Thursday, October 24th, 2019, New Yorks long-running creative music
ensemble Ne(x)TWORKS PRESENTS ITS FINAL PERFORMANCE AT ISSUE PROJECT
ROOM, taking place during the exhibition Suzanne Fiol: TEN YEARS ALIVE
which presents visual works by ISSUES founder Suzanne Fiol. The
career-spanning program nods in many of the directions explored since
the groups first CONCERT IN JUNE 2003, showcasing graphic and hybrid
scores that expose the conceptual root elements of the Ne(x)TWORKS
PROJECT. The October 24th program includes historical graphic works by
John Cage (Selections from Song Books [1970]) and Cornelius Cardew
(selections from Schooltime Compositions [1968]) and spatialized works
by Netherlands-based Australian composer Kate Moore (Sensitive Spot
[2005] for solo piano and multi-channel audio, featuring group
co-founder Steven Gosling) and co-founder Chris McIntyre (Sigmar [from
0] [2004], re-sited for ISSUEs Boerum Place location from the original
E. 6th St. space). Developing work by its composer-performer
membership has been a foundational idea for Ne(x)TWORKS FROM ITS
INCEPTION. In addition to McIntyres piece this CONCERT HIGHLIGHTS WORK
BY LONG-time members Miguel Frasconi (selections from his photographic
score series Ne(x)traits [2009, rev 2019]), Shelley Burgon (the free
flowing, through-composed glass trees [2007]), and Words on Water
(shimmer) by esteemed vocalist and co-founder Joan La Barbara,
progenitor (with co-founder Cornelius Dufallo) of the
composer-performer ensemble concept that became Ne(x)TWORKS.
Ne(x)TWORKS RELATIONSHIP WITH ISSUE PROJECT ROOM BEGAN EARLY IN BOTH
ORGANIZATIONS HISTORIES. A number of seminal CONCERTS IN THE GROUPS
DEVELOPMENT WERE STAGED AT ISSUES ORIGINAL EAST 6TH STREET AND
SUBSEQUENT CARROLL STREET SILO LOCATIONS, including a collaborative
festival event (with Whitney Museum) in 2005 presenting the music of
James Tenney that brought new attention to the still-fledgling
presenter. A strong bond grew between these musicians and ISSUE
Founder Suzanne Fiol. This creative and interpersonal energy led to
ISSUE enlisting Ne(x)TWORKS AS ONE OF ITS FIRST OFFICIAL ARTISTS IN
RESIDENCE (AIR) during the first half of 2006. Taking place in and
around the silo on the Gowanus Canal, the groups four residency
CONCERTS WERE ARTISTICALLY AND CREATIVELY PIVOTAL AND PROVIDED FOCUS
THAT LED NE(x)TWORKS TOWARD MUCH OF THE ACCLAIMED WORK THEY HAVE
PURSUED TO THIS DAY. PERSONNEL: Joan La Barbara - voice, Co-Founder
Shelley Burgon - harp/elec., Member since 2006 Yves Dharamraj - cello,
Member since 2006 Cornelius Dufallo - violin, Co-Founder Miguel
Frasconi - glass/elec., Member since 2006 Stephen Gosling -
piano/synth, Co-Founder Stephanie Griffin - viola, long-time
collaborator Ariana Kim - violin, Member since 2006 Chris McIntyre -
trombone/elec., Co-Founder Danny Tunick - percussion, long-time
collaborator PROGRAM: John Cage: Selections from Song Books (1970)
Song Books (1970) is a collection of 56 parts in Book I and 34 parts
in Book II, consisting of graphic and traditionally notated Solos,
some involving electronic modification of the sound, and theatrical
pieces, which may be done alone or simultaneously with other Solos or
with selections of Cages indeterminate music. Each performer chooses a
number of Solos and puts together their own program independently. The
event unfolds with performers doing their selections according to a
personal timeline each has established, with Solos overlapping without
predetermined outcome. The techniques Cage used in determining the
pitches and durations in these Solos include tracings of star maps and
distributing materials over page space by means of chance operations
determined by the I Ching, The Chinese Book of Changes. -- Joan La
Barbara Kate Moore: Sensitive Spot (Music Out of The City) (2005) For
solo amplified piano, recordings Sensitive Spot is about tempo, in
particular the slight variations and gradations of one person's
personal perception of metric timing. Many takes of the same piece are
recorded and overlaid, pinpointing a musical phenomena that would
normally be associated with error - the inability of any human to have
an exact sense of metronomic timing. In this case it is used to create
something that aspires toward beauty resulting in an intricate
tapestry of interwoven rhythmic patterns. -- Kate Moore Miguel
Frasconi: Ne(x)traits (2009, rev 2019) Ne(x)traits (2009, rev 2019) is
a collection of graphic scores that use arrangements of photographs
whose subjects include closeups of everyday objects, lights in motion,
and celestial bodies. Composed specifically for Ne(x)TWORKS, the
performance is a combination of absolute freedom and exact direction.
