Held at St. Paul’s Chapel, this concert was not your traditional classical music but a contemporary, innovative take by Columbia composers that redefines the boundaries of music.

At some point, you might have walked by St. Paul’s Chapel and noticed a signboard in front of it saying “Free Concert at [time].” The sign always looked a bit ominous to me, with the plain white lettering against a black background, but I decided to check out one of these free concerts to see what they were like; specifically, I attended the concert on Tuesday, March 24 by the International Contemporary Ensemble. 

For some context, the International Contemporary Ensemble is described by the New Yorker as “America’s foremost new-music group,” focusing on fostering the creation and performance of experimental music by living composers. This concert specifically was done in collaboration with Columbia Composers, a student-run organization that showcases music by doctoral composition students at Columbia, and so performed new music by student composers themselves, which I thought was really cool. 

When I first walked into the concert, though, I had no idea that the music they were playing was going to be experimental music. But when I heard the first piece, called here we rest, upon the web we sung into being, between these islands by the composer Ihlara McIndoe, I quickly realized that they were performing a new, contemporary style of music that breaks from the traditional. It began with an eerie, alien-like sound, reminding me of a truck horn blaring against an engine in the background. At the time, the sound made me feel as if there was a bell reverberating in my ear. Then, it ended with a trombone sound that gradually got louder and louder, to the point where it felt like it was going to get louder forever and fill the whole space of the Chapel. Via the program notes, this piece is meant to be “about lonely voices, struggling to summon themselves into existence, searching for each other from across the unknown, hoping to find a stillness together.” Looking back, I can see how this work reflects this message, as it starts off with strands of eerie sounds, or “voices,” that culminate into a full, rich sound by the end, when these voices come together. 

The second piece, called glass trees by Marcus Rock, consisted of various wind and whistling sounds accompanied by ultrasonic effects (there was a person holding some sort of ultrasonic sound generator in the aisles!), making you feel as if you were in a forest with birds rustling around while a high-pitched, barely audible sound pierces your ear. It really did feel like glass trees, as if the birds were scratching their talons against the glass leaves. 

The third piece, Limpidités VI by Corie Rose Soumah, was composed of wind, thudding, riffling, and rumbling sounds against a background tone that sounded both harmonious and discordant to me. At some point, the two saxophone players put down their saxophones and took up oboes, then walked down the aisles while playing the oboes; after that, the piece ended with a sudden flurry of discordant, clicking, and kazoo-like sounds, as if various animals were sounding out in danger. This work is meant to be “a brief investigation on blooming, dread, & tinted clouds;” perhaps the various nature-like sounds used in this piece is meant to remind us of the chaos and unpredictability of nature, so that stormy clouds either bring fear or hope. 

After a brief intermission, the fourth piece, SILT by Alyssa Regent, started with hooded figures standing in the aisle (I hadn’t noticed them coming and was startled to see them suddenly beside me). Throughout the piece, they played buzzing, tittering, tinkling, and staticky sounds alongside choir-like singing, and used various instruments I’ve never seen before; overall, the vibes were solemn and doomsday, as if I was stuck in a haunted forest. This work is about “Three bodies. One thread that the water leaves behind;” I imagine that perhaps these bodies are stuck within this composition, but can only be expressed through the thread of sound. 

The fifth piece, A Breach in the City by Kristupas Bubnelis, had a trombonist on the balcony, and consisted of mostly low tones that seemed to flow up and down. Near the end, there was a sudden, loud organ sound that was sustained while the players walked down the aisle whistling into their instruments. Then, two players carried the cello down the aisle as if it were a casket while a tinkling sound played; the composition then ended in complete silence. The program notes highlight that this piece was composed specifically for the acoustics of St. Paul’s Chapel, and that the violoncello and double bass were supposed to sound like “slow-moving ‘sine-waves’”, reflecting the feeling of fluctuation I felt throughout the piece. 

The sixth and last piece, Paraudiolia by Artun Çekem, had what sounded like a baby voice interspersed within blaring, whirling, clattering, staticky, and cowbell-like sounds, making me feel as if I was being sent across universes on a spaceship. The program notes say that this work is meant to reflect the phenomenon of pareidolia, or “the tendency to perceive human-like patterns in non-human stimuli,” by creating sounds that are a “blurred amalgamation of object and subject.” The alien-like feel of this piece is likely what reflects this phenomenon, as if there are beings and nonbeings permeating throughout. 

Overall, I found this concert to have been a very interesting and novel experience; paired alongside the beautifully ornate architecture of the chapel itself, I felt as if I was being transported to another dimension through these pieces. After I left the concert, I still felt like I was hearing the sounds of the concert in real-life, whether through the chirping birds, a plane passing by, a car engine, a truck horn, or the wind rushing past. It made me appreciate the sounds of everyday life more, and how these sounds put together can create a sort of chaotic and cacophonous harmony. 

Note: The performers in this concert were Rebekah Heller, conductor; Isabel Lepanto Gleicher, flute; Emmalie Tello, clarinet; Alexander Davis, bassoon; Gareth Flowers, trumpet; Michael Lormand, trombone; Chris Gross, cello; and Tristan Kasten-Krause, double bass. You can check out this concert on YouTube as well!

International Contemporary Ensemble via Sacred Music at Columbia YouTube screenshot