As an interdisciplinary pianist and vocalist, I revel in the opportunity to collaborate with other artists to offer new perspectives on classical music.
“Gating Light” (2023) is a collaborative projection installation that oscillates between and responds to the palindromic modal worlds of John Adams' 1977 composition, “China Gates.” Multimedia artist A.J. Cincotta-Eichenfield and I worked together to bring Adam's minimalist composition — a favorite piece in my concert repertoire — into conversation with customized projection design and sculptural installation.
Leveraging the calculated mathematical construction of “China Gates” and its deceptive airiness, “Gating Light” forces digital representations of the natural world back into physical space, signaling an ongoing and exhausting allusion to climate anxiety. Light, image, and noise are 'gated' in the nuanced flux between shifting rhythmic patterns and modes, constructing and dissolving over a network of competing sonic, visual, and material textures. Responding to the breathless, unresting percussiveness of the piano, light pulses through and onto architectures of paper and plastic. Within these structures emerges a momentary space of calm – the sound of falling rain or the slow movement of a cloud – but all too soon we are trapped again between light and dark, clarity and obscurity, silence and noise.
Music – “China Gates” (1977)
Composed by John Adams
Performed by Alexandra Prow
Projection – “Gating Light” (2023)
Design & Production by A.J. Cincotta-Eichenfield