(energetic music) (energetic music) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) - This piece is a letter and an homage to global citizens.

The title, "Splendid Isolation" refers to 19th century British diplomatic strategy of avoiding long-term alliances to protect national interests.

Drawing on fragments of text from history, film, and everyday life, the lyrics weave together sounds both extraordinary and ordinary, real and fictional.

They speak to themes of resistance, conformity, fate, and the quiet passage of time and memory.

(gentle music) - But with governments who have declared their independence and to maintain it and whose independence we have on great consideration and on just principles acknowledged we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them or controlling in any other manner their destiny.

By any European power, in any other light, then as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States, (energetic music) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) ♪ I am ♪ ♪ Standing here ♪ ♪ Because ♪ ♪ I was ♪ ♪ Once a prisoner of conscience ♪ ♪ I can't feel it, I can't feel it ♪ ♪ I'm soaring ♪ ♪ I'm soaring across some times ♪ ♪ Sometimes seems so light ♪ ♪ Even in the darkest night ♪ ♪ Will end will not ♪ (energetic music continues) ♪ You want me to respect the law ♪ ♪ Then make the law respectable ♪ ♪ We are God's unwanted children ♪ ♪ Something's crossed over in me ♪ (musician singing spiritedly) (energetic music continues) ♪ We ♪ ♪ Really ♪ ♪ Are ♪ ♪ Aren't ♪ ♪ We ♪ (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) ♪ You are the one ♪ ♪ To walk through ♪ ♪ Good afternoon ♪ ♪ Good evening ♪ ♪ And goodnight ♪ (group chattering) - Alright, class.

Let's begin.

Today we're gonna learn about, (energetic music continues) Alright, start with a light walk.

Let's get the body warmed up.

(group chattering) 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, Going once.

Going twice.

Sold.

Sir, I need to check your bag.

On your left, you'll see the oldest temple in the city dating back over 2000 years.

(energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) The day of judgment is coming.

Where will you stand?

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Happy new year.

Blessed are the forgetfuls.

- Holiday.

- Holiday.

(musician and toy cactus speaking foreign language) (musician and toy cactus speaking foreign language) (musician and toy cactus speaking foreign language) (musician and toy cactus speaking foreign language) (musician and toy cactus speaking foreign language) (musician and toy cactus speaking foreign language) (musician and toy cactus speaking foreign language) (musician and toy cactus speaking foreign language) ♪ Holiday ♪ ♪ Holiday ♪ ♪ Market insurance ♪ ♪ Market insurance ♪ ♪ Inflation ♪ ♪ Inflation ♪ ♪ The misapplication decree ♪ ♪ The misapplication decree ♪ ♪ Part time tenure, asylum, tradition, identity ♪ ♪ Part time tenure, asylum, tradition, identity ♪ (energetic music) (energetic music) (energetic music continues) ♪ I am rooted ♪ ♪ But I flow ♪ ♪ I will return ♪ ♪ And I will be millions ♪ ♪ Some people were born ♪ ♪ Some get struck ♪ ♪ Some music ♪ (energetic music continues) ♪ Some thrill ♪ ♪ Some not ♪ (energetic music continues) ♪ Some people ♪ (musician singing spiritedly) (audience applauding) - My name is Sammy Seif.

The title of my piece is "Ode Phénicienne" which means Phoenecian Ode.

The piece is dedicated in loving memory to my cousin Alexander, who passed away a few months ago.

The text is actually written by his father, which is in attendance with us tonight.

The text was written in the Canaanite language and to connect the music to this language, I've constructed it with the heavy reliance on Lebanese and Levantine folk music to help make the music authentic to the text and to our family, of course, and to our heritage.

Additionally, I've put a little quote by Telemann, which I've modified, because he used to play this beautiful Telemann on the recorder and that creates a sonic memory to him.

Ultimately, the piece is a meditation on faith, on love, and on familial bond.

So thank you so much.

Hope you enjoy.

(musician speaking Canaanite) (gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (audience applauding) - The piece that you're about to hear it has to do, I kind of think with two of my fascinations with the extremes of silence and the emptiness of sound.

And the other side of that is just the extreme sound, which is, you know, something that is quite loud and just like forces you to become a part of it.

And I'm really interested in the blends of these two timbres and how they interact with each other.

So I don't want to speak too much, so I just hope that you enjoy it and thank you again for coming and thank you to TAK for playing this piece.

(musicians exhaling) (musicians exhaling) (musicians exhaling) (musicians exhaling) (musicians exhaling) (musicians exhaling) (musicians exhaling) (musicians exhaling) (abstract music) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (no audio) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (abstract music continues) (audience applauding) - This piece at its core is a miniature on urban design, but more specifically, it's a love letter to a book on urban design called "A Pattern Language."

It's a book published in the 1970s by the British architect Christopher Alexander and his studio.

And its goal is to summarize in great detail how architecture has the capacity to answer human needs and desires and amplify a sense of community.

As I was reading it, I was so struck by the poetry that emerged from these seemingly practical sentences.

So I tried to pick the ones that I liked the most, which was very difficult because the book is a thousand pages long.

But I took these lines and I wanted to write a short piece that tried to not only use the text but use some of the principles that the book explores.

(energetic music) (energetic music continues) ♪ Where action seems to concentrate ♪ ♪ At the center of each node, make a small public square ♪ ♪ Make ♪ (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) ♪ Punching a hole through a building ♪ ♪ Creating a bridge or a sharp change of level ♪ ♪ By allowing change of light, or surface ♪ ♪ Build a trellis over the path ♪ ♪ And paint it with climbing flowers ♪ ♪ Think about the columns that support the trellis ♪ ♪ As themselves capable of creating places, seats ♪ ♪ Lead paths between the pockets of activity ♪ ♪ And shape the pockets themselves with arcades and seats ♪ ♪ And sitting walls, and columns and trellises of all shapes ♪ ♪ With the fronts of buildings ♪ ♪ And include within the pockets newsstands, gardens, ♪ ♪ Games, small shops, and a place to wait ♪ ♪ Develop the area around the base of a high space ♪ ♪ Scale the stair which leads up to the top opening ♪ ♪ With views out so that people can stop on the stairs ♪ ♪ Sit down and look out ♪ ♪ And be seen while they are climbing ♪ (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) ♪ You can touch the building, it is alive ♪ ♪ On soft intimate floors use materials ♪ ♪ And clothes that are rich ♪ ♪ In ornament and color ♪ ♪ Complete the building with ornament and light and color ♪ ♪ And your own things ♪ (audience applauding) - So this piece is composed for three high register instruments.

Although the music is composed exclusively for high register the idea is actually focused on the different tone between those high pitched notes, which falls into the mid register.

A difference tone is an oral delusion that happens within your own perception.

When two frequencies especially in the high register are against each other, there will be a third pitch that can be perceived in your mind, which is not present physically and which equals to the difference between the two frequencies.

It might sound piercing and perhaps not so comfortable high sounds so that the music, but I highly suggested you to accept the sound, so the music can guide you to an uncanny auditory experience.

(energetic music) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (audience applauding) - My piece uses two texts.

One is a stanza by Rilke, and the other is a poem I wrote.

Both deal with life and death, (laughing) and the relationship that one might have to it.

"Manchmal" is the German word for sometimes.

Sometimes we feel one way, sometimes we feel another.

This piece begins perhaps adversarially to the incongruency, but in that statement, and then it grows to accept it.

(energetic music) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) - Become a wish, return to memory.

(energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (musician singing spiritedly) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (energetic music continues) (audience applauding) (energetic music) (energetic music continues)