Jeremy Podgursky, Current DM Student
The Open Circuit (2010) for piano solo
piano - Bethany Pietroniro
Performance Date: July 8th, 2010
A native of Louisville, KY, Jeremy Podgursky is a composer of chamber,
orchestral and electronic music. He received his B.M. and M.M. in music composition and piano from the University of Louisville where he studied privately with Steve Rouse, Marc Satterwhite, Brenda Kee (piano) and John Gibson. Currently located in Bloomington, IN, Jeremy has a Jacobs School of Music Doctoral Fellowship (D.M.) at Indiana University and has studied with Claude Baker, Don Freund, John Gibson and Alicyn Warren. Jeremy is also an AI (Associate Instructor), teaching private composition to non-majors as well as courses in Notation and Counterpoint.
Jeremy’s music has been featured in venues and festivals in the United States, the Netherlands and Japan. His music has been performed by professional groups such as Alarm Will Sound, Arsenal Trio, Lost Dog New Music Ensemble, Dana Winograd (cellist), Juventas! New Music Ensemble, and the North/South Consonance Chamber Orchestra. Recent awards and honors include first-place winner of the 2007 National SCI/ASCAP commissioning award, honorable mention in the 2008 Minnesota Orchestra Composers Institute, winner of the 2009 Northridge Prize (Cal State University Northridge) for orchestra, participant in the 2009 American Composers Orchestra/EARSHOT readings with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra (Delta David Gier, conductor), and participant in the inaugural Mizzou New Music Festival 2010.
PROGRAM NOTE
Ladders, electricity, Shepard tones, runaway trains, porcupines,
Nancarrow, Ligeti, Keith Jarrett, espresso and Jim Henson all had
something to do with the conception of The Open Circuit. Using
daisy-chained interval patterns, I tried to aurally translate the
image in my head of a pianist (human, Muppet, robot or Wizard) playing
constantly ascending arpeggios of different lengths. As the piece
progresses, the cascades of notes are interrupted with fits, spasms,
and barbed-wire snark until all is deconstructed.
Excerpt from Comet Tails (Which Way?) (2009)
INSTRUMENTATION
cello and vibraphone
cello - Eric Allen, vibraphone - Brian Blume
Performance Date: Dec. 1st, 2009
PROGRAM NOTE
COMET TAILS (WHICH WAY?), my first piece written at the Jacobs School
of Music, is a brief exploration of color and aura. The cello
alternates between bowed melodies consisting solely of natural
harmonics and pizzicato figures that accumulate into fully chromatic
fields. The vibes present a different temporal version of what the
cello has already played, except they are presented as undulating,
spinning ephemeral gestures that emerge from silence. The independent
roles of the performers eventually overlap, and the vibraphone
achieves a solid-state with chords that constitute fully chromatic
fields. The remainder of the piece is notated with indefinite rhythms
and the performers cue each other’s entrances and disappearances.