Edra Soto Residency Collaboration
@ ICA San Diego / North
Art of Elan Performance | 4:00pm - 4:45pm | Artist Pavilion
Art of Elan, in collaboration with ICA San Diego, explores music as an entry point into the world of visual art in response to Edra Soto’s exhibition Graft. Art of Elan's performance takes us on a journey: from the timeless music of J. S. Bach that can be found in almost every corner of the world to the vibrant sounds of composers Marco Granados, Gabriela Lena Frank and Angelica Negrón, whose compositions all explore the intricacies of cross-cultural identities. This immersive, multisensory, and dynamic experience reinforces how diasporic communities shape identities in new places.
Composers
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Danza de los SaqsampillosThis lively and rhythmic work is written by American composer Gabriela Lena Frank who explores her multi-ethnic heritage through music. She has said the following in regards to this exploration:
"I think the music can be seen as a by-product of my always trying to figure out how Latina I am and how gringa I am.”
This work is “Inspired by the jungle-dwelling warrior devil of Amazonian Perú known as the Saqsampillo. The energy of the music is lively, sometimes even ferocious, and there appear musical motifs, rhythms, techniques, and instrumental allusions from both the central Andean mountains of Perú and the great jungles to the east.” — Gabriela Lena Frank
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Allemande Cello Suite No. 4The timeless music of J. S. Bach has been heard everywhere from the greatest concert halls of the world to subway stations, bus stations, coffee houses, public parks and even border walls
Internationally renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma says this about the Bach Suites:
“The shared understanding that culture generates in these divisive times can bind us together as one world, and guide us to political and economic decisions that benefit the entire species. We are all cultural beings — let’s explore how culture connects us and can help to shape a better future.”
– YO-YO MA
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La Bella Venezuelan waltzVenezuelan musician and educator Marco Granados is one of the world’s leading flutists of Latin American music, with a diverse repertoire that spans from folk to classical music. His compositions are meant to uplift and empower people, always inspired by the colorful sounds and rhythms of his native Venezuela.
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La Bicicleta de Cristal”Imagine a glass bicycle you could take anywhere you wanted. Something that would allow you to move freely, without thinking of borders or boundaries."
Puerto Rican-born composer and multi-instrumentalist Angélica Negrón has been exploring through music the complexities and intricacies of identity for over 20 years. Her diverse musical tastes have led her to write for accordions, robotic instruments, toys and electronics, as well as for chamber ensembles, orchestras, choir, and film.
This particular work is repetitive and hypnotic, capturing something at the same time nostalgic and forward-looking, launching the listener both back in time and into a more hopeful and peaceful future.
Musicians
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A native of Champaign, IL, San Diego Symphony Orchestra percussionist and Assistant Principal Timpani Andrew Watkins began his studies at the age of 12. He completed his Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with William Moersch and Ricardo Flores, and he went on to receive his Master of Music degree at the Chicago College of Performing Arts under the tutelage of Ed Harrison and Vadim Karpinos. He furthered his post-graduate education at the New England Conservatory with Will Hudgins and later at Lynn University with Ted Atkatz.During his studies, Mr. Watkins was a participant at the Tanglewood Music Center in 2007 and the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra in 2009. Previous to San Diego, his professional appearances include the Chicago Symphony, Chicago Lyric Opera, Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra and New World Symphony. Mr. Watkins joined the San Diego Symphony Orchestra in February of 2010 and has since performed with the orchestra and other local ensembles such as Art of Élan and Luscious Noise.
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A native of Buffalo, New York, Erin Douglas Dowrey began his music studies in percussion at the age of four. After studying with Mark Hodges for nine years, he attended Carnegie Mellon University for his Bachelor of Music degree. While in Pittsburgh, he studied with Jeremy Branson, Paul Evans and Chris Allen. While at Carnegie Mellon, Mr. Dowrey was the winner of the concerto competition in 2010, and he performed Anders Koppel’s Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra No. 1. Following his time at Carnegie Mellon, he attended Temple University for his Master’s degree, studying under Alan Abel and Chris Deviney.
