to New York City she has quickly established herself as a passionate performer of contemporary and improvised music. She has performed in Europe, South America, China and the United States as a soloist with orchestra as well as an ensemble player. De Prato is a member of the new music ensembles Signal, Victoire and MIVOS quartet that focuses on the performance of the contemporary string quartets repertoire. She has closely collaborated with composers such as Steve Reich, Michael Gordon, Julia Wolfe, Evan Ziporyn, David Lang, Todd Reynolds, Meredith Monk, Ned Rothenberg, Brad Lubman, Dai Fujikura, Bernard Rands, Luca Francesconi, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Helmut Lachenman, Beat Furrer, Krystof Penderecki, Pierre Boulez, Benedict Mason, Peter Eötvös and Philippe Manoury. De Prato recently released albums on John Zorn’s Tzadik label and New Amsterdam records. www.oliviadeprato.com
Clarinetist Eileen Mack grew up in Australia and moved to New York City in 2004. She is an active conspirator in the new music scene in the city, regularly performing with the political band/ensemble Newspeak, the Red Light Ensemble, and Victoire. She has played at a wide range of venues, from Carnegie Hall and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw to small bars in Williamsburg, and appeared as a soloist at the 2006 Bang on a Can Marathon and the 2008 Canberra International Music Festival. Before moving to the US, Mack was a freelance orchestral musician, and performed with a number of contemporary ensembles in Australia. She received a masters degree in 2006 from the Manhattan School of Music, and is currently a doctoral student at Stony Brook University.
Lorna Krier is one of the most versatile young keyboardists in New York performing music from experimental to pop on anything from analog synthesizers to toy pianos to Steinways. Krier has been described as “a pianist specializing in contemporary music, who has become an expert synthesizer player and is helping break down the boundary between new classical and indie rock” (Lukas Ligeti). Acting as an advocate for new music, she has worked with some of the nation’s finest young composers and performers to create exciting new works. She is co-founder of the synth project, Love Like Deloreans, the original keyboardist in Victoire, as well as a freelance performer in Brooklyn. www.lornakrier.com
Eleonore Oppenheim is a versatile bassist-about-town, equally at home in several genres, and a staple of the “new music scene” as well. Her playing has been described as “…quietly virtuosic…with subtle expressivity…” (Alan Kozinn, NY Times), “…with particular eloquence,” (Joshua Kosman, the San Francisco Chronicle), and “…skillfully negotiated…astonishingly poised.” (Joshua Rosenblum, the Charleston Post and Courier).www.eleonoreoppenheim.com
Related Event
Composer Conversation: Missy Mazzoli
Friday, May 8, 6 pm
Amsterdam Bar & Hall
6 West Sixth Street, St. Paul
Free, but reservations required. Contact the SPCO box office at thespco.org or at 651.291.1144.
Dubbed “Brooklyn’s post-millennial Mozart,” by Time Out New York, Missy Mazzoli is a new music catalyst, creating, driving and fueling a new contemporary classical movement. Mazzoli’s inventive compositions have been performed by renowned ensembles such as the Kronos Quartet, Eighth Blackbird, Minnesota Orchestra and her own band, Victoire. Mazzoli takes the stage at the Amsterdam Bar in St. Paul for a conversation in advance of Victoire’s Walker performance. The event is free, but reservations are required. Reserve free tickets online through the SPCO or by calling 651.291.1144.
Composer Conversations are intended for music lovers of all stripes and feature some of today’s most original, prominent and prestigious voices in composition. Events feature live interviews, audience Q&A, and informal post-show receptions. Presented in partnership with the SPCO’s Liquid Music Series. The event is free, but reservations are required.
Liquid Music
Liquid Music is a concert series presented by The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra that seeks to expand the world of classical music through innovative new projects and collaborations, boundary-defying artists, and unique presentation formats. For more information on the SPCO’s 2014-15 Liquid Music Series, visit thespco.org/liquidmusic.
SPCO Sponsors and Partners
99.5 Classical MPR and 89.3 The Current
Amsterdam Bar & Hall
The Crowne Plaza Saint Paul Riverfront
Stella Artois
Lipton Tea
The Augustine Foundation
American Composers Forum
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
McNally Smith College of Music
Walker Acknowledgments
The Walker Art Center’s performing arts programs are made possible by generous support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation through the Doris Duke Performing Arts Fund, the William and Nadine McGuire Commissioning Fund, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Producers’ Council
Performing Arts programs and commissions at the Walker are generously supported by members of the Producers’ Council: Russell Cowles; Nor Hall and Roger Hale; King’s Fountain/Barbara Watson Pillsbury and Henry Pillsbury; Emily Maltz; Dr. William W. and Nadine M. McGuire; Leni and David Moore, Jr.; Josine Peters; Mike and Elizabeth Sweeney; and Frances and Frank Wilkinson.