As we prepared to record the work, which was written as a commission for Hub, it also seemed necessary to learn as much about the yellow house on Newlin Road as possible. In a way, it was a musical recon mission.

While we expected to see the Bay Window, the Alcove, and the Hallway we had imagined during rehearsals, we weren’t prepared for the utterly life changing evening that came with performing in that house. As we had the entirely-too-meta experience of performing a piece about a house within that house, we couldn’t help but feel that we became part of the narrative from which Soul House was born. We were living the piece in the physical place that inspired it. And thus, what was already a very personal piece became much more personal. For us, Soul House is not only about Rob’s childhood memories, it’s now colored with our own memories of being there.

The day of the concert was a long one. We had left another engagement in Ohio at 4 am to catch a flight into Newark, NJ, followed by an afternoon of heavy napping and semi-conscious pizza eating. This is an all too familiar experience for any traveling musician. That evening, about 50 people crammed into the foyer on Newlin Road — members of Robert’s family, colleagues who would soon become new friends and several of his parent’s neighborhood compatriots. The warmth we felt from that audience was indescribable, and would make anyone forget the most daunting of long travel days. The performance was followed by an evening of stories, laughter and a candid round of vodka shots in the Backyard with Rob’s mom. Nights like that only happen a handful of times in one’s life.

As we prepare for a particularly special performance of Soul House at PEM, in which memories are translated into movement by the brilliance of Urbanity Dance, I’m especially looking forward to recreating the yellow house on Newlin Road for each audience member. In keeping with Bernstein’s words, we aim to “revive” our collective experiences in the Soul House and simultaneously “readapt” PEM’s atrium to become the house in which we had such a life-altering evening. Contemporary music offers a distinct empathetic experience and few works are more resoundly true to that experience than Soul House.

Saturday, December 1, 2018 at 8pm

Presented with Hub New Music and Urbanity Dance

Unfolding over nine movements, Robert Honstein’s Soul House is an extended elegy to the composer’s childhood home. Glittering light through a bay window, jovial romps in the backyard and curious introspection in a secret place are translated from memory into movement through the cutting-edge artistry of Urbanity Dance. This exploration of childhood also includes works by composers Anna Clyne, Judd Greenstein and Angélica Negrón, with choreography by Haley Day and lighting design by Mary Ellen Stebbins.

Location: Atrium
$10 members, $15 students, $20 nonmembers