Right Here, Right Now: San Antonio

Scarred Landscape takes its premise from the “carved paintings” of Richard Armendariz. Armendariz creates these works in two layers, using plywood instead of canvas. The first layer is abstract and atmospheric, painted on with a brush. The second layer is carved into the surface of the plywood with a blade. These coexisting layers result in two superimposed images of radically differing textures existing on the same plane. At the outset of Scarred Landscape, I recreated this relationship instrumentally: the viola is the cloudy foundation layer, the cello the jagged upper layer. These initial roles are developed and swapped throughout the work, giving each instrument an opportunity to embody the different elements of Armendariz’s paintings.

Scarred Landscape is a commission of the MUSIQA Emerging Composer Fellowship Program, supported with funds from the Composer Circle.

Emerging Composer Fellow, Theo Chandler is currently pursuing his Doctorate of Musical Arts at the Rice University Shepherd School of Music, studying with Anthony Brandt. Chandler is the recipient of a Charles Ives Scholarship from the Academy of Arts and Letters. He was selected as the winner of Juilliard’s Orchestra Competition, Juilliard’s Gena Raps Competition, the New Juilliard Ensemble Competition, and the Maryland Wind Festival Call for Scores. Chandler has received commissions from the New York Youth Symphony, Tanglewood Music Center, Les Délices, Golden West Winds from the United States Air Force Band of the Golden West, Amir Eldan, George Sakakeeny, Alexa Still, Michael Rosen, and others. He has been a fellow at Tanglewood Music Center and Aspen Music Festival and School. For the summer of 2018, he has received a fellowship to Copland House CULTIVATE and has been invited for an I-Park Residency. Presently, he is the Emerging Composer Fellow for MUSIQA, and was previously the Young Composer in Residence for the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings. He received his previous degrees from The Juilliard School and Oberlin Conservatory, studying composition with Melinda Wagner, Samuel Adler, Steven Stucky, and Lewis Nielson.