TC
Press Kit
Transient Canvas
TC
Press Kit
Transient Canvas
About TC
Photo by Robert Torres
For over a decade Boston-based contemporary duo Transient Canvas has been thrilling audiences with their “engaging musicality and easy sense of ensemble" (Cleveland Classical) and “superb” performances (Boston Globe). Bass clarinetist Amy Advocat and marimbist Matt Sharrock relish the creative potential of working with living composers, with the San Francisco Chronicle lauding “the versatile imagination they both display and inspire in others.” With a commissioned repertoire of over 90 works, they have released three albums on New Focus Recordings: Right now, in a second, named a top-ten local album of 2020 by The Boston Globe; Wired, “a must-add to any new music lover’s library” according to I Care If You Listen; and Sift, which KLANG New Music called “one of the more refreshing things I’ve heard in recent years.”
Recent Videos
“NOTHING SHORT OF FABULOUS”
Recent Videos
“NOTHING SHORT OF FABULOUS”
Recent Videos
Ratyll by Sid Richardson
Ratyll takes its inspiration from rattling sounds and its title from an older, Middle-English spelling. I was intrigued by the various buzzy, clicky, and noisy sounds that a bass clarinet and marimba are capable of making, and also by the assorted meanings of the word “rattle.” It can of course refer to a shaker instrument, but also to a toy, a plaything or a thing of no importance, a trifle. It has several meanings associated with senses relating to sound, speed, noise, commotion. It can refer to lively talk or gossip, prattling on. Finally, one’s nerves can be rattled. All of these things conjured active textures in my mind, which are spun out in many forms over the course of the piece. Ratyll was commissioned by Transient Canvas as part of the Transient Canvas 2021 Composition Fellowship. – Sid Richardson
Scintillation III by Anthony R. Green
This work is the third in a series of duos that incorporates free gestures in a liberal manner, suggestive of sound and/or texture/environment exploration. The use of Basquiat’s painting Eroica as a “form foundation” also suggested to incorporate influence from my favorite Beethoven symphony. This sonic exploration continues my fascination with literary period as musical period, transforming dramatic and elocutionary rhythm into music. In sum, on a macro level, this piece is a musical working-out of my analytical and emotional viewing of Basquiat’s fragile, yet complex work. On a micro level, my developing and varied compositional interests inform the execution of this “musical viewing” in an organic, yet conscious, process.
— Anthony R. Green.
An immersive experience of music, lighting, and poetry, in quiet moments by Brittany J. Green was commissioned as part of a 2021 Transient Canvas Composition Fellowship, sponsored in part by Jonathan Aibel and Julie Rohwein.
Each nite,
in quiet moments,
when worlds lay asleep.
Words I cannot say,
with tongue beguiled,
and lips compelled,
erupt like ash.
And harden like rock.
– Brittany J. Green
in the teeth of by Sydney Doemel
in the teeth of was premiered by Transient Canvas in a virtual residency at the University of Miami on February 16, 2021. During the 2020-21 concert season, Transient Canvas presented 119 virtual premieres. Residency offerings for the 2021-22 season will include student reading sessions with the option to add video recordings, like this one, following the visit.
Concert Programs
"adventurous spirit”
Concert Programs
"adventurous spirit”
Touring Programs
These programs are subject to change. We also welcome curative projects!
Voice and Memory
“A joyous ever-after would raise up your fresh voice. (Awakening bird of spring.) You would sing.”
An exploration of what it means to be human.
Full Program:
TA VOIX from Poèmes pour mi by (Olivier Messiaen, arr. Nancy Zeltsman)
UNTARNISHED LUCIDITY by Osnat Netzer
CALIBRATING by Jonathan Bailey Holland
ONLY BREATH by Jennifer Bellor
LAMENT by Elliott Miles McKinley
NOSTALGIA VARIATIONS by Adam Roberts
Tapestries
Inviting the audience to forge personal connections with abstract art, each of the pieces on this program is like a distinct sculpture folded from the unique thoughts and experiences of an eclectic group of living composers.
Full Program:
THE PRIVATE WORKS OF PUNCHER & WATTMANN by Joseph M. Colombo
CALDERA by David Coll (9’)
SCINTILLATION III by Anthony R. Green
ORIGAMI by Marti Epstein
TELE by Filippo Santoro
Wired
A portrait of technology's integration into modern life and our social, political, and ecological environments, this electroacoustic program confronts and explores the blurred dichotomies of digital/physical landscapes, processed/natural sounds, and artificial intelligence/human creativity.
Full Program:
PLAYLISTS by Avik Chari
THE OTHER VOICE by Jen Wang
LACUNA by Heather Stebbins
ANGEL ROCK by João Pedro Oliveira
CROSSROADS by Teerath Majumder
AEROSPHERES by Caroline Louis Miller
EPIDERMIS by Dan VanHassel
TRANSIENT CANVAS + SEMIOSIS QUARTET
This program celebrates the lush combination of Transient Canvas and string quartet with a new sextet, Pale Blue Dot, by Elliott Miles McKinley paired with the mystical and evocative Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind by Osvaldo Golijov, and Gabriella Smith’s “knockout” (LA Times) marimba and string quartet work Riprap.
TRANSIENT CANVAS + MICHAEL HALL, VIOLA
Described by the New Music Connoisseur as “utterly masterful,” and Chamber Music Today as having “superb technique,” Michael Hall is a major player in the contemporary classical music world. We are thrilled to present a program with him featuring works by Sarah Kirkland Snider, Daniel T. Lewis, and new commissions TBA!
Recent Acclaim
“ever communicative and poignant”
Recent Acclaim
“ever communicative and poignant”
Recent Acclaim
Cover Art by Tina Tallon
San Francisco Chronicle
“Bass clarinetist Amy Advocat and marimbist Matt Sharrock have made it a mission to build up a robust body of new music for their distinctive combination of forces, and their latest release, ‘Wired,’ is an eloquent testament to the versatile imagination they both display and inspire in others.”
Photo by Robert Torres
Cleveland Classical
“True to their name, Transient Canvas — the Boston-based duo of bass clarinetist Amy Advocat and marimba specialist Matt Sharrock — capture the spirit of today’s visual art scene in their performances, curating pieces and assembling them into diverse yet coherent collections.”
Cover Art by Tina Tallon
I Care If you LIsten
"Transient Canvas is a tour de force, and this record is a must-add to any new music-lover’s library, showcasing that a duo can be much more than two musicians."
Cover Art by Jeff Means
Klang New Music
"I had the pleasure of listening through this album and find it one of the more refreshing things I’ve heard in recent years."