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Brian Simalchik (b. 1988, Danbury, CT) writes music for a wide range of performers, instruments and ensembles. His music embraces emotional nuance and directness, evocative sounds and structures, and the expressive potential of silence and space.
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He has had premieres by Roomful of Teeth, the Slee Sinfonietta, Wild Shore New Music, the Berkshire Symphony, UVA Percussion Ensemble, Williams Percussion Ensemble, I/O Ensemble, Opus Zero Band, Foot in the Door, Performance 20/20, Matthew Gold, Andrea Violet Lodge, I-Jen Fang and Casey McLellan. His music has been presented by organizations such as the Talea Ensemble (at The Stone in NYC), June in Buffalo, Yarn/Wire, nief-norf, Wild Shore New Music, Close Encounters with Music, the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival, the I/O New Music Festival and Mass MoCA. His piece Seven Songs was a winner of the nief-norf Summer Festival 2016 International Call for Scores. His piece Overlooks was a winner of the Wild Shore New Music 2016 Call for Scores and was performed in Alaska, New York City and Washington, D.C. on a program celebrating the National Park Service's centennial. He has been in residence at the Atlantic Center for the Arts (in 2013 and 2020) and at Mass MoCA, and has participated in June in Buffalo and the Yarn/Wire International Institute.
He has degrees from The Hartt School (M.M.), where he studied composition with Robert Carl, and from Williams College (B.A.), where he was the recipient of the Hubbard Hutchinson Memorial Fellowship in Music and studied with David Kechley and Ileana Perez-Velazquez. He has also studied with Jennifer Higdon and Judith Shatin at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. He currently lives in Charlottesville, VA, where he hosts A New Sound, a radio show on WTJU focusing on contemporary classical music.
He has degrees from The Hartt School (M.M.), where he studied composition with Robert Carl, and from Williams College (B.A.), where he was the recipient of the Hubbard Hutchinson Memorial Fellowship in Music and studied with David Kechley and Ileana Perez-Velazquez. He has also studied with Jennifer Higdon and Judith Shatin at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. He currently lives in Charlottesville, VA, where he hosts A New Sound, a radio show on WTJU focusing on contemporary classical music.
Notes from the composer:
Like many composers and artists I know, I didn’t do much creative work during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Getting through each day was enough of a challenge and accomplishment. But in late May, as a participant in the Yarn/Wire International Institute, the opportunity came up to write a piece for a percussionist using only the instruments she had in her home. One of those instruments was the marimba, which I had never written for and, in fact, had long told myself I didn’t like.
Somehow, in this strange pandemic time, writing for the marimba suddenly seemed like an opportunity to ask myself: what would happen if I embraced something I didn’t think I liked? Might it yield something more fruitful than simply making the same old choice? And do our thoughts always know best anyway? Don’t they sometimes push us into directions that aren’t always that good for us, especially if we aren’t paying close attention to them?
Following this line of thinking, I stumbled across a new writing process while beginning this piece, a way to remove my rational, thinking brain, with all of its desires and ideas, from the process of creating musical material and structure. To do that, I generated each of the three movements in a single focused session, following material wherever it led in the moment. I did no conscious planning, shaping or decision-making during this generative process. I simply made something and left it to my later self to understand it, tease out its implications, and figure out how to communicate it to a performer. I found that, when I took my conscious mind out of the process in this way, what was left was a deeper-felt, richer, and more surprising music.
Self-Portrait (You Are Not Your Thoughts) is very different from anything else I’ve written. It is fluid and free-flowing, constantly transforming, turning material over, introducing new ideas suddenly, and moving away from them just as quickly. It moves organically and unpredictably, like the perception of time in a dream. Above all else, it is built out of melody - everything in the piece comes from the melodic lines and their shapes, desires and implications.
This is not a piece that I would ever sit down and try to write, consciously. But that’s why it feels more deeply and eye-openingly ‘me.’ In John Kabat-Zinn’s seminal book about mindfulness, Wherever You Go, There You Are, he speaks about “doerless doing” in creative endeavors, a “capacity to let execution unfold beyond technique, beyond exertion, beyond thinking. Action then becomes a pure expression of art, of being, of letting go of all doing.”
Trusting my intuitive mind and ear and accepting whatever came out, no matter how different or strange it felt, totally changed my relationship to my creative process. And it started by realizing that my thoughts are not always right - and in fact, they aren’t really who you are. There is so much more to you than just what you think.
Like many composers and artists I know, I didn’t do much creative work during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Getting through each day was enough of a challenge and accomplishment. But in late May, as a participant in the Yarn/Wire International Institute, the opportunity came up to write a piece for a percussionist using only the instruments she had in her home. One of those instruments was the marimba, which I had never written for and, in fact, had long told myself I didn’t like.
