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Seda Röder improvizes first-ever electro-acoustic cadenza for a classical concerto

In this video, New Music Pianist Seda Röder improvises the first-ever electro-acoustic cadenza for a classical concerto!

Röder, who specializes on bringing contemporary music to new audiences, says that “the public at Beethoven’s time would have expect the soloist to improvise in the cadenzas. I wanted to do the same, but in a style that is my own and entirely modern.”

To turn this vision into reality, Seda worked together with Mexican composer Edgar Barroso who provided an electro-acoustic framework that she could use for her improvisations.

When Röder was approached by Harvard conductor Hanjay Wang with the suggestion to perform with the Chinese Symphonic Masterpieces Orchestra, the unusual idea finally came to life!

To find out more about this very special project, please listen to the latest episode of Seda’s podcast in which the pianist shares her thoughts on the unusual performance.

Seda plays “Drifting Through the Echoes of Time” @CCRMA, Stanford University

New Music pianist Seda Röder performs Turgut Ercetin’s Drifting Through the Echoes of Time at CCRMA, Stanford University. The composition is featured on Seda’s latest album, Listening to Istanbul.

Inspired by post-spectral as well as computer-aided music Turgut Erçetin introduces a wide range of sonic novelties into his first solo piano piece Drifting through the Echoes of Time. These sounds are produced by alternative playing techniques, such as plucking the strings of the piano, whistling into the piano, as well as by a small device called E-Bow that creates long resonances when brought into close proximity with a piano string. The piece explores the tranquil flow of time and contains excerpts from a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke (Mein Leben ist nicht diese steile Stunde) that sets the mesmerizing and serene tone of the entire work.

Blackbox #007: “A Child’s Play” Listening to Helmut Lachenmann

Helmut Lachenmann and Seda RöderIn this episode of Blackbox I would like to talk about a piece that caused a very interesting discussion on my YouTube Channel: “Ein Kinderspiel” (A Child’s Play) by Helmut Lachenmann. I am hoping that this episode will help you to develop a new listening strategy for this very interesting piece while also clarifying its context a little bit.

As always please don’t hesitate to contact me with questions or comments. Enjoy!

–Seda

An Alphabet of Sounds: Tolga Tüzün on his Compositional Process

The Turkish composer Tolga Tüzün speaks about the compositional process that underlies his new piano piece “Permanence,” a piece he composed for the “Listening to Istanbul” Project and dedicated to me. I can’t wait to play this composition for the Listening to Istanbul project.

By the way, if you haven’t signed up to my mailing list yet, please do so. I’ll send around a notice once the recording is ready. And hopefully you will be able to come to one of the many concerts that we are planning as well!

– Seda

Listening to Istanbul…

As many of you know, right now I am working on a CD and concert project: “Listening to Istanbul”. For this project I have commissioned six piano works by the most talented Turkish composers of our time. I will record this excellent music in June 2010, and perform the pieces in a series of concerts in Turkey, Europe and the US starting in July.

If you would like to learn more about “Listening to Istanbul” here is a video in which I introduce the project. To stay informed about the upcoming CD and the concerts simply sign up for my newsletter or visit us on http://www.newmusicistanbul.com!

This video and many other videos about the project are also available on Listening to Istanbul Website, and on Youtube.

Thanks for watching!