I used to be a spinner. From the time I could stand until I sat down at a piano at the age of 5, I would spin in a circle for hours. "Maybe he was a Whirling Dervish in a past life," my mother would say.
The Whirling Dervishes have since captivated me, and after digging around the internet, it turns out that the first Whirling Dervish was the famous Persian poet Rumi:
It is said that once when Rumi was walking in the marketplace in Konya, he heard the rhythmic hammering of a goldbeater's hammer. As he heard this sound, Rumi slowly opened his arms and began to turn around and around in ecstasy.
-Sufism Journal
Raymond Kraus and Sam Swanton spinning in the Movement Workshop.
Single movement string quartet where melodic lines emerge from progressions of tightly voiced suspensions. Composed and recorded at the Yellow Barn Young Artists Program in Putney, Vermont.
Sextet for piano, marimba, flute, clarinet, violin and cello. A lopsided tango motive develops in a series of variations. Premiered at Boston University Tanglewood Institute.
My first big piece with thanks to Bach. Written for a space-themed choral competition, ''Dinnertime on the Way to Jupiter'' calls upon two formative elements of my childhood: turtles and Bach.
Sound collage homage to the late Belgian Hot Jazz guitarist, Django Reinhardt for his 100th birthday. Snippets of guitar riffs borrowed from songs "Nuages" and "Djangology."
Synth whale calls + tacky kick drum = magic. The japanese female voice was taken from an obscure website with audio files of common animals in Japanese. There's also some Kraftwerk samples thrown in for good measure.
Original Music and Sound Design for 3D animator Matt Nava's senior thesis project at Otis College. "Lady of the Ruins" features gamelan kechak chanting.
Original Music for 3D animator Matt Nava's junior collaborative project at Otis College for a Ferrari Murvielago Advertisement. Layed down some serious breakbeats for this project.
If you're in the Bay Area, I hope you can come to the Garden of Memory solstice concert at the Chapel of the Chimes, a Julia Morgan morgue maze (say that 3x fast). Conceived and produced by the amazing pianist Sarah Cahill.
Albert Behar and the Movement West, a neoclassical quartet with violin, cello, laptop, and two Movers (dancers with Megaphone Helmets) will be one of 50 performances scattered throughout the crypt.
COMPOSER: Albert Behar
VIOLIN: David Boyden
CELLO: Isaac Pastor-Chermak
MOVER: Zach Behar
Advance copies of Be Hear Now will be available.
WHERE: Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave. Oakland CA
WHEN: June 21, 2010. 5pm-9pm
ADMISSION: $15 general, $10 students + seniors, $5 kids (under 12 free)
The first workshop of Albert Behar and the Movement, a newoclassical sextet featuring violin, cello, clarinet, and two Movers (dancers wearing Megaphone Helmets.) Performed at the NYU Tisch Dance Studio.
COMPOSER: Albert Behar
CHOREOGRAPHER: Claire Westby
VIOLIN: Kate Dreyfuss
CELLO: Bridget Pasker
CLARINET: Daniel Padmos
MOVER A: Sam Swanton
MOVER B: Raymond Kraus
A collaboration between the composers and percussion ensemble of New York University. With new works by composers: Albert Behar Randall Benichak David Boudreaux Chris Chappell Jonathan Knight Dosia McKay Zak Millman Gregory Polzak Peter Strumolo and Andrew Wollner.
Albert Behar is an 18-year-old composer and sound artist. He studies music composition with Julia Wolfe at NYU. Albert's works have been performed at the Ojai Music Festival, the Tanglewood Institute, and the Yellow Barn Music Festival. Behar won America's Funniest Home Videos for his work "Eggsplosion" for solo performer and microwave. He's currently based in New York and San Francisco, but was born in Ojai, California.
Behar apprenticed with sound sculptor and MacArthur 'Genius' Trimpin and helped him build and program "Guiter-Toy," a vortex of 24 computer-controlled plastic toy guitars for the 2009 Ojai Music Festival.
A finalist in the 2007 ASCAP / SEAMUS Student Commission, Albert's electro-acoustic music was performed at Ohio State University. Named a California Arts Scholar in 2005, he attended a month long program at CalArts where he received intensive Gamelan and African drumming instruction. Past teachers include David Lang, Martin Amlin and Stephen Coxe.
