Morning Concert:
Spirit Catchers: Laetitia Sonami & Janice Giteck

Charles Amirkhanian interviews two outstanding women composers, both of whom have combined their artistic and spiritual lives in search for new meaning, understanding, and creativity. Laetitia de Compiègne Sonami, born in Paris in 1957, studied with composer Eliane Radigue. In 1977 she moved to the United States to study electronic music. She has worked as a recording engineer and performer, and often utilizes electronics of her own making in her compositions. Her electronic works, several of which are heard in the first half of this program, mix extraordinary electronic sounds with selections of texts, songs, music, and ambient sounds, to produce absolutely exquisite and entrancing soundscapes.

Janice Giteck studied at Mills College in the 1960s and was one of the last students of Darius Milhaud. She studied further in Paris with Olivier Messiaen. After moving to Seattle in the late 1970s Giteck’s instrumental writing has taken a turn toward an exalted and focused consonance not unlike that of Lou Harrison. Giteck has also been heavily influenced by the music and culture of Native Americans, and has investigated the use of music in healing, and talks briefly here about her work with the mentally ill. Several of her works are heard, including a recording a the world premiere of “Tapasya,” which was written for violist Mimi Dye, who first performed it at a concert in Carnegie Hall.

Note: Sonami was a featured composer during the 4th Other Minds Festival, where several of her works that utilized her “lady’s glove,” a unique digital music interface, were presented, recordings of which can be found on radiOM.org.