Interview: ISO debuts new work from Indianapolis composer Hanna Benn

This June, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra will premiere a new work from the Indianapolis composer, vocalist and musician Hanna Benn.

Benn’s solo work defies classification, featuring intricate vocal layering with refined electronic production. Benn’s piece for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra is a double concerto for oboe and bassoon titled "A Through Line."

WFYI’s Kyle Long recently spoke with Hanna Benn to learn more about the work, where she was joined by ISO musicians Ivy Ringel and Jennifer Christen.

This interview has been edited for style and clarity.

Hanna Benn: I’m Hanna Benn. I'm a composer, a local composer to Indianapolis, and I have written a double concerto titled "A Through Line" that the ISO will premiere in June.

Jennifer Christen: Hi, I'm Jennifer Kristen, and I'm originally from Buffalo, New York, but I've been principal oboe at the Indianapolis Symphony since 2012. I feel lucky enough to be performing "A Through Line" by Hanna Benn.

Ivy Ringel: Hi, I’m Ivy Ringel, principal bassoon of the ISO. I'm originally from Hillsborough, North Carolina, and I've been with the ISO since 2019. I am also very lucky and excited to be performing Hanna Benn's "A Through Line."

Kyle Long: Hanna Benn has contributed to high profile projects across the modern music landscape. As a vocalist, she can be heard on Meshell Ndegeocello’s Grammy winning album "The Omnichord Real Book" and the Academy Award nominated soundtrack for "Everything Everywhere All at Once." As a composer, her work has been performed at Carnegie Hall. I asked Benn if it was meaningful to have her work performed by her hometown orchestra.

Benn: Oh yeah, it's fantastic. Yeah, it's a blessing. I've never done anything on this scale in my hometown. So it just feels great.

Long: Tell us a bit about the work.

Benn: I think, in writing this work, which I've never done, something like written a concerto before. So in writing this concerto, I'm listening to different works and trying to find, like a needle to the thread, of like how am I going to conceive this piece?

Because I'm not an oboist. I don't play the bassoon. I don't have that perspective in writing. So to come up with ideas for me, the through line is my voice. So of course, this piece is, like a lot of my work, is very lyrical and melodic.

Long: After completing the work, Benn met with Ivy Ringel and Jennifer Christen to review the score. Christen shared her thoughts on that process.

Christen: It was a really wonderful meeting that we had with Hanna. Once we had a chance to go through the score and the parts we did have some notes. I think we both feel very fortunate that Hanna was very collaborative with any edits. I mentioned at one point, “You know this is going to be hard, but we could do it.” And Hanna, I remember said something like, “Oh no, I don't want to add any more stress to anything. I don't want it to feel hard.”

That made me feel really appreciative of her style of writing for us. Something else that I remember she said that I liked was, it goes back to her idea of feeling, a lot goes on feeling. And she mentioned to us as we're performing to go off of feeling and what feels right. I really liked that too.

Long: The majority of the ISO’s repertoire features classical masterworks from the 19th and 20th century. I asked Ringel if she enjoyed having the chance to premiere a new work.

Ringel: I personally love this process of bringing a new work to life. It's a rare gift in our world to take something that's so uncharted and get to put not only Hanna's voice to life but our own voice, our own kind of interpretation of her voice to life.

There's something that's very invigorating and refreshing about creating with fewer limitations. Because as beautiful as performing the masterworks can be, you have all these recordings, you have all these references, all these conventions and with a new commission, you're free from that.

Long: The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra will perform Hanna Benn's A Through Line on June 13 and the 14th.

This interview originally aired on WFYI's Cultural Manifesto.