Official site of composer Andrea Clearfield. Biography, list of works with audio, score samples, reviews and program notes, photographs, upcoming performances.
Scored for: flute (alto flute), oboe (E.H.), clarinet in A, bassoon (contrabassoon), percussion (2), violin, viola, cello, digital sound and Tibetan Buddhist ritual instruments. May be performed in concert version or with dance and artwork. To inquire about Maureen Drdak’s art, the Lung-Ta Triptych, visit Maureen’s website. Duration: 25 min. Premiere: 3/6/09, Commissioned and premiered by Network for New Music with paintings by Maureen Drdak and dance by Group Motion Dance Company, Manfred Fischbeck, artistic director, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA Commissioned by:Network for New Music, Linda Reichert, Artistic Director Published by: Self-published, Angelfire Press
To hear Andrea’s other Tibetan-inspired works, visit Tse Go La cantata or Rabsong Shar pages.
Contact Andrea’s manager, Trudy Chan for score and parts or contact Andrea:
Description: The title of composer Andrea Clearfield’s 2009 acclaimed, multi-media creation – Lung-Ta, or The Wind Horse – refers to the Tibetan Buddhist prayer flag, which represents the horse that carries the prayers of the faithful up toward heaven. The term also suggests the quality of inner vibratory power, fundamental to the Buddhist philosophy. In 2008, for a commission from Network for New Music, the composer and visual artist and Fulbright Scholar Maureen Drdak trekked to Lo Monthang, a remote region of northern Nepal that is one of the world’s last remaining enclaves of traditional Tibetan culture, to research the indigenous music and art. Working with Manfred Fischbeck, Artistic Director of the Group Motion Dance Company of Philadelphia, they subsequently created a multi-media fusion of music, art, and dance, inspired by the Tibetan Buddhist ritual music, iconography, and cham dance that they experienced on their journey. Andrea Clearfield’s musical work is scored for medium chamber ensemble (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, violin, viola, cello, and percussion), and incorporates both digital field recordings of Tibetan chant and authentic Tibetan percussion instruments into its fabric. Maureen Drdak’s accompanying artwork consists of three large-scale paintings upon which is written in iron on sacral clay the text of Amchi Tenzin Sangbo Bista’s “Path of Aspiration: A Prayer for Planetary Peace.” The original choreography by the Group Motion Dance Company is a distinctive fusion of American modern dance and Tibetan idioms, embodying the company’s mission of “expressing the human experience through movement.” The work is, in essence, a 25-minute-long “Prayer for Planetary Peace,” celebrating the common themes of eastern and western philosophy. Lung-Ta was premiered in Philadelphia in 2009, and offered as a gift to His Holiness the Dalai Lama as an initiative for world peace. Scroll down for audio, reviews and articles.
For more information on Andrea’s Tibetan fieldwork and cantata, click here.
Group Motion Dance Company performing Lung-Ta with paintings by Maureen Drdak, music by Andrea Clearfield
NOTES BY THE COMPOSER (Scroll down for longer notes)
Lung-Ta was commissioned by Network for New Music. The music for Lung-Ta is inspired by the breath-taking expanse of ancient, windy, raw high bone and coral shades of mountain landscape in the shadow of the Himalayas – Lo Monthang in northern Nepal, the powerful and resonant sounds of Tibetan Buddhist ritual music, and the deeply rich and spiritual life of the people there in this remote kingdom. The work is scored for nine musicians, each playing their own instrument plus Tibetan Buddhist instruments; it also uses field recordings that I made, the chanting of the monks in both Tibetan Buddhist and Bon Po ceremonies in Upper Mustang, and fragments of folk music of Tashi Tsering, the last of the royal court singers of Lo Monthang.
“A Prayer for World Peace” was written for us by Tenzin Sangbo Bista, senior Buddhist monk of Lo Monthang’s Choede Monastery and founder of the Lo Kunphen (Tibetan Medicine) School. At the conclusion of the work, there will be a recording of Tenzin Bista reciting his prayer in the Mustangi dialect of Tibetan. Lung-Ta was presented as a gift to His Holiness, the Dalai Lama as an initiative for world peace in 2009.
Network for New Music performing Lung-Ta with Group Motion Dance Company
“Facilitating the collaboration between artist Maureen Drdak and composer Andrea Clearfield (“Lungta, the Windhorse”) was one of the most satisfying projects I have engaged in during my tenure as Artistic Director of Network for New Music. Andrea’s chamber music was gloriously radiant and meticulously crafted; it masterfully incorporated elements of traditional Tibetan music with the composer’s own style to create a trans-cultural work that took the breath away from musicians and listeners alike.”
