Creator of more than 90 original works including commissions for such high profile presenters as Carnegie Hall, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the L.A. Philharmonic, Clarice Assad has distinguished herself as one of today's most prolific and eclectic composers. Listen to a handful of her works and you'd be hard-pressed to put them into any one category.
"My music is a little like a chameleon," says the Grammy-nominated Rio de Janeiro native. "Brazil is really rich musically speaking. We have so many different genres. I immigrated to the United States in the 90s and here it's the same thing. We have all the influence from classical music and western world... African... and I love Indian music, so it's kind of a good mess."
Assad’s eclecticism can be heard in works ranging from her Dance Brailiera, a more traditional piece for strings performed by the New Century Chamber Orchestra to Hero, part of an adventurous 12-part suite for percussion quartet titled Archetypes. It also includes Clarice on piano with her father Sergio on guitar.
Classical guitar fans will know name Sergio Assad. He and Clarice's uncle Odair make up the world-renowned Assad Brothers guitar duo. For Clarice, choosing a career in music and following in her famous father’s footsteps was tough at first. But it didn’t take long for her to make her own name in music.
"My father and my uncle, like they are considered to be one of the greatest duos of guitar who have ever played, so to be compared to that is not fun. But I'm glad that I took a very different path and, you know, also glad my father said no way you're gonna play guitar when I was very young."
Instead, Assad played bass in Brazilian samba bands. She went on to become a highly regarded pianist. Then she added another instrument to her arsenal… her voice.
"Oh, I love to sing. It's just so much fun to use the voice. I used to have a group in New York. We had a 10-year fantastic run touring the United States and abroad. We would play lots of instrumental pieces, but then I would add more, adding the voice, and at the end of 10 years I was singing most of the stuff because I think the presenters were more excited about that than the instrumentals."
As versatile as she is as a performer, Clarice Assad made her mark in music as a composer, which is why she’s headlining this year’s Festival of New American Music. One of the compositions on Assad's program is Play!, her concerto for percussion quartet, amplified vocalist and orchestra. The work features a huge array of sounds and colors including theatrical elements, sound effects and foley. It's just one expression of Assad's expansive musical pallet.
"I couldn't call myself a jazz musician because I'm not," explains Assad. "And then I'm not like strictly classical because I have all those South American background. And so I don't know. I don't really fit in anywhere nicely beautifully, but in a way it's good because you end up kind of creating a little bit of a niche. And what's wrong about that?"
The weeklong Festival of New American Music concludes on Saturday, November 8th with featured guest composer/performer Clarice Assad. The concert in Capistrano Hall on the Sac State campus will include performances by the Sac State Symphonic Wind Ensemble with Anna Presler (violin) and Ms. Assad (vocals), guitarist Dr. George England and flutist Dr. Cathie Apple with Ms. Assad on electric bass, and the Sac State Symphony Orchestra featuring the percussion section and Ms. Assad as narrator. Admission is free.
