Voices of Silicon Valley in Concert

Voices of Silicon Valley will perform excerpts from “Bits torn from words” by composer Peter Shin, as well as highlights from their repertoire.   

“Bits torn from words” examines the mental health condition of generalized anxiety disorder — how the dread of even the most inconsequential circumstances feels gargantuanly out of proportion to its relative impact. In expanded song form, wavering pitches, surrendered exclamations, and quivering breaths convey anxiety’s vivid manifestations in the body and psyche.  

The work’s title comes from the opening pages of “Dictee” (1982) by pioneering Korean American conceptual artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951–1982). Through intricate diagrams and vivid prose, Cha illustrates the visceral impact of vocalization and the yearning to say and be heard.  

In the composition’s first movement, “Reach across oceans (intro),” a soloist desperately wails into the distance in an attempt to reach another. Evoking the Korean narrative song form p’ansori, this performance nearly requires damage to the vocal cords to produce a uniquely raw and soul-wrenching intensity.  

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  Voices of Silicon Valley (VoSV) is a forward-thinking vocal ensemble that performs music from the 20th and 21st centuries. Dr. Cyril Deaconoff founded the vocal ensemble in 2014 with a vision to enhance the contemporary music scene in the Bay Area. VoSV performs dynamic, technology-focused works — including avant-garde, classical, and media-inspired soundtracks — with a special focus on AAPI and BIPOC artists. Through its hybrid approach, VoSV bridges music and technology while serving as a platform to raise the voices of marginalized people and tackle social issues. 

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  Introspective, referential, and observant, the music of Peter S. Shin (신세종) strives in reach of others. His work investigates issues of social and national belonging, the co-opting and intermingling of disparate musical vernaculars, and the liminality between the two halves of his second-generation Korean-U.S. American identity. 

  Following his premiere at Carnegie Hall, the New York Times described him as “a composer to watch” and his music as “entirely fresh and personal.” He is currently working on an evening-length collaboration with Roomful of Teeth and the modern music collective Wild Up. 

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  Cyril Deaconoff is a composer of concert and media music, conductor, and organist. Originally from Russia, he is a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, Indiana University, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.  Several of his works, including the cantata “Canticles of Love, Despair, and Hope,” have been published by E. C. Schirmer. Cyril’s opera “The Last Tycoon” was performed by West Bay and West Edge Opera as part of Snapshot at Diane Wilsey Opera Center in San Francisco. Other recent projects include a performance of Stockhausen’s “Stimmung” with Voices of Silicon Valley, the first performance of this modern masterwork in the San Francisco Bay Area in more than 30 years. Dr. Deaconoff is currently Faculty at DeAnza College.  

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  Leandra Ramm (mezzo-soprano) is a remarkably versatile mezzo-soprano and actress with an “extraordinary voice” (Anderson Cooper 360), whose “beautiful and quite moving” (Nordstjernan Newspaper) performances have graced prestigious venues including the San Francisco Opera, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the United Nations, Symphony Space, and Davies Symphony Hall. Leandra performs regularly at the San Francisco Symphony, most recently as alto soloist in Bach’s “Magnificat. Favorite performances include “L’enfant et les Sortileges” with Pacific Symphony; Anybodys in “West Side Story” with Opera San Jose; and “The Cunning Little Vixen” with West Edge Opera.