It's great to see so many of you at this inaugural event or first event of this year's biennial.

I'm particularly proud because as the second incarnation of this effort, we finally truly deserve to call ourselves a biennial.

From the beginning, I had the idea of creating an event, creating a an enthusiasm around new music, what's going on both in this country and around the world, and I thought the weight to do that was to get as much help as possible.

Really, it's quite ambitious what we're doing, and there's first of all, practically no way we could do it ourselves.

But I've really enjoyed the the call it by in that we found they've been we've been.

I think it's not too strong a word to say we've been inundated since the last time we did this with with requests to be part of it.

And it's been fantastic to feel the shared energy and the shared enthusiasm for something that, as you all know, I'm truly passionate about the area and the and the efforts in contemporary music.

And you know, while it's truly impressive, I believe what we're able to offer literally hundreds of pieces.

It's just it's it's, um it's necessarily an editorial sliver of what's happening, things that were excited about things that were enthusiastic about, and things that some of the people or all of the people that that you're going to hear from today.

These are only some of the participants in the biennial, but everybody is very excited about what they do and for what it's worth in these two weeks or so, you're going to be able to experience in one place that is to say, in New York, at various locations around the city.

A.

Really, I think fascinating.

Look at what's happening in the world of contemporary music today.

We have a lot to get through today, and in the spirit of leaving the heavy lifting for others, I'm going to shut up and invite Jennifer Co.

To join me on the stage.

Wonderful artist, Great violinist.

Passionate advocate for new visit.

Thanks, Jennifer.

Coming up you are, as everyone agrees, amazing virtuoso on the violin and could have done any number of things with your career.

Um, and in fact, you do many different things with your career.

But I've been I've been so dazzled by You're well, really putting your money where your mouth is and and standing up for fellow composers and you've taken it a step further.

In my opinion, with this this endeavor that you're going to be sharing with us and the biennial, it's about supporting the music and performing it, but also really exploring in a meaningful way.

What we hope is a truce energy between performers and composers.

Can you tell us?

Just assume we don't know anything because I basically don't know anything.

Tell us about tell us about what we're going to get to hear.

Well, um, I think shared madness.

It's It's first of all, it's about this incredible community of artists and composers that I'm a part of, and I feel really, incredibly grateful that I'm a part of of this community.

The way the project came kind of came about was that I had struggled for 8.5 years to raise money for an instrument to be able to play on, and I was actually carrying half the debt with a lot of interest.

12% um, there was carrying every month, so it was really killing me.

Um, and any bankers in the audience and banks don't recognize instrument.

American banks don't recognise instruments is investment, so you can't loan against it.

But that's okay.

Um, yeah.

Um, but in a case, um, so I was very lucky there was, Ah, gentleman and his wife came to a concert of mine.

Um, and we're actually in the CD signing line after the concert, and he came up to me and while I was signing the CD, said, You know, I love the fact that you do these commissions.

I just done Bach and beyond there.

Um, and he was like, I'm really kind of interested in doing these commissions.

And I was like, Give me your card.

I gave you a call because I was raising money for Bridge to Beethoven, which were new works by Vijay I, WR and Andrew Norman and Anthony Chung.

And, um and I only spoke to him about that.

And finally, I think it was just the stress.

After eight years, um, I finally broke down, like, six months later, and I gave him a call, and I was like, Look, this is the situation.

Um, I'm in, you know, I have no idea whether you can help me at all in this situation.

But this is This is what I've been living with for for a number of years.

Um and he said, Let me think about it.

Talk to my wife.

And he called me back in less than 24 hours and said Here it is, um and it was in the form of a loan.

And it's alone that I immediately knew I would never be able to pay back in my lifetime.

And, um and I was, you know, I a lot of my very close composer friends like, for example, Taya, Saariaho and and Esa Pekka Salomon and Nancy cartoon in a cellist.

They they Very few people knew that I was going through this process during the time at that time.

And but she may actually help me find the fiddle in Helsinki because, um, I was at a loss.

I gone through everywhere in America, in the UK, in any case, Long story short.

Um, when this happened, um, because he was so interested in commissioning, um, I do a partner, a pianist.

Shy was no.

Was like, Well, isn't he interested in commissions.

Like, why don't you propose something around the violin?

And then and then I actually call Kaya, and she was like, This is this is perfect Because we all have seen you struggling and suffering for her to such a long time.

And we all felt very helpless because we couldn't help you.

Um uh, and she was like, This is great.

You should just go to all of your friends.

And so I actually made the initial calls to to the composers, and I started every conversation with please feel free to say no immediately.

Also because I think no artist should work without fee.

And I explained my you know, the situation and what I've been going through for and 1/2 years.

And, um and the reason we've ended up with two nights of world premieres is because and I was so moved, and I'm so grateful because almost everyone said yes, which I totally didn't think would happen.

Actually, um and I almost broke down in every conversation because I couldn't I couldn't believe that that that they would be so generous of not only their time, but their talent.

Um, and and their generosity towards me.

Um, well, I mean, it's a beautiful story, but I have to say it's a two way street, and I know that for the composers that you champion, they're inspired by what you give and it's it's not.

It's not so common, for I think, a lot of composers to find a performer who can also be a kind of muse and with whom it's possible to build profound relationship.

We have often relatively little contact with the composers of the pieces we play, even if we love their music.

And I really tried to do our best buy them.

But you, as I said, I've taken it a step further.

Are there any any details or particular pieces or experiences you've had working up these these programs that you can share with us?

Yeah, well, I mean, so the interesting thing.

Initially, I thought because I've been doing bank and beyond.

You and I spoke to a couple of my composer friends and said, What about around the idea of Bach?

