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The Early Years: 1975–1982 With degrees in both history and piano performance, Cris Forster left academia in 1974, and in 1975, began designing and building new musical instruments tuned in just intonation. In 1976, he received a Special Projects Grant from the California Arts Council to compose and perform his first major work entitled Song of Myself: Intoned Poems of Walt Whitman for voice, Chrysalis, and Harmonic/Melodic Canon. From 1976–1980, he acted as curator, archivist, and performer for the Harry Partch Foundation, where he tuned, repaired, and rebuilt virtually all the Partch instruments; he also performed as string player and percussionist. Finally, in 1982, he established the Chrysalis Foundation to support and finance his work as builder, composer, and performer.
Phase I: 1982–1991 Industrial manufacturers in the United States and Japan donated valuable parts, tools, and materials for the construction of musical instruments and the string-winding machine. (See: The Instruments.) The Foundation received items such as ball bearings, crystal glasses, diamond cutting tools, tropical hardwoods, aluminum tubing, acrylic tubing, hand and machine tools, etc. Cris continued composing, trained musicians, and gave lecture demonstrations, exhibits, and public performances of his works. During this time, his efforts attracted widespread attention and articles appeared in numerous publications, including Life Magazine, Omni Magazine, The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, Magical Blend, etc. (See: About Cris Forster.) The Board of Directors provided guidance and focus for the growth and development of the Foundation, raised funds from individual patrons, and sponsored special events to support ongoing activities. Community service projects were also an integral part of the Foundation. Cris donated his materials and labor to build musical instruments for other nonprofit organizations, and the Foundation sponsored two children’s musical theater productions, organized art exhibits, and funded performances by independent musicians. Throughout these years, Cris began composing a large work for musicians and dancers entitled Ellis Island/Angel Island: A Vision of the American Immigrants. Based on his own life experiences (two intercontinental immigrations by age 10), and scored for the full ensemble of instruments, this work promised to be the pinnacle of his creative endeavors to date. His efforts to compose were seriously constrained, however, by the lack of a studio in which to work. Despite intensive fundraising efforts, the Foundation was, at that time, unable to afford a space large enough to house the entire orchestra.
Phase II: 1991–2000 During these years the Foundation underwent a period of relative dormancy while Cris researched and wrote the book Musical Mathematics: A Practice in the Mathematics of Tuning Instruments and Analyzing Scales. (See: M.M. Pages > Musical Mathematics.) His idea was to create a comprehensive volume that would encapsulate all he had learned and experienced during 16 years of building, tuning, and exploring uncharted spaces. He was motivated by his aspiration to educate fellow musicians and by his desire to fill the crucial gaps in our traditional knowledge that have prevented ongoing development of acoustic music in our culture. Musical Mathematics is 1300 pages long and took ten years of intensive work to complete. It is a generous volume that presents essential information about musical instruments and tunings that has never before been discussed. This work strives to raise the standard for the study of acoustic music, and to challenge all those who care about this discipline to a more thorough and rigorous investigation into what it means to make music. It is both a carefully researched historic document and a sound scientific text that musicians, students, scholars, and instrument makers can access for reliable facts, study to gain new insights, and reference for a multitude of purposes. (The bibliography contains more than 350 referenced works, most of them original sources.) Above all, it stands as a bridge between the realms of science and music, and confirms the interdependence of these two disciplines. The Chrysalis Foundation is currently raising funds for the publication of Musical Mathematics, scheduled for early 2008.
Phase III: 2001-2004
Upon completion of Musical Mathematics, the Chrysalis Foundation was reactivated with a dedicated new board of trustees that engaged a large community of patrons to support our work. Our primary objective upon reemerging from this period of public inactivity was to find a studio large enough to house the full ensemble of instruments and to serve as a center for all our activities. After diligent searching, we succeeded in this goal and leased a 2500 square-foot building in San Francisco's SOMA district in November 2002. From the beginning, we knew the space had great potential. We didn't know just how much time, money, and hard work it would take to convert an empty warehouse into the rehearsal/performance space we envisioned, but we were determined to find the expert help we needed to make it happen. A generous team of individuals who shared our enthusiasm for the project came forward to work with us, as well as a dozen companies. Over the course of the next nine months, we completed the major improvements required. These included a level wood sub-floor, new roof and skylights, a reliable security system, upgraded electrical and plumbing, a sound wall to block city noise, paint, wall-to-wall carpeting, custom skylight covers, and theatrical curtains.
The finished studio is everything we had hoped for and more. The acoustics are excellent. It is comfortable and intimate, yet large enough to amply accommodate the entire ensemble of instruments and an audience of up to one hundred people. In June 2003, we moved the instruments into their new home. The Chrysalis New Music Studio (CNMS) has emerged out of our concerted efforts as a sanctuary for the composition and development of new acoustic music and as a truly unique venue where people can gather to hear inspiring performances of groundbreaking works.
With the instruments finally together under one roof, Cris returned to his musical life, practicing daily and once again applying himself to the rigors of composing. He resumed writing Ellis Island/Angel Island, and began training a small ensemble of musicians to perform a program of his works at the Chrysalis New Music Studio. This would be the first public presentation of his music in over ten years.
