Cygnus Ensemble

New works for Cygnus by:

Will Gorin
Ansoni Iwahori
Tamara Jaton
Ryan McLeod
Andrew Sarrion
Julian Sharifi
Billie Tadros
Jason Malone

With works from the Cygnus repertoire:

Mohammed Fairouz----Three Fragments of Ibn Khafajah  for soprano, violin, guitar, 'cello
Perotinus---Sederunt Principes (Gradual for St. Stephen's Day) (arr. Frank Brickle for Cygnus tutti formation)
Robert Morris---Apres Vous for solo guitar

Notes on the Program:

Ibn Khafajah and Pérotin

Ibn Khafajah and Pérotin (Perotinus was his Latin name) were exact contemporaries, and the pairing of these works on this program provokes us to explore the unprecedented intellectual ferment that took place between Cordoba and Paris at this time.  Jewish, Christian and Moslem theologians were engaged in a remarkable dialogue--Jewish theologian Maimonides was influenced by Moslem theologian Averroes.   Both exerted considerable influence upon Thomas Aquinas, whose influence on the way we think is impossible to overstate.   In short,  Aquinas' Aristotelian revolution was not possible without Maimonides and Averroes and the traditions from which they came.  Artistotle's empirical approach to the world was necessary for science to flourish, while Plato's idealism, his "hidden causes" lent a more mystical tone to Augustinian theology (theology before Aquinus).

When Ithe Moslems came to Spain, the ragtag Christian Visigoths, weakened by internal squabbling, were astonished by Islamic technology.  The Moslems came with the charm (Arnold Toynbee's usage) of a civilazation in full flower, whose merits were so visible that others followed *willingly*, charmed into submission, at least until 1492.....

Here's a nice bit about these three theologians--by Jacob Bender    Lessons From Three Wise Men

Also check out Jacob Bender's film   Out of Cordoba
Another Cygnus work sprang from Maimonides' *Guide to the Perplexed*---composer Matthew Greenbaum's Nameless

Nameless is one of the most ambitious works of Jew sacred music, ever.

Islam and abstraction

Jewish and Islamic art were both strictly non-representational.  In the Alhambra, the great palace of the Nasrid dynasty in Granada,  all 17 of the possible plane symmetry groups can be seen the in non-representational ornamentation found throughout the compound.

(more in the works!!)