VENUE: David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center
ADMISSION: FREE
SUNDAY, February 8
8 pm Dunkelman-Kaiser-Mori-Zorn Quartet
Nava Dunkelman (percussion) Henry Kaiser (bass) Ikue Mori (electronics) John Zorn (sax)
VENUE: The Stone
ADMISSION: $20
WEDNESDAY, February 11
8PM Synth Nights: Eli Keszler
Featuring performances by Leila Bordreuil and Mariel Roberts (cello), Tom Chiu (violin), Anthony Coleman (piano), Eli Keszler (drums), and Geoff Mullen, (guitar, controls).
VENUE: The Kitchen
ADMISSION: $15
WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY, February 11/12/13/14
09:00 PM – Matt Mitchell 4tet
Matt Mitchell – Piano
Chris Speed – Ten Sax/Clar
Chris Tordini – Bass
Dan Weiss – Drums
VENUE: Seeds
ADMISSION: $15
FRIDAY, February 13 and MONDAY, February 16
8 PM | 7:30 PM Ensemble ACJW
Program:
• ROUSSEL Trio for Flute, Viola, and Cello, Op. 40
• MEREDITH MONK Backlight (World Premiere, commissioned by Carnegie Hall)
• RAVEL Piano Trio in A Minor
VENUE: Arthur Zankel Music Center, Helen Filene Ladd Concert Hall
ADMISSION: check with the venue
TUESDAY, February 17
8 pm Uri Caine (piano) Tim Berne (sax) Ches Smith (drums)
VENUE: The Stone
ADMISSION: $15
SATURDAY, February 21
7:30 PM Symbiosis II: Music from Australia
Performers: Voice (Jane Sheldon), piano (Lisa Moore), and clarinets (Eileen Mack)
Program: Beat Furrer: Invocation VI (2007) for soprano & bass flute 9′ David Lang: vent (1990) for flute & piano 8′ David Bedford: Come in here child (1968) for soprano & amplified piano 9′ Inés Thiebaut: cuncta fluunt (2013-14) for soprano & flute 5′ Claude Vivier: Hymnen an die nacht (1975) for soprano & piano 6′ Beat Furrer: Presto con fuoco (1999) for flute & piano 8′ Maurice Ohana: Deux Incantations (1996) for soprano, flute & piano 10′
VENUE: Spectrum
ADMISSION: $10-15
SATURDAY, February 21
8 pm Dragnet
Uri Caine (piano) Erik Friedlander (cello) Clarence Penn (drums)
VENUE: The Stone
ADMISSION: $15
SATURDAY, February 21
8:30 PM Katja Cruz & Howard Curtis w/ Darius Jones
Katja Cruz – vocals
Howard Curtis – drums
Special Guest – Darius Jones – Saxophone
ADMISSION: $15
VENUE: ibeam
SUNDAY, February 22
8 pm IMPROV NIGHT—A STONE BENEFIT
Uri Caine (piano) John Zorn (sax) and many special guests
VENUE: The Stone
ADMISSION: $25
TUESDAY, February 24
6PM JACK Quartet
Program: Georg Friedrich Haas String Quartet No. 8 (2014) U.S. premiere
VENUE: Miller Theatre at Columbia University
ADMISSION: FREE
THURSDAY, June 5
10 PM Nate Wooley, Joe Morris, Agusti Fernandez, Ben Hall
VENUE: The Stone
DETAILS: Nate Wooley (trumpet) Joe Morris (guitar) Agusti Fernandez (piano) Ben Hall (drums)
ADMISSION: $15
FRIDAY, June 6
8 PM John Zorn, Joe Morris, Nate Wooley, Ikue Mori – A Stone Benefit
VENUE: The Stone
DETAILS:
John Zorn (alto sax) Joe Morris (guitar) Nate (trumpet) Ikue Mori (electronics)
ADMISSION: $25
FRIDAY, June 6
9 PM Brad Linde & BANFF Alumni with special guest Wadada Leo Smith
