tekton.

PROGRAM NOTE.

Tekton is the result of a deep affection and admiration for both the cello and Alan Toda-Ambaras. I almost chose to begin musical study at age 8 on the cello rather than on the violin, and have since watched the cello world — as a violinist — with a mixture of envy, obsession, and love. To put it on paper: cello is my favorite instrument. During my two years of graduate school at the New England Conservatory, I programmed many of my pieces on concerts, starting with my cello and piano serenade Fantasia Olora; the cello part performed by Alan. I unabashedly asked him to play for me again and again—the immense earnestness with which he plays is so attractive—he emotionally flung himself and the beauty of his playing into the emotions of my music, and gave me goosebumps with every performance... so when he said to me over iced coffees shortly before I graduated “Steph... I want to do a concerto” I couldn’t have been happier.

I believe that a concerto should be the amalgamation of the history and essence of both the instrument and the commissioner/premiere performer, so to begin the process I set up a nice long phone call with Alan to discuss his life in much more depth than we’d ever gotten to over iced coffees after rehearsals. Along with learning favorite colors and authors, we talked about his Japanese heritage, and I discovered that he had an affinity for Italian Modernist architecture. Some research on that last subject yielded drawings that provided structural ideas for the movements—to be named in Japanese—and it was actually a contemporary architect, Zaha Hadid, whose Nuragic Museum in Scardinia Italy provided the structural impetus for the first movement of the piece. I literally sketched the museum onto a very large piece of orchestral manuscript paper and thus derived the idea for the opening; a cloud-like brass chorale.

The piece, named Tekton, the Greek word for architecture, makes use of the ideas of clouds, ice, and vapor, showcasing Alan and the cello as it explores these different states of water. Kumo, Aiku, Jōki are the Japanese translations of these water states, and in the first movement you will hear a large, slow-moving brass chord: like a golden cloud moving across the skyscape of the orchestra. A spritely second theme speaks of the aftermath of storm clouds and the passage of time. The second movement, Aiku, is indeed icy, presenting an emotional but ultimately chilled landscape devoid of all aside from ice and echoes. At times, a flock of birds can be heard flying somewhere high overhead. Jōki is spunky, riotous; an almost-jig for the orchestra and soloist. Like water vapor, this movement’s energetic momentum and rapid tempo are integral to its identity.

commissioner biography.

Active as both a soloist and a chamber musician, cellist Alan Toda-Ambaras has performed with renowned artists such as Midori, Yo-Yo Ma, Sandeep Das and other members of the Silk Road Ensemble, the Borromeo Quartet, the Parker Quartet, the Boston Trio, and he has appeared twice as a soloist with the North Carolina Symphony.

He has been featured on French television, in several European documentaries and was named the recipient of the Prize for Most Promising Contestant at the 2005 Rostropovich International Cello Competition in Paris. Alan has also been heard on NPR's From The Top program, New York's WKCR Classical station, and Boston’s Neighborhood News Network.

Alan is an avid explorer of new music, and is the dedicatee and premiere performer of Trevor Bača's "Huitzil" for solo cello and Stephanie Ann Boyd's Tekton cello concerto, amongst other pieces. He performed the latter with Boston’s Eureka Ensemble in May 2017.

His performances have gained enthusiastic reviews. In Paris, he “touched the public and the jury” (musique.france2.fr). The Washington Post noted that Alan “has the poise of a seasoned performer” and “showed off his strengths convincingly in the demanding repertoire.” And another critic declared that Alan’s playing “proved remarkable by any standard. . . . Toda-Ambaras is worth seeking out and hearing.”

Alan is passionate about engaging with communities through performances and discussions about the arts and humanities in modern society. During the 2018-19 season, Alan was the cellist in Midori's Music Sharing quartet program, through which they conducted cultural exchange and social service performances at assisted living centers and schools throughout Vietnam and Japan. He is also the director and primary coach for the Quad Chamber Players, a program he established during his three-year term as Music Scholar-in-Residence for Harvard's Cabot House. As a non-resident tutor in the Quad, Alan continues directing the program in collaboration with Professor Merry Peckham of the New England Conservatory.

Alan has participated in master classes and taken lessons with many of the world’s foremost artists, including Benjamin Zander, Luis Claret, Philippe Muller, Ralph Kirshbaum, Gary Hoffman, David Geringas (at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, in Siena, Italy), Jens Peter Maintz, Frans Helmerson, Anner Bylsma (all three at the Kronberg Academy in Germany), Janos Starker, and Joel Krosnick. At Harvard, he enjoyed studying the evolving significance of human gesture and physicality in modern and postmodern painting. Alan has a B.A. in History of Art and Architecture from Harvard and an M.M. from the New England Conservatory, where he studied with Laurence Lesser.

Recent appearances include performances in Tokyo's Ohji Hall and Zojoji Temple; Osaka's Phoenix Hall; the National Music Academy in Vietnam; the Massachusetts State House, the Taos Music Festival, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Harvard University's Paine Hall, and the New England Conservatory.

More about Alan Toda-Ambaras