While each performer is free to progress through the images at their
own pace, they must also adhere to instructions such as, "when
arriving at a black and white image, read both black and white as
silence and play the gradation between them as sound." This piece was
premiered at ISSUE in 2009. The present version is a reworking of the
original ideas specifically for this 2019 CONCERT. -- Miguel Frasconi
Chris McIntyre: Sigmar [from 0] (2004/19) Sigmar [from 0] (2004/19)
was created for Ne(x)TWORKS AND IS INSPIRED BY THE WORK OF ARTIST
SIGMAR POLKE (and Malevich). Using site-determined staging and
organized in clock time, ...[from 0] displays material in
juxtaposition and flow. Its sonics include performed bits of
appropriated material (Stravinsky, Riley, others), improvisatory
interactions with given pitch sets, radio-transmitted drones; all
sounds projected from the periphery. Pre-recorded soundtracks are
heard from various playback devices and locations throughout the
space, acting as a canvas on which ensemble material is applied. This
piece was originally sited at ISSUEs 619 E 6th St space on May 28,
2004. Chris J McIntyre Cornelius Cardew: Selections from Schooltime
Compositions (1968) Cardews small opera book of 1968 was premiered
over two evenings in March on a program including the UK premiere of
Ligetis Aventures & Nouvelles Aventure and Kagels Sur Scéne, with
Christian Wolff performing throughout. The following quote is from a
brief introductory essay written by Cardew: Each of the Schooltime
Compositions in the opera book is a matrix to draw out an interpreters
feelings about certain topics or materials. These pieces plus their
interpreters are the characters in the opera. They undergo no dramatic
development in the book; in performance they may. The pieces and their
interpreters will be the same in both Dayschool and Nightschool. The
different matrices grew around such things as words, melody, vocal
sounds, triangles, pleasure, noise, working-to-rule, will and desire,
keyboard. My plan is based on the translation of the work opera into
many people working. C. Cardew, from Sitting in the Dark, essay in The
Musical Times (March 68) Shelley Burgon: glass trees (2007) For
violin, cello, piano, harp glass trees (2007) is a timed piece using
organically composed material that has been formed and organized using
a mathematical process. The calculations behind this piece have long
been forgotten and the piece has returned to a more organic state with
each performance by the addition of more instruments that are free of
the mathematical process. This will be the third performance of the
piece. The first for cello, harp and piano. The second adding glasses
and this performance adding the violin. Shelley Burgon Joan La
Barbara: Words on Water (Shimmer) (2008/19) Words on Water (shimmer)
(2008, revised 2019) explores aspects of my compositional process
including stream-of-consciousness word lists relating to the subject
of the work. The overarching parameters of the piece include:
embracing limitations; lifting the veils to reveal the place in the
mind where art begins; exploring/revealing personal space/interior
mind; the concept that creating art involves conflict and is a
balancing act. Elements include impossible sounds, timelessness,
inhales with no exhales filling inner space, the abyss of emptiness,
found sounds explored and fragmented, melodic development, modular
building and brush strokes of fragility. Joan La Barbara Ne(x)TWORKS
IS A COLLABORATIVE ENSEMBLE OF MUSICIANS CREATING AND INTERPRETING
WORK THAT FEATURES A DYNAMIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMPOSITION AND
IMPROVISATION. In performance and recordings, the group locates
pathways into various types of notation systems and interfaces,
striving for a meaningful dialogue with the past, present, and future
of creative music. Formed in 2002 in New York City, Ne(x)TWORKS
ADVANCES THE TRADITION OF THE PERFORMING COMPOSER ENSEMBLE BY
FREQUENTLY PRESENTING FULL PROGRAMS OF COMPOSITIONS CREATED BY ITS
MEMBERS. The groups repertoire also extends beyond its ranks to
encompass the open scores of New York School composers, work by their
European counterparts, further experiments by the composer/performers
of the AACM and SoHo Scene of the 1970s, the Downtown composers of the
80s, and commissioned works by like-minded contemporary colleagues.
Ne(x)TWORKS RELEASED TWO FULL-length recordings; Earle Brown: Tracer
(Mode Records) and a self-released live recording Ne(x)TWORKS LIVE
VOL. 1: At The Stone, June 2007 (NxW Live). A full history of its
performances from 2003 to today is available at nextworksmusic.net.
