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News 

Wow! - it's been almost a year since our last performance together and Till By Turning is reuniting! So many incredible things have taken place since then. TBT is delighted to bring our sounds and excitement to Austin, TX where we will be featured on two programs, June 18th & 19th, 2017, hosted by Austin's amazing COTFG (Church of the Friendly Ghost). Our fabulous friend, Henna Chou, who is also the managing director of COTFG, will be joining us on cello.   

This is Henna. We love you, Henna! 

This is Henna. We love you, Henna! 

Henna Chou has traveled the world as an environmental scientist and musician for the past two decades. She is currently the Music Curator at Salvage Vanguard Theater and Managing Director of COTFG. As a cellist, guitarist, keyboardist or sound designer, she has performed in many theatrical and touring band ensembles and occasionally created arrangements and recordings for film. She has performed with such avant garde luminaries as Ellen Fullman, Tatsuya Nakatani, and John Butcher, to name a few. Till By Turning is grateful to have the opportunity to collaborate with her!


Till By Turning's "original" instrumentation included cello. It was a delight revisiting some of our "original" repertoire this past July, specifically Jessica Pavone's quintet, Quotidian, with our dear cello-friend from Austin, TX, Henna Chou. We are looking forward to joining forces with Henna again this coming summer 2017 to workshop and perform new repertoire for our "classic" configuration [violin, viola, cello, bassoon, and piano/vocals]. We are excited that Henna's colleague Laura Brackney is eager to write for our group!


Check out this nice review of our performance at Music Unlimited Festival 2014 in All About Jazz: ""Thoughtful improvisations and arresting sonic explorations focused on extended techniques and inventive exploration of silence and space. 

Despite the demanding nature of this set and the often minimal, almost silent sonic articulations, the trio succeeded in keeping the audience carefully attuned to an adventurous journey."

 

ABOUT

Till By Turning is the collective effort of Amy Cimini, Erica Dicker, Emily Manzo, and Katherine Young -- four creative performers who work as composers, educators, scholars, songwriters, and improvisors. 

Till by Turning performs new chamber music by established and emerging artists, including original compositions, songs, and arrangements written by the ensemble members. Till by Turning also develops creative educational programs linked to this repertoire.

Time Out Chicago wrote: "There’s an old Shaker dance number, written in 1848 by Elder Joseph Brackett, that likely serves as inspiration for...Till by Turning. It’s called 'Simple Gifts' and what it describes is a kind of serendipitous joy in movement through time and space: When true simplicity is gain'd / To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd / to turn, turn will be our delight / Till by turning, turning we come round right."

"The group belongs to a new generation of adventurous musicians bringing contemporary music to clubland....[T]he players dip into the modern canon...and give breath to new works by their peers."

The members of Till by Turning met while studying instrumental performance at Oberlin Conservatory. Inspired in part by a unique instrumentation (violin, viola, bassoon, and piano), the first concert was a program of music by Sofia Gubaidulina. 

Since then, the ensemble has commissioned and premiered music by Jessica Pavone, Aaron Siegel, Jason Cady, Jim Altieri, Matt Marble, Sabrina Schroeder, Alex Ness, Jordan McLean, among others. Repertoire also includes pieces by Morton Feldman, Olivier Messiaen, Ornette Coleman, Harold Meltzer, Faust, James Tenney, and Christian Wolff. Till by Turning explores the group's creativity by presenting original works produced by the members, as well as through collaborations with visual artists such as Paul Rowley, Christine Edwards, and Brock Monroe.

 

MEMBERS

 
 

Performance

 
 
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June 18th (6:00PM): TBT @ COTFG at Mass Gallery - 507 Calles St, Ste 108, Austin, Texas 78702

An evening of sonic exploration for $5.00 admission! TBT, in various configurations and combinations, is part of this amazing line up: 

4:00pm LILA DIVINE PLAY
Julie Slim (Voice, Darbukah)
Stephanie Britten Phillips (Viola,Percussion, Voice)
Seetha Shivaswamy (Flute, Percussion, Voice)
Tonya Lyles (African percussion)

5:00pm THOMAS ECHOLS / Man, Woman, Friend, Computer

6:00pm TILL BY TURNING
Till By Turning featuring guest Henna Chou (cello).

