“The effect was often hypnotic, and it was a marvel just watching the singers tackle Gibson’s minute changes in pitch” — Bruce Hodges, Seen and Heard International
February 10-18, 2012
8pm, unless otherwise noted
Wild Project
195 East 3rd Street
New York, NY 10009
Five nights of performances curated by Randy Gibson and Megan Schubert, featuring some of the most talented young interpreters in New York in works that highlight the influence of the performer on experimental music from the 20th century and today.
The third annual Avant Music Festival celebrates the 100th birthday of John Cage, the centennial of the premiere of Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, and contemporary experimental works by Randy Gibson, Eve Beglarian, and Jenny Olivia Johnson.
Randy Gibson's Circular Trance Surrounding The Second Pillar with The Highest Seventh Primal Cirrus, The Utmost Fundamental, and The Ekmeles Ending from Apparitions Of The Four Pillars
Video by Oscar Henriquez. Commissioned and Performed by Ekmeles Vocal Ensemble - Mellissa Hughes, soprano; Mary Mackenzie, soprano; Eric S. Brenner, soprano/countertenor; Patrick Fennig, countertenor; Matthew Hensrud, tenor; Michael Weyandt, baritone; Jeffrey Gavett, baritone and director with sine wave drones.
4pm: John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes performed by Vicky Chow, piano.
5.30pm: Composer Roundtable moderated by Megan Schubert
Eve Beglarian, Randy Gibson, and Jenny Olivia Johnson discuss John Cage, Contemporary Music, and the working life of a Composer.
8pm: Cage, Unlocked
Living Room Music performed by loadbang
Concert for Piano and Orchestra performed by Vicky Chow, piano - with: loadbang, Gelsey Bell, Drew Blumberg, Nicole Camacho, and Victor Lowrie, orchestra.
Ryoanji performed by William Lang, trombone; Megan Schubert, voice; Randy Gibson, percussion.
Nocturne performed Vicky Chow, piano; Drew Blumberg, violin.
Four3 performed as live musical accompaniment to the Merce Cunningham dance film Beach Birds for Camera
for rainsticks, piano, sine wave, silence - performed by Drew Blumberg, Vicky Chow, Randy Gibson, and William Lang.
This evening's program, celebrating John Cage's 100th birthday, was co-curated with Festival composers: Living Room Music (Johnson), Ryoanji (Gibson), Nocturne (Beglarian).
Arnold Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire
Jenny Olivia Johnson: An After School Vespers: 4 Songs on Youth/Sex/Death
Includes the works: Cutter, Dollar Beers (Redondo Beach '96), After School Vespers (Solemn), Starling.
The Pierrot Project (Megan Schubert, Sprechstimme; Nicole Camacho, flutes; Alejandro T. Acierto, clarinets; Josh Modney, violin and viola; Mariel Roberts, cello; Chris Goddard, piano.) with Megan Schubert and Lucy McVeigh, sopranos; Jude Traxler, percussion; Jeffrey Gavett, conductor; Jenny Olivia Johnson, electronics.
After School Vespers (Solemn) was a World Premiere, and was written for the festival performance.
2012 was the 100th Anniversary of the World Premiere of Pierrot Lunaire.
Eve Beglarian's Songs from The River and Elsewhere
Eve Beglarian, voice; Ekmeles Vocal Ensemble - Megan Schubert, soprano; Rachel Calloway, mezzo soprano; Eric S. Brenner, soprano/countertenor; Jeffrey Gavett, baritone and director; Vicky Chow, piano; Ana Milosavljevic, violin.
Randy Gibson's The Third Pillar in Primal Imperfect Palindrome with The Souvenir of The Second Pillar, The Floating Cirrus over the Pumping Slush, and The Highest Moving Chordal Motif from Apparitions of the Four Pillars
Video by Oscar Henriquez. William Lang, trombone with sine wave drones and digital delay.