VENUE: Seeds
DETAILS:
Brad Linde – tenor saxophone
Patrick Booth – tenor saxophone
Erika Dohi – Rhodes
Jonathan Taylor – drums and cymbals
*special guest Wadada Leo Smith – Trumpet
ADMISSION: check with the venue
SUNDAY, June 8
7:30 PM Birthday Concert of Two Raga Legends
VENUE: Jack
DETAILS: Pt. Krishna Bhatt – Sitar, Pt. Anindo Chatterjee – Tabla
Brooklyn Raga Massive, Gurukul and ACST
ADMISSION: $20-$30
WEDNESDAY, June 11
7:00 PM Vision Festival 19, Charles Gayle – A Lifetime of Achievement
VENUE: Roulette
DETAILS: Charles Gayle Trio + Dance, Charles Gayle Quartet, & The Vision Orchestra
ADMISSION: $20-30
THURSDAY, June 12
10:15 PM Brotzmann/Drake/Parker Trio
VENUE: Roulette
DETAILS:
Peter Brötzmann – reeds
Hamid Drake – drums, percussion
William Parker – bass http://roulette.org/events/vision-festival-19/
ADMISSION: $20-30
FRIDAY, June 13
10 PM Onset
VENUE: The Stone
DETAILS:
Briggan Krauss (alto sax) Mary Halvorson (guitar) Wayne Horvitz (keyboards) Ches Smith (drums)
ADMISSION: $10
SATUDAY, June 14
10 PM 300 and Elliot Sharp
VENUE: The Stone
DETAILS:
Briggan Krauss (alto and baritone saxes) Wayne Horvitz (keyboards) Elliot Sharp (guitar) Kenny Wollesen (drums)
ADMISSION: $15
Saturday June 14
8:15 PM Matthew Shipp Trio
VENUE: Roulette
DETAILS:
Matthew Shipp – piano
Michael Bisio – bass
Whit Dickey – drums
ADMISSION: $20-30
MONDAY, June 16
9:00 PM Frauke Aulbert voice + Shanna Gutierrez flute
VENUE: Spectrum
DETAILS:
Preliminary program: Beat Furrer (*1954): Auf tönernen Füssen (1998) for amplified voice and contraalto flute Francisco Castillo Trigueros (*1983): Sûr les debris (2013) for bassflute and 4-channel-live-electronics Luigi Nono (1924-1990): La Fabbrica illuminata (1964) for soprano and 4-channel-tape Luciano Berio (1925-2003): Altra voce (1999) for soprano, flute and live-electronics
ADMISSION: $10-15
WEDNESDAY, June 18
8 PM Elizabeth Weisser—Densities and Light
VENUE: The Stone
DETAILS: Elizabeth Weisser (viola)
Giacinto Scelsi: “Coelacanth” (1955) Arcangelo Corelli: “Sonata no. 5, op. 5” (1700) Salvatore Sciarrino: “Di volo” (1974) Don Carlo Gesualdo: “Questi leggiardri odorosetti fiori” (1594) Niccolo Paganini: “Caprice #17” (1802-1817) Pierluigi Billone: “ITI KE MI” (1995) *US Premiere
ADMISSION: $15
FRIDAY, June 20
7 PM Terry Riley and Friends at the River to River Festival
VENUE: Federal Hall
DETAILS: Composer Paola Prestini curates the second iteration of the Ex-Situ series and showcases work created and inspired by Terry Riley with a quartet formed just for this occasion: Cornelius Dufallo, Jenny Choi, Ljova and Jeffrey Zeigler. http://o-m-w.org/events/ex-situ-terry-riley-friends/
ADMISSION: check with the venue
MONDAY, June 23
8 PM – 11PM Garth Knox
VENUE: The Stone
DETAILS:
8 PM Part One: Solo
Garth Knox (viola, viola d’amore) with special guest Melia Watras (viola)
Works by Frederic Rzewski, Rory Boyle, Olga Neuwirth, Garth Knox, John Zorn.
