Hallelujah Junction
John Adams
 
​​Hallelujah Junction is a small truck stop on Highway 49 in the High Sierras on the California-Nevada border near where I have a small cabin. For years I would pass through in my car, wondering what piece of music might have a title like “Hallelujah Junction.” It was a case of a good title needing a piece, so I obliged by composing this work for two pianos.
 
Two pianos is a combination that’s long intrigued me, and the pairing plays important roles in both “Common Tones in Simple Time” and “Grand Pianola Music.” What attracts me is the possibility of having similar or even identical material played at a very slight delay, thereby creating a kind of planned resonance, as if the sonorities were being processed by a delay circuit. The brilliant attacks and rich ten-fingered chords of the grand pianos suggest endless possibilities for constructing an ecstatic, clangorous continuum, the effect of which could not be achieved with any other sonorous instrument.
 
I begin with only the “__lle-lu-jah” of the title (a Hebrew word), a three-syllable exclamation that bounces back and forth between the two instruments until it yields to a more relaxed and regular figuration of rolling 16ths. The harmonies are essentially modal, staying exclusively in the flat regions of the circle of fifths.
 
Eventually the rambling, busy patter of 16ths gives way to a passage of dry, “secco” chords that punctuate the musical surface like karate chops until they too give way, this time to the serene middle movement. Here the “__lle-lu-jah” motif of the opening is gently transformed and extended above a quiet fabric of repeated triplets. These triplets become the main event as the movement tightens up and energy increases, leading into the final section. Here I take advantage of the acoustically identical sounds of the two pianos to make constant shifts of pulse (“Is it in two? Or is it in three?”). This ambiguity produces a kind of giddy uncertainty as the music pings back and forth in bright clusters.
 
The final moments of Hallelujah Junction revel in the full onomatopoeic possibilities of the title. We get the full four-syllables—the “Hallelujah”—as well as the “junction” of the by-now crazed pianists, both of them very likely in extremis of full-tilt boogie. In this finale, the “hallelujah chorus” kicks in at full tilt. The ghost of Conlon Nancarrow goes head to head with a Nevada cathouse pianola.
 
Hallelujah Junction was composed for my friends Grant Gershon and Gloria Cheng, who first performed it at the Gerry Center in Brentwood, California in April of 1998. It was dedicated to Ernest Fleischmann, for many years the guiding light of musical culture in Los Angeles.
 
–John Adams
 
 
Night, the automaton dreams | 夜、からくりの夢を見た
Kai Kubota-Enright
 
This piece explores the Japanese concept of karakuri, which describes an object that creates a sense of wonder by concealing its inner workings. It is more commonly used in the context of Karakuri puppets, the Japanese equivalent of automata which were developed after the introduction of European clock-making technology in the seventeenth century.
 
Musically, the clockwork is represented primarily by the piano and percussion at first, while the string and woodwind players represent the concealed mechanism of the piece. This is inspired by Pauline Oliveros’ work in deep listening and sonic meditation.
 
The players will be called upon to choose desired pitches by listening carefully to their environment and wordlessly communicating. This type of musical collaboration and thinking is invisible to the audience, and is the nature of the hidden inner workings of the piece. The “telepathy” is a sort of audiation group exercise which gives great agency to the performs whilst at the same time directing them to very specific states of mind and ritualistic order.
 
In this work determinate and indeterminate styles of composition blend to create sound experiences which connect and interact with the sonic ecosystem of the space, rather than existing as a “seperate” art piece that ignores the ambient sound of the space it is being performed in. This ultimately creates a music that is both a piece as well as the creation of a sonic ecosystem – an open space for sound creation as opposed to a strictly written out composition that invites careful observation and intrigue from any observers. I feel that exploring this sort of audience engagement and approach to sound as a sonic ecosystem is relevant in a time when we are continually reevaluating our relationships to each other as individuals, as well as our relationship to the environments and spaces we create and enhabit.
 
–Kai Kubota-Enright
 
 
Kleines Requiem für eine Polka
Henryk Górecki
 
Kleines Requiem für eine Polka (Polish: Małe requiem dla pewnej polki, lit. ”Little Requiem for a Certain Polka”), op. 66, is a requiem for piano and thirteen instruments by Polish composer Henryk Górecki. Written in 1993, it is one of the last compositions for ensemble by the composer.
 
In the years leading up to the completion of the Requiem, Górecki had established close ties with European and American countries, particularly the Netherlands, where his Concerto-Cantata premiered in Amsterdam in November 1992. Shortly after the premiere, the Holland Festival and the Schönberg Ensemble commissioned this piece, originally titled “Nocna Serenada” (Night Serenade), which was later premiered in June 1993 in Amsterdam as Kleines Requiem für eine Polka (Little Requiem for a Polka). Górecki has largely kept the meaning of this composition private. While he has stated that the title reflects his sadness at the breakup of Czechoslovakia, where the polka is indigenous, the word “Polka” is also recognized by Polish speakers as a “Polish woman”, an idea reinforced by the juxtaposition of German and Polish used in the title.
 
Despite its name, Kleines Requiem für eine Polka does not follow the traditional polka conventions. The work begins with a bell and piano section with pedal and resonance effects, meant to evoke a mysterious and obsessive atmosphere. The music alternates between dramatic and lyrical passages, with enigmatic chords, timbre games, and sound effects. The second and third movements of the piece are far removed from the typical rhythmic configurations of polkas, despite the real or illusory 2/4 time and the popular connotations of the “off-beat” harmonies typical of polkas. The composition does not echo or commemorate the refined varieties of polkas cultivated by Smetana and others. Instead, the musical character and rhythmic configurations of Kleines Requiem reflect Górecki’s distinct style and draw on his roots in folksong and church-song.

