context and perception | Carmen-Helena Téllez

A Podcast with Carmen-Helena Téllez and The Princeton Festival

June 3, 2020 by carmen helena tellez

I had the privilege of being interviewed by The Princeton Festival on a variety of topics, ranging from women in music, the role of new modes of presentation during the current coronavirus crisis., and my work with the project for inter-artistic composition, Kosmologia. The podcast is available through the month of June at this link: The Princeton Festival Podcast

Categories: art and ritual, art and society, meta-composition, multimedia, new forms of presentation, new opera and music drama, social media, women in music, women in the arts • Tags: CARMEN HELENA TELLEZ, coronavirus, covid-19, new modes of presentation, podcast, The Princeton Festival

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Two oratorios sing the trials of our society and prayers of reflection

May 5, 2019 by carmen helena tellez

I am delighted to announce that Ensemble Concept/21 has invited the Euclid Quartet, Kosmologia, and the Notre Dame Children’s Choir to premiere the oratorios The Tower and the Garden by Gregory Spears and Beatitudes by Jorge Muñiz, under my direction, next Friday, May 10, at 7 pm, in the Campus Auditorium of Indiana University South Bend. This project joins together two important sponsors of creativity in this country– The New Frontiers Program at Indiana University, and the Ann Stookey Fund […]

Categories: art and religion, art and society, gesamtkünstwerk, intermedia, music composition, new choral music, new forms of presentation, new opera and music drama, postclassical music, sacred music • Tags: CARMEN HELENA TELLEZ, Denise Levertov, Gregory Spears, Jorge Muñiz, Notre Dame Vocale, Thomas Merton

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Bernstein’s birthday and his legacy

August 25, 2018 by carmen helena tellez

Today Google has a charming and ingenious homage to Leonard Bernstein, with cartoons of him in action. It is a good occasion to ponder the role of artists in our society–who gets to leave a mark in the culture, and is it always the one who eschews popular taste and sentiment for high academic complexity…or vice versa. I say, great music is not in the style… https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=24&v=O8fQyb6tkdk

Categories: art and paradox, conducting, contemporary music, context affects perception, context and perception, music composition, new conductor, Uncategorized • Tags: high and low, Leonard Bernstein

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Artists and Parallel Universes…

January 4, 2018 by carmen helena tellez

It was only a matter of time that the brilliant music writer of the New Yorker magazine, Alex Ross, would address the musical treatment of leitmotifs in John Williams’ music for the Star Wars movies. Perhaps there is more than just a musical homage of a living composer to the grand master of the Gesamtkünstwerk; it may reveal Star Wars as a “total work of art”, collectively created under the vision of George Lucas. Just like Wagner’s serialized mythology in his Ring operas […]

Categories: art and ritual, context and perception, gesamtkünstwerk, Uncategorized • Tags: space opera, Star Wars, Wagner's Ring Cycle

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Context affects perception-a case in Wall Street

April 14, 2017 by carmen helena tellez

An amazing example of how context and sharing space affect perception is playing out in Wall Street. When Arturo di Modica’s Charging Bull stood alone, it meant something to the passers-by. When Kristen Visbal’s Fearless Girl was placed next to it, now it means something else. The energy is coming from the dialogue between the two statues. But –which of the statues keeps its specific message regardless of the context? Check the article at Artnet.com

Categories: art and paradox, art and society, context and perception

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TEDx Talks are up!

February 28, 2014 by carmen helena tellez

View the Talk on YouTube

Categories: art and ritual, art and society, Carmen's work, context affects perception, context and perception, interdiscipline, my work, new conductor, new forms of presentation, new opera and music drama

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The Goldberg Variations, a tweet at a time….

August 6, 2013 by carmen helena tellez

The irrepressible Norman Lebrecht has led us to this wonderful find: http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2013/08/end-of-week-1-of-slipped-discs-goldberg-variations.html

Categories: new forms of presentation, Uncategorized

¡Unicamente la verdad! has had tremendous reception this year!

June 27, 2013 by carmen helena tellez

Gabriela Ortiz, the composer of ¡Unicamente la verdad! has sent us the fantastic review written by Opera News after its California premiere with the adventurous Andreas Mitisek and Long Beach Opera, with the new title Camelia la tejana: Only the Truth!. I invite you to revisit the notes on the conceptualization and premiere in 2008 at Indiana University of ULV, more than an opera, a work of interdisciplinary art. It is wonderful to see the different directorial approaches, one sardonic […]

Categories: art and ritual, art and society, Carmen's work, context and perception, multimedia, my work, new opera and music drama • Tags: Camelia la Tejana, Gabriela Ortiz, Unicamente la verdad

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One of the great debates about music…

June 27, 2013 by carmen helena tellez

…and certainly, one of the most influential, as John Cage defines the different types of beauty in music, and the type he has chosen for his work. One could argue that he reverts 500 years of narrative music to return to the art of contemplation, or what others would call a form of sacred music. (Photo attributed to Rex Rystedt by Wikipedia, as it appeared in a special issue of the Schwann Opus Record Guide dedicated to Cage)

Categories: art and paradox, context and perception, music composition • Tags: John Cage

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Carmen-Helena Téllez

Conductor – Creative Producer – Interdisciplinary Artist • A site with notes about music, art and the occasional paradox

Category Archives: context and perception

Two oratorios sing the trials of our society and prayers of reflection

Bernstein’s birthday and his legacy

Artists and Parallel Universes…

Context affects perception-a case in Wall Street

TEDx Talks are up!

The Goldberg Variations, a tweet at a time….

¡Unicamente la verdad! has had tremendous reception this year!

One of the great debates about music…