9 PM Part Two: Duos
Garth Knox (viola, viola d’amore) John Stulz (viola) Mark Feldman (violin)
Works by George Benjamin, Garth Knox, Mark Feldman.
10 PM Part Three
Garth Knox (viola, viola d’amore) Equi(k)nox Ensemble
Works by Garth Knox and John Zorn.
ADMISSION: $15 per set
MONDAY, June 23
7 PM Kimmo Pohjonen and Jeffrey Zeigler at the River to River Festival
VENUE: Pier 15
DETAILS: Inspired by the lure of Aokigahara – which has long been associated with demons and spirits in Japanese mythology, and in recent years has become a popular place for suicides – innovative Finnish accordion player Kimmo Pohjonen and former Kronos Quartet cellist Jeffrey Zeigler collaborate to weave a potent and energetic musical tapestry rife with hope, faith, and resignation. http://o-m-w.org/events/ex-situ-kimmo-pohjonen-jeffrey-zeigler/
ADMISSION: check with the venue
On April 19, having rushed to Roulette leaving behind the last minutes of an international Sound and Affect conference in order to experience Anthony Braxton’s Trillium J (The Non-Unconfessionables), at first I could not stop thinking: how does this performance affect me and why? And – “whose are these emotions?” – as Deniz Peters questioned earlier that day.
I fail to describe my feelings having never experienced anything like this before. Perhaps one could compare Trillium J to Richard Foreman’s plays in the way it captures the absurd, the unexpectedness and ambiguity of contemporary world. Weave these into the voices of 12 vocalists and the sounds of 12 instrumental soloists with full orchestra, excellent acting, pseudo-philosophical digressions, visual projections, young skipping-rope Jazzy Jumpers and two of New York’s best contemporary dance improvisers Rachel Bernsen and Melanie Maar, and you get the mix.
At any specific moment I could not recognize what exactly (music, words, acting, etc.) made me smile in a very strange way – the smile that sometimes comes from experiencing the misfortunes of Daniil Harms’s characters. This is perhaps the genius of a gesamtkunstwerk artist (Braxton wrote both the music and the libretto) – to blend all the media so naturally that a spectator cannot recognize the source of their feelings.
How does the absurd feel?
As an interlude before the Second Scene of Act IV, Jazzy Jumpers entered with their skipping-ropes and the choir started improvising “random” sounds to their movements. I sensed tears in my eyes, obviously neither out of sadness or joy. What catalyzed the sublime was (perhaps?) the excitement that something so contemporary and so musically apt was composed –the genre of opera has a future; at least it definitely has a present.
But the climax was still to come. The interlude could either feel like just another meaningful nonsense – the ridiculousness that was so fittingly at the wrong place, – or depict a stratum of society to be juxtaposed with the final scene – the trial of Sally Wanton. Despite the obvious references to social injustices of American society, Ms Walton reminded me of Russian President Vladimir Putin in her ability to pour complete nonsense and reject obvious evidence of crime with complete confidence (as well as accept it and immediately render crucial statements trifle). This is where, perhaps, “the concept of affinity,” the opera’s major theme, lies. Everyone walked out with a radiant face – those who thought of multiple possibilities of political connotations, or those who just took “the poetic transiency” and “undefinition that seeks its own level” as a flow of beautiful nonsense.
George Crumb once said that he was “frightened of a possibility to write an opera, nothing comes close to Wozzeck.” Whether you agreed with that or not in the past, you would definitely have to consider replacing Wozzeck with The Non-Unconfessionables. Should 21st century opera, and music for that matter, only be political? It is not always this or that, it is often the other.