Donald Crockett
 
Donald Crockett is professor and chair of the composition department and director of Thornton Edge at the USC Thornton School of Music, and senior composer-in-residence with the Bennington Chamber Music Conference. He has received commissions from the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (Composer-in-Residence (1991-97), Kronos Quartet, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hilliard Ensemble, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble and the California EAR Unit, among many others.
 
Recent projects include commissions from the Harvard Musical Association for violist Kate Vincent and Firebird Ensemble, the San Francisco-based chamber choir, Volti, for its 30th anniversary season, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Claremont Trio, and a chamber opera, The Face, based on a novella in verse by poet David St. John.
 
The recipient in 2013 of an Arts and Letters Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for outstanding artistic achievement, as well as a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2006, Donald Crockett has also received grants and prizes from the Barlow Endowment, Bogliasco Foundation, Copland Fund, Copland House, Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards, Meet the Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts, New Music USA and many others.
 
His music is published by Keiser Classical and Doberman/Yppan and recorded on the Albany, CRI, Doberman/Yppan, ECM, innova, Laurel, New World, Orion and Pro Arte/Fanfare labels. Two all-Crockett recordings were released in 2011, on New World Records with Firebird Ensemble and on Albany Records with Xtet. Active as a conductor of new music, Crockett has presented many world, national and regional premieres with the Los Angeles-based new music ensemble Xtet, the USC Thornton Contemporary Music Ensemble, and as a guest conductor with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Hilliard Ensemble, California EAR Unit, Firebird Ensemble and Ensemble X.
 
As conductor of the USC Thornton Symphony’s annual New Music for Orchestra concert, Donald Crockett has premiered well over a hundred orchestral works by outstanding Thornton student composers. He has also been very active over the years as a composer and conductor with the venerable and famed Monday Evening Concerts in Los Angeles. His recordings as a conductor can be found on the Albany, CRI, Doberman/Yppan, ECM and New World labels.
 
 
USC Thornton Edge
 
USC Thornton Edge, founded in 1976 by Robert Wojciak, has been under the direction of Donald Crockett since 1984. Comprised of some of the finest student musicians in the Thornton School, the ensemble presents a series of four concerts annually on the USC campus. Edge has also been part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella Series and Noon to Midnight, the New Music LA festival, and is a recipient of the Outstanding Ensemble Award given by LA Weekly in 2006. On tour, Edge has presented concerts at the Paris and Lyon Conservatories, the Berlin 750 Jahre Festival, as well as the 2014 Carlsbad Music Festival, and has appeared as soloist with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in Stephen Scott’s Concerto for Bowed Piano and Orchestra. Thornton Edge has two commercial recordings: a set of new guitar concertos by Dusan Bogdanovich, Brian Head, Simone Iannarelli, Steven Gates, and Donald Crockett, performed by Thornton faculty artists and released on the Doberman/Yppan label in 2015; and a collection of ensemble works by Frederick Lesemann, Songs and Concertinos, released on the Centaur label in 2021.
 
 
Zhaoyuan Qin
 
Praised for his “dramatic and physical mastery”, “brilliant technique and musicianship”, Chinese pianist Zhaoyuan Qin is currently based in Los Angles. An avid promoter of contemporary music, Qin has premiered numerous works by peer composers. He was one of the 2024 piano fellows at Tanglewood Music Center. Qin has appeared in festivals and conferences including The College Music Society National Conference (2024), Asian Classical Music Initiative International Conference (2024, 2023, and 2022), New Music Gathering (2023), and Electronic Music Midwest (2023). He performs regularly with University of Southern California’s new music ensemble, Thornton Edge, directed by Donald Crockett. Qin has given solo and chamber recitals, including charity concerts, across China and the United States. In 2021 he performed Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1 with Conductor’s Orchestra and Andrew Downs at Indiana University. Qin won the second prize of The Sixth “Premio Citta di Imola” International Piano Competition in 2017. Later that year Qin co-directed, hosted, and performed in Concert of Piano Works by People of Shanghai Conservatory of Music, which was part of a large project consisting of seminars and student-led research funded by SHCM. Qin was a participant in the 2019 Art of the Piano festival. Qin is currently pursuing his doctorate in piano at University of Southern California, studying with Jeffery Kahane. In 2023 Qin received his Artist Diploma in Piano from Indiana University. He also holds degrees from New England Conservatory (20’ MM) and Shanghai Conservatory of Music (18’ BA). Qin’s previous piano tutors include Ick-Choo Moon, Norman Krieger, and Hong Huang.
 
 
Ben Beckman
 
Benjamin Beckman is a composer, conductor, and pianist based in Los Angeles. Compositional career highlights include performances on the BBC Proms and Tanglewood Music Festival and by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, and Yale Symphony Orchestra. His 70-minute chamber opera Passage won the Beekman Cannon Friends Prize for the best-submitted thesis in the music major at Yale, from which he recently matriculated. As a pianist, assistant conductor, and vocal coach, Beckman has worked for the Sarasota Opera, Pacific Opera Project, Opera Company of Middlebury, Chicago Summer Opera, and Classic Lyric Arts France and Italy on a wide variety of repertoire, including productions of Carmen, Lucia di Lammermoor, Luisa Miller, The Turn of the Screw, Rusalka, La fille du régiment, La scala di seta, and more. He is the Artistic Director of the newly-founded Park City Opera, for which he will conduct a production of Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia in August 2025. Beckman is currently in the first year of his master’s degree in composition at USC, where he studies with Veronika Krausas and Andrew Norman, and manages the USC Thornton Edge.