Summer Labs
Shows on June 29th, July 29th, August 6th, August 13th, and August 24th
About
National Sawdust fights constantly to be on the cutting edge of artistic innovation. So we created Summer Labs: our way of giving to both our patrons and the artistic community. These 10 artists were chosen by NS artistic advisory board members Theo Bleckmann, Helga Davis, Jeffrey Zeigler with NS Creative Director Paola Prestini and NS Executive Director Courtenay Casey—both solo acts and groups—from a pool of over 100 applicants to create, workshop, and showcase a masterpiece they couldn’t make happen anywhere else. National Sawdust supplies our stage as workshop space in addition to financial and marketing support, all culminating in a final performance.
2017 Summer Labs
Summer Labs: Jen Shyu—Nine Doors
June 29, 2017 - 7:00pm The June Lab Showcase (June 29) presents Jen Shyu, the composer, multilingual vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, dancer, and producer who was recently recognized with a 2016 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award. She looks forward to premiering Nine (working title), a solo ritual music drama that – drawing on her extensive study of the traditional music of Korea, East Timor, Taiwan, and Indonesia – she describes as “reflecting the parallels that exist between life and death, different cultures, and the importance of empathy over destructive assumptions that divide humanity.”
Summer Labs: Jen Shyu—Nine Doors
June 29, 2017 - 10:00pm Jen Shyu’s Nine evokes at levels both personal and global. The work was inspired by the loss of Shyu’s friend Sri Joko Raharjo “Cilik,” who died with his wife and infant son in an automobile accident at the age of 30. Raharjo was a master of the Javanese art of shadow puppetry called wayang kulit. His 6-year-old daughter, who survived the crash, is the central character in Shyu’s multilingual, ritual music drama.
Summer Labs: Joanna Wallfisch + Donovan Dorrance & Gregory Richardson
July 29, 2017 - 7:00pm Summer Labs residency featuring Joanna Wallfisch + Donovan Dorrance & Gregory Richardson.
Summer Labs: Ariadne + Invisible Anatomy
August 6, 2017 - 7:00pm Observance_004 is a multi-sensory, improvisatory, multimedia iteration of the upcoming A/V album by ARIADNE. INVISIBLE ANATOMY (IA) is a composer-performer ensemble that explores the human body as the most fundamental aspect of music creation and performance.
Summer Labs: Found Sound Nation | Musical Manifestos—Music and Social Change
August 13, 2017 - 4:00pm Music Manifestos: Music and Social Change brings together youth and adult music activists into an intergenerational ensemble to lead a dialogue around the future of music and social change in New York City, and to perform new works inspired by this conversation.
Summer Labs: Found Sound Nation | Polymath Club
August 13, 2017 - 7:00pm FSN presents a new multigenerational seminar/research/work group on music and philosophy called Polymath Club. Participants meet for bi-monthly meetings and discussion, pairing composers with philosophers/writers, working together to produce a series of original texts and compositions. The group will premiere the new work at National Sawdust, along with new texts and scores and everything in between.
Summer Labs: Book of Dreams, Sugar Vendil, and Anna Roberts-Gevalt
August 24, 2017 - 7:00pm GLMMR’s Book of Dreams: Chapter Sand; Sugar Vendil’s Islander; and Late Sea’s The Writers Trilogy
