suite talk

Connecting classical music to broader culture through interactive concerts, videos, and more

Suite Talk is a series of interactive lecture-recitals aimed at destigmatizing new music. It is also the pilot project from which arts nonprofit Nodality Music emerged. In each event, cellist Zachary Mowitz and composer Nick DiBerardino lead audiences through a program specifically curated to demystify two new works for solo cello: Oracle by DiBerardino, and Suite for Solo Cello by Ira J. Mowitz. Participants discover how this new music connects to the rich legacy of the cello's past, emerging with a deeper listening experience of music new and old. Along the way, they explore the deeply human elements that go into all music-making: the cultural touchstones inspiring each composer, the physical efforts of the performer, and most of all, the personal connections between musicians’ lives and their work.

During each interactive performance, Zach and Nick delve into the cello’s centuries-long story and its intersections with fundamental musical concepts. Participants explore things like counterpoint and dance forms through audience participation, Q&A, and guided hearings of excerpts by Bach, Gabrielli, Britten, Saariaho, and others. Listeners are invited to talk, dance, and clap along, clarifying musical concepts in their own bodies. Taken together, these activities illuminate the relationships between seemingly disparate pieces of music, placing them in the context of both their own historical era and the broad arc of music history.

Designed to break down the barriers between new classical music and broader culture, Suite Talk shines a light on the many ties between music, its creators, and the biggest issues facing the world at large. In that vein, Zach and Nick are bringing Suite Talk to the wider world by going to unexplored venues, expanding into the digital realm, and using music as a tool for environmental justice.

Expanding the impact of new music, beyond the concert hall

In 2019 Suite Talk was presented in various forms at a diverse range of venues. Initially designed in collaboration with the Free Library of Philadelphia, Suite Talk also went to venues in Philadelphia at Old City Coffee, Dhyana Yoga, and Andrea Clearfield’s Music Salon; a special presentation for Penn Memory Center patients in Curtis’ Field Concert Hall; the Colorado Music Festival; a segment at Indianapolis’ Chatterbox Jazz Club. PBS WHYY featured “Suite Talk” in a documentary that same year. Click the button below for more details on the three-part series at the Free Library.

The Future of Suite Talk & Nodality Music

Zachary and Nick have bold ideas about expanding the impact of new music beyond the concert hall. The first step is bringing Suite Talk into the digital realm in a collaboration with Chicago’s Guarneri Hall NFP. Working with Stefan Hersh, Guarneri Hall’s artistic director, and videographer Mike Grittani, they are producing narrative-driven art videos for Nick’s Oracle and Ira’s Suite, telling meaningful stories derived from the conception of each work. These won’t be your everyday performance videos – they will take viewers on a journey traced by the music and visuals in tandem.

The finished videos will be released alongside artist interviews, video program notes, and short videos featuring related pieces of classical music, all tied together into an immersive and informative digital concert experience. Read more on Guarneri Hall’s site here.