Joan La Barbara (Composer, Vocalist) renowned for developing a unique
vocabulary of experimental and extended vocal techniques influencing
generations of other composers and singers, received the Foundation
for Contemporary Arts John Cage Award (2016). Numerous commissions for
multiple voices, chamber ensemble, orchestra, interactive technology,
and dance and film sound-scores include Sesame Street Signing Alphabet
(voice w/live electronics) broadcast worldwide since 1977 and
collaboration with Jóhann Jóhannsson for feature film score Arrival
(2016). Her multi-layered textural compositions premiered at Brisbane
Biennial, Festival dAutomne à Paris, Warsaw Autumn, MaerzMusik
Berlin, among other international venues. Currently composing a new
opera Dreams of Water Beyond Ones Depth inspired by the lives and work
of Virginia Woolf and Joseph Cornell and a new chamber ensemble
commission from New York Philharmonic for Project 19, commemorating
the 19th Amendment giving U.S. women the right to vote. La Barbara
serves on the Artist Faculties of NYU and Mannes/The New School.
joanlabarbara.com Shelley Burgon is a harpist, composer and sound
artist living and working in both NYC and CA where she is currently a
member in the chamber group Ne(x)TWORKS AND ANTHONY BRAXTONS SEPTET.
As a soloist she performs ambient, ethereal, electronic music and
enjoys making multichannel sound and light installations.
shelleyburgon.com A top-prize winner in the Ima Hogg, Irving M. Klein,
Juilliard, and Florida Orchestra competitions, Franco-American cellist
Yves Dharamraj enjoys an international career as a soloist, recitalist
and chamber musician, including CONCERTO PERFORMANCES WITH THE HOUSTON
SYMPHONY, the Green Bay Symphony, the Asian Artists and CONCERTS
ORCHESTRA, and the Juilliard Orchestra, among others. Dr. Dharamraj
currently is an artist fellow in the Academy, a collaboration between
Juilliard, Carnegie Hall, the Weill Institute of Music, and the NYC
Department of Education that places emerging CONCERT AND TEACHING
ARTISTS WITHIN PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO NURTURE ARTS EDUCATION AND
APPRECIATION AMONG YOUNGER AUDIENCES. He explores the rich chamber
music repertoire as a founding member of the Moët Trio, and indulges
in the improvisatory avant-garde with the group Ne(x)TWORKS. In 1998
following studies with Mussie Eidelman and Scott Kluksdahl, Dr.
Dharamraj matriculated at Yale University where he graduated cum laude
with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History, a Master of Music degree,
and an Artist Diploma under the guidance of the renowned pedagogue
Aldo Parisot. He has also studied with Paul Katz at the New England
Conservatory, and at the Juilliard School with Darrett Adkins.
https://www.yvesdharamraj.com/ [https://www.yvesdharamraj.com/]
Cornelius Dufallo is an innovative composer and violinist, and a
dedicated advocate of contemporary music. For the past two decades
Dufallo has performed and promoted new music, as a soloist and as a
collaborator. Dufallo has been a member of several notable ensembles,
including the Flux Quartet (1996-2001), Ne(x)TWORKS (2003-2011), and
ETHEL (2005-2012). Currently he performs as a member of the Secret
Quartet. In the performance of his own work, Dufallo was described as
an intensely introspective thinker who is committed to visual
communication as he is to the purely musical (Washington Post). His
work with musical technology illustrates how much amplification can
expand the instruments palette. Far from robbing the violin of its
beauty, electronics add textural elements and graduations of timbre
that the acoustic instrument cannot approximate (The New York Times).
Cornelius Dufallo is also a psychoanalytic psychotherapist affiliated
with the Contemporary Freudian Society. He has a private practice in
New York City. https://www.newmusicusa.org/profile/corneliusdufallo/
[https://www.newmusicusa.org/profile/corneliusdufallo/] Miguel
Frasconi is a composer and improvisor specializing in the relationship
between acoustic objects and musical form. His instrumentarium
includes glass objects, analog electronics, and hybrid constructions
of his own design. His glass instruments are struck, blown, stroked,
smashed and otherwise coaxed into vibration, while his unique approach
to modular synthesis takes a similar approach, yet solely in the sonic
domain. He has composed chamber music, most recently for Ensemble
IPSE; operas, most recently for Experiments in Opera; and numerous
dance scores, most notably as music director for dance pioneer Anna
Halprin. Over the years, Miguel has worked closely with composers John
Cage, Morton Subotnick, Pauline Oliveros, James Tenney, Joan La
Barbara, and Jon Hassell. He joined NxW in 2006 and has performed in
every CONCERT WITH THEM SINCE THEN. Miguels music has been released on
New Albion, Porter, Clang.cl, and can be streamed at
soundcloud.com/frasconimusic. http://frasconimusic.com/
[http://frasconimusic.com/] Pianist Stephen Gosling is a graduate of
the Juilliard School, a member of New York New Music Ensemble and
Talea Ensemble, and a frequent guest artist with a host of others,
including the New York Philharmonic, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra,
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Ojai Festival and the Chamber Music Society
of Lincoln Center. https://lpr.com/lpr_artists/stephen-gosling-piano/
[https://lpr.com/lpr_artists/stephen-gosling-piano/] Stephanie Griffin
is an innovative violist, composer and recipient of the 2017 Emerging
Composer and Sound Artist Fellowship from the Jerome Foundation, and
2016 composition fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts.