Highlights of the month: JACK Quartet residency at the Stone, Anthony Braxton’s Tri-Centric Series at Roulette and David Lung’s collected stories at Carnegie Hall
FRIDAY, April 4
8 PM JACK Quartet and Joshua Roman
VENUE: The Stone
DETAILS: music by Jefferson Friedman, Carlo Gesualdo, and John Luther Adams
Chris Otto (violin) Ari Streisfeld (violin) John Pickford Richards (viola) Kevin McFarland (cello) Joshua Roman (cello)
ADMISSION: $15
FRIDAY, April 4
10 PM JACK Quartet performing music by John Zorn
VENUE: The Stone
DETAILS: Chris Otto (violin) Ari Streisfeld (violin) John Pickford Richards (viola) Kevin McFarland (cello)
ADMISSION: $15
SATURDAY, April 5
9:30 PM Dollshot: New Art Songs
VENUE: Spectrum
DETAILS: Dollshot performs new art songs inspired by Lyonel Feininger, Clarice Lispector, and Franz Schubert. We’ve enjoyed performances at (le) Poisson Rouge, The Stone, Galapagos Art Space, and WNYC’s The Greene Space. The band features Rosalie Kaplan (voice); Noah Kaplan (saxophones); Wes Matthews (keyboard); Peter Bitenc (bass); and Mike Pride (drums).
ADMISSION: $10-15
SATURDAY, April 5
10 PM JACK Quartet, Jay Campbell, David Fulmer, and Stephen Gosling performing music by John Zorn
VENUE: The Stone
DETAILS: Chris Otto (violin) Ari Streisfeld (violin) John Pickford Richards (viola) Kevin McFarland (cello) Jay Campbell (cello) David Fulmer (violin) Stephen Gosling (piano)
ADMISSION: $15
SUNDAY, APRIL 6
6:00PM Bocian Showcase: Paal Nilssen-Love & Robert Piotrowicz / James Rushford & Joe Talia / Kapital https://vimeo.com/69867966
WEDNESDAY, April 9
8 PM Kenny Wollesen
VENUE: The Stone
DETAILS: As part of a month long celebration of William Burroughs in the East Village, The Stone presents a special two week program of music, film and poetry inspired by and/or dedicated to the work of this radical American genius.
ADMISSION: $15
THURSDAY, April 10
10 PM Anthony Coleman
VENUE: The Stone
DETAILS: Anthony Coleman (piano)
ADMISSION: $15
FRIDAY, April 11
8 PM INTERZONE—Raha Raissnia and John Zorn
VENUE: The Stone
DETAILS: Raha Raissnia (film, projections). Raha performs live visuals to John Zorn’s Burroughs tribute INTERZONE
ADMISSION: $15
FRIDAY, April 11
7:30 PM Jane Sheldon performs Feldman’s “Three Voices”
VENUE: Spectrum
DETAILS: http://janesheldonsoprano.com/
ADMISSION: $10-15
FRIDAY, April 11
7:30 PM Quartet for the End of Time
VENUE: Lincoln Center, Alice Tully Hall, Starr Theater, Adrienne Arsht Stage
DETAILS:
Jalbert Visual Abstract for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Piano, and Percussion (2002)
Carter Esprit rude/esprit doux II for Flute, Clarinet, and Marimba (1995)
Widmann Fantasie for Clarinet (1993)
Rautavaara Variations for Five, Quintet No. 2 for Two Violins, Viola, and Two Cellos (2013) (CMS Co-Commission, New York Premiere)
Messiaen Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time) for Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Piano (1940-41) http://lc.lincolncenter.org/shows/208004?show_date=2014-04-11
ADMISSION: $30-$62
SATURDAY, April 12 8:00 PM The Tri-Centric Presenting Series: Anthony Braxton’s Falling River Music Nonet plus the Fay Victor Ensemble
SATURDAY, April 12
8:00PM Tim Berne & Michael Formanek play Greenwich House Music School
VENUE: Greenwich House Music School
DETAILS: Saxophonist Tim Berne & bassist Michael Formanek – Two Avant-Jazz Titans – Revive Their Head-to-Head Relationship with a Duo Concert. https://www.facebook.com/events/600277956714785/
ADMISSION: $15
WEDNESDAY, April 16
9:30 PM The Good, The Holy, and The Ugly
VENUE: Spectrum
DETAILS: Jocelyn Ho, piano, Chris Pidcock, cello