-Linda Reichart, Network for New Music, artistic director
REVIEWS
Paintings by Maureen Drdak, Lung-Ta Premiere.
“Stunning premiere”
-The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 13, 2009
“Intricately woven”
-The Philadelphia Inquirer, David Patrick Stearns, September 12, 2010
“New music by esteemed Philadelphia composer Andrea Clearfield, was packed beyond standing room.. In the spirit of works being created for Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project, Lung-Ta captures the ethos of Eastern music with a nine-member Western chamber-music ensemble…all rendered with the precision of a composer who is out to make every note count.”
-David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 10, 2009
“This is one of this increasingly well-regarded composer’s best works yet, featuring a lucid, naturally expressive blend of her usual lyric voice, spiced with Asian-flavored percussive dissonance and haunting taped field recordings of Tibetan prayer. The dancing, music and simple but evocative murals were completely of a piece.”
-Peter Burwasser, The Philadelphia City Paper, March 24, 2009
Press
Lung-Ta Review, Philadelphia Inquirer, David Patrick Stearns
Andrea recording Tashi Tsering, royal court singer of Lo Monthang, Nepal
Lung-Ta (The Windhorse)
LUNG-TA NOTES
Lung-Ta (The Windhorse) – 2009
Prelude
Calling of the Deities, Part I (Wrathful)
I. Manjusri (Wisdom)
Calling of the Deities, Part II (Peaceful)
II. Avolokiteshvara (Compassion)
Calling of the Dieities, Part III (Tibetan Orchestra)
III. Vajrapani (Action)
Epilogue (A Prayer for World Peace by Tenzin Sangbo Bista)
Lung-Ta was commissioned by Network for New Music. Praised as a “stunning premiere” by The Philadelphia Inquirer, the work premiered at The University of the Arts in March, 2009 in collaboration with visual artist Maureen Drdak, and Group Motion Dance Company— Manfred Fischbeck, artistic director. It has had a number of subsequent performances as a concert work and with dance. The mid-western premiere of Lung-Ta took place on May 5, 2012 at Rockefeller Chapel, Chicago.
The music for Lung-Ta is inspired by the breath-taking expanse of ancient, windy, raw high bone and coral shades of the mountain landscape of Lo Monthang, which lies in the rain shadow of the Himalayas in the northern region of Upper Mustang in Nepal—the powerful and resonant sounds of Tibetan Buddhist ritual music, and the deeply rich and spiritual life of the people in this remote kingdom. The work is scored for nine musicians, each playing their own instrument in addition to Tibetan Buddhist instruments brought back from the trek; it also integrates field recordings of natural sounds made on horseback, chanting of the monks in both Tibetan Buddhist and Bon Po (ancient pre-Buddhist religion) ceremonies and the folk music of Tashi Tsering, the royal court singer of Lo Monthang.
To gather research visual artist and Fulbright Scholar Maureen Drdak and composer Andrea Clearfield, along with anthropologist Dr. Sienna Craig and her three year old daughter, Aida, embarked on a trek to Nepal and the restricted area of Upper Mustang in September of 2008 to collect visual and audio materials. The trek became a window into Mustang’s vast sound world. Lung-Ta takes its form from Drdak’s dynamic paintings, each of which visualize the energies of the three protector deities of the Rigsum Gompo—the Buddhist Trinity—represented through the iconic structures found near village entrances in these high mountains which symbolize Wisdom, Compassion and Action, respectively. Lung-Ta’s three movements, Manjushri, Avolokiteshvara and Vajrapani, give voice to these individual spiritual forces. Another point of dialogue between painting and music are the gold prana threads running through Drdak’s paintings; Drdak explains that these “prana threads” are energetic meridians that create universal connection. The musical expression of the threads can be heard as a C#/Db tone that passes through all of the instruments and voices from the beginning to the end of Lung-Ta—ever present but continually morphing and shifting like the racing clouds. These threads can be heard as single instruments or as a moving wave of sound with ornamental figures and microtonal undulations. Lung-Ta also corporates fragments of the melodies sung by royal court singer Tashi Tsering and rhythms and pitched fragments from traditional Tibetan Buddhist chant and instrumental ritual music.
