By Aubrie Powell
The contemporary music concert series Chatter Albuquerque celebrated its tenth anniversary this year. Ten years is an achievement for any chamber music series, but for a series that presents contemporary and modern works it defies expectations.
Chatter artistic direction comes from two University of New Mexico graduates. Chatter Artistic Director David Felberg and Associate Artistic Director James T. Shields both received Masters degrees from UNM in Conducting and Composition, respectively.
In December 2002, Composer Eric Walters and conductor David Felberg sparked the idea of Chatter as a chamber series focused on new and unconventional works.
“I wanted to put on a concert, in which he would get to write music for professionals, and I would get the experience conducting professionals,” Felberg said. “We came together, and decided to produce that first concert, pretty much paying musicians out of our own pocket. It worked really well! And we decided to make it a real thing, so we incorporated as a nonprofit, and began raising money to fund putting on ensemble concerts, dedicated strictly to contemporary music.”
Chatter juggles multiple concert series in a yearwith weekly Sunday Chatter concerts, six Chatter Cabarets, twelve SITE Santa Fe Shows, four Albuquerque Museum shows, and a few shows at Dialogue Brewery in Albuquerque. That is about 65 concerts a year. Current Associate Artistic director James Shields said, “it’s really a completely unprecedented number.”
Sunday Chatteris the core bulk of performances occurring at Las Puertas nearly every Sunday of the year at 10:30 a.m. The programs are usually within one hour and feature live music and poets reading their own work.
Merging in 2008 with another chamber series, the Church of Beethoven directed by Felix Wurman, the Sunday Chatter concerts maintained certain church service attributes. The two minutes of silence in every concert comes from Wurman’s Church of Beethoven Felberg said.
“The silence was directly related to moments of silence one might observe in a church service,” Felberg said.“In our case, it’s really an aural palette cleanser, helping to clear the way for what comes next. It’s also a nice time to chill and contemplate.”
About the series name Felberg said, “Chatter is a bit tongue-in cheek in a way. Chatter refers to talking fast and trivially-which is an interesting contradiction to what we actually do.” Chatter presents various artistic media where the audience is invited to experience the contradictions of contemporary artistic styles.
Felberg teaches violin at UNM and directs its new music ensemble, New Music New Mexico, in addition to playing with the New Mexico Philharmonic, multiple chamber performances, and conducting.
The exploration of contemporary music is particularly important to Felberg. He said, “There is so much variety in contemporary music— I personally tend to like virtuoso music, not in an older sense of musical technique, but one can see virtuosity in contemporary music as difficult rhythms and pitch structures. It’s so important to perform contemporary music with as much commitment as older music—it really comes across that way.” He expands on his work with Felix Wurman in an interview on Performance New Mexico.
Shields won principal clarinet in the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra right after he graduated from the Julliard School in 2006.
“I was hoping to find some partners-in-crime who might be interested in playing some more modern compositions,” he said.
In his search he was pointed in the direction of Felberg.
As Associate Director, Shields sees his job as facilitating a discussion about the music.
“I’m at my best when I’m thinking about what are the right questions to ask each other to keep the creative juices flowing, and when I’m trying to help everyone who’s heavily invested in Chatter to avoid burn out, stay motivated, remove unnecessary stress, and keep track of deadlines without getting too uptight about things (which can inhibit the creative process),” he said.
Shields now plays for the Oregon Symphony and lives in Portland.
To Shields the experience of live music itself is essential in an increasingly virtual world.
“We communicate so much through speech in everyday life, the breadth of emotion that can be expressed through no verbal sounds alone is amazing – it’s both immediate, and mysterious,” he said. “I think live music is such a powerful experience, especially in our age of increasing technological dependence, I think it’s important to come together and see people communicating in real-time in a physically shared space by playing acoustic instruments with their body.”
Chatter presents compelling canonic works alongside works never before heard by New Mexican audiences. It is a balance of artistry and reality, new and old, experimental and mainstream, and always about community and accessibility.
Chatter rejects the exclusivity found in some artistic venues and acts to create a relaxed social space of artistic and cultural exploration.
“The idea is to transport, or to offer a live performance of amazing music and spoken word, that only the energy of something like that can be appreciated,” Felberg said.
“There is so much variety of contemporary music in the ‘classical’ sphere,” Shields said. “Especially when exploring music from the last 30 years, we get to take part in the ‘sifting’ process, and not all of the music that we are presenting will make it into the ‘standard repertoire’ (if that will even be a thing in the future), but it’s really fun to be part of the process of presenting as much music from as many different voices as possible.”
Although both Felberg and Shields have certain musical tastes, including Minimalism and Spectralism, their programing is a mixture of artistic concepts and logistical realities.
Chatter presents traveling groups and their own independent programs, Felberg said.
“We have a Chatter core of players, who throw out ideas, or James and I have ideas, or sometimes out-of-towners ask to come play,” he said.
“We also have to make sure we give a voice to the performers who we work with frequently, because like any passionate performer, they have works that they are super excited about performing that they are bringing to us, and we want to capitalize on that enthusiasm,” Shields said.
Even within the difficulties of planning and rehearsing so many concerts in a year, “we have the room to be spontaneous and experiment,” Shields said.
That flexibility shifts the focus from utter perfection and overproduction to community. Chatter has nurtured this whirlpool of new and old artistic concepts intuitively. Felberg said, “stick to ones artistic leanings and standards, and to try and create a community that trusts you.”
Chatter ABQ does have a devoted following that is receptive to more experimental contemporary music and poetry.
Felberg lauded the Albuquerque audience saying, “Yes, they have come along with us for a ride, and they are right there with us through it all. They’re awesome!”
After ten years of Chatter, Felberg and Shields have distinct experiences. For Felberg it was about building a community.
“It’s not easy work at all,” He said. “If you are a performing musician you have to balance out administrative duties with performance duties. Not easy, but to go slow, build audience and community, and stick to your artistic desires.”
For Shields it was about the communication and discussion Chatter embraced.
“It’s all personal, learning to get along with your colleagues, take on other’s perspectives, resolve disputes, stay motivated together, rise above your own personal concerns, are all incredibly important skills to have,” he said. “It’s hard to do anything really amazing on your own, and I think 90% of the fun is working together. But working together can be hard, so protect each other’s enthusiasm for whatever your passion is at all costs.”
Among all of Albuquerque’s charms, Shields noted that Chatter is a unique experience created by passionate and dedicated leaders.
“There is really nothing like Chatter anywhere in the country,” Shields said.
