Words on Water

WHEN: Saturday, January 10, 2009 - 7:00 p.m. 

WHERE: Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, 435 S. Guadalupe Street

Santa Fe New Music’s first concert of 2009 is “Words on Water," a multidisciplinary performance event on Saturday January 10, 2009, at the Zane Bennett Gallery in Santa Fe’s Railyard District. Zane Bennett Contemporary Art is the event co-sponsor.

The concert features guest artist Cari Griffo, who is well-known among regional poetry and performance enthusiasts for her emotive, riveting performance poetry. SFNM’s Artisic Director, John Kennedy, has composed an original score for electronics and live percussion that he will perform, along with SFNM core ensemble member David Tolen.

“Words on Water" is the second artistic collaboration between Kennedy and Griffo, the first being at SFNM’s inaugural April 2008 “Zestfest." From that initial pairing, Kennedy has been inspired to create music that is “ambient, slow-moving, and quietly developing," what he describes as “a pool of sound."

Griffo has structured her performance to include the core of eight of her own poems interspersed into a poem entitled, “The Washing," by acclaimed Santa Fe poet and Guggenheim Fellow, Dana Levin. Kennedy’s musical composition follows a similar woven structure.

Kennedy remarks, “the nature of my music is to create space for reflection around the poetic texts. Concomitantly, Cari’s performance will utilize verbal silences—creating space for reflection upon my music. As the piece has developed, it allows the two artforms to combine spatially, and create what really becomes an aquatic environment in which the audience can be, actually, bathed in reflection.

“Our music and poetry performance synchronizes delightfully with the versatile and generous Zane Bennett gallery space on Guadalupe Street," Kennedy adds. “We’re going to explore the fantastic spatial potential of the Zane Bennett Gallery, which has a high atrium as well as balconies and visual elements which enhance a performance environment," Kennedy comments.

Griffo’s performances are customarily provided visual art direction by her husband, artist Trent Edwards, and for “Words on Water," he will create digital images to be rendered on various gallery surfaces, including a water wall feature.

For Griffo, a self-described “recovering aquaphobe," developing the piece with Kennedy has provided a fecund atmosphere for confronting a spectrum of emotional, human, and psychological responses to water. “The texts explore many themes," she says, “but the focus is always the personal. We have had a very political year, and while water can definitely inspire political commentary, we wanted this performance to be about personal reflection and introspection. We wanted to return to those elements, even including some of the darker ones associated with water."

“Music on Water" will be an intimate, winter event blurring boundaries between music and words. Of the January concert, Kennedy says, “This program has evolved organically over the past few months, and fits into a literary and environmental matrix that SFNM returns to time and time again, over a variety of interdisciplinary manifestations."

Recent examples of SFNM’s cross-disciplinary expositions with new music include January 2008’s "Colors of Music" festival; their April, 2006 “Music and Water" mini-festival; and October 2008’s collaboration with SITE Santa Fe’s Lucky Seven Biennial.

Santa Fe New Music launched a multi-year “Music&Word" theme, which interplays American and international literary works with music. As part of this theme, SFNM has produced a reading list associated with each concert on its 2008-2009 season.

Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, 435 South Guadalupe Street. Tickets: $20 in advance, $25 at the door; available at our website; or Nicholas Potter Booksellers, 211 East Palace Avenue.

Through concerts, commissions, and educational events, Santa Fe New Music promotes understanding of, enthusiasm for, and participation in the music of our time, serving as an advocate for new classical music and its future. SFNM was founded by Artistic Director John Kennedy in 2000. Santa Fe New Music is a 501(c)3 corporation.