Opening Performance
On the opening night, pianist and composer Aki Spadaro interprets ...lahgo adil’I dine doo yeehosinilgee yidaaghi, a score by artist and composer Raven Chacon.
...lahgo adil’I dine doo yeehosinilgee yidaaghi was inspired by Cornelius Cardew’s Treatise, but more so by Navajo and Pueblo iconographies, particularly the ancient petroglyphs carved in the volcanic rock on the west side of Albuquerque. In Navajo language, the title means “acting strangely/differently in the company of strangers”. The work came about as a reaction to some listeners and performers of Chacon’s early works believing that they should be hearing some kind of ‘Native American influence’ in his music – whatever was meant by that. The piece ultimately investigates impositions of assumptions in the reading of and listening to abstract forms, when being confronted with Indigenous symbols, a Navajo title, and knowing that it was made by an Indigenous composer.
Aki Spadaro is a pianist and arranger with remarkable versatility and openness to different musical styles. He has a degree in Jazz Piano and a Master’s degree in Composing for Film, from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and the Nederlandse Filmacademie. In 2014, he temporarily moved to India, where he has been the Head of the Keyboard Department at True School of Music in Mumbai, and also collaborated with the Whistling Woods International Film School of Mumbai as a musical advisor. In the last few years, Spadaro has performed at some of the most prestigious stages in The Netherlands including Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ (Amsterdam) and Schouwburg Venray (Venray). Originally from Palermo, Italy, Spadaro is based in Amsterdam, Netherlands and Mumbai, India.
Raven Chacon is a composer of chamber music, a performer of experimental noise music, and an installation artist. Chacon’s work explores sounds of acoustic handmade instruments overdriven through electric systems and the direct and indirect audio feedback responses from their interactions. His compositions are written for a variety of ensembles, musicians and non-musicians, and for social and educational situations. As a solo artist, collaborator, or with Postcommodity, Chacon has exhibited or performed at the Whitney Biennial, documenta 14, REDCAT, Musée d’art Contemporain de Montréal, among others. Originally from Fort Defiance, Navajo Nation, Chacon is based in Albuquerque, USA.
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