Eclipsed, too.
A lightning round of current events, plus a For the Record round-up of newly arrived and upcoming recordings of interest.
Nearly a month ago in this space, I declared that live-event listings were back on the regular agenda.
Not so fast, the workload responded.
The struggle continues. But here’s a quick update to get you through the weekend, and just a bit beyond.
Congratulations to 2024 Pulitzer Prize winner Tyshawn Sorey, and to finalists Felipe Lara and Mary Kouyoumdjian. Sorey has a newly announced premiere coming to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark on Nov. 15, pairing his trio, with pianist Aaron Diehl and bassist Harish Raghavan, and Sandbox Percussion for a tribute to Max Roach and M’Boom. And Kouyoumdjian has a major premiere tonight at the New York Philharmonic… details below in Night After Night Watch.
An abbreviated For the Record follows the event listings. I’m especially moved by Go Placidly with Haste, the ingenious, expansive, and open-hearted new album by composer-percussionist Jason Treuting.
Other must-hear selections this week include new albums by Gelsey Bell & Erin Rogers, Ron Miles, and Wadada Leo Smith & Amina Claudine Myers. And I’m very much looking forward to spending more quality time with the playfully buzzy music of Juri Seo, and, at the other end of the sonic spectrum, the gently meditative music of Jeremy Gignoux.
The Night After Night Watch.
All listings are in Eastern Standard Time (EST).
10
Foreign Experiences
Roulette
509 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn
Fri., May 10 & Sat., May 11 at 8pm; $35, advance $30, seniors and students $25
roulette.org
This new production of an enigmatic 1993 opera by Robert Ashley is a triumph, which won’t surprise anyone who saw previous Ashley reconstructions jointly produced by Performing Artservices and Roulette. (You can watch one such production, Improvement (Don Leaves Linda), here.) As in those earlier shows, David Moodey handles the stage design and lighting, Tom Hamilton provides the elegant electronic orchestra, and the vocal cast – Gelsey Bell, Kayleigh Butcher, Bonnie Lander, Brian McCorkle, Paul Pinto, Dave Ruder, and Aliza Simons – embody Ashley’s idiom with persuasive authority.
New York Philharmonic
David Geffen Hall
10 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side
Fri., May 10 at 8pm; $25
nyphil.org
The talented conductor Kwamé Ryan makes his New York Philharmonic debut in this all-contemporary Sound On concert, which features the world premiere of a Project 19 commission, ANDOUNI (Homeless) by 2024 Pulitzer Prize finalist Mary Kouyoumdjian. The program also includes works by Hannah Kendall (who also has a new piece on a Prism Quartet show this Sunday, listed below, and another major premiere coming in August at David Geffen Hall), Michel van der Aa, and the late Peter Eötvös.
11
Council
92nd Street Y
1395 Lexington Ave., Upper East Side
Saturday, May 11 at 7:30pm; $55, ages 40 and under $30, livestream $25
92ny.org
Singer, songwriter, composer, and pianist Gabriel Kahane and violinist Pekka Kuusisto present an evening of original songs and chamber works, alongside music by Johann Sebastian Bach and Nico Muhly. Read more about this refreshing collaboration between longtime friends on Kahane’s Substack newsletter, and listen to their debut single, below.
12
An American Soldier
Perelman Performing Arts Center
251 Fulton St., Lower Manhattan
Sunday, May 12 at 3pm, through May 19; $54–$153
pacnyc.org
PAC-NYC, Boston Lyric Opera, and American Composers Orchestra jointly present the New York premiere of an opera by composer Huang Ruo and playwright David Henry Hwang. Directed by Chay Yew and conducted by Carolyn Kuan, An American Soldier relates the tragic true story of Danny Chen, a Chinese-American soldier who served in the U.S. Army during the War in Afghanistan.
Vicky Chow
Roulette
509 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn
Sunday, May 12 at 8pm; $30, advance $25, seniors and students $20
Free livestream on the Roulette website and YouTube
roulette.org
Intrepid pianist and Bang on a Can All-Star Vicky Chow concludes her traversal of Philip Glass’s complete Études with her rendition of Book 2.
Prism Quartet
Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Symphony Space
2537 Broadway, Upper West Side
Sunday, May 12 at 7pm; free with RSVP
symphonyspace.org
The tireless explorers of Prism Quartet present a generous free program featuring world premieres by Hannah Kendall (cited above, in the New York Philharmonic listing), Andrew Litts, Renee Baker, and David Bennett Thomas, plus a new arrangement of Elegy: A Cry from the Grave by