And they were like, It's way too heavy, especially he if you're asking for shorter pieces, Um and so we decided Thio and I wanted to do something that was interesting for the composers to, um, So it was kind of built around this idea of virtuosity and what that is for the violin in the 21st century.

And, of course, pocket me any kind of defined what that waas in the 18 hundreds.

But it's, you know, 100 over 150 years later on, and that still seems to be the definition.

And what's been really interesting is how each of the composers have responded in a very unique ways.

Um, for some, for some people, it was really about.

They were like, Well, everybody in conservatory can play Paganini now.

So So what's interesting is, um, phrasing.

And for other people, it's about extended technique for other people.

It's about rhythmic intention.

Um, and you know, So So that's been a very kind of fascinating, um, Ray, because it's it's really very unique and individual voices responding to this kind of concept and the reason it went around this, The reason I chose the name eventually shared madness was because everything was about finding a shared creative space with the composer.

But it was also about sharing this music with community and thinking about how we as artists, serve her community, Um, and also having a shared experience with their audience.

Well, I'm a violinist myself in In a way, I'm a call it a traditionalist.

As faras, the violin goes, I love the sound of the violin and the just the beautiful lines and notes and and things that Mozart was doing already in Beta seven.

But this idea of extended techniques, if I may ask a technical question as it were, um, it's it's very exciting.

I think that a lot of composers, and maybe you can give an example or two are doing things with instruments, not just the violin that maybe we're never thought of.

Like you could take a trumpet and hit it on the floor and make it.

No, no, no, no, I understand.

But actually, my question is actually very Inouye.

Let me let me come at it from a skeptical point of view.

What kind of extended do you all understand?

What is meant by extended techniques?

It's it's doing things like hitting the side of the violin with your bow or maybe scratching the strings.

You know, the lateral way rather than just things that I mean, you know.

But what my question is is are there extended techniques that really could only be done on the violin?

That our call it violinist IQ in quality.

I mean, actually, one composer did ask if I could, like, hit the fiddle Lord knock against it.

And I was like, Yeah, but, um, so they're multiple things.

I'm thinking of several composers.

Um kite, I think if people know Kaya Sorry, a host music, Of course, there's a lot of different kind of coloration with kind of Monticello.

Um, quite a few composers have worked a great deal with different kinds of cell toss toe different degrees of Let me teach you These are these are these air terms that that concerned where the bow connects with the strings of Monticello, is playing very close to the bridge, which is the wooden piece that is the is the end point of the string and soul tossed.

Oh is playing with the bow very far over the finger where the other direction that creates a kind of wispy area kind of sentence, and then one composers is having me play over the bridge on the other side.

Um and then, yes.

So there are quite a few different things.

Also, things like micro tones.

Um, and I'm an expert at micro tones.

Huh?

I'm an expert at microchip when I'm not No, no.

Unfortunately, that's something else that's playing it.

Playing out of two, but yes.

Oh, those were the different kinds of exploration.

So So some people felt that that was an important part of what virtuosity is.

It's about extending the expressivity of the instrument and its potential now on dhe.

Then other people kind of explored this idea that, um, you know, in the 18 hundreds, people had a different tactile relationship to instruments.

So seeing somebody do a bunch of fingered octaves was really, you know, impressive.

Whereas that kind of relationship with with instruments is very different with your audience now.

So, um, just conceptually some people found it interesting.

I think our composers, they found it interesting.

I'm so excited about what?

What you're going to do and hearing these two concerts.

I think we might come back to you.

But why don't we wait and we move on to the next?

Thank you very, very much.

Great.

to hear you talk.

Yeah, I feel I feel utterly brutal, cutting off what could be obviously an hour long conversation by itself.

But we have a number of other people here we have.

Let's just bring the New Haven contingent up to the stage here we have as Martin Resnick on Aaron, Jay Kern, ISS, Hillary Pearlington and Chris Thea affinities.

This is this is murderer's row of composers here to my right.

Welcome, all of you.

Now, how are we gonna divide this up?

Um, I guess yet, um, why don't I start with you?

Martin?

Um, your wife is here.

She told me to cut you off brutally if it if it iveness, um Ah.

Tell me a little bit about the Yale composition program just so we can have an overview.

Is there an overriding philosophy?

Is it?

Ah, Is it a mishmash of different approaches?

Just just bring us into the into the world of Yale has historically, just to remind folks our most famous graduate who will be represented on our concert is Charles Ives, who was a student at Yale in the late 19th century.

Ah, and in some ways, I've openhearted open minded devotion to music in all its possible forms is part of the of the foundational aspects of yell.

But you know, yells under over the last 100 or more years.

Yells undergone a number of changes from Horatio Parker, too, Paul Hindemith and, of course, my colleague Jacob Druckman, so very influential in the seventies and eighties.

Ah, and I think that if we can say anything about the program, it's that, um, our diversity.

Our widespread interest in new music in every possible form characterizes us so that that one could not say, I think I think my colleagues will agree that there's not really a Yale sound or Yale way of doing things.

I mean, actually just struck me looking at Jennifer's program, that of the how many Jennifer, How many composers on your program?

More than 30 I would say At least 10 of them are Yale educated composers, and the variety that Jennifer will represent, I think, will be testament to the the wisdom of that that we we have explored avenues without ideological preconceptions.

I personally all over the idea of engaging in education.

In fact, I see no no distinction or no barrier between what we do, for example, at the Philharmonic and what is being done at Yale or a Juilliard or any other institution of higher learning.

And that's that's one of the reasons we're very, very consciously.

We've wanted to co opt your your participation.

Um, because in a way, everything we do is education, and it makes a lot of sense.

Thio, bring in what's going on at a great, great school.

Um, Aaron, it's Ah, it's nice to see you.