Somehow, in this strange pandemic time, writing for the marimba suddenly seemed like an opportunity to ask myself: what would happen if I embraced something I didn’t think I liked? Might it yield something more fruitful than simply making the same old choice? And do our thoughts always know best anyway? Don’t they sometimes push us into directions that aren’t always that good for us, especially if we aren’t paying close attention to them?
Following this line of thinking, I stumbled across a new writing process while beginning this piece, a way to remove my rational, thinking brain, with all of its desires and ideas, from the process of creating musical material and structure. To do that, I generated each of the three movements in a single focused session, following material wherever it led in the moment. I did no conscious planning, shaping or decision-making during this generative process. I simply made something and left it to my later self to understand it, tease out its implications, and figure out how to communicate it to a performer. I found that, when I took my conscious mind out of the process in this way, what was left was a deeper-felt, richer, and more surprising music.
Self-Portrait (You Are Not Your Thoughts) is very different from anything else I’ve written. It is fluid and free-flowing, constantly transforming, turning material over, introducing new ideas suddenly, and moving away from them just as quickly. It moves organically and unpredictably, like the perception of time in a dream. Above all else, it is built out of melody - everything in the piece comes from the melodic lines and their shapes, desires and implications.
This is not a piece that I would ever sit down and try to write, consciously. But that’s why it feels more deeply and eye-openingly ‘me.’ In John Kabat-Zinn’s seminal book about mindfulness, Wherever You Go, There You Are, he speaks about “doerless doing” in creative endeavors, a “capacity to let execution unfold beyond technique, beyond exertion, beyond thinking. Action then becomes a pure expression of art, of being, of letting go of all doing.”
Trusting my intuitive mind and ear and accepting whatever came out, no matter how different or strange it felt, totally changed my relationship to my creative process. And it started by realizing that my thoughts are not always right - and in fact, they aren’t really who you are. There is so much more to you than just what you think.
Self-Portrait (You Are Not Your Thoughts) is in three unnamed movements. The first is sparse and simple, moving from long spans of silence to a kind of blossoming of expression. The second movement is the shortest and quickest, moving through a few different ideas without looking back. The third and longest movement gently but persistently explores a simple melodic phrase, taking it through a series of transformations and detours before an unrelated, becalmed ending suddenly settles over the piece.
This piece would not exist without the invaluable input and support of four percussionists: I-Jen Fang, to whom the second and third movements are dedicated with friendship and gratitude; Jessie Otaiza, to whom the first movement is dedicated; and Russell Greenberg and Ian Antonio. Many, many thanks to all of them.
This piece would not exist without the invaluable input and support of four percussionists: I-Jen Fang, to whom the second and third movements are dedicated with friendship and gratitude; Jessie Otaiza, to whom the first movement is dedicated; and Russell Greenberg and Ian Antonio. Many, many thanks to all of them.
Photo credit: Rick Stillings
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Described as an “intrepid percussionist” by Fanfare Magazine, I-Jen Fang has a career as a solo performer, chamber musician, orchestral player, and teacher. She joined the music faculty at the University of Virginia in 2005 and is Principal Timpanist and Percussionist of the Charlottesville Symphony.
I-Jen has performed as a marimba soloist in Taiwan, the United States, Austria, France, Hungary, Romania, and South Africa. As a chamber musician, I-Jen has performed or recorded with artists such as Keiko Abe, William Cahn, Christopher Deane, Mark Ford, Edward Janning, Heini Kärkkäinen, Mike Mainieri, Ed Smith, Michael Spiro, Nanik Wenton, Nyoman Wenton, EcoSono Ensemble, Cantata |
Profana, Attacca Percussion Group, and DaCapo Chamber Players. She has appeared in Heritage Theater Festival, Staunton Music Festival, Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival, Wintergreen Festival, Percussive Arts Society International Convention and Regional PAS Day of Percussion.
Born in Taipei, Taiwan, I-Jen began learning piano at age six and percussion at age nine. She came to the United States at age fifteen to pursue her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Percussion Performance at Carnegie Mellon University. She received her Master of Music degree from Northwestern University and her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of North Texas where she served as a teaching fellow.
I-Jen is an Innovative Percussion artist.
Born in Taipei, Taiwan, I-Jen began learning piano at age six and percussion at age nine. She came to the United States at age fifteen to pursue her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Percussion Performance at Carnegie Mellon University. She received her Master of Music degree from Northwestern University and her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of North Texas where she served as a teaching fellow.
I-Jen is an Innovative Percussion artist.