Andy Teirstein’s background in movement theater (he spent one winter in Mexico performing as a musical clown) have given him an inimical perspective on the dramatic possibilities of composition.

The works heard here translate theatrical physicality into a variety of musical impulses, drawing inspiration from Balkan, Gypsy and Jewish influences, the music of Bartók and Schoenberg, and setting the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish and Robert Service.

The results juxtapose folk and new-music styles in a series of compelling and highly satisfying scenarios.