7:00pm MORE EAZE + FUTURE MUSEUMS
More Eaze and Neil Lord first time live duo performance!

8:00pm Asukubus

 

June 19th (7:30PM): TBT @ COTFG at Me Mer Mo Monday - The Volstead, 1500 E 6th St, Austin, Texas 78702

Melissa Seely hosts TBT and visitors from all across the country! Admission $5.00 - $15.00 (tex deductible!). 

6:30pm Juliana Furioso aka JMoneyFur

7:30pm TBT featuring Hanna Chou  playing Jessica Pavone's 'Quotidian'

8:30pm Transit (Amanda Vaughn, Liz Perlman, and Travis Byargeon).

9:00 pm Aux Aux

10:00 pm Maria Pugnetti aka Wooly Mar 


Quotidian by Jessica Pavoneperformed at The StoneJuly 26th, 2016

Quotidian by Jessica Pavone

performed at The Stone

July 26th, 2016

Jessica Pavone's Quotidian

On July 26th, 2016, we had the privilege of revisiting a foundational piece of repertoire Jessica Pavone wrote for Till By Turning nearly a decade ago. Composed in four movements - Hypnopompic, Post Meridiem, Weight of Dusk, and The Darkest Hour - Quotidian "examines four temporal landmarks that occur within each single day. It stems from a belief that the shifting balance between light and dark, as well as other environmental changes constantly affect us regardless of how conscious or aware we are of them." 

This special performance featured the talent of dear friend Henna Chou on cello. 


Roommate, 2015 Hideout REsidency

June 30, 2015 found Till By Turning in Chicago, reunited with our old friend Kent Lambert and his Chicago-based band, Roommate. Till By Turning and Roommate have been musically cross pollinating since 2004. Amy, Erica, and Katherine are all proud Roommate alumni. It was an honor to have Kent perform our music with us and for us to play his at the hallowed Hideout Bar.  


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Music Unlimited 28 Festival

Till By Turning appeared as a trio at the Music Unlimited 28 Festival in Wels, Austria on November 8, 2014. We performed music from Katherine Young's eight-movement suite, Four-Chambered Heart, as well as works by Morton Feldman and Sofia Gubaidulina. Our set also included a phenomenal solo improvisation by Katherine - video of which can be enjoyed HERE. Also check out Emily and Erica's powerful interpretation of Gubaidulina's Der Seiltanzer HERE


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Four-Chambered heart, Premier

On September 6th, 2013, Till By Turning premiered our comrade Katherine Young's eight-movement cycle, Four-Chambered Heart, featuring gorgeous video-art that Paul Rowley designed to synchronize with the music. Our performance took place as part of the Music at First series presented by the First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn in Brooklyn Heights. 

This project was made possible with funding from the Sparkplug Foundation. A little morsel can be tasted via Vimeo HERE.


2013 - Princeton University's Sound Kitchen Series

On April 2nd, 2013 Till By Turning performed two works by Matt Marble - Astoria (2009) and Painted Hills (2013) - at Princeton University's Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall. We had a wonderful time working with Matt on these pieces so thoughtfully crafted for our ensemble.  


2012 Till By Turning in Chicago and Germany

During the summer of 2012, Till By Turning performed in Chicago and in the countryside outside of Munich in conjunction with a trip to The Faust Studio (Klangbad) in Scheer, Germany where TBT recorded Katherine's multi-movement work, Four-Chambered Heart.

In Chicago we performed at the Saki record store with special guests - singer/songwriter Kent Lambert and composer/electronocist Ryan Ingebritsen.   

In the midst of our Klangbad recording session, we took one night away to perform an evening of music at Fabrikoncert featuring excerpts from Four-Chambered Heart as well as solo performances by Emily and Erica. 


2011 Till By Turning at Roulette with Brock Monroe

In early 2011, Till By Turning inaugurated a series of collaborations with visual artists with a performance at Roulette. On a program featuring premieres by Matt Marble and Joel Roston, TBT collaborated with Brock Monroe (of the Joshua Light Show) in which Brock constructed and manipulated resonant membranes and malliable sources of illumination designed to respond to the frequencies of our instruments.