“A Prayer for World Peace” was written for Lung-Ta by Lama Tenzin Sangbo Bista, senior Buddhist monk of Lo Monthang’s Choede Monastery and founder of the Lo Kunphen Amchi (Tibetan Medicine) School. The prayer unfolds through the trajectory of the piece, working its way from the gathering of wisdom through all-encompassing compassion into the call for global action and benevolent change. At the conclusion of the work, Lama Tenzin Bista can be heard reciting his prayer in Tibetan. It was very special to us that Lama Bista traveled from Lo Monthang in Nepal to attend the premiere of Lung-Ta in 2009.
Lung-Ta was offered as a gift to His Holiness, The Dalai Lama as an initiative for world peace in 2009.
Following the premiere of Lung-Ta, Dr. Clearfield returned to Lo Monthang in 2010 with anthropologist Katey Blumenthal to record and document the complete gar-glu (court song) repertoire of Tashi Tsering as well as tro-glu (common songs with dance) performed by women in the community. Her new cantata, Tse Go La (At the threshold of this life), a 30-minute work co-commissioned by the Mendelssohn Club and Pennsylvania Girlchoir for double chorus, chamber orchestra and electronics brings some of these melodies to the U.S. for the first time. The work also incorporates poetry by Dr. Sienna Craig. Tse Go La will be premiered on April 29, 2012 in Philadelphia and will have subsequent performances in NYC and NJ on May 19 and 20th respectively.
Rigsom Gompo, Lo Monthang, Upper Mustang, Nepal. Structural element in Lung-Ta\’s music, dance and visual art
EDGE UArts Magazine
Page 1 Phila Inquirer Magazine Tues March 05 20092
Lung-Ta
Lung-Ta, Omaha Chamber Music Society
Scored for: flute (alto flute), oboe (E.H.), clarinet in A, bassoon (contrabassoon), percussion (2), violin, viola, cello, digital sound and Tibetan Buddhist ritual instruments. May be performed in concert version or with dance and artwork. To inquire about Maureen Drdak’s art, the Lung-Ta Triptych, visit Maureen’s website.
Duration: 25 min.
Premiere: 3/6/09, Commissioned and premiered by Network for New Music with paintings by Maureen Drdak and dance by Group Motion Dance Company, Manfred Fischbeck, artistic director, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Commissioned by: Network for New Music, Linda Reichert, Artistic Director
Published by: Self-published, Angelfire Press
To hear Andrea’s other Tibetan-inspired works, visit Tse Go La cantata or Rabsong Shar pages.
Contact Andrea’s manager, Trudy Chan for score and parts or contact Andrea:
Description: The title of composer Andrea Clearfield’s 2009 acclaimed, multi-media creation – Lung-Ta, or The Wind Horse – refers to the Tibetan Buddhist prayer flag, which represents the horse that carries the prayers of the faithful up toward heaven. The term also suggests the quality of inner vibratory power, fundamental to the Buddhist philosophy. In 2008, for a commission from Network for New Music, the composer and visual artist and Fulbright Scholar Maureen Drdak trekked to Lo Monthang, a remote region of northern Nepal that is one of the world’s last remaining enclaves of traditional Tibetan culture, to research the indigenous music and art. Working with Manfred Fischbeck, Artistic Director of the Group Motion Dance Company of Philadelphia, they subsequently created a multi-media fusion of music, art, and dance, inspired by the Tibetan Buddhist ritual music, iconography, and cham dance that they experienced on their journey. Andrea Clearfield’s musical work is scored for medium chamber ensemble (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, violin, viola, cello, and percussion), and incorporates both digital field recordings of Tibetan chant and authentic Tibetan percussion instruments into its fabric. Maureen Drdak’s accompanying artwork consists of three large-scale paintings upon which is written in iron on sacral clay the text of Amchi Tenzin Sangbo Bista’s “Path of Aspiration: A Prayer for Planetary Peace.” The original choreography by the Group Motion Dance Company is a distinctive fusion of American modern dance and Tibetan idioms, embodying the company’s mission of “expressing the human experience through movement.” The work is, in essence, a 25-minute-long “Prayer for Planetary Peace,” celebrating the common themes of eastern and western philosophy. Lung-Ta was premiered in Philadelphia in 2009, and offered as a gift to His Holiness the Dalai Lama as an initiative for world peace. Scroll down for audio, reviews and articles.
For more information on Andrea’s Tibetan fieldwork and cantata, click here.