Music by Kaija Saariaho, Anna Clyne, Olga Neuwirth, Arvo Part, Mauricio Kagel, Giacinto Scelsi, and Kapustin. Jocelyn will also be presenting her composition “Torus”
ADMISSION: $10-15
FRIDAY, April 18
8:00 PM Storylines: The Music of Alfred Schnittke and Avner Finberg
VENUE: The Firehouse Space
DETAILS: http://thefirehousespace.org/event/eunbi-kim/
ADMISSION: $10
SATURDAY, April 19
8 PM John Zorn and Bill Laswell Duo
VENUE: The Stone
DETAILS: John Zorn (sax) Bill Laswell (bass)
ADMISSION: $20
SATURDAY, April 19
10 PM Bill Laswell and Wadada Leo Smith
VENUE: The Stone
DETAILS: Bill Laswell (bass) Wadada Leo Smith (trumpet)
ADMISSION: $20
SUNDAY, April 20
1 PM Neue Vocalsolisten: American Premieres
VENUE: The Kitchen
DETAILS:
Georges Aperghis: Vittriool (2001)
Silvia Rosani: T-O (2013)
Brahim Kerkour: intone (2013)
Zaid Jabri: Two Songs from Mihyar from Damascus (2013)
Francesco Filidei: Dormo molto amore (2013)
Gabriel Dharmoo: Notre Meute (2013)
Lars Petter Hagen: The Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart Notebook (2011)
Jennifer Walshe: Paddy Reilly Runs with the Devil (2007) http://www.thekitchen.org/event/mata-16th-annual-festival-of-new-music
ADMISSION: $20
WEDNESDAY, April 23
6 PM collected stories: spirit
VENUE: Carnegie Hall, Zankel Hal
DETAILS: Tuvan Throat Singing, ARVO PÄRT Passio
The otherworldly throat singing group Huun-Huur-Tu creates overtones, hymns, and chants that defy conceived limitations of the human voice, while offering audiences a glimpse into the remote region. Their astonishing exploration of spiritualism is juxtaposed with Arvo Pärt’s meditative and mystic Passio, a contemporary setting of the gospel according to St. John. http://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2014/4/23/0600/PM/-collected-stories-spirit/
ADMISSION: $10 – $40
MONDAY, April 28
8 and 10 PM Jon Madof’s Zion80 plays John Zorn’s Book of Angels
VENUE: The Stone
DETAILS: Jon Madof (guitar, conductor) Matt Darriau (alto sax) Greg Wall (tenor sax) Frank London (trumpet) Jessica Lurie (bari sax, flute) Zach Mayer (bari sax) Yoshie Fruchter (guitar) Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz (bass) Brian Marsella (keyboard) Marlon Sobol (percussion) Yuval Lion (drums)
ADMISSION: $15
TUESDAY, April 29
10 PM Sylvie Courvoisier, Ha-Yang Kim and Annie Gosfield
VENUE: The Stone
DETAILS: Sylvie Courvoisier (piano) Ha-Yang Kim (cello) Annie Gosfield (sampling keyboard). A reprise of this improvising trio, with Gosfield performing “ghost electronics,” a phantom electric bridge drawn from her extensive collection of altered cello and piano sounds.
ADMISSION: $15
TUESDAY, April 29
6 PM collected stories: memoir
VENUE: Carnegie Hall, Zankel Hal
DETAILS:
John Cage – Indeterminacy, 27’10.554″ for a Percussionist, Fontana Mix
David Lang – mystery sonatas (World Premiere, commissioned by Carnegie Hall)
ADMISSION: $10 – $40
WEDNESDAY, April 30
8 PM Kathleen Supové, MIVOS Quartet, Olivia De Prato
VENUE: The Stone
DETAILS: Kathleen Supové (piano) MIVOS Quartet: Olivia De Prato and Joshua Modney (violins) Victor Lowrie (viola) Mariel Roberts (cello). Kathleen Supové performs “Shattered Apparitions of the Western Wind.” Imagined as a hallucinatory duet with Claude Debussy, it couples Supové’s wild playing with distorted fragments of the prelude “What the West Wind Saw”, on site recordings of Hurricane Sandy, and lush Debussy harmonies. MIVOS quartet plays “The Blue Horse Walks on the Horizon,” inspired by codes used by resistance groups in WWII, and Olivia dePrato performs a piece for violin and satellites.