A native of Buffalo, New York, Erin Douglas Dowrey began his music studies in percussion at the age of four. After studying with Mark Hodges for nine years, he attended Carnegie Mellon University for his Bachelor of Music degree. While in Pittsburgh, he studied with Jeremy Branson, Paul Evans and Chris Allen. While at Carnegie Mellon, Mr. Dowrey was the winner of the concerto competition in 2010, and he performed Anders Koppel’s Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra No. 1. Following his time at Carnegie Mellon, he attended Temple University for his Master’s degree, studying under Alan Abel and Chris Deviney.
Prior to his appointment with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra in 2013, Mr. Dowrey attended the Tanglewood Music Festival in 2012 and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in 2013. He has also performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Erie Philharmonic, the West Virginia Symphony and Symphony in C.
Erin Dowrey’s other honors include 2nd Place and 3rd Place in the Atlanta Snare Drum Competition in 2010 and 2011 respectively, as well as 1st Prize Absolute in the Italy Percussion Competition (Snare Drum division group B) in 2011.
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Johanna Nowik received her Bachelor’s of Music in Viola Performance from the Colburn Conservatory of Music in 2019 and a Performance Studies Certificate in 2020 as a student of Paul Coletti.
In 2018 Ms. Nowik was a quarter-finalist in the Primrose International Viola Competition, and in 2017 she was awarded first place in the strings division at the Pasadena Showcase House Instrumental Competition. As founding violist of the Viano String Quartet, she was a bronze medalist in the 2017 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition. She has shared the concert stage with artists such as Orion Weiss, Noah Bendix-Balgley and Robert Chen. Ms. Nowik has been featured as a guest chamber artist throughout Los Angeles, including Le Salon de Musiques, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s “In Focus” series and the New Hollywood String Quartet’s “Summer of Brahms Chamber Music Festival,” in which she was praised by the Los Angeles Times as a young artist “ready to make her mark.”
In addition to solo and chamber experience, Johanna Nowik studied orchestral repertoire with Ben Ullery at the Colburn School and was a finalist in the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Principal Viola audition in December of 2018. Ms. Nowik has served as principal violist of the Colburn Orchestra, the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra, The American Youth Symphony and the Tanglewood Music Center, where she was a fellow for three years. She has performed as a substitute musician with both the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
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Rose Lombardo was appointed Principal Flute of the San Diego Symphony in 2011 at the age of 23. At the time, she was in her second year of graduate studies with Jim Walker at the Colburn School Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles and graduated with a Professional Studies Certificate. Previously, Ms. Lombardo earned a Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School where she studied with Jeffrey Khaner. Ms. Lombardo has traveled across the globe as an orchestral, chamber and solo artist. Her solo recitals have taken her from Boston to Europe and to China, and she has had the privilege of collaborating with some of the finest musicians in the most beautiful halls around the world, including Carnegie Hall, Bolshoi Zal at the St. Petersburg Philharmonia, Suntory Hall, Seiji Ozawa Hall, Jordan Hall and Boston Symphony Hall. Chamber music collaborations include performing alongside musicians from the Cincinnati Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic and William Christie’s early music ensemble, Les Arts Florissants. Ms. Lombardo performs regularly in San Diego with the Art of Élan and San Diego Symphony Chamber Music Series.
Ms. Lombardo has appeared as principal flute in numerous summer music festivals, including the 2008 Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, the 2011 Spoleto Music Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, and the 2012 Sunflower Music Festival in Topeka, Kansas. Most recently Rose Lombardo performed as principal flutist with the 2013 Artosphere Festival Orchestra in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
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Fiona Digney is in an Australian-born percussionist, educator, and producer based in San Diego. Fiona has spent the last decade in the United States, The Netherlands, and London, becoming an internationally recognized percussionist with highly-profiled accomplishments across a wide range of percussive styles from experimental, improvisatory, and world music styles to orchestra, chamber, and theatrical contexts, Fiona’s thrilling performances have been described as “compelling and authoritative” by Christian Hertzog (San Diego Union-Tribune) and garnered praise from the premier music critic of the United States, Alex Ross (The New Yorker, 28th June 2018). Having recently received her doctorate in percussion performance at UCSD, with a research focus on the praxis of music making, Fiona now enjoys a wide-ranging freelance career in Southern California, where she engages in a wide range of percussive styles from experimental, improvisatory, and world music styles to orchestra, chamber, and theatrical contexts. In addition to her performance career, Fiona champions her fellow musicians through her artistic administrative roles as managing director & production manager of Art of Elan, and as executive producer & artistic administrator of the Ojai Music Festival.