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
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.
Prototype Presents: Funeral Doom Spiritual
January 13, 2017 - 7:00pm 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.”
Bridging the Gap III
March 5, 2017 - 7:00pm Featuring music by Philip Glass, Paola Prestini, and John Zorn.
Attacca Quartet: Recently Added
February 19, 2017 - 7:00pm First Prize winners of the 7th Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in 2011, top prizewinners and Listeners’ Choice Award recipients in the 2011 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, and winners of the Alice Coleman Grand Prize at the 60th annual Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition in 2006, the internationally acclaimed Attacca Quartet has become one of America’s premier young performing ensembles.
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 Thurber Theater: Michael Thurber’s 30th Birthday Concert
January 7, 2017 - 10:00pm Celebrate Michael Thurber's 30th birthday with a concert featuring music by Thurber and guest performers from different musical traditions. The audience will hear performers from the Classical and Jazz worlds as well as the Pop and Broadway worlds.
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.
Glass @ 80: Philip Glass & Foday Musa Suso with Jeffrey Zeigler
March 12, 2017 - 7:00pm Known for his hypnotic performances of traditional Kora (Harp/Lute) music, as well as his cutting edge musical encounters, Kora virtuoso Foday Musa Suso is a direct descendent of Jalimadi Wulen Suso, the inventor of the Kora.
Bridging the Gap II
January 22, 2017 - 4:00pm Featuring composers from the Yale School of Music: Martin Bresnick, Michael Gilberston, Balint Karosi, and Aaron Jay Kernis.
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.
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.
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.
