Led by Stephen Drury of the NEC faculty, the Callithumpian Consort is a loose aggregation of NEC students, alumni, and new music enthusiasts that performs locally, on the East Coast, and in Europe. Throughout the year, the group visits NEC with performances of contemporary avant-garde music.
On tonight's concert, the Consort perform Claude Vivier's Pièce pour violon et clarinette and Pièce pour flûte et piano, both from a larger body of work for instrumental duos from 1975. Pianist Yukiko Takagi is joined by violinist Ethan Wood and flutist Jessi Rosinski.
More recent music on the program includes two works the Consort has commissioned, and Jason Eckardt's Rendition, from 2006. Rendition is performed by Takagi with bass clarinetist Rane Moore.
Lee Weisert's New England Drift was first performed at NEC's Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice, and Marti Epstein's Troubled Queen receives its first performance tonight.
Jason Eckardt's music typically references extramusical subjects, including current affairs. Rendition's title refers to the CIA practice of extraordinary rendition, wherein suspected terrorists are transported to countries where U.S. standards for interrogation are not in effect. Find a key source document on this practice here.
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VIRGIL THOMSON