Site: Yizkor
Site: Yizkor is an interdisciplinary project created collaboratively by Maya Ciarrocchi and Andrew Conklin that documents manifestations of loss through text, video, and music. The work exists in three modes of presentation, allowing audiences and viewers alternative forms of engagement. Site: Yizkor is an autonomous video/sound installation, an evening-length musical performance in an immersive projected environment, and a workshop where participants create Yizkor pages to mourn and commemorate lost people and places.
Site: Yizkor – Sichów
A 15-minute documentary about the making of Site: Yizkor in Sichow Duzy, Poland, June 2022
Site: Yizkor – Roza
Excerpt of Site: Yizkor, performed on June 17, 2022 at the Roza Centre, Ruszcza, Poland.
Presented in collaboration with FestivALT Kraków.
Concept, direction and video by Maya Ciarrocchi
Concept, direction and music by Andrew Conklin
Jon Arkin, Electronics
Ben Goldberg, Clarinet
Morris Kliphuis, French Horn, Trumpet
Joanna Duda, Electronics
Natalia Chylinska, Movement
Małgorzata Haduch, Movement
Maya Gelfman, Movement and Text
Alexandrov Krilil, Movement
Katarzyna Pastuszak, Movement
Sarah Turquety, Movement and Text
In June 2022, Ciarrocchi and Conklin, along with a team of American and European musicians, performed the work at the Sichów Educational Foundation, an education and research center in Sichów Duży, Poland, followed by the Róża Centre for International and Interdisciplinary Art and Cooperation in Ruszcza, Poland where they were joined by movement-based artists. Both locations are historical sites once belonging to aristocratic Polish families. The properties fell into ruin in the aftermath of WWII, and their restoration is ongoing. These performances of Site: Yizkor were site-specific, with the musician and dancers performing inside the buildings surrounded by video projected onto the architectural surfaces. Ciarrocchi offered Yizkor writing workshops to the participants, and their writing was included in the performance.
Site: Yizkor – King Manor
Excerpt of a performance of Site: Yizkor at the King Manor Museum, Jamaica, Queens, May 19, 2023.
Created by Maya Ciarrocchi with music direction by Andrew Conklin.
Preview in NY Jewish Week
Performed by:
Anna Azrieli (movement)
Maya Ciarrocchi (video)
Andrew Conklin (guitar, electronics)
Marques Hollie (vocals)
Darvejon Jones (movement)
Sam Kulik (trombone)
Matt Nelson (saxophone)
maura nguyễn donohue (movement)
Alethea Pace (movement)
Site: Yizkor/King Manor was funded in part by the Howard Gilman Foundation via Bronx Council on the Arts Cultural Visions Fund.
Site: Yizkor – Vancouver
Excerpt of a performance of Site: Yizkor at the Norman and Annette Rothstein Theatre, Vancouver BC, November 19, 2022.
Created by Maya Ciarrocchi with score composed by Andrew Conklin.
Commissioned by the Chutzpah! Festival
Co-presented with the Sidney & Gertrude Zack Gallery and in partnership with the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre and the Jewish Community Foundation.
Music performed by the Mikrokosmos Quartet.
Site: Yizkor – Installation
Single Channel Sound/Video Installation (9')
Exhibited at 14th St Y in New York, and at the Sichów Foundation in Poland
Music composed by Andrew Conklin. Music includes excerpts of an improvised piece by Andrew Conklin, Eli Crews, Matt Nelson, and Sam Ospovat, recorded by Michael Coleman at Figure 8 Studios (Brooklyn, NY).
Drawing, animation and editing by Maya Ciarrocchi
Text written by anonymous writers and Maya Ciarrocchi
Readings performed by Haley Boehning, Ari Brand, Maya Ciarrocchi, Andrea Kleine and Deb Travis.
Movement sequences performed by Maya Ciarrocchi, Jason Cortlund, Lisa Sanaye Dring, Julia Halperin, Andrew Ondrejcak, Isabel Sandoval, and Jessica Shi.
Site: Yizkor – San Francisco
Excerpt from a work in progress performance at the Center for New Music, San Francisco, CA on October 6, 2019.
Andrew Conklin, composer, vocals, guitar
Maya Ciarrocchi, video, reader
Alisa Rose, violin
Ben Goldberg, clarinets
Lisa Mezzacappa, bass
Jon Arkin, percussion and electronics
Michelle Alexander, reader
Jesse Rimler, reader
Site: Yizkor – New York
Excerpt from a work in progress performance at the Bronx Museum of the Arts Block Gallery on January 10, 2020.
Maya Ciarrocchi, concept and direction, video
Andrew Conklin, concept and direction, composition, guitar, vocals
Ben Goldberg, clarinet
Dana Lyn, violin
Sam Ospovat, percussion
Marques Hollie, vocals
Andrea Kleine, reader
Michelle Levy, reader
Jesús López, reader
How I've notated the music for Site: Yizkor
This project has required so many different musical approaches over its varied iterations, which has made it extremely fulfilling and challenging as a composer in the best possible way!
In some cases, it has made the most sense to write out a full score that encompasses the entire piece from beginning to end, including both acoustic instruments and triggered electronic elements:
Other times, a graphic score containing pitches overlaid on a map of the performance site has offered an ideal creative springboard with just enough guidance for the music to cohere:
Certain portions of the piece have benefitted from the straightforward notation of pitches on a five-line staff when order and register is predefined:
In Site: Yizkor/Vancouver, for string quartet, it made more sense to notate precise rhythms for the melody above so that the desired "blurring" effect would translate reliably in the absence of electronic manipulation:
