O Cais
Program Note
A pier at a placid haven…is an otherworldly image full of symbolism, a portal that connects earth and water, this world with the next. A symbolism exercised in the poetry of Blake, Neruda, Coleridge, and Quintana. It is a place of arrival, and of departure where contours become tarnished and often disappear. In O Cais, the sounds ringing also become tarnished, creating a sonic “memory game” of perception. Sounds from my home country are added to the soundscape, like the sound of the berimbau; a signifier of coastal regions and sea shanties.
Rodrigo Bussad's O Cais received its world premiere performance by the Grossman Ensemble on March 15, 2019.