Alvin Lucier

This week: concerts in New York (March 24 – March 30, 2014)

Kronos Quartet 40th Birthday Celebration

Kronos Quartet - Photo by Jay Blakesberg

Kronos Quartet – Photo by Jay Blakesberg

One of the most renowned and influential new-music groups of our time, the Kronos Quartet celebrates its 40th anniversary with an exclusive evening of music and conversation at The Greene Space.
Monday, March 24 at 7:30 PM
Tickets $40
The Greene Space, 44 Charlton Street, New York, NY
..:: Website

Intersections: An Evening with Build, itsnotyouitsme, Empyrean Atlas, and Special Guests

Build - Photo by Jen McManus

Build – Photo by Jen McManus

A mini-fest of music at the intersection of composition and a band aesthetic features ensembles Build, premiering new works that will be a part of their forthcoming third album; itsnotyouitsme, performing material from their 2013 New Amsterdam Records release This I; and Empyrean Atlas, who will celebrate the release of their second album at Roulette. Special guests to be announced.
Monday, March 24 at 8 PM
General Admission $15, Members/Students/Seniors $10, FREE for All Access Members
Roulette, 509 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
..:: Website

The Well-Extended Piano

Reinier van Houdt will present the piano in its own expanding and often ephemeral universe. In his program the piano is featured as the protagonist in a fragmentary collection of journal-entries (Ferrari), as a solitary ear exploring tones within a rotating field (Pisaro), as an audioscanner highlighting the outlines of an evolving structure (Adriaansz), or finally as an endangered species, time and again surviving its own extinction (Curran).
Tuesday, March 25 at 8:45 PM
Tickets $15, $10 students/seniors
Spectrum, 121 Ludlow Street, New York, NY
..:: Website

So Percussion & Buke and Gase | Ecstatic Music Festival

So Percussion (photo credit: Janette Beckman)

So Percussion (photo credit: Janette Beckman)

An essentially Ecstatic collaboration between two Ecstatic Music Festival alumnae groups, this concert brings together innovative percussion quartet So Percussion with master instrument builders and Brassland artists Buke and Gase, one of the most talked-about bands touring today. The two groups will perform new work together featuring new instruments built by Aron Sanchez from Buke and Gase, alongside So’s regular mess of traditional percussion instruments, electronics, toys and other noise-generating objects, plus Buke and Gase’s homemade instruments including the “buke,” a six-string former-baritone ukulele; and the “gase,” a guitar-bass hybrid.
Wednesday, March 26 at 7:30 PM
Tickets $25
Merkin Concert Hall, 129 W. 67th Street New York, NY
..:: Website

Kate Soyeon Lee, Hyeyung Yoon, Gregory Beaver

Three friends — violinist Hyeyung Julie Yoon, cellist Gregory Beaver, and pianist Soyeon Kate Lee — join together for an unforgettable evening of chamber music. Their concert at SubCulture features the New York premiere of composer Robert Sirota’s Pange Lingua Sonata, written for and premiered by Hyeyung Yoon and Soyeon Kate Lee last year, plus music by Bach (Violin and Piano Sonata in C Minor) and Brahms (Piano Trio in C Major).
Wednesday, March 26 at 7:30 PM
Tickets $25-$30
SubCulture, 45 Bleecker Street, Downstairs, New York, NY
..:: Website

Christian Wolff @ 80

Concert celebrating the 80th birthday of Christian Wolff, the leading avant-garde composer pioneering the combination of music, texts and dance, whose work includes collaboration with John Cage, Merce Cunningham, and Cornelius. Performed by S.E.M. Ensemble and Ostravska banda, conducted by Petr Kotik.
Thursday, March 27 at 7 PM
Free
Czech Center, 321 East 73rd Street, New York, NY
..:: Website

Guitar, Guitar, Guitar!

David Leisner - Photo by Lisa-Marie Mazzucco

David Leisner – Photo by Lisa-Marie Mazzucco

Dublin Guitar Quartet, Brasil Guitar Duo, and solo guitarists David Leisner and Benjamin Verdery harness the power of the strings to take on works by Philip Glass, Steve Reich, David Leisner (Symphony Space commission) and Ingram Marshall.
Thursday, March 27 at 7:30 PM
Tickets $32; Members $27; 30 and under (with valid ID) $20
Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway, New York, NY
..:: Website