Born in Canada and based in New York City, her musical adventures have
taken her to Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, England, Ireland,
Germany, Belgium, Mexico and Mongolia, from large CONCERT HALLS TO THE
SAND DUNES OF THE GOBI DESERT. A founding member of the Momenta
Quartet, she has given over 200 chamber CONCERTS AT SUCH ESTEEMED
VENUES AS THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AND THE NATIONAL GALLERY. Ms.
Griffin is now in her twelfth year as principal violist of the
Princeton Symphony, a member of composer/improviser collective the
BROOKLYN Infinity Orchestra, and holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree
from The Juilliard School where she studied with Juilliard Quartet
violist Samuel Rhodes. https://www.stephaniegriffinviola.com/
[https://www.stephaniegriffinviola.com/] Noted by The New York Times
for giving "the proceedings an invaluable central thread of integrity
and stylishness" and having "played with soulful flair," violinist
Ariana Kim made her New York recital debut at Carnegie's Weill Hall
during her graduate studies at Juilliard and is now a tenured
professor at Cornell University. Together with the Aizuri Quartet, she
was awarded the Gold Medal at the 2017 Osaka International
Competition, the 2018 M-Prize, and a 2019 Grammy nomination for their
debut album, Blueprinting. At 16, Ariana made her debut with the St.
Paul Chamber Orchestra and at 24 was appointed acting CONCERTMASTER OF
THE LOUISIANA PHILHARMONIC IN NEW ORLEANS AND HAS SINCE BECOME ONE OF
THE MOST RESPECTED ARTISTS OF HER GENERATION. A recipient of a Cornell
University Affinito-Stewart Faculty Grant and a Society for the
Humanities Grant, Ariana released her first solo album Routes of
Evanescence in December of 2015 which features works for solo violin
and violin + 1 written by American women composers including Ruth
Crawford Seeger, Augusta Read Thomas, and Jennifer Curtis. While on
sabbatical leave from Cornell in 2016, Ariana lived and worked in
Italy, teaching at l'Istituto Stradivari, performing with Milano
Classica, and curating a cultural diplomacy public art project
arianakim.com Christopher McIntyres primary artistic activity is
performing on trombone and electronics in various musical contexts
(from improvisative to interpretive) within the protean NYC community.
He also makes compositional work for various media and forces,
experimenting with recorded and synthesized sound and using
transformational structures to create a narrative of evolving sonic
states. He is the Director of Brooklyns TILT Brass, curates programs
for Either/Or Ensemble and ISSUE PROJECT ROOM, teaches contemporary
brass chamber music at Mannes School of Music at The New School, and
frequently performs in groups such as TILT, Either/Or, SEM Ensemble,
and Ne(x)TWORKS, among many others. cmcintyre.com Danny Tunick is very
active in both the classical and rock scenes in and around New York
City, as conductor and percussionist. He has performed regularly with
the Common Sense Composers Ensemble, the Princeton Composers Ensemble,
and the Bang On A Can Festival, as well as being a member of Bang On A
Can's Spit Orchestra. Within the rock music sphere, he drums for
Randall Woolf's group 'Camp', Merge and Flying Nun recording artists
The Mad Scene, and Merge and Wiiija Records recording artists Guv'ner,
with whom he has just recorded his second full-length disk. M. Tunick
can be heard on the CRI, Opus One, EMI Portugal, Point, Princeton, New
Albion (Terry Riley 'In C - 25th Anniversary Recording'), Merge,
Wiiija, Konkurrent, Mystic, Happy Squid, Tzadik,Gothic Gospel, Atomic,
Spaced, and Rock Against Rock record labels.
https://www.newmusicusa.org/profile/dannytunick/
[https://www.newmusicusa.org/profile/dannytunick/]
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