Tickets
About the Show
National Sawdust is thrilled to announce a new venture with John Zorn’s artist movement THE STONE. THE STONE is opening a new chapter in its storied history of artist empowerment through a monthly commissioning series at National Sawdust, directly investing in the careers of the most exciting composer/performers of New York. This move by THE STONE is the next step in Mr. Zorn’s mission, allowing the venue to transcend its walls to expand its reach and exist in multiple places. National Sawdust is honored to be a prominent host for THE STONE’s evolution, and looks forward to this new opportunity to continue empowering the artist community.
Other Winter Highlights
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.
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?
Bluegrass Situation: Michael Daves Plays Orchids and Violence
March 23, 2017 - 7:00pm The Bluegrass Situation is thrilled to partner with National Sawdust for a series of intimate performances featuring some of today's best modern roots acts. The first concert in this series will feature Grammy-nominated guitarist and singer Michael Daves.
yMusic: Freshly-Minted
February 5, 2017 - 3:00pm Hailed by NPR’s Fred Child as “one of the groups that has really helped to shape the future of classical music,” yMusic is a group of six New York City instrumentalists flourishing in the overlap between the pop and classical worlds. Their virtuosic execution and unique configuration (string trio, flute, clarinet, and trumpet) has attracted the attention of high profile collaborators—from Ben Folds to Dirty Projectors to Jose Gonzalez—and inspired an expanding repertoire of original works by some of today’s foremost composers, including Nico Muhly and Andrew Norman.
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.
Bridging the Gap III
March 5, 2017 - 7:00pm Featuring music by Philip Glass, Paola Prestini, and John Zorn.
Michael Gordon / Rushes Ensemble
January 26, 2017 - 7:00pm Composed for seven bassoons, Rushes takes its place alongside Michael Gordon’s Timber for expanding the boundaries of a single instrument’s repertoire into unknown (and at times, otherworldly) spaces. Like Timber, which maps new percussive territory for the simantra—a simple two-by-four slab of wood, amplified and played in a group of six to yield trance-like sonic textures—Rushes brings out tonal and timbral aspects of the bassoon that are meant to induce a quasi-meditative, almost ecstatic state, in the listener as well as the performer.
Ferus Festival: Revert to Sea (Yuka C. Honda)
January 6, 2017 - 10:00pm National Sawdust artist-in-residence Yuka C. Honda presents a brand new multimedia work-in-progress based on the writings of Japanese author Ryu Murakami. Murakami, while not well known in the United States, is one of Japan’s most celebrated and iconic living literary figures.
James Rhodes
February 4, 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.
The Passionate Pilgrim Deluxe
June 3, 2017 - 7:00pm The Passionate Pilgrim” is a song cycle co-written by composer-performer collective Oracle Hysterical (Elliot Cole, Majel Connery and Doug and Brad Balliett). In this collaboration with baroque period ensemble, New Vintage Baroque, “The Passionate Pilgrim” brings an all-but-forgotten poem cycle back to life, reimagined as tuneful Baroque pop.
Prototype Presents: Funeral Doom Spiritual
January 13, 2017 - 10:00pm Funeral Doom Spiritual is a song of mourning for what Anthony Paul Farley calls “the motionless movement of death through slavery, segregation, and neo-segregation.” This new monodrama composed by M. Lamar and Hunter Hunt-Hendrix draws on themes of apocalypse, end times, and rapture found in Negro Spirituals, what Lamar calls “Doom Spirituals.”
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.