Group Motion Dance Company performing Lung-Ta with paintings by Maureen Drdak, music by Andrea Clearfield
NOTES BY THE COMPOSER (Scroll down for longer notes)
Lung-Ta was commissioned by Network for New Music. The music for Lung-Ta is inspired by the breath-taking expanse of ancient, windy, raw high bone and coral shades of mountain landscape in the shadow of the Himalayas – Lo Monthang in northern Nepal, the powerful and resonant sounds of Tibetan Buddhist ritual music, and the deeply rich and spiritual life of the people there in this remote kingdom. The work is scored for nine musicians, each playing their own instrument plus Tibetan Buddhist instruments; it also uses field recordings that I made, the chanting of the monks in both Tibetan Buddhist and Bon Po ceremonies in Upper Mustang, and fragments of folk music of Tashi Tsering, the last of the royal court singers of Lo Monthang.
“A Prayer for World Peace” was written for us by Tenzin Sangbo Bista, senior Buddhist monk of Lo Monthang’s Choede Monastery and founder of the Lo Kunphen (Tibetan Medicine) School. At the conclusion of the work, there will be a recording of Tenzin Bista reciting his prayer in the Mustangi dialect of Tibetan. Lung-Ta was presented as a gift to His Holiness, the Dalai Lama as an initiative for world peace in 2009.
Network for New Music performing Lung-Ta with Group Motion Dance Company
See
Preview score pages: LUNG-TA SCORE EXCERPT (PDF)
“A Prayer for Planetary Peace” written for Lung-Ta by Lama Tenzin Bista: PRAYER FOR PLANETARY PEACE (PDF)
WATCH
LISTEN
QUOTE
“Facilitating the collaboration between artist Maureen Drdak and composer Andrea Clearfield (“Lungta, the Windhorse”) was one of the most satisfying projects I have engaged in during my tenure as Artistic Director of Network for New Music. Andrea’s chamber music was gloriously radiant and meticulously crafted; it masterfully incorporated elements of traditional Tibetan music with the composer’s own style to create a trans-cultural work that took the breath away from musicians and listeners alike.”
-Linda Reichart, Network for New Music, artistic director
REVIEWS
Paintings by Maureen Drdak, Lung-Ta Premiere.
“Stunning premiere”
-The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 13, 2009
“Intricately woven”
-The Philadelphia Inquirer, David Patrick Stearns, September 12, 2010
“New music by esteemed Philadelphia composer Andrea Clearfield, was packed beyond standing room.. In the spirit of works being created for Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project, Lung-Ta captures the ethos of Eastern music with a nine-member Western chamber-music ensemble…all rendered with the precision of a composer who is out to make every note count.”
-David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 10, 2009
“This is one of this increasingly well-regarded composer’s best works yet, featuring a lucid, naturally expressive blend of her usual lyric voice, spiced with Asian-flavored percussive dissonance and haunting taped field recordings of Tibetan prayer. The dancing, music and simple but evocative murals were completely of a piece.”
-Peter Burwasser, The Philadelphia City Paper, March 24, 2009
Press
Lung-Ta Review, Philadelphia Inquirer, David Patrick Stearns
AsianArt.com – The LungTa Collaborative: The Living Blessings of Lo
Artistic Activity in Nepal as World Peace, South Asian Arts
From Nepal back to Philadelphia, premiering a changed music, The Philadelphia Inquirer
A big audience for artistry of Tibet, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Main Line Today: Maureen Drdak on Lung-Ta
The Global Spiral – Metamexis Institute
HealthLine.com: Pain Free Trekking to Kingdom of Lo
MainLine Magazine: Notes from a Forgotten Land
Buddhist Art News: LungTa
Himalayan Folk Music, Documenting Histories and Exploring Culture Through music
Tibet Comes to Taos at ‘Enchanted Mountain’ Salon in Artsjournal
Andrea Clearfield links Taos to Tibet
Composer Andrea Clearfield Presents Tibetan Recording Project
WATCH
YouTube: Network for New Music: Windhorse
YouTube – Lung-Ta
Facebook – Lung-Ta
PROGRAM NOTES (longer)
Andrea recording Tashi Tsering, royal court singer of Lo Monthang, Nepal
Lung-Ta (The Windhorse)
LUNG-TA NOTES
Lung-Ta (The Windhorse) – 2009
Prelude
Calling of the Deities, Part I (Wrathful)
I. Manjusri (Wisdom)
Calling of the Deities, Part II (Peaceful)
II. Avolokiteshvara (Compassion)
Calling of the Dieities, Part III (Tibetan Orchestra)
III. Vajrapani (Action)
Epilogue (A Prayer for World Peace by Tenzin Sangbo Bista)
Lung-Ta was commissioned by Network for New Music. Praised as a “stunning premiere” by The Philadelphia Inquirer, the work premiered at The University of the Arts in March, 2009 in collaboration with visual artist Maureen Drdak, and Group Motion Dance Company— Manfred Fischbeck, artistic director. It has had a number of subsequent performances as a concert work and with dance. The mid-western premiere of Lung-Ta took place on May 5, 2012 at Rockefeller Chapel, Chicago.