The inaugural concerts took place on October 4th and October 5th, 2003. Chrysalis Foundation patrons and general public gathered at the CNMS for an elegant reception followed by a program that included excerpts from Song of Myself and Ellis Island/Angel Island. (See: Concert Review 1.) The near-capacity audiences were transfixed during the performances, and showed their appreciation with spontaneous standing ovations. Following the concerts, the crowds lingered to talk with board members and musicians, and to appreciate the fine craftsmanship and unique sounds of the instruments. Positive feedback from individuals continued long after the event. This was an auspicious beginning for the Chrysalis New Music Studio.
Inspired by the momentum generated by the concerts, Cris returned to the CNMS for an intensive year of practice and composition. All of 2004 was devoted to his musical growth and the continued development of Ellis Island/Angel Island. On the administrative front, efforts of the grant writing team were rewarded by significant grants from seven organizations and companies, which helped sustain our work throughout this period. (See: Grants Received.)
Phase IV: 2005 and Beyond
Since efforts to find a publisher for Musical Mathematics had been unsuccessful, in late 2004 the board of trustees resolved to undertake its publication. They established the Chrysalis Foundation Press for this purpose and began the research necessary to implement production of the book. The publication team investigated methods and materials, obtained estimates and set up contacts while Cris prepared the manuscript for print. The manuscript is now formatted, edited, and camera-ready. Numerous individuals from all around the globe have responded to our outreach campaign on the website with letters of support for the publication of Musical Mathematics. The grant writing process is underway, and with the help of organizations and individuals, we plan to raise the funds necessary to produce a limited first edition of high quality, hard cover volumes. We are projecting a publication date of early 2008.
Work on Musical Mathematics did not preclude ongoing musical creation. In January 2005, the Foundation hosted a premiere of three new works by Cris Forster. The three pieces, written for Just Keys, comprise most of the first act of Ellis Island/Angel Island and portray three painful stages of the immigrant experience: parting from loved ones, leaving homeland behind, and embarking on an ocean journey into the unknown. (See: C. Forster's Musical Scores.) The music is profoundly moving and portends a masterpiece in the making. (See: Concert Review 2.)
As Ellis Island/Angel Island grows, so does our need for musicians. Therefore, throughout 2005 we focused our efforts on recruitment and training of musicians for our ensemble. In January, Chrysalis board members participated in an outreach campaign to connect with conservatory and university students throughout the Bay Area. We spoke to classes and ensembles about our project, and invited them to attend a musician recruitment event at the CNMS. This first event, held on February 12, was well received, and we were encouraged to continue developing our internship program.
In May, the Chrysalis Foundation received a significant grant from the Argosy Foundation Contemporary Music Fund to provide training stipends for our interns. With this added incentive, we held a second recruitment event in June, which was a great success. Fourteen musicians returned to audition, and from this group we chose six to join the program.
The musicians immediately began their training, which included biweekly practice sessions at the Chrysalis New Music Studio and intensive one-on-one sessions with Cris. Interns attended theory classes in addition to their private studies, and also practiced at home on mock-ups of their instruments. After the first two months of the program, two musicians did not meet our requirements for continuing into the second session. At this point, one new musician was added to the ensemble, and we continued into phase two with five musicians.
We held an open house in October for the interns to demonstrate what they had accomplished during the initial three months of practice and study. Their newly acquired knowledge and skill was evident, and we launched into the final months of preparation for the concerts.
Private practice sessions and individual lessons were augmented with ensemble rehearsals as we began practicing a trio, The Harbor, and a newly-completed quartet, Blue Nights. In addition to his rigorous teaching schedule, Cris had continued composing, and was inspired to write this new quartet for the Chrysalis ensemble.
On December 3rd and 4th, we presented two concerts at the CNMS featuring music composed for all seven original instruments. Chrysalis ensemble musicians performed excerpts from two compositions, Song of Myself: Intoned Poems of Walt Whitman and Ellis Island/Angel Island, both by Cris Forster. To our great satisfaction, all the interns played brilliantly. Both concerts were enthusiastically received by full audiences.
On December 6th, a professional video crew consisting of a director, two cameramen, and a sound technician videotaped the entire concert, then returned on December 8th to interview the composer and all the participating musicians. We are now in the process of producing a documentary on the Chrysalis Foundation. Our goal is to highlight the accomplishments of 2005 against the background of our thirty year history, thus giving a comprehensive portrayal of where we are now along the timeline to our long-term goals.
The president, board members, music director, and musicians of the Chrysalis Foundation have been striving to fulfill our three main goals: musical creation, education, and presentation. Cris Forster continues to produce musical work of profound significance. Our musician recruitment and training program is carrying out the educational aims of the Foundation, and publication of Musical Mathematics will reach a far larger audience of potential students. Future work in progress performances at the CNMS will lead to collaboration with a choreographer, dancers, designers, and technicians, and to our final goal of this phase in our history, the premiere of Ellis Island/Angel Island at a major San Francisco venue.
Heidi Forster, President |