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This week: concerts in New York (May 6 – May 12, 2013)

Brooklyn Youth Chorus & Kronos Quartet

Brooklyn Youth Chorus – Photo by Joshua Simpson

Enjoy cocktails and light supper at the stylish Green Building followed by a performance featuring BYC with Kronos Quartet at Roulette. The evening honors longtime board member Hillary Richard. The program presents BYC commissions, including a world-premiere by Julia Wolfe and works by Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond). New York premieres by Aleksandra Vrebalov and Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire), and works by Bryce Dessner (The National, Clogs) are also featured as part of a new series of BYC co-commissions with BAM.
Tuesday, May 7 at 8 PM
Tickets $45
Roulette, 509 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
..:: Website

Acqua Alta (High Water) | Jenny Q Chai

Jenny Q Chai

Acqua Alta (High Water) will be the anchor of a month-long programming focus on global warming at Spectrum, with sound and video installations based on data curated by Ian Fenty, whose doctoral dissertation at MIT addressed ’s new studied of global warming and its effects on our oceans. John Cage’s athletic Water Walk (see schematic attached/above) is the centerpiece of the program. Written in 1959, John Cage’s Water Walk is scored for a number of objects, including bathtub, rubber duck, prepared piano and five radios. It was originally premiered on the Italian TV show Lascia O Raddoppia. Ninnananna from Marco Stroppa’s Miniature Estrose—a lullaby in which its out of worldly tremors creates a gentle watery shimmer and explores the two relations between two states of mind, with initiated knowledge one might trace hidden lullabies by Brahms, Schubert, Stravinsky and an Italian lullaby Stroppa’s mother used to sing to him. Scarlatti and Gibbons provides the sensation of traveling back in time in Italy, while Debussy and Ravel adds their watery imagery. Three world premieres by Nils Vigeland, Milica Paranosic and Michael Vincent Waller reflect contemporary composers’ take on global warming. To complete the experience, the stage and the hall are transformed with projections of Italian Renaissance paintings, which stunningly portray the luminous beauty of Italy.
Tuesday, May 7 at 8 PM
Tickets $15, $10 students/seniors
Spectrum, 121 Ludlow St., 2nd floor, New York, NY
..:: Website
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Sequenza21 brings ACME at Joe’s Pub

Very few classical music blogs are as popular as Sequenza21, and many blogs in that position would just stick to what they routinely do. Well, Jerry Bowles and his team don’t and with the funds they are able to raise through advertising, grants and donations, they produce occasional concerts such as the one that was presented at Joe’s Pub this Tuesday night (with the generous support of Manhattan New Music Project). The concert featured music by 9 composers performed by ACME (American Contemporary Music Ensemble), itself led by artistic director and cellist Clarice Jensen.

Nancy Kleaver, Executive Director of MNMP

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