For Good Measure, by Ensemble for These Times (E4TT) Episode 7: inti figgis-vizueta
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In this week’s episode, we talk to inti figgis-vizueta about how the pandemic affected music-making and her compositions. If you enjoyed today’s conversation and want to know more about inti figgis-vizueta, visit https://www.inticomposes.com/. Parts of this episode originally premiered on April 19, 2021, found on Youtube, click here.
This podcast is made possible in part by a grant from the California Arts Council and generous donors, like you. Want to support For Good Measure and E4TT? Make a tax-deductible donation or sign up for our newsletter, and subscribe to the podcast!
Intro music: “Trifolium” by Gabriela Ortiz, performed by E4TT (Ilana Blumberg, violin; Abigail Monroe, cello; Margaret Halbig, piano), as part of “Below the Surface: Music by Women Composers,” January 29, 2022 Outro music: “Lake Turkana” by Marcus Norris, performed by E4TT (Margaret Halbig, piano), as part of “Alchemy,” October 15, 2021
Transcription courtesy of Otter.ai.
Producer, Host, and E4TT co-founder: Nanette McGuinness Audio Engineer: Stephanie M. Neumann Podcast Cover Art: Brennan Stokes Interns: Merve Tokar and Roziht Edwards
[INTRO MUSIC] Welcome to "For Good Measure", an interview series celebrating diverse composers and other creative artists. Sponsored by a grant from the California Arts Council. I'm Nanette McGuinness, Artistic Executive Director of Ensemble For These Times. In this week's episode, we're joined by inti figgis-vizueta, who we spoke to in April 2021. [INTRO MUSIC END] Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us. Has the pandemic affected your mindset in any way when composing? If so, how? And how have you been able to find healing through music in these times?
inti figgis-vizueta:
Hi, everyone, my name is inti figgis-vizueta, and I'm a composer living in New York City. So many thanks to Ensemble For These Times for the invitation to do this short interview. I wanted to speak today a little bit about what music making and composing has looked like during quarantine, and zoom, and remote interaction, and all that. You know, kind of before quarantine, most of my, most if not all of my projects, were focused on real life interaction on chamber music, on orchestra music. Just ways in which everyone kind of just comes together in a space and adjusts and gets closer to one another through sound and through... Yeah, just music making in general. The shift online has presented, you know, of course, a lot of challenges when it comes to the fact that there's latency, there's a lag, you know, there's no mix. Sound gets lost, or it appears really randomly. And, you know, that was pretty challenging at first. In particular, there was a piece that I was developing with Kaufman Music Center and their program Face the Music, which is a kind of ensemble of high schoolers who play just really radical contemporary music, and writing a piece for them that was originally for real life, and then having to transition that online in April. When all of this was still kind of new and coming together was particularly challenging. But they really came together in the end, and through some amazing rehearsals, some really kind of out of the box strategies for how to conduct, how to communicate and all of that, it really came together. And so there has been a shift from that kind of initial shock, that initial paralysis, and all that towards projects, and commissions that are specifically for zoom music making, zoom ensembles, and all that. And that's actually been really interesting and really generative as a composer, kind of trying to figure out structures and forms that work when people can't be in the same space together. Have to align to maybe the ghost of latency or lag or of sounds that they're just kind of coming across. And that's been kind of particularly inspiring, and really kind of pushing me, pushing my compositional mind. And yeah, so it's.... you know, it's been a mixed bag. So many thanks again to Ensemble For These Times for this space and this short interview. Thank you.
Nanette McGuinness:
[OUTRO MUSIC] Thank you for listening to "For Good Measure". And a special thank you to our guests, inti figgis-vizueta for joining us today. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to our podcast by clicking on the subscribe button, and support us by sharing it with your friends, posting about it on social media, and leaving us a rating and a review. To learn more about E4TT, our concert season online and in the Bay Area, or to make a tax deductible donation, please visit us at www.E4TT.org. This podcast is made possible in part by a grant from the California Arts Council, and generous donors like you. "For Good Measure" is produced by Nanette McGuinness and Ensemble For These Times, and designed by Brennan Stokes. With special thanks to audio engineer extraordinaire Stephanie Neumann. Remember to keep supporting equity in the arts, and tune in next week "for good measure". [OUTRO MUSIC END]