Acceleration.
From zero to 60 in the space of a week, the new-music season arrives in a headlong rush… here are just a few highlights of the next seven days.
When I was a kid growing up outside of Houston during the late ’70s and early ’80s, I looked forward to occasional trips to Astroworld: a local amusement park that no longer exists, whose name now implies something much different. One of my best memories is riding Greezed Lightnin’, the city’s first looping roller coaster, which opened in 1978 and operated until the park closed in 2005. You got clamped in, and then shot like a cannonball out of a darkened tunnel into an ascending loop, going from zero to 60mph in about four seconds.
This week feels just like that. After the briefest of lulls from the end of Time:Spans through Labor Day, the new season hits hard starting tonight, and the next few days are chock full of enticements and intrigues. And that’s not even mentioning the sold-out run by electronic-music pioneer Suzanne Ciani that inaugurates the new Studio Sound series at the Museum of Modern Art tomorrow night. I’m personally sorry to be missing Brooklyn concerts by Bahauddin Dagar and Roscoe Mitchell on Saturday night… though of course one couldn’t attend both, anyway.
Despite having to prioritize other responsibilities in the short run during my continuing professional reset, I’ll endeavor to keep on top of all the really good stuff I hear about. But I’ll also direct you to two resources you’ll certainly do well to tap: Piotr Orlov’s ongoing work at Dada Strain, whose Fall Preview installment is out today, and a timely Sequenza 21 post by Gail Wein, who thoughtfully compiles a handful of strong classical and new-music calendar resources.
Playlist (So much vibe in the world).
The latest tally of memorable things that got stuck in my ears includes:
a second duo release from prolific saxophonist Ivo Perelman with the brilliantly anarchic trumpeter Nate Wooley, coming soon on Burning Ambulance…
an ingenious collection of new chamber works deftly interpreted by Paramorph Collective, interpolating original transitions, on Redshift…
the newest volume in an invaluable George Walker series from the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda…
and a fascinating new batch of releases coming later this month on Another Timbre, including a hypnotic label debut by violin/viola duo andPlay.
Details here.
Video of the week.
Among the overwhelming plethora of events and festivals getting underway this week is the long-running Festival of New Trumpet Music (FONT), running Sept. 7–14. The series gets underway tomorrow night at Fotografiska (located on Park Avenue in The Building Anna Delvey Couldn’t Buy), with a tony trifecta of horn men with Hollywood ties: composers Jeff Beal and Mark Isham, plus trumpeter Keyon Harrold, the man with the horn you heard in Don Cheadle’s Miles Ahead.
The festival has plenty to offer beyond that glamorous gig – and among its chief enticements is a free matinee by sonic explorer Ben Neill, who demonstrates the workings of his singular Mutantrumpet in the video embedded above. On Sunday afternoon at 4pm, in Bella Abzug Park at Hudson Yards, Neill and collaborator Eric Calvi will present music from two blissful ambient projects, Trove and Prana Cantos, with sound diffused throughout the park.
EDIT Sunday, Sept. 10 at 10am: Ben Neill has emailed to let me know that his free FONTMusic event has been canceled due to expected heavy weather. Check out his website for future opportunities to see him perform.
Night After Night Watch.
Concerts listed in Eastern Standard Time.
6
Wendy Eisenberg
The Stone at The New School
55 W. 13th Street, Greenwich Village
Wednesday, Sept. 6–Saturday, Sept. 9 at 8:30pm; $20
thestonenyc.com
Guitarist Wendy Eisenberg is set to cover a lot of ground in their Stone residency at The New School, which suits this multifarious player’s vast range. Starting tonight (Sept. 6) in a trio with cellist Lester St. Louis and drummer Ryan Sawyer, Eisenberg carries on in a duo with saxophonist Caroline Davis (Sept. 7) and a trio with bassist Chris Lightcap and drummer Matt Wilson (Sept. 8), winding things up in their magnificent new partnership with another mercurial guitarist, David Grubbs (Sept. 9).
Marcus Pal
Blank Forms
468 Grand Ave. #1D, Brooklyn
Wednesday, Sept. 6, Friday, Sept. 8, Tuesday, Sept. 12, and Wednesday, Sept. 13 at 7:30pm; $15
blankforms.org
Composer Marcus Pal, a frequent collaborator to Ellen Arkbro (who performs in Brooklyn on Sept. 15), presents the live premiere of Harmonic Exclusion, in which they explore the phenomenology of just intonation, extending lessons learned in studies and collaborations with maverick artists like La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela, and Catherine Christer Hennix.
8
William Parker: “In Search of Enlightenment”
FourOneOne
411 Kent Ave., Williamsburg
Friday, Sept. 8–Friday, Sept. 29 at 7pm; $20
withfriends.co
FourOneOne, David Watson’s sound laboratory on the Williamsburg waterfront, has become one of New York City’s most vital spaces, and here’s one more reason why: William Parker, longtime father figure to the city’s ecstatic-music scene, takes up residence here for the month of September. His first three dates feature LIGHT Ensemble, a sextet of saxophonist Rob Brown, drummer Juan Pablo Carletti, vocalist Ellen Christi, violinist Jason Kao Hwang, and vocalist, choreographer, and fellow pathfinder Patricia Nicholson. For the last two concerts, Sept. 28 and 29, Parker’s going to break out a big band and vocal choir—sure to make a real impression in this relatively intimate space.
Rhythm in the Kitchen Festival 2023
Prime Produce
424 W. 54th St., Midtown Manhattan
Friday, Sept. 8–Sunday, Sept. 10, 3–11pm; $20, three-day pass $50, students free with ID
Eventbrite
This generous annual celebration of new-music artists active in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood includes performances featuring William Hooker, John King, Sarah Bernstein, Phill Niblock & Katherine Liberovskaya, Chuck Bettis, Hans Tammen & Third Eye Electric Band, Jason Hwang, Marc Edwards, Shelley Hirsch & Ka Baird, On K'a Davis, and plenty more.
11
Cecilia Lopez & Ingrid Laubrock
Roulette
509 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn
Monday. Sept. 11 at 8pm; $30, advance $25, seniors and students $20
roulette.org
Argentine composer, improviser, and sound artist Cecilia Lopez has made a real impression with her electronic inventions and interventions, and here she pairs up with another of the city’s most reliably engaging creators: saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Ingrid Laubrock. The pair have an arresting album called Maromas coming on Relative Pitch in November; you can get a taste of the duo here, and also hear a new quartet featuring Laubrock, Michaël Attias, Erin Rogers, and Steve Baczkowski, further entangled with Lopez’s analog synths.
For even more listings, see the Night After Night Watch master list, here.
Thank you.
(Photographs by the author, except where indicated otherwise.)