To mark the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, The Classical Network's Artist-in-Residence devotes this weekend's episode of the ASCAP Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys to his large-scale work for speaking pianist and electronics - "110 for 911."
The piece incorporates the entire text of Word Tower Two, a collective poem initiated by the organization City Lore. Curated by poet and activist Bob Holman, the poem was collectively written by 110 poets in the immediate aftermath of the attacks.
City Lore approached Distler to set Word Tower 2 to music, resulting in a solo piano composition where the performer speaks the text from the piano, interspersed with pre-recorded material.
Distler has performed this poignant, text-driven electroacoustic work at various New York venues over the years as a memorial tribute, beginning with its world premier on February 16th, 2003 at New York's West-Park Presbyterian Church. It is the world premier performance that will be featured on this episode.
Tune in to Between the Keys, this Friday afternoon at 3:00 PM, with the rebroadcast Saturday evening at 6L00 PM, exclusively on The Classical Network and WWFM.org
