#thomasfeng

[snackpointcharlie]

Tonight we are joined in conversation by pianist Thomas Feng in anticipation of his performance of Night Prayers at PS21's Winter Festival The Dark.

On Friday February 20, Thomas Feng will perform compositions by Ethiopian composer, pianist, and nun Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou alongside works by Beethoven and Chopin which Guèbrou kept in her room until her passing. The program, set amongst an immersive starscape installation by Andrew Schneider, conjures the rarefied stillness and spirituality of Guèbrou’s nights. Visit https://ps21chatham.org/event/emahoy-tsegue-maryam-guebrou/ for more information.

Our conversation airs at 10pm ET tonight on WGXC 90.7-FM, wgxc.org, and the Wave Farm smartphone app, and will be downloadable from WGXC’s archive thereafter

Snackpoint Charlie - Transmission 174: Thomas Feng plays Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou (2026.02.18) https://wavefarm.org/wf/archive/0n2qna [ ^ click for download ^ ]

PLAYLIST

1) Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou - “Homesickness” from EMAHOY TSEGE MARIAM GEBRU https://emahoytsegemariamgebru.bandcamp.com/album/emahoy-tsege-mariam-gebru

2) Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou - “Essay on Mahlet, The Prayer of Saint Yared” from CHURCH OF KIDANE MEHRET https://emahoytsegemariamgebru.bandcamp.com/album/church-of-kidane-mehret

3) Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou - “Song of Abayi” from EMAHOY TSEGE MARIAM GEBRU https://emahoytsegemariamgebru.bandcamp.com/album/emahoy-tsege-mariam-gebru

4) Thomas Feng - “Quo Vadis” from MONDAY EVENING CONCERTS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVpAdKMAJGI

5) Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou - “The Homeless Wanderer” from SPIELT EIGEN KOMPOSITIONEN https://emahoytsegemariamgebru.bandcamp.com/album/spielt-eigen-kompositionen

6) Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou - “Jordan River Song” from EMAHOY TSEGE MARIAM GEBRU https://emahoytsegemariamgebru.bandcamp.com/album/emahoy-tsege-mariam-gebru

7) Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou - “Clouds Moving on the Sky” from SOUVENIRS https://emahoytsegemariamgebru.bandcamp.com/album/souvenirs

8) Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou - “A Young Girl's Complaint” from SPIELT EIGEN KOMPOSITIONEN https://emahoytsegemariamgebru.bandcamp.com/album/spielt-eigen-kompositionen

9) Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou - “The Storm” from CHURCH OF KIDANE MEHRET https://emahoytsegemariamgebru.bandcamp.com/album/church-of-kidane-mehret

10) Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou - “The Last Tears of the Deceased” from SPIELT EIGEN KOMPOSITIONEN https://emahoytsegemariamgebru.bandcamp.com/album/spielt-eigen-kompositionen

11) Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou - “Mother's Love” from EMAHOY TSEGE MARIAM GEBRU https://emahoytsegemariamgebru.bandcamp.com/album/emahoy-tsege-mariam-gebru

[sigmastolen]

thomasfeng replied to your post: thomasfeng answered your question: hey bassoonists...

I do understand that Gunther Schuller wrote a contrabassoon concerto, might want to check that out?

hmm, will do in the morning!

[sigmastolen]

thomasfeng answered your question: hey bassoonists of tumblr!

DAMMIT I was going to suggest “Deep”!

I LOVE DEEP!!! :D

i played it on my senior recital -- it was the opener and i started with all the lights off so it was just everyone alone in the dark with all the seafloor noises.  great decisions i have made.  everyone thought it was the coolest thing on the program

my friend who graduated last year also played Deep on his MM recital (and he has a contra job rn i am so jealous), so even if I hadn't already performed it, I wouldn't want to seem like a copycat.

[sigmastolen]

in response to what you reblogged: I didn't mean to say that nonclassical music isn't legit! much of it is, but again much of it isn't. I don't "trust" mainstream pop music the same way I believe in classical or indie (i.e. Radiohead). the mainstream is becoming so banal, so uniform, so commercialized--so much new pop music lacks soul. that being said, it is like taking a sound bath; I don't enjoy the music, I enjoy the associations that come with it. (does that make sense? :/)

I’m sorry if that was worded aggressively!  It was late and I have some pretty strong opinions about musical genres, so it might have come off more strongly than I intended.  What I mean, though, is that it strikes me as a sad state for music at large to be in if you feel you have to qualify your enjoyment of something.  Yes, you might like Super Bass in a different way or for different reasons than you like, say, the Dvořàk Cello Concerto (actually idk if you like it but hypothetically), but you do like them both and that fact doesn’t make you less of a serious musician, nor does admitting it.

I’m not going to say anything about new pop music “lacking soul,” because that is a very subjective thing – different people hear, or don’t hear, different things in music.  I’m interested that you used Radiohead as an example of “indie,” though – they’re definitely doing alternative, experimental things, but they’re also pretty huge and well-established, mainstream if you will.  Are you referring to the independent release of King of Limbs?