Rwandan Images (2016)

in collaboration with Dan Weinstein

For live cellist, video projection, and audio playback including cello improvisations and bird calls. 9 minutes.

Cello recordings made by Dan Weinstein. Video footage taken at Akagera National Park, Rwanda, and the beach in Mombasa, Kenya. Bird sounds recorded in Kigali, Rwanda.

World Premiere in Jaffa, Israel May 16, 2016.

US Premiere at MIT in Cambridge, MA with Bri Tagliaferro cellist. February 2022.

Program Note:

The sun and water. There is something so simple, pure and constantly interesting about waves, and how light is transformed by water refraction. This piece is in two movements. The first one is from the beach in Mombasa, Kenya and the second is from Akagera National Park in Rwanda, a safari park with incredible birds and animal sounds on the lake overlooking Tanzania. Other bird sounds are recorded in our back yard in Kigali.

This work is in collaboration with cellist Dan Weinstein in Tel Aviv. Due to lack of reliable internet, we relied on ‘mailing’ instructions and recordings back and forth, where I would design instructions for Dan to improvise and record in his studio, which he would send back to me and I would edit with the video footage. The goal is to have a three way conversation between the pre-recorded cello, the live cello, and the video footage, at any point one of the three is always leading the music forward and the others are supporting.

Special thanks to Musica Nova for initiating this collaboration and offering its premiere on May 16, 2016 in Jaffa, Israel, with Mr. Weinstein as soloist.