Yuto Obata- "Airly-Fairly, Impromptu for Yunluo (雲鑼) (2020)

Yuto Obata- "Airly-Fairly, Impromptu for Yunluo (雲鑼) (2020)
Performer: Ross Aftel

"Airly-Fairly" was a piece written for me by Yuto Obata, a young composer who was part of a virtual musicians residency that was held last March-April. I was the resident percussionist for the online project and was lucky enough to work on four new pieces. I'm also very lucky that I have a set of yunluo, but there is not a lot of new work, or solo work for the instrument, as it is considered rather ancient. I was hoping one of the composers I would work with would write a piece for yunluo, and Obata-san made a beautiful short piece.

Taichung Tapes #1: ""Ross plays the standard repertoire that can be done in an apartment." From March 2020-January 2021, I was in lockdown in NY. In February 2021, I took a last-minute job in Taiwan, which I began in March. Then, Taiwan experienced its first outbreak of COVID in May. During all of this, I worked on some premieres, finished my 11 years of university studies, lost my father, and have spent 12 months in some form of confinement (like most of us). Thus, the impetus for this program is straightforward, 1) put together a percussion concert in an apartment without bothering my neighbors and, 2) work on 7 pieces in 4 weeks as a means to cope with loss and isolation. Special thanks to Kiyou Kamisawa, Alex Smith, Saori Kanemaki, Hannah Porter Occena, Szilárd Mezei, Quintin Mallette, and Nick Nelson.