Contemporary Improvisation Department: Lost Voices | New England Conservatory (2020)

This project is dedicated to pursuing, excavating, amplifying, illuminating art and artists missing from the conversation, with works performed and arranged by CI students. For this concert, students went deep into their personal pantheons in order to explore questions of what becomes canonical, what become central. What stories remain untold and unheard, and why? Subgenres, marginalized groups, half-forgotten artists — whatever and whoever could be understood under the umbrella or rubric of Lost Voices was considered, discussed, and analyzed. A couple of examples: Rihards Kolmanis developed a solo performance based on the work of a marginalized composer - Bjørn Fongaard, a Norwegian pioneer of prepared electric guitar – whose work anticipated innovations from decades later, while Afarin Nazarijou dedicated Sortgar-e Naghash (The Portrait Painter) to Iranian women, “who have always been a huge part of artistic matters in Iranian culture”, but who are not allowed to sing solo publicly. In the end,