TBT shared the evening with Lesley Flannigan and James Moore of Dither. The program also featured music by Erica and Katherine.  


2009 Till By Turning at The Stone with Clara Latham

Clara Latham is a composer, performer, and scholar whose aesthetic sensibility is suspiciously in harmony with our own.* "Latham's songful experiments carve a liminal space between the strange and the familiar in which lyrical and timbral elements find delicate coexistence." At The Stone, on December 11, 2009 TBT premiered cycles of music for voice and instruments by Clara Latham and our own Katherine Young on an evening curated by Sam Kulik and David Garland. 

*Clara shares an Oberlin-past with all of us and an NYU-past with Amy. She has also collaborated in band-contexts with both Amy (The Fancy; Starring) and Katherine (The Fancy). 


2008 Till By Turning in Germany

Jessica Pavone and Till By Turning were featured at the Klangbad Festival in Scheer, Germany. TBT performed Jessica's Quotidian. We also enjoyed taking in performances by other acts including Oneida, Pram, Alec Empire, and Dälek, and proved, yet again, that "the quietest band makes the biggest party." 

After the festival, we parted ways with Jessica and embarked upon a small tour to Munich, Berlin, and other, small Deutch und Österreichisch places. We presented a program of commissioned works by Jim Altieri, Jason Cady, Jordan McLean, and Jonathan Zorn. The program also featured original music by by TBT members Emily, Erica, and Katherine, as well as arrangements of songs by Big Star, Faust, and Ornette Coleman.   


2007 Jessica Pavone's Quotidian

On May 31, 2007, at the Issue Project Room in Brooklyn, Till by Turning -- joined by cellist Loren Dempster -- premiered Jessica Pavone's complete Quotidian.

Written in four movements, Quotidian interprets four different points that occur within a day. The movements are "Hypnopompic" for violin, viola, cello, bassoon, and piano; "Post Meridiem" for string trio; "Weight of Dusk" for bassoon and piano; and "The Darkest Hour" for the complete quintet.

On January 2008, TBT brought Quotidian to Chicago, performing at Danny's, the Empty Bottle (with Christy & Emily and Roommate), and Elastic. Cellist Talia Dicker joined the ensemble for these midwest concerts.

* * * Till by Turning's recording of Pavone's Quotidian is available on Peacock Recordings. * * *

"The beautiful recording of the suite, on Pavone’s own Peacock label, was performed by Till by Turning, a sensitive ensemble..." - Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader

 


2007 New Music by Aaron Siegel and Sabrina Schroeder

In March 2007, Till by Turning premiered commissions by Aaron Siegel and Sabrina Schroeder at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, and at the Friends Seminary Meeting House in Manhattan.

The program included the new quintets -- Siegel's Chalk Line and Schroeder's Holding Patterns -- as well as Harold Meltzer's Snow White for singing pianist, Alex Ness's Shruti for solo viola, Katherine Young's Girl Detective for solo bassoon, Morton Feldman's Intersection IV, and Christian Wolff's Edges.

Cellist Sarah Biber performed with the ensemble.


2004 Under the Tightrope: The Chamber music of Sofia Gubaidulina

 

Till by Turning presented our debut concert, "Under the Tightrope: The Chamber Music of Sofia Gubaidulina," in July 2004 in Chicago and New York. The program included Gubaidulina's String Trio (with cellist and original TBT member Sarah Biber performing with the ensemble); Piano Sonata; der Seiltanzer (Dancer on a Tightrope) for violin and piano; Quasi Hoquetus for viola, bassoon, and piano; and Duo Sonate for two bassoons -- with Rachael Elliot (in New York) and Karl Rzasa (in Chicago).

Aiming to attract a young and diverse audience, we chose Chicago's Chopin Theatre, in Wicker Park as our venue. The audience was a cross-section of Chicago's rock, improvised, jazz, and classical communities, many of whom where previously unfamiliar with Gubaidulina's work.

In October 2004 we took this program on the road, playing throughout eastern Maine. In Maine we performed in schools in the Blue Hill area and as guest artists on a women composers concert at the University of Maine at Orno. We also helped inaugurate and a chamber music series at St. John's Catholic Church in Bangor. The tour culminated in New York with a performance at Columbia University Teachers College.

 

Friends

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