two dramatic works for solo violin performed by Shannon Reilly
“The Wonderland Series” composer; Anna Heflin
“Shaking” composer, electronics, & video projection; Erich Barganier
***POSTPONED until a later date
Violinist Shannon Reilly presents two dramatic multimedia works, exploring her identity through simultaneous live performance, filmed media, singing, and acting. Reilly’s career launched with Anna Heflin’s 2019 solo opera The Wonderland Series, a “viscerally expressive fever dream” (ROC City News) which she’s performed in her professorship at UB SUNY, for Rochester’s Fringe Festival, and at NYC’s Blackbox at Power Station. In this west-coast premiere, Shannon examines the mysterious background and Biblical obsessions of its author and how they manifest in Wonderland. Shannon will also premiere Shaking, her most recent commission from Erich Barganier, examining how growing up in modern American Christianity impacted her own identity and demanding she reimmerse herself in the inherently performative and mentally taxing environment of a pentecostal church service. In performing these pieces, Shannon confronts her own identity, exploring the possibilities of being a ‘violinist’ while wrestling with her own religious upbringing.
Shannon Reilly
Shannon Reilly specializes in contemporary violin repertoire both as a performer and teacher. Operawire describes her work as “an overwhelming experience that switches from humorous to moving to startling at the turn of a hat.” Based in Buffalo NY, Shannon has taught and performed as Concertmaster for the June in Buffalo festival since 2019, and she routinely premieres the works of her colleagues, including recent performances of composer Evan Courtin for Liminal Space Ensemble, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez for the Eastman School of Music, Lihuen Maria Sirvent for the UB Department of Composition, and Mario Davidovsky for EMuSE. Shannon holds a MM in violin performance from Eastman, where she studied with Reneé Jolles and Brad Lubman.
@shannonreillyviolin / shannonreillyviolin.com
Erich Barganier
Erich Barganier is a composer and multi-instrumentalist hailing from St. Petersburg, Florida who currently resides between New York City and Durham, NC. He writes chamber, orchestral, film, solo instrumental and electronic music that explores experimental technology, the edge of noise, improvisation, generative processes, and new forms of notation. He is a performing member of the experimental new music duo Shutterspeed Duo with Ford Fourqurean and is an active soloist on the oud, electric guitar, and mandolin.
@erichbarganier / barganiermusic.com
Anna Heflin
Anna Heflin is a composer and writer who constructs high-octane, humorous, and sensual worlds with non-linear narratives that thrive on musical and psychological fragmentation. Whether writing a symphony or a staged literature-inspired solo opera for an instrumentalist, she is drawn to the unexpected and channels her highly imaginative virtuosic visions into complex characters and unorthodox narrative arcs that often integrate text and staging. Her core values include trust, risk taking, experimentation, play, open communication, and creative problem solving. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Music Composition at USC’s Thornton School of Music.
@annaheflin / annaheflin.com