Nora McCarthy and Jorge Sylvester, acknowledge a deep affinity to WassilyKandinsky--the artistic pioneer whose quintessential goal was to achieve the unique immediacy of music in abstract visual form. Incredibly, Nora and Jorge have achieved, in their duo performances, an innovative form of musical expression comparable in impact to Kandinsky's paintings, wherein each work reveals a self-contained world of content, form, improvisation, and--above all--balance."...Ramsey Ameen, former violinist with Cecil Taylor
A Small Dream In Red debuted September 10, 2001 at the Knitting Factory in New York. The group explores visual elements from a musical standpoint, in a totally free environment. The repertoire has expanded to include their original compositions, jazz deconstructions, a composition based on a sculpture of a NY artist, Steven Dono named Piano Jazz, and encompasses several interpretations of Kandinsky’s work namely: Composition VIII, Lyrical, Small Dream In Red and Yellow, Red, Blue combined with deconstructions of jazz standards and music drawn from many diverse sources that communicates via counterpoint and obtuse harmonics.
In 2005, A Small Dream In Red (Sundown), was released. Named after master painter Wassily Kandinsky's masterpiece, Kleiner en Rot (Small Dream In Red), this adventurous CD is a live recording of the voice and saxophone duo's 2003 concert at Cleveland State University's Drinko Hall and beautifully demonstrates the unique symbiosis between the two artists as well as Nora's virtuosity as a musician of the highest order and showcases her ability to "play with the known and the unknown elements of jazz." Florence Wetzel, All About Jazz New York.
McCarthy and Sylvester have written many compositions for this project individually and together interpreting some of Kandinsky’s paintings that deal with music and composition. They also perform their other original compositions as well as deconstructions of familiar standards like My Romance and Afro Blue and other choice songs that transcend categories and genres. “…McCarthy's interpretation of ‘My Romance’ is filled with new ideas that only use the original Rodgers & Hart melody as an occasional guidepost.†Cadence Magazine For Creative and Improvised Music, 2/05
HIGHLIGHTS:
In the Spring of 2007 A Small Dream In Red, performed a series of workshops and concerts in Podgorica, Montenegro to an enthusiastic audience filled-to-capacity concert hall as well as an appearance on the television show Good Morning Montenegro. This unique duo is said to be the only one of its kind in the world and McCarthy has been acclaimed by her fellow musicians and some critics as the greatest atonal singer in the world with her ability to maneuver with ease throughout all the keys, never losing sight of the tonal center in perfect pitch and with an impeccable sense of timing!