Taos News

Creating ‘sound art’ during wartime in Ukraine

Richard Cameron-Wolfe in Ukraine BY HAVEN LINDSEY

RICHARD CAMERON-WOLFE sat sipping his cappuccino on a breezy spring day describing his story and how it led him to composing and playing music with friends and colleagues in Ukraine. While I listened, I studied the foam on my chai latte and thought, “How will I ever whittle this information down to the required word count for this article?”

The approachable composer with a discerning countenance had anticipated my plight. As we sat at a small bistro-style table outside Elevation Coffee, “This is more like a book than an article,” he said, and by the time our respective cups were drained, I wholeheartedly agreed.

This article is neither a prelude to an upcoming performance in Taos nor is it a story about a local artist or business owner who has a new exhibit or planned gallery opening. It is, however, a story that offers an entrée into a world of micro-operas and composing music with compassion and love for the people of Ukraine who have reciprocated and showered CameronWolfe with the same.

His new CD, “Passionate Geometries,” will be released in October on the New Focus label. The composer describes his music as sound art. “If there is visual art, then there is also sound art.” His latest work, a micro-opera of sound art written for a Ukrainian guitar sextet, includes the song “Arcturus” — named after the giant red star in the Northern Hemisphere of Earth’s sky — which was composed and dedicated to the people of Ukraine.

Cameron-Wolfe has traveled a long and winding road that started out in Cleveland with him playing his neighbor’s piano at age six (the neighbor eventually gave him the piano), with storied stops in Indiana, New York City, Colorado and, eventually his home here in Taos. That journey has also led to deep connections in Ukraine.

“My first visit to Ukraine was in 2010. I continued traveling there and eventually took an apartment in Kyiv,” he explained of the country he calls his second home. “The beauty of Ukraine is its people. They are interested in opera and art — they aren’t swallowed up in pop culture. Music and art are accessible there and that

has become part of their lifestyle.”

A composer of classical and microoperas would no doubt feel at home among a demographic who has a deep regard for his talent but, for Cameron-Wolfe, there’s more to it than that. “The people are inviting. I’ve been invited to play in their living rooms and have shared many meals in their homes,” he explained reflecting on one of his favorite dishes, a dumpling dish called varenyky.

As one might expect of someone with a well-worn passport, CameronWolfe does not fall into society’s average bell curve. “My wife, Carmen, and I have been married for 25 years. She is an African American Flamenco dancer. We also have a pet fox and a cat named Triska, which is short for triskaidekaphilia — the love of the number 13.”

Of the many passions and interests that connect the Cameron-Wolfe dots, his regard for his many teachers and mentors is impressive. “The most important teacher in my life was Dane Rudhyar,” he explained of the author, composer and humanistic astrologer. “Rudhyar liberated me from music — before that, I had always fought to not compose wellbehaved pieces.”

Listen to some of CameronWolfe’s micro-operas and one could conclude that the student passed the teacher’s test. His CD, titled “An Inventor of Damaged Goods,” does not sound necessarily well-behaved, but it is indeed well-expressed. His “Furious Artisans” compositions also succeed in making the listener not only hear the sound art but also feel it. “I always want to tell the truth with my music. Rudhyar said to write inclusive music. The whole problem with the world is about borders and keeping people out and my music is not about that — it’s about letting people in.”

Cameron-Wolfe spoke of his heartbreak for the current war in Ukraine. He will be in Austria and Belgium this summer for performances of “Arcturus,” his song dedicated to Ukraine and its people. The composer’s CDs and sheet music can be found on Amazon, but his heart can be found elsewhere. “Within a month of the end of the war, I will be back in Ukraine.”

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2023-05-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-05-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://taosnews.pressreader.com/article/282827900515558

Santa Fe New Mexican