Tickets
About the Show
Theo Bleckmann presents a collaboration between the American Contemporary Music Ensemble and celebrated composer and vocalist Lisa Bielawa to perform a selection of her works.
About the Artists
ACME has been performing and interpreting new music for over 10 years, and at National Sawdust will begin exploring the world of creating original music as well. A number of musicians in ACME also identify as composers, and an equal number identify as primarily performers. During their National Sawdust residency, ACME members will work together in making new music – individually and collaboratively, those who compose for public performance, those who compose privately, and those who have never composed. On December 20, they will present their new works and works-in-progress – a mix of composition and improvisation incorporating percussion, electric guitar, bass, and electronics – to the public for the first time.
Players include Timo Andres, piano/keys; Chris Thompson, electronics/percussion; Yuki Numata Resnick, violin; ACME artistic director Clarice Jensen, cello/bass; Aaron Roche, guitar/electronics/synths; and Grey Mcmurray, guitar.
Other Spring Highlights
James Rhodes
February 8, 2017 - 7:00pm Immortal piano music by history's finest composers performed in an intimate setting with the lights down low and an opportunity to disappear and escape from the world for an hour and a half. Along with a few jokes. And a bit of historical context.
Josh Green & The Cyborg Orchestra
March 2, 2017 - 10:00pm Josh Green & The Cyborg Orchestra will take on full-blooded human form for the live debut and release of their irreverent album, Telepathy & Bop — a quirky, colorful, approach to melding modern jazz and contemporary classical music.
Philip Glass @ 80 – The Complete Etudes with Maki Namekawa
February 24, 2017 - 7:00pm Following studies at the Kunitachi Music University in Tokyo, Maki Namekawa pursued advanced work under Pierre-Laurent Aimard at the Musikhochschule in Cologne as well as studies with Werner Genuit and Kaya Han at the Musikhochschule Karlsruhe and Stefan Litwin in Saarbrücken.
Sxip Shirey presents: Trevor Wishart
March 25, 2017 - 6:30pm Encounters is an 8-channel sound-surround piece based on speaking voices recorded in the North East of England where Trevor Wishart was A.C.E. Composer-in-Residence from October 1st, 2006 to September 2009, based at the University of Durham. The piece is constructed in 4 Acts of approximately 20 minutes each, combining portraits of individual speakers (accompanied by sounds and imaginary instruments derived from the voices themselves) with computer animation of the entire community of voices - speech that waltzes, speech that locks in harmony, clouds of speech that circle the audience, culminating with speech that transforms into song. The piece was finally completed on January 1st 2011.
National Sawdust+ /ˈəntrəpē/ Mickalene Thomas + Terri Lyne Carrington
February 28, 2017 - 7:30pm Acclaimed Brooklyn-based distinguished international artist and filmmaker Mickalene Thomas, a 2015 United States Artists Francie Bishop Good & David Horvitz fellow, turns her gaze from her arresting, often glittering and provocative mixed-media work to present /ˈentrəpē/ , a collaboration of music and art with three-time Grammy Award-winning jazz musician, Terri Lyne Carrington.
New York Philharmonic Presents: Contact!
January 23, 2017 - 7:30pm Celebrating its 175th Anniversary season and the city that has shaped its history and guides its future, the New York Philharmonic returns to National Sawdust this spring with two programs focusing on composers who have called New York home. From revered figures such as Carter and Druckman, to major voices of today such as David Lang and Steve Mackey, to newer voices such as Zosha di Castri and David Fulmer, the musicians of the New York Philharmonic present a snapshot of New York past, present and future.
Spring Revolution: Amanda Gookin
March 1, 2017 - 7:00pm The Forward Music Project is driven by social justice for women. We musicians, now more than ever, have an incredible ability to effect change in our communities. The seven FMP composers were commissioned to write pieces based on their personal story or a particular issue that affects women and girls. The compositions are stylistically contrasting and represent the vast definition of what it means to be a woman, ranging from empowerment and issues of the LGBTQ+ community, to reproductive rights, and violence against women. A visceral experience, the composers require that she embodies the spirit of their message mentally, emotionally, and physically. In performance Amanda sings, chants, breathes, and sweats life into these works.
ETHEL’s HomeBaked Round III
March 8, 2017 - 7:00pm The musically omnivorous string quartet ETHEL, whom The New York Times has described as “indefatigable and eclectic” and The New Yorker has deemed “vital and brilliant,” returns to National Sawdust to present the third chapter of ETHEL’s HomeBaked project. With its focus on emerging NYC-based composers, the project, which began in 2010, has already produced eight compositions, many of which have entered the quartet’s repertoire.
The New American Songbook
January 11, 2017 - 7:00pm The quarterly web magazine for experimental music, Sound American, moves from the text to the sonic in order to answer the question: “What does a truly modern American Songbook sound like?”
Women in Music: A Tribute to Mercedes Sosa
March 2, 2017 - 7:00pm Magos Herrera brings together an international line up to celebrate the life and music of the iconic Latin American singer Mercedes Sosa.
Ritz Chamber Series Vol. 1
January 29, 2017 - 4:00pm THE RITZ CHAMBER PLAYERS is hailed by the e Baltimore Sun as “one of the most interesting and dynamic ensembles to emerge in recent years.” Boasting some of the world’s preeminent musicians spanning the African diaspora, it brings a fresh, new energy to the classical music genre.
A Mouth is Not for Talking: La voix humaine
March 10, 2017 - 7:00pm In this theatrical concert, Poulenc and Cocteau’s cautionary tale La voix humaine receives a reflective update when paired with world premiere songs from Forrest Pierce’s The Burning Harp, set to texts of Rumi. Soprano Laura Bohn and pianist Mila Henry’s dual conversation forces listeners to ask: in this age of technology, can we connect with others without losing ourselves?
