The primary title of this work - [(s)(w )(2e)] / [(j)-(m)(b)] / [(f)(t )(c)] - is derived from the nature of the piece. s, w, e means “stokjes, waaien, enzovoorts” (translated into English from Dutch: sticks, blowing, etc ...); e, j-m, b is “Eroica, Jean-Michel Basquiat” (the painting used to determine and/or influence structure and musical gesture); and f, t, c is the dedication “for Transient Canvas”. This work (more conveniently referred to as Scintillation III) is the third in a series of duos that incorporates free gestures in a liberal manner, suggestive of sound and/or texture/environment exploration. The use of Basquiat’s painting Eroica as a “form foundation” also suggested to incorporate influence from my favorite Beethoven symphony. This sonic exploration continues my fascination with literary period as musical period, transforming dramatic and elocutionary rhythm into music. In sum, on a macro level, this piece is a musical working-out of my analytical and emotional viewing of Basquiat’s fragile, yet complex work. On a micro level, my developing and varied compositional interests inform the execution of this “musical viewing” in an organic, yet conscious, process.

Composer/performer Anthony Green is concerned with hyper-focused textures created through dynamic processes, pyramidal relationships, and straddling the boundary of cerebral and visceral approaches to artistic creation. His over 100 works range from solo and chamber pieces of standard and unusual instrumentation to digital compositions and large ensemble/large-scale works, including an ever-expanding opera and a multi-media performance based on the  Book of Job. His works have been performed, recorded, and workshopped in over a dozen countries throughout the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East by ALEA III (Gunther Schuller, conductor), the Zukovsky String Quartet (performance at Symphony Space, NYC), the Playground Ensemble (winner, 3rd annual composition commission), Ossia New Music Ensemble (winner, 2nd International Composition Prize), Grupo Instrumental Siglo XX (A Coruña, Spain, at ic[cm] 2010), Décadanse (Montreuil, France, at Cage 99), Guido Arbonelli (Gaudeamus Winner for Clarinet, performances in Italy and the US), Łukasz Kłusek and Art-Oliver Simon (contrabass/piano; performances in Berlin, Dresden, and Leipzig, Germany), Ensemble Transmission (performance in Nicosia, Cyprus, at the 5th Pharos International Contemporary Music Festival), BLY and Lisbeth Sonne (performances in Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark, supported by AUT), Ensemble Mise-en (Boston, MA, recording project), dissonArt (Thessaloniki, Greece, at Explore! 2015), the Fidelio Trio (Dublin, Ireland, 2015 International Composition Forum), Sound Energy, Ensemble 212, Transient Canvas, and Alarm Will Sound, among others. His video and electronic works have been diffused in festivals and concerts across the United States (ATLAS Blackbox Theater at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado; Cantor Center of the Arts at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California; Boston University; New England Conservatory; Open Sound at Third Life Studios, Somerville, Massachusetts; Spectrum, New York City) as well as in Canada (University of Toronto New Music Festival), Spain (Zepelin Festival, Barcelona), Venezuela (Esta Casa Esta Sonada, Maraicabo), Mexico (MusLab 2014, Mexico City), and Australia (Federation Square, Melbourne). He was a resident artist at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, as well as composer-in-residence for the Providence String Quartet. Furthermore, he has performed and worked as a pianist, vocal improviser, koto player, and conductor at the Cantor Arts Center in California, Jordan Hall and Symphony Hall in Boston, and other venues across the United States, the Netherlands, Cyprus, and South Korea, interpreting solo, chamber, and orchestral works. He has also personally worked with numerous student and semi-professional composers, as well as David Liptak, Ofer Ben-Amots, George Crumb, and Steve Reich for performances or premieres. Currently, he is co-founder, composer-in-residence, and co-artistic director of the new concert series and educational organization, Castle of our Skins, dedicated to celebrating Black artistry through music.