Ghost Ensemble

Ghost Ensemble performs experimental music that explores the experience of listening, creating otherworldly soundscapes from healing to haunting to hypnotic. The concert will feature premieres of electroacoustic works by Ghost Ensemble composers alongside immersive and beautiful works both new and very old.
Friday, March 28 at 7:30 PM
Tickets $15, $10 students/seniors
Spectrum, 121 Ludlow Street, New York, NY
..:: Website

ensemble mise-en

ensemble mise-en

ensemble mise-en

ensemble mise-en will perform at the Tenri Cultural Institute, presenting a collection of New York, U.S., and world premiere pieces. Among these are three exciting world premieres: two for chamber orchestra and another featuring voice. The innovative concert program is associated with two main locations: New York and Germany. The composers being presented are Brian Fennelly (New York), Clara Latham (New York), Reiko Fueting (New York/Germany), Enno Poppe (Germany) and Isang Yun (Germany/Korea). These creative composers range from one of the 20th century hero composers in Europe (Isang Yun) to a young, remarkable New York composer (Clara Latham), it also includes very active mature composers such as Enno Poppe from Germany, Reiko Fueting from Germany but currently living in New York, and Brian Fennelly from the U.S.
Friday, March 28 at 8 PM
Tickets $15, $10 seniors, $5 students
Tenri, 43A West 13th St, New York, NY
..:: Website

Journeys in Silence

With a nod to Mompou and also Arvo Pärt, Small’s composition, The Rothko Room: Journeys in Silence is in one continuous movement, but falls into four distinct parts, loosely paralleling the four paintings in the Phillips Collection’s Rothko room, while offering a musical narrative of the painter’s life journey.
Friday, March 28 at 8 PM
Tickets $20, $15 students
Christ and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 120 West 69th St., New York, NY
..:: Website

The Brothers Balliet Late Night Show

Twin brothers Brad and Doug Balliett bring the energetic, erudite spirit of their WQXR show (and then some) to Spectrum.
Friday, March 28 at 10 PM
Tickets $15, $10 students/seniors
Spectrum, 121 Ludlow Street, New York, NY
..:: Website

Kronos Quartet and Friends, 40th Anniversary Celebration

Kronos returns to Carnegie Hall with several special guests to celebrate its 40th anniversary, performing commissioned works by favorite composers and collaborators, including a world premiere and Carnegie Hall commission by Terry Riley, a New York premiere by Philip Glass, plus works by Laurie Anderson, Jherek Bischoff, Clint Mansell, and others. The celebration also includes the world premiere of a short film by Sam Green.
Friday, March 28 at 8 PM
Tickets from $15 – $75
Carnegie Hall, 57th Street and Seventh Avenue, New York City
..:: Website

The Music of Alvin Lucier w/ Callithumpian Consort

Alvin Lucier

Alvin Lucier

The Callithumpian Consort, cellist Charles Curtis and pianist Stephen Drury celebrate the unique musical vision of the pioneering composer Alvin Lucier in two evenings devoted to his music, placing it in an international context. The programs include two New York premieres, Lucier’s voluptuous and luxurious BRAID and Tristan Murail’s tragic, visionary LACHRYMAE, both written for the Callithumpian Consort.
Friday, March 28 and Saturday, March 29 at 8 PM
General Admission $25, Members/Students/Seniors $20, FREE for All Access Members
Roulette, 509 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
..:: Website

Man Forever & William Basinski | Ecstatic Music Festival

William Basinski, the fascinating multi-instrumentalist and sound artist best known for his internationally-acclaimed 9/11 piece, The Disintegration Loops, creates haunting soundscapes that have crossed over from the avant-garde to the indie world. He will create a new piece in collaboration with Man Forever, a percussion ensemble helmed by John Colpitts (aka Kid Millions), best known as the drummer in Oneida and widely considered one of the best drummers today. “I was interested in exploring the pathos, space and emotional nuances that Basinski squeezes from his loops and see if these kinds of sensibilities could be found in the drums and the drummers performing,” says Colpitts.
Saturday, March 29 at 7:30 PM
Tickets $25
Merkin Concert Hall, 129 W. 67th Street New York, NY
..:: Website

Jean-Baptiste Barrière

Jean-Baptiste Barrière is a key figure in computer music and multimedia art. A native Parisian, Barrière led the city’s electronic-music mecca IRCAM for more than 15 years, and his piece Chréode is recognized as a seminal work in the history of electronic music. Many of his more recent works entail live manipulation of both audio and video. In this concert, Barrière premieres three pieces, one of which was previously given an early reading at Miller’s onstage Pop-Up series.
Saturday, March 29 at 8 PM
Tickets $20-$30
Miller Theatre, 2960 Broadway, New York, NY
..:: Website

Gustavo Casenave at Flushing Town Hall: Composition v. Improvisation

2012 Latin Grammy nominee, pianist, educator and current EtM Con Edison Composer-in-Residence at Flushing Town Hall, Gustavo Casenave presents a lecture/demonstration on composition and improvisation.
Sunday, March 30 at 2 PM
Free
Flushing Town Hall, 137-35 Northern Boulevard, Flushing, NY
..:: Website

Terry Riley and Gyan Riley

Father and son Terry Riley and Gyan Riley perform at (le) poisson rouge.
Sunday, March 30 at 7:30 PM
Tickets $20-$30
(le) poisson rouge, 158 Bleecker Street, New York, NY
..:: Website