Gray — viola ( / cello) and percussion (2017)
Commissioned by Periapsis Music and Dance, open duration
This work was originally developed with choreographer Wendell Gray II as a part of Periapsis Music & Dance’s First Emerging Artist Residency. The specific sound of each unit is defined, but the rhythm and overall timing of each section is determined by the dancers. The dancers become a part of the score, determining the rhythm and pacing of the work with their physicality. Both a rehearsal score that includes details based on the original choreography, and a bare performance score are included. The piece is named for Wendell and for the tumultuous grayness of uncertainty and loss.
The percussion instruments used are temple bowls, snare drum, and pū‘ili.
pū‘ili. 1. n. Bamboo rattles, as used for dancing. 2. vt. To clasp, hold fast in the hand, embrace, grasp firmly. Pū‘ili mai ‘oe ā pa‘a, hold tight. 3. n. A type of tapa-beater pattern: tips of zigzag ridges in adjacent surfaces meet and form sunken lozenges. Cf. ko‘eau, in which the ridges are parallel.
— Hawaiian Dictionary. Edited by Mary Kawena Pukui and Samuel H. Elbert. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1986.
Premiered by Periapsis Music and Dance, May 2018. Blue/red images from the premiere performance by dancers Marissa Brielle Wiley Mumford and Isaac Owens with Celia Hatton, viola and Sarah Mullins, percussion. Photos from the European premiere, August 2020, Victor Guaita, viola; Andrés Navarro García, percussion; Anika Edström Kawaji, dancer; GC Ten Weyngaert Residency, Brussels, Belgium.
Rehearsal recording of Gray featuring Victor Guaita (viola), Anika Edström Kawaji (choreography), and Andrés Navarro García (percussion). August 2020, GC Ten Weyngaert Residency, Brussels, Belgium
Alexander Meagher, percussion; Molly Collier OʻBoyle, viola; Abbotsford Convent, presented by Australian National Academy of Music, Melbourne
Gray — for viola/cello and percussion. Rehearsal and performance parts.
Digital download of the sheet music for Gray for viola (or cello) and percussion. Both viola and cello parts included in download, as well as rehearsal and performance parts.
Past Performances
Sunday, January 14, 2024 — Matthew Gold, percussion; Julian Muller, cello; Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA
Thursday, June 9, 2022 — “Extended Grey is a hybrid room built in situ with aural and gestural images. Victor Guaita (viola), Andrés Navarro García (percussion) and Anika Edström Kawaji (dance). The performance is the result of an open interpretation of Anne Leilehua Lanzotti’s work « Gray » in which the artists question the impermanence of movement and sound, while seeking multidisciplinary interactions through composition and improvisation. They establish a dialogue with the architecture of the place and with the public who are invited to participate in this new ephemeral and changing space.” SMOG, Brussels, Belgium
Thursday, December 2, 2021 — Alexander Meagher, percussion; Molly Collier OʻBoyle, viola; Abbotsford Convent, presented by Australian National Academy of Music, Melbourne
Saturday, September 12, 2020 — Victor Guaita, viola; Andrés Navarro García, percussion; Anika Edström Kawaji, dancer; Crude Saturdays, TictTac Art Center, Brussels, Belgium
August 17–30, 2020 — Victor Guaita, viola; Andrés Navarro García, percussion; Anika Edström Kawaji, choreography; GC Ten Weyngaert Residency, Brussels, Belgium
Saturday, May 12, 2018 — Periapsis Music & Dance, Sinking by guest choreographer Wendell Gray II and composer Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti (title of music: Gray), Dancers: Marissa Brielle Wiley Mumford, Isaac Owens. Musicians: Celia Hatton, viola; Sarah Mullins, percussion. Lighting design by Tuce Yasak. Part of Periapsis Music & Dance sixth season spring program EPOCH (two performances this day) Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts at LIU Brooklyn, NY
Thursday, May 10, 2018 — Periapsis Music & Dance, Sinking by guest choreographer Wendell Gray II and composer Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti (title of music: Gray), Dancers: Marissa Brielle Wiley Mumford, Isaac Owens. Musicians: Celia Hatton, viola; Sarah Mullins, percussion. Lighting design by Tuce Yasak. Part of Periapsis Music & Dance sixth season spring program EPOCH at Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts at LIU Brooklyn, NY
Friday, November 16, 2018 — Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti and David Poissonnier, Qubit (version for viola and fixed media), New York, NY
Wednesday, March 14, 2018 — Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti (version for viola and fixed media), Substation, Melbourne, Australia
Friday, February 9, 2018 — Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti and Michael Truesdell, Orvis Auditorium, University of Hawaiʻi, Honolulu, HI
Monday, February 5, 2018 — Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti and Michael Truesdell, Atlas Theater, Greeley, CO
Friday, June 16, 2017 — Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti and Sarah Mullins, Periapsis Music & Dance workshop performance (Wendell Gray II, choreographer; Isaac Owens and Marissa Wiley, dancers), GK ArtsCenter, New York, NY