The San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra (SFCCO) was invited to perform at the 2024 Skronkathon New Music Festival. Originally launched in 2001 at the Tuva Space storefront near the Ashby BART station, Skronkathon is an all-day marathon showcasing experimental and unconventional music from some of the Bay Area’s most creative musicians, often pushing the boundaries beyond mainstream tastes. I had the pleasure of performing at Skronkathon years ago when it was a more casual affair, complete with BBQs outside. This year, the event featured 19 acts spread across two stages: the Dresher Ensemble Studio and a second warehouse/loft space in the same building.
For our performance, we chose my composition Open Ended, which I felt aligned perfectly with the festival’s character. I conducted/composed the performance and played the Zurna—a double-reed woodwind instrument I picked up in Istanbul, known for its bright, high-pitched, and somewhat “squonky” sound.
Open Ended is a unique, versatile work where the composition unfolds live in front of the audience. Inspired by Rova’s Radar techniques, the piece is more of an open palette of sounds and tools rather than a set composition. As the conductor/composer, I use hand signals to guide the performers and shape the piece in real time. The beauty of this work lies in its flexibility—it can be performed by any combination of instruments, with no set instrumentation. For this performance, we had a rich mix of 2 woodwinds, 2 brass, 2 strings, a piano, and a vocalist, giving us a diverse array of sounds to explore.
We performed Open Ended twice, and as always, each rendition was a completely unique experience for both the audience and the performers.
Open Ended (2024 v1)
Open Ended (2024 v2)
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Tags: conductor