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Roberta Michel’s intrepid musicianship has caught the attention of avant-garde artists and groups such as the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Bang on a Can, the Wet Ink Ensemble and others. On Hush she takes the flute – her chosen instrument – out of the confines of the chamber (or orchestral) context on solo flights following, unfettered, wherever this audacious music beckons.
Ditching what certainly appears to be a reliable technique, she puts paid to predictable finger movement and conventional breath controls to seemingly turn her body’s whole cardio-pulmonary machinery into a system plotted around the efforts and exertions required to make a multi headed monolith of pure sound made from mouthfuls of air.
The whirling ellipses of Jane Rigler’s Red are eminently suited to Michel’s restless creativity, and it surges in a mad rush of blood to the head, and her flute. Victoria Cheah’s edifice, And for you, castles sees Michel mindfully abseiling through its sonic architecture. Jen Baker’s piece, The Great Bridge and a Lion’s Gate is painted in washes of muted and vivid coloured brushstrokes by Michel. Mert Morali’s Quintet sends pungent sonorities through Michel’s bass flute echoing through four speakers. Meanwhile Angélica Negrón’s Hush echoes the silvery quietude of Michel’s father Fred’s plant photographs. Cheah, Morali and Negrón join Michel to perform on their works.
Meanwhile the conventional meaning of the word “hush” apart, metaphorically speaking Michel blows her way through her flutes right past the sound barrier.
Hush – New Works for Flute and Electronics