Khaleghian & Owens: Electric Sky Blue

About the work:

While I am a classically trained pianist, I grew up dancing ballet and various other styles for several years. By engaging in both art forms, I discovered the mutual impact that dance and piano had on one another in my life. Playing piano developed skills in rhythm, timing, and musical phrasing that I could equally apply while moving on a dance floor; dancing intertwined physical movements with musical gestures and rhythms, allowing me to internalize the music I was hearing in a very external way. This relationship between music and dance continues to impact the way I perceive and perform music, often manifesting itself through the way I physically move while playing the piano. I have always been fascinated by multidisciplinary projects that combine dance and music and had dreamed of somehow merging the two art forms together in performance. 

My collaboration with Badie Khaleghian began while we were both earning graduate degrees at the University of Georgia. Khaleghian, an Iranian-American composer, has produced a wide range of works, including solo, chamber music, orchestral, and electro-acoustic compositions. His music, which has been performed in Iran, the United States, Austria, Italy, and Canada, is heavily influenced by his Middle Eastern background and his social justice activism. Khaleghian has also cultivated a passion for collaboration, not only with other musicians, but also with artists and scientists, thus fostering an intersection of disciplines in his work. He particularly enjoys composing music for specific individuals and groups, and further, inviting them into the creative process. 

After attending one of my performances in 2017 and learning about my dance background, Khaleghian approached me about collaborating, and we brainstormed a way to intersect piano and dance within a solo piece. The result was Life Suite, which we premiered in 2019. A multidisciplinary work for solo piano, dance, and fixed media, the piece combines both live and recorded solo piano and dance, all of which I performed. A deeply personal work, it features film footage from one of my old dance recital performances and explores not only my own identity as both pianist and dancer, but also the general concept of finding one’s identity. 

A year later amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Khaleghian and I began discussing plans for a new multidisciplinary piece that would stretch beyond the scope of Life Suite in both its layering of various media and its incorporation of technology. The resulting composition, which I will further discuss in detail, is Electric Sky Blue (2022) for piano, dance, and interactive intermedia.

- Caroline Owen

Badie Khaleghian

The music of Iranian-American composer Badie Khaleghian has been called a “well-crafted, attractive modern score” (ARTS ATL). His compositions are wide-ranging in influence and inspiration, encompassing solo, chamber, orchestral, and electro-acoustic works. Khaleghian’s music is influenced by his Middle Eastern background, his social justice activism, and his passion for collaboration. His recent works explore the idea of defining self-identity through close collaboration with musicians, artists, and scientists. Khaleghian’s music has been performed in Iran, the United States, Austria, Italy, and Canada. Due to his religious background, he was banned from public higher education in Iran, but he studied, taught, and created a music major for persecuted Bahá’ís in Iran. In 2014 he came to the US as a religious refugee. In the US, he received his bachelor's and master’s degree in music composition from the University of Georgia, and currently pursuing his DMA in music composition at Rice University.

Caroline Owen

A native of Atlanta, GA, pianist Caroline Owen frequently performs as a soloist and collaborator. She has played in venues across the U.S. and in Europe, including the Wiener Saal and Solitär at the Mozarteum (Salzburg).

After winning the 2018 Pro-Mozart Society of Atlanta Competition, Owen received a scholarship to study at the Mozarteum, where she worked with Dominique Merlet and Christopher Hinterhuber. She returned to Salzburg in February 2020 to compete in the live rounds of the 14th International Mozart Competition. She was also a semifinalist at the International Keyboard Odyssiad and won the 2019 Florida MTNA Young Artist Competition. Owen was invited to perform at the 2018 American Liszt Society Conference and has appeared as soloist with the Furman University Symphony Orchestra and, most recently, the Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra for the premiere of Donald Yu’s Piano Concerto No. 1.

Owen has participated in Atlantic Music Festival’s Summer Piano Institute (2018), the PianoTexas Young Artists Program (2019), and the Prague Piano Festival (2019), during which she gave a performance at the Russian Consulate in Prague. She has worked with distinguished artists and teachers such as Marvin Blickenstaff, Lucille Chung, Richard Goode, Douglas Humpherys, Martin Katz, Vincent Larderet, Julian Martin, Pascal Rogé, Sandra Shen, and Dina Yoffe in masterclass settings and had additional studies with Philippe Bianconi, Joel Hastings, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Louis Nagel, Elizabeth Pridonoff, Ann Schein, and Boris Slutsky, among others.