Jukka Tiensuu's Rubato is a study on heterophony, designed for any number of players who all perform the same part simultaneously. The piece features a unique approach to tempo, with players constantly alternating between accelerando and rallentando based on their relative position to other performers.  It explores the tension between individual and collective experience, mirroring Foucault's examination of how societal structures shape personal knowledge. The piece's polyphonic layers, created by performers interpreting a single melodic line at different tempos, reflect the multifaceted nature of human understanding, whie maintaining a fluid, ever-changing tempo while keeping players within a ten-second range of each other.  Jukka Tiensuu is a composer much in demand whose any given work may contain improvisation, pantomime and choices for the performers.  “...When seeking the fundamental essence of music, one cannot confine oneself to a narrow approach,” he has said. tiensuu.fi

Jessica Meyer’s But Not Until is a duo based on a series of ironic interpersonal experiences that reminded her of the David Foster Wallace quote, “The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you.” With playing that is “fierce and lyrical” and works that are “other-worldly” (The Strad) and “evocative” (New York Times), Jessica Meyer  is a versatile composer and violist whose works have been commissioned and performed by many established ensembles including A Far Cry, the American Brass Quintet, and Roomful of Teeth. jessicameyermusic.com

Douglas Boyce’s De Rerum Natura further develops material from "Small Philosophies," his setting of Jennifer Chang's poem of the same name. The composer writes: “Chang's poems contemplate the limits of rationality and the elusive nature of knowledge, always falling short in describing reality. "Phenomenology" (movement 1) presents a wide variety of textures and diverse characters, difficult to capture in any one descriptive system. "Logic" presents a dialogue as combative as it is structured, suggesting the social dynamics hiding behind the anodyne surface, and the sad absence of 'philosophical generosity' in most philosophies. The minimalism of "Epistemology" embraces the potential of negation, both as affect and in truth-seeking. The title of the work is Epicurean, but the mood (like much of my work) is more strongly pragmatic; the distancing effect of Lucretius' work might, in certain circles, do more to undercut our pervasive scientism than even William James' varieties, and Foucault's epistemological exploration of the limits of rationality and the elusive nature of knowledge.” Douglas Boyce writes chamber music that draws on Medieval and Renaissance traditions and modernist aesthetics, building rich rhythmic structures that shift between order, fragmentation, elegance, and ferocity. His approach is deeply historical and broadly philosophical. www.douglasboyce.net

Inbal Segev's Trio offers a more traditional approach to chamber music, providing a counterpoint to the more experimental works and highlighting the ongoing dialogue between established and innovative forms of musical expression. A prodigy who first played for the Israeli president at just eight years old, Segev came to international attention ten years later when she made concerto debuts with both the Berlin Philharmonic and Israel Philharmonic under the baton of Zubin Mehta. She began composing during the pandemic. inbalsegev.com

Arthur Kampela’s Percussion Study #1 “is the first in a series of pieces that push the instrument beyond its conventional limitations. The piece integrates an intricate vocabulary of extended techniques into the texture, alternating between glitchy repetitive rhythmic cycles and flurries of virtuosity." Initially identified with the New Complexity movement, his style is an evolution of extreme extended-technique improvisational practices, polyrhythms, and vernacular Brazilian roots. More information can be found here.

Diego Tedesco's Scherzo plays with notions of order and chaos, mirroring Foucault's analysis of how different epistemes structure our understanding of the world. The piece's progression through repetition, disruption, and restoration of order reflects the ongoing process of knowledge formation and transformation. The composer writes "The work is a "scherzo", a written-out joke for guitar, clarinet, violin, viola, and cello. The basic melodic material of the piece is a descending chromatic scale, to which an idea of ​​a certain stasis is contrasted; these two ideas are conducted through a classical form in which the continuous wandering that takes us further and further away from the starting point. After that, a recapitulation returns us to recognizable landscapes. An active but directionless finale closes the piece. The piece also develops the idea of ​​the same object illuminated in different ways. The same materials are presented again and again, but always in a different way;  sometimes these materials are recognizable and sometimes the transformations that they suffer make them too far from the object of departure. The relationship between the instrumental groups is fluctuating and tries to add another layer to the polyphony of ideas and materials of the work. Scherzo was written for counter)induction.” Born in Buenos Aires and initially self-taught, Tedesco studied composition with Julio Viera and Francisco Kröpfl. In 2016 was premiered his first opera, El Fiord, commissioned by the Teatro Colón of Buenos Aires. In 2017 he was awarded the Koussevitzky Foundation music award. More information may be found here.

Kyle Bartlett's Teratography is a gleeful celebration of noise, dissonance and rock within a modernist framework, challenging conventional categorizations and reflecting Foucault's interest in the boundaries between different domains of knowledge. Bartlett is a composer and performer living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Finding inspiration in the logic of dreams and the viscerality of performance, her work spans from acoustic to electronic music and from concert forms to multi-disciplinary, site-specific installations. www.kylebartlett.com