About the Show
Doors at 5:30pm
“Encounters in the Republic of Heaven”
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.
ACT 1 (c. 20mins)
Voicewind
The Fisherman’s Tale
Children’s Stories I
Speech Waltzing
The Budgie
The Bellydancer
Finale
ACT 2 (c. 17mins)
Teens Gossip
The Dancer’s Tale
Clouds of Speech
Travelling Butcher
Children’s Stories II
Finale
ACT 3 (c. 23mins)
Voicewind
The Farmer’s Tale
Heathcliffe, come here!
Speech harmonised
The Stories I Hear!
The Soldier’s Tale
Finale
ACT 4 (c. 15mins)
The Poet’s Tale
The best thing that ever happened to me
Finale – Speech Singing – Voicewind
http://www.trevorwishart.co.uk/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevor_Wishart
Other Winter Highlights
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.
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.
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.
Prototype Presents: Funeral Doom Spiritual
January 14, 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.”
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 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?”
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.
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.
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.
Timo Andres Presents: Work Songs
March 18, 2017 - 7:00pm "Inspired by old American parlor songs, I've written a set of “Work Songs” on the general subject of artists writing about their work." -Timo Andres
Ferus Festival: Requiem for: A Tuesday
January 7, 2017 - 7:00pm Requiem for: A Tuesday is a theatrical concert that takes the form of a ceremony in which those assembled are invited to overcome fear by looking to each other. In this ceremony, music opens up a space for the audience to witness and thus face collective and individual notions of mortality and fear. By taking part in such an act, the assembled will perhaps understand that these actions are universal and thus fear of the other is not necessary as there is, in fact, no other
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.