The music for Lung-Ta is inspired by the breath-taking expanse of ancient, windy, raw high bone and coral shades of the mountain landscape of Lo Monthang, which lies in the rain shadow of the Himalayas in the northern region of Upper Mustang in Nepal—the powerful and resonant sounds of Tibetan Buddhist ritual music, and the deeply rich and spiritual life of the people in this remote kingdom. The work is scored for nine musicians, each playing their own instrument in addition to Tibetan Buddhist instruments brought back from the trek; it also integrates field recordings of natural sounds made on horseback, chanting of the monks in both Tibetan Buddhist and Bon Po (ancient pre-Buddhist religion) ceremonies and the folk music of Tashi Tsering, the royal court singer of Lo Monthang.
To gather research visual artist and Fulbright Scholar Maureen Drdak and composer Andrea Clearfield, along with anthropologist Dr. Sienna Craig and her three year old daughter, Aida, embarked on a trek to Nepal and the restricted area of Upper Mustang in September of 2008 to collect visual and audio materials. The trek became a window into Mustang’s vast sound world. Lung-Ta takes its form from Drdak’s dynamic paintings, each of which visualize the energies of the three protector deities of the Rigsum Gompo—the Buddhist Trinity—represented through the iconic structures found near village entrances in these high mountains which symbolize Wisdom, Compassion and Action, respectively. Lung-Ta’s three movements, Manjushri, Avolokiteshvara and Vajrapani, give voice to these individual spiritual forces. Another point of dialogue between painting and music are the gold prana threads running through Drdak’s paintings; Drdak explains that these “prana threads” are energetic meridians that create universal connection. The musical expression of the threads can be heard as a C#/Db tone that passes through all of the instruments and voices from the beginning to the end of Lung-Ta—ever present but continually morphing and shifting like the racing clouds. These threads can be heard as single instruments or as a moving wave of sound with ornamental figures and microtonal undulations. Lung-Ta also corporates fragments of the melodies sung by royal court singer Tashi Tsering and rhythms and pitched fragments from traditional Tibetan Buddhist chant and instrumental ritual music.
“A Prayer for World Peace” was written for Lung-Ta by Lama Tenzin Sangbo Bista, senior Buddhist monk of Lo Monthang’s Choede Monastery and founder of the Lo Kunphen Amchi (Tibetan Medicine) School. The prayer unfolds through the trajectory of the piece, working its way from the gathering of wisdom through all-encompassing compassion into the call for global action and benevolent change. At the conclusion of the work, Lama Tenzin Bista can be heard reciting his prayer in Tibetan. It was very special to us that Lama Bista traveled from Lo Monthang in Nepal to attend the premiere of Lung-Ta in 2009.
Lung-Ta was offered as a gift to His Holiness, The Dalai Lama as an initiative for world peace in 2009.
Following the premiere of Lung-Ta, Dr. Clearfield returned to Lo Monthang in 2010 with anthropologist Katey Blumenthal to record and document the complete gar-glu (court song) repertoire of Tashi Tsering as well as tro-glu (common songs with dance) performed by women in the community. Her new cantata, Tse Go La (At the threshold of this life), a 30-minute work co-commissioned by the Mendelssohn Club and Pennsylvania Girlchoir for double chorus, chamber orchestra and electronics brings some of these melodies to the U.S. for the first time. The work also incorporates poetry by Dr. Sienna Craig. Tse Go La will be premiered on April 29, 2012 in Philadelphia and will have subsequent performances in NYC and NJ on May 19 and 20th respectively.
Rigsom Gompo, Lo Monthang, Upper Mustang, Nepal. Structural element in Lung-Ta\’s music, dance and visual art
EDGE UArts Magazine
Page 1 Phila Inquirer Magazine Tues March 05 20092
Page 2 Phila Inquirer Magazine Tues March 05 2009
LUNGTA Prayer for Planetary Peace by Tenzin Bista