IcarUS At thE caBARet VoLtairE
IcarUS At thE caBARet VoLtairE: parT I (tHe RENdeZVOus)
two guitarists
c.6:30
to Peter Yates and Matthew Elgart
August - September, 1985
The work incorporates theatrical elements and spoken text, as well as a variety of extended techniques for the guitar.
- 1987 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award recipient.
- Received Honorable Mention in the 1988 Gaudeamus Prize competition (Amsterdam).
- Included on the album Improbable Encounters (innova 873, 2014).
- 6 December 2008; California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
- 5 December 2008; University of California, Los Angeles
- 1 December 2008; University of Redlands (Redlands, CA)
- 27 October 2008; University of North Texas (Denton, TX)
- 25 October 2008; Fort Worth, TX — Fort Worth Guitar Guild program
- 23 October 2008; Tarrant County College, South Campus (Arlington, TX)
- 22 October 2008; Collin County Community College (Plano, TX)
- 20 May 2004; Santa Monica College (Santa Monica, CA)
- 19 May 2004; California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
The Elgart/Yates Classical Guitar Duo
- 26 March 2003; University of North Texas Library (Denton, TX)
Oscar Villanueva and Camilo Salazar, guitarists
- 6 March 2003; Schoenberg Hall, University of California, Los Angeles
The Elgart/Yates Classical Guitar Duo
- 14 November 2002; University of North Texas (Denton, TX)
Oscar Villanueva and Camilo Salazar, guitarists
- 7 June 1996; The X-Space (Tulsa, OK) — Living Arts of Tulsa/New Genre Festival
Ted Forbes and Darin Au, guitarists
- 4 May 1996 (2 performances); California State University, Los Angeles — Pacific Contemporary Music Festival
- 13 November 1993; Santa Monica Unitarian Church (Santa Monica, CA)
- 19 October 1993; Claremont College (Claremont, CA)
- 1 May 1993; St. Augustine By-The-Sea — Pacific International Guitar Festival (Santa Monica, CA)
- 13 March 1992; California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
- 14 August 1992; Estate Chitarristica sul Lago Maggiore (Italy)
- 12 March 1992; Palomar College (Palomar, CA)
- 4 March 1992; Claremont College (Claremont, CA)
- 31 January 1991; Monroe College (Rochester, NY)
- 30 January 1991; Kingsborough College (Queens, NY)
- 9 January 1991; New York City, NY
- 20 May 1990; Newport Beach, CA
- 12 November 1989; California State University, Sacramento
- 23 May 1989; Santa Monica College (Santa Monica, CA)
- 20 May 1989; Old City Hall Performing Arts Center; Redding, CA
The Elgart/Yates Classical Guitar Duo
- 6 December 1988; Indiana University (Bloomington, IN)
John Lowrie and Feliu Gasull i Altisent, guitars
- 11 November 1988; All Saints Church (Beverly Hills, CA) [review]
- 5 October 1988; University of California, Riverside
- 11 September 1988; DeIjsbreker (Amsterdam, Netherlands) — Gaudeamus MusicWeek
- 11 May 1988; University of California, San Diego
- 8 November 1987; Centre culturel suisse; Paris, France
- 4 November 1987; University of Copenhagen, Denmark
- 29 October 1987; Dachau, West Germany
- 8 February 1987; Brentwood, CA
- 30 January 1987; California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
- 23 January 1987; University of California, San Diego
- 8 November 1986; Venice, CA
- 7 November 1986; KPFK-FM, Los Angeles, CA (live broadcast)
- 3 November 1986; Santa Monica, CA
- 15 August 1986; Lübeck, West Germany
- 13 August 1986; Aalborg, Denmark
- 14 July 1986; University of California, Los Angeles
- 23 May 1986; University of California, San Diego
- 15 May 1986; California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
- 20 April 1986; University of California, Los Angeles
- 19 April 1986; University of California, Los Angeles
- 18 April 1986; Cerritos, CA
- 13 April 1986; University of California, Santa Barbara
- 18 December 1985; University of Leuven, Belgium [premiere]
The Elgart/Yates Classical Guitar Duo
score (pdf)
audio recording (mp3)
Edited version of the 13 April 1986 & 23 May 1986 performances; Matthew Elgart & Peter Yates. An excerpt (score pp. 11-15) of this performance is also available here.
video recording 1 (YouTube)
Recorded 26 October 2008, University of North Texas; Matthew Elgart & Peter Yates, guitarists. (Video edited by Joseph Klein; Greg Dixon, audio engineer.)
video recording 2 (Quicktime movie)
Performance recorded 23 May 1986, UC San Diego; Matthew Elgart & Peter Yates. This is one of the earliest recorded performances of the work, by the duo for which it was composed. (Video recorded by Paul Herschenson; edited and mixed by Joseph Klein.)
video recording 3 (Quicktime movie)
Performance recorded 7 June 1996, Tulsa, OK; Ted Forbes & Darin Au. (Video recorded and edited by Steve Liggett.)
video recording 4 (Quicktime movie)
Performance recorded 14 November 2002, University of North Texas; Oscar Villanueva & Camilo Salazar. (Video recorded by Beth Andresen; edited and mixed by Camilo Salazar.)
photograph 1
Elgart/Yates performance at the 1988 Gaudeamus MusicWeek
photograph 2
Forbes/Au performance at the 1996 New Genre Festival
IcarUS At thE caBARet VoLtairE: parT I (tHe RENdeZVOus) was composed in the summer of 1985 for the Los Angeles-based guitar duo of Matthew Elgart and Peter Yates. The work was premiered on 18 December 1985 by the Elgart/Yates Duo at the University of Leuven, Belgium, and has since been performed over fifty times throughout the United States and Europe. Much of the work is based on a process of growth/metamorphosis/decay, though these processes are often obscured by the density of their unfolding. Texts from four different languages (German, French, Italian, and English) are arbitrarily juxtaposed, their placement derived from Morse Code and organized according to pre-compositional decisions determined by a deck of playing cards. The result is a self-reflexive caricature of the inherently theatrical nature of musical performance itself, combining exaggerated physical gestures, extended performance techniques, and absurd spoken passages.
IcarUS At thE caBARet VoLtairE is the recipient of a 1987 ASCAP Morton Gould Award and an honorable mention in the 1988 Gaudeamus Prize Competition. The work is included on the album Improbable Encounters (innova 873, 2014).
