photograph by Rosemary Wagner

Gossamer Collective participates in May Day! May Day! A New Music Marathon with the world premiere of Residue 2.0, an extraordinary multimedia experience consisting of music, costumes, and visual art.  Residue 2.0 is a one-time, 15 minute exhibition taking place at Town Hall on Saturday, May 1st at 9 pm.

Inspired by an individual’s internal struggle when faced with suffering and loss, Residue 2.0, a duet for violin and viola, guides the audience through the intricacies of the human psyche and the resiliency of the human spirit. This intense collaboration between composer, performers, and visual artists weaves many different art disciplines together into a haunting tapestry of sound and color.

“The music alone is reason enough to see this performance,” said James Keblas, Director of Seattle’s Office of Film + Music. “combined with the other creative artists and elements, this piece will be extraordinary.”

~Theme and music Danielle Post

~Visual concept by Gossamer and Leanne King MacDonald

~Directed by Victoria Parker

~Costumes and visual art by Ruthie Nicklaus

Victoria Parker, violin

Leanne King MacDonald, viola

The entanglement of music, art, and an emotionally gripping theme creates a highly-charged framework for this performance. Within this dynamic framework, Residue 2.0 challenges the audience to view their personal experiences of loss from various angles and, perhaps, to make peace with psychologically devastating events in their own lives.

Composer’s Note:

I have always had a profound interest in the ability of the human mind and spirit to overcome harrowing trauma, and Residue 2.0 is my exploration into the duality of an individual’s personality when faced with such an event. The instrumentalists themselves represent two parts of the same whole, with the violin acting as the outward ‘mask’ each individual wears and the viola representing one’s true self. Throughout the work, the ‘mask’ and the ‘truth’ battle, challenge, support and coerce another, while the entirety of their being attempts to make peace with a psychologically devastating event.

Although the work is deeply personal, the themes of balance, internal struggle and ultimate peace within the individual are universal, and my intent is to provide a score that will inspire visual parallels on stage, thus allowing the audience to transplant their own stories of adversity and triumph into the fabric of the music.

About May Day! May Day! A New Music Marathon

Saturday, May 1st, from 1 pm – 1 am (May 2nd)

May Day! May Day! is a 12-hour performer-driven celebration of contemporary American music featuring 30 sets by local ensembles and soloists. Performers, and styles, range from Seattle Chamber Players, odeonquartet, Gamelan Pacifica, and the esoterics to elder statesmen like Stuart Dempster and William O. Smith and earlier career artists like Byron au Yong and Garrett Fisher. Music by Seattle composers is encouraged, as are three musically inspirational “themes”: politics, pagan rituals, and calls for help in times of distress.

Town Hall

1119 8th Avenue

Seattle, WA 98101-2738

(206) 652-4255

May 1st, 1pm-1am (May 2nd)

$5 (in and out privileges)

Danielle Post is currently a Doctoral student at the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music (CCM). A frequently commissioned composer, her vocal, instrumental and theater works have been performed throughout the United States, Canada, and the British Isles. A grateful recipient of numerous grants, including those from The Kosciuszko Foundation, The Zemlinsky Fund and the Harmony Fund, she has written three one-act operas, Rites of Passage (produced by the composer in 2004), and two operas for the Kentucky Opera VISIONS program as the composer-in-residence (Chasing a Precedent, 2005, and Nyiramachabelli, 2006). Her first full-length chamber opera N. received its workshop premiere at CCM in 2009.

Leanne King MacDonald

Leanne King MacDonald has studied viola with Masao Kawasaki, Catharine Carroll, Phillip Ying, and Burton Kaplan . She has been a member of the Grand Rapids Symphony (MI) since 2007. In 2001, she performed the Viola concerto in G major by Georg Telemann with the West Michigan Symphony chamber orchestra, where she continues as the symphony’s Principal Viola. Since then, she has been active as a chamber and orchestral musician in many groups in Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan. An advocate for new music by living composers, she has performed solo and chamber works by renowned composers Kenji Bunch, Frederic Rzewski, and Moritz Eggert. Leanne lives with her husband, Wade, and two cats, in Grand Rapids, MI, where you can find them on the balcony, in summertime, drinking one or two of the many fine local microbrews.

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Victoria Parker

Victoria Parker began studying the violin at age two-and-a-half with her mother, Sharyn Peterson. Born into a musical family, she grew up touring with her family quintet, an experience which developed her enthusiasm for chamber music.  Victoria has been featured both as soloist and concertmaster with numerous orchestras across the US, and performs regularly as a section player with the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera.  Equally adept at many styles – including classical, avant-garde, pop, and rock – she can be heard on hundreds of popular albums and motion picture soundtracks.  Co-founders of multi media project “Helix Series” in New York City, Victoria and her husband, Robert, perform together as the Parker Duo. Her love for collaboration and interest in interdisciplinary arts helped to launch Gossamer and continues to shape the projects in which she is involved.  Victoria holds degrees from Western Michigan University and Manhattan School of music.

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GOSSAMER COLLECTIVE

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Images by Rosemary Wagner!