Visual Variations on Noguchi, a film by Marie Menken, is accompanied by Dlugoszewski’s 1953 score, The Poetry of Natural Sound, her only tape piece. Created at Louis and Bebe Barron’s pioneering electronic music studio, the work pairs abstracted imagery of Isamu Noguchi’s sculptures with a dense, layered composition that amplifies and manipulates everyday sounds into an intense, textural soundscape.

Openings of the (Eye) marks the beginning of Dlugoszewski’s four-decade collaboration with Erick Hawkins. Composed in 1952 for flute, piano, and percussion, the piece features a demanding and unconventional piano part. It will be performed by Network for New Music, a Philadelphia-based contemporary music ensemble.

Angels of the Inmost Heaven, composed in 1971 for brass quintet, is known for its complex textures, extreme virtuosity, and use of extended techniques. Originally written for an Erick Hawkins dance, the piece was recorded in 1975 by trombonist David Taylor, who worked closely with Dlugoszewski throughout her career. Taylor will also perform in this concert, leading the brass quintet in a rare live presentation of the work.

The second half of the program introduces live dance, with Erick Hawkins’s original choreography performed alongside Dlugoszewski’s music. Here and Now, with Watchers, from 1957, was their second collaboration and the first in which Dlugoszewski performed as a soloist. The music is for timbre piano, a technique she developed that involves direct interaction with the strings and frame to produce a distinct range of sounds. The piece was frequently performed by the Hawkins company through the 1960s. This performance, featuring Italian pianist Agnese Toniutti and the Erick Hawkins Dance Company, has been reconstructed using archival recordings, choreographic notebooks, and musical sketches.

The program closes with Cantilever, premiered in Paris in 1963 and dedicated to Austro-American architect Frederick Kiesler. Initially created for solo piano and four dancers, the work was later adapted for different instrumental settings and larger dance ensembles. This performance presents the original version with choreography by Hawkins and music performed by Toniutti.

Quidditas, as drawn from James Joyce, refers to the essential whatness of a thing—its singular identity revealed in a moment of heightened perception. Suchness speaks to the unmediated experience of reality, where things simply are, free from interpretation or expectation. While quidditas captures the essence of a sound, suchness embraces its presence in time, unfolding without direction or resolution.

The program title Quidditas Suchness reflects Lucia Dlugoszewski’s deep interest in the essence and immediacy of sound. Quidditas speaks to the epiphanic recognition of a sound’s unique identity, while Suchness evokes the unfolding of sound as a presence in time, free from expectation or resolution. Together, these ideas encapsulate Dlugoszewski’s compositional world, where music is not structured toward a goal but experienced as a radical encounter with the present.

The concerts will highlight two of Dlugoszewski’s groundbreaking innovations—her timbre piano technique and her orchestra of invented percussion instruments. The timbre piano, a radical expansion of the grand piano’s sonic possibilities, will be explored in multiple works by Italian pianist Agnese Toniutti. Her invented percussion instruments, originally developed with sculptor Ralph Dorazio and reconstructed by Dustin Donahue, will also play a central role in the performances. The programs will feature performances by Network for New Music, Arcana New Music Ensemble, Either/Or, and Peter Evans, among others.

The phrase “Pure Lucia” comes directly from Dlugoszewski’s own writings, appearing throughout her notebooks as a kind of artistic mantra—an affirmation of staying true to her vision, pushing boundaries, and resisting external pressures. The same phrase was echoed by those who knew her personally; when recalling moments that defined her character, they would often say, “That was Pure Lucia.”

This project adopts that name as a tribute to the authenticity, innovation, and uncompromising artistry that shaped her life and music.

All music by Lucia Dlugoszewski (1925 – 2000)