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RUSSIAN COMPOSER/ PIANIST ANTON BATAGOV PERFORMS
Bells and Other Sounds:
Solo piano works, music from film and TV soundtracks
Chapel Performance Space at Good Shepherd Center
Tuesday, September 29, 2009, at 7:30pm
Heralded as “one of the most significant and unusual figures of Russian contemporary music” (Newsweek, 1997) and "a Russian Terry Riley" (Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, 2008), Anton Batagov is one of the most influential Russian composers and performers. American musicologist Richard Kostelanetz characterized the Batagov's 1993 recording of Die Kunst der Fuge by J.S. Bach as "the most stunning interpretation of Bach since Glenn Gould".
A graduate of the famous Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and prize-winner at the International Tchaikovsky Competition (1986) and the Sydney International Piano Competition (1988), among other competitions, Batagov was the first Russian pianist to perform works by John Cage, Morton Feldman, Steve Reich and Philip Glass. From 1989 to1996 he was one of the leaders and organizers of Alternativa, the annual international new music festival in Moscow. He has also performed works by these composers at Bang on a Can festival in New York and other major music festival in the world. In 1997 Batagov stopped performing live and since then he has been focusing on studio recordings and composing.
Most of Batagov’s works written since the late 1990's are deeply influenced by Buddhist philosophy and practice. He has written a number of major works based on a keystone Buddhist texts chanted by Tibetan lamas as well as several large-scale instrumental compositions inspired by Buddhist teachings. In August 2009 Batagov did a synchronous Russian translation of the teachings and initiations given by H.H. the Dalai Lama in Lausanne, Switzerland, and received a personal blessing from His Holiness. Batagov has founded of Ganden Tendar Ling, an FPMT (The Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition) center in Moscow, Russia, guided by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, one the most distinguished lamas of our times. In 2009 Anton Batagov became a member of the board of trustees of the Save Tibet Foundation. In 2005 – 2007 Anton Batagov translated two Dharma books into Russian.
The post-Cagean philosophy of Batagov's projects eliminates any boundaries between "performance" and "composition" by viewing all existing musical practices, from ancient rituals to rock/pop culture and advanced computer technologies, as potential elements for performing/composing. The post-minimalist language of Batagov’s compositions is rooted in harmonic and rhythmic patterns of Russian church bells, old believers' chants and folk songs seamlessly mixed with the spirit of Western minimalism (Glass, Reich, Feldman, Nyman), the dynamic pulse of early Soviet avant-garde, and the unfading scent of rock music. His works feature a unique sense of large-scale architecture and textured emotionalism.
Batagov’s discography includes over 30 CD releases and several movie soundtracks. In the last twelve years Batagov became a #1 author of original music for Russian television. He has composed over 2,000 tunes for the major Russian TV channels. He is Lead Composer for Kultura Federal TV Channel. In the film and TV soundtracks. In 2009 Anton Batagov received the prestigious national Steppenwolf Award in the Best Music category. More information about Anton Batagov can be found at www.batagov.com.
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Batagov’s debut in Seattle will become his first public piano solo appearance in twelve years.
This groundbreaking solo piano program includes several non-soundtrack compositions as well as film and TV works. In his original piano works Batagov explores the vibrant pedal nature of the piano rather than its virtuoso features. He creates meditative canvases which evoke a reminiscence of Russian boundless fields and forests filled with church bells' resonances.
Music for Vdokh Vydokh (Breathing In Breathing Out), a drama by a famous Russian film director Ivan Dykhovichny, was written for solo piano, and it will be performed in its original version. The other soundtrack pieces in this program are piano transcriptions. Piano / October 2005 was written as a dance piece for Bill T. Jones and Russian ballerina Natasha Balakhnicheva. The rehearsals of this piece became a central part of a documentary The Terpsichore's Captives – 2 which received a Gold Hugo at Chicago Film Festival.
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Nonsequitur is a non-profit organization dedicated to the presentation of experimental music and sound art: contemporary / post-classic composition, improvisation, electro-acoustic and computer music, minimalism, sound poetry, radio art, sound installations, field recordings, microtonality, newly invented instruments, "lower case sound", historical avant garde, and various unclassifiable hybrids.
Program
Tuesday, September 29, 2009, at 7:30pm
Chapel Performance Space at the Good Shepherd Center
4649 Sunnyside Ave. N., Seattle
Bells and Other Sounds
Anton Batagov, piano
Piano / May 1994
Prelude in C minor (2007)
Piano / June 1994
Piano / September 1996
Through the Forest (1996 / 2005) from Frescoes of Dreams movie soundtrack
Culture News from Kultura TV Channel soundtracks (2004)
Intermission
Music from Vdokh / Vydokh (Breathing In Breathing Out) movie soundtrack (2005)
F major
E minor
G flat major
Waltz
E minor_reprise
Piano / October 2005
Cinema Magic from Kultura TV Channel soundtracks (2004)
Culture News and Cinema Magic are Kultura TV Channel programs.
Admission is $15/ $10 for seniors
The Good Shepherd Center is located in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood at 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N. (just south of 50th St., one block east of Meridian), on the fourth floor.
Media and Ticket Information Contact: DoubleSharp@DoubleSharp.org; (206) 422-9001