Artist Spotlight: Meet Renée Favand-See!
This weekend, Saturday, October 14th and Sunday, October 15th, Resonance Ensemble launches their 15th Anniversary Season with a live performance of works from our debut album, LISTEN.
Among the works included for this concert will be Only in Falling, a major composition by Portland composer Renée Favand-See which captures the emotional power of her poignant voyage following the death of her newborn son, Owen.
This week, Renée reflects on what has changed since its initial premiere in 2014—and what still rings true today.
How did you become involved with Resonance Ensemble?
Photo by Marshall Bessières
Soon after I moved to Portland in 2009, I sang with Resonance Ensemble. In my first concert with them, we performed Stravinsky’s Les Noces. Performing with this group, there was a wonderful feeling of camaraderie and excitement in taking on a challenging project and going ‘all in’ together–OMG, so much Russian and so fast! I loved singing with Resonance’s powerful, warm-voiced altos; when I wrote Only in Falling, the altos in my inner ears sang some of the best melodies. We felt like a family, bound together by music and Kathy’s generous heart and grounded embodiment of the works we shared.
Kathy’s deep sincerity combined with her beautiful musicianship make her a gem of a friend. We have always felt like kindred spirits—though she effortlessly connects with many in the beautiful community she weaves through her authenticity and steadfastness. She rings true as a musician and as a person.
Director Dr. Katherine FitzGibbon and composer Renée Favand-See
Can you tell us a bit about how you came to write Only in Falling?
After my son Owen died, Kathy was one of the precious people in my life who was able to sit with me in the deep dark of it—to hold a loving, safe space while storms blew through me. When I started to reach a place of integration and equanimity, Kathy asked me if I wanted to make a piece for Resonance, what would it be?
I immediately knew I wanted to honor the Wendell Berry poems that had been my lanterns in the dark, and the idea of Only in Falling began—a musical gesture of gratitude for my beautiful son, and for Berry’s words that gave shape and clarity to my inner landscape of grief.
This work was first done with Resonance Ensemble in 2014—has your relationship with this piece changed at all for you in that time?
Yes, indeed. When I first wrote Only in Falling, it was wholly centered on my son Owen—this piece was his story. The process of choosing the poems and musically delving into the emotional layers around and underneath the words was a way of writing our story into being—living through my grief and making music to express how grief worked on me were inextricably linked. Writing this piece helped me discover the meaning and yes, beauty, in my traumatic loss—to deeply claim Owen as my teacher, the way all our children are. Writing this music was also a way to help Owen’s life touch others through the medium of musical vibration, which is a fitting embodiment of such a beautiful soul.
When Resonance gathered together again to perform and record this work some years later, I was still eager to share Owen’s stories and how my piece was born, but I was in a stronger place, so I could be receptive to others’ losses invited into the light by this work that seeks to honor grief. My piece felt larger to me, no longer only about Owen, but about loss—all the losses of the people who sang the piece, the people who heard the piece, and people who haven’t heard the piece. Hearts opened by the sacred ritual of music, many people courageously and generously shared their stories with me. I felt so touched and joined into community with people whose stories were similar and also different to mine. I got to feel Owen’s touch rippling outward, sympathetically resonating with others. Sharing this piece with new people over time has reinforced a feeling of service through composing—trying to share as truthfully as possible, while leaning into the stuck points and surrendering to vulnerability.
From the 2019 performance of Only in Falling.
What does it mean to you for this piece to be professionally recorded?
Writing Only in Falling for Owen is a healing act, an affirmation that he was born and his life holds meaning in this world. And now, through this recording, I am able to share his life and our deep love for him with a wider community, to reach others who walk a journey of loss. I am so grateful to Kathy and Resonance for championing this work, and I'm honored to be included on their glorious debut album.
What do you love about the process of composing? What drew you to it?
Photo by Marshall Bessières
I love the process of discovery in composing. In the beginning, it’s all questions. What does this piece want? What is the right musical ecosystem for this poem? Does this feel true? Does this work? Does this gesture serve the impulse that wants to come through? Is this section too long, too short, this transition bumpy, smooth? Composing is an organic web of broken rules and surrendering to change, just like life–so you have to cultivate receptivity and figure out what to make of all the chance occurrences–often things turn out better than you could have planned. (I also like to geek out and make lots of elaborate plans.) I get especially excited when a piece resonates with people and we get that beautiful, velvety communal silence after.
Why is music important to you? What impact has music had on your life—not just professionally, but personally?
Photograph by Kelly Hoffer
I’ve come to view live performance of music as a sacred ritual that opens up a safe space–partly because it’s contained within a specific frame of time–that holds the possibility for people to experience their emotions more deeply and to thus receive a new insight or even a shift in orientation that could be healing to them individually and to their community. Music has been my teacher. Alongside my beautiful family and fat trees, it gives my life richness and a spirit of service.
Other random thoughts?
I have a new song cycle whose texts come from words by my now five-year-old son, Morgan. Here’s a short sample of what’s to come:
Why is Earth the name of our planet and also another word for dirt? Talk about it.
Do you know about drinking beer in space?
What’s the problem with eating pie in the car?
What is the color of infinity? I know, it’s whitey-blue!
Does that ring a bell in your mind?
Songs are about quiet things first / Loud things after
To read our previous blog sharing the full program notes and text from this work, click here.
Photo by Kelly Hoffer
Are you ready to LISTEN?
CHECK OUT OUR LIVE PERFORMANCES
There’s still time to get tickets to LISTEN - the live performance of our debut album! Click here to learn more about the live performances.
HEAR OUR DEBUT ALBUM!
You can hear Renée Favand-See’s work, Only in Falling, alongside other powerful works by living composers on debut album LISTEN. Click here to learn more about the album and to order your copy today! Pre-orders are accepted until Wednesday, October 11th.
unless otherwise noted, all photos in this post are by Rachel Hadiashar