ADMISSION: $15
Today’s program of FOCUS festival Alfred Schnittke’s World features a piece by Sofia Gubaidulina (b. 1931), In Croce (1979). Gubaidulina’s music is symbolic and imaginative, employing unusual instrumental combinations and extended techniques. The symbolism behind the sounds often carries spiritual connotation; in 1998 the composer stated that all her works were religious, which in her understanding is not related to the church. This is one of the reasons why some of her music was unwelcome in the USSR and some works were not performed until its fall.
Gubaidulina is one of the most spiritually inspired composers of our time. The belief in the religious purpose of art has deep roots back to her childhood and was strengthened during her youth when she encountered the writings of a philosopher Nicholas Berdyaev and met a brilliant pianist Maria Yudina, who maintained her strong religious commitment despite political repressions. Gubaidulina’s first engagement with music-making in 1937 coincided with a spiritual experience of significant impact: at the age of six, when she began to play the piano, she came across an Orthodox Christian icon. As Michael Kurtz quotes her in his monograph: “Music naturally blended with religion, and sound, straight away, became sacred for me.”
The connection between Christian commitment and artistic creativity was further strengthened during Gubaidulina’s philosophical quest when she learned about Berdyaev’s idea of linking the inner and spiritual realm to the perception of time: “Creativity… is the flight into the infinite… [an activity] which transcends the finite towards the infinite. The creative act signifies an ek-stasis, a breaking-through to eternity.” The sacredness of art is a completely natural phenomenon for Gubaidulina, and her aesthetic statement is not that of a style, but of art’s relationship with religion through the re-linking of everyday life with vertical inner nature of human perception:
What is religion at all? For me this concept is literal, re-ligio – a ligature that connects horizontal line of our life and vertical line of our divine presence. Anyone who creates, for example a poem, enters this vertical realm. Such a person is capable of perceiving, at least a little bit, what exists in this dimension. (Interview with Aleksey Munipov, 2012)
Gubaidulina believes that daily routine may lead a person to lose the connection with the inner world, and therefore people need creative activity as an inspiration to get outside of everyday life: “Life interrupts this connection: it leads me away, into different troubles, and God leaves me at these times… This is unbearable pain; by creating, through our art, we strive to restore [the link between us and God] (interview to Vera Lukomsky, 1998). In the same vein, art transforms the horizontal time of everyday life into a vertical time of inner, spiritual existence: “A person may not be conscious of it, and creativity can be … of any sort, but the shape of the outcome turns out as a staircase, vertical.” (Interview with Munipov)
In Croce was originally composed for cello and organ, later arranged for cello and bayan, but tonight will be performed in its original version. The piece belongs to the period when Gubaidulina began to consciously construct her compositions on the basis of philosophical or spiritual symbols that shaped the form and the sound of the piece frequently requiring unconventional performance or extended instrumental techniques. In her biography by Michael Kurtz she explains the symbolism behind her choice of instrumentation and the form in In Croce:
In that particular combination I imagined the organ as a mighty spirit that sometimes descends to earth to vent its wrath. The cello, on the other hand, with its sensitively responsive strings, is a completely human spirit. The contrast between these two opposite natures is resolved spontaneously in the symbol of the cross. I accomplished this by criss-crossing the registers (the organ takes the line downward, the cello upward); secondly, by juxtaposing the bright major sonorities of natural harmonics, played glissando, and expressive chromatic inflections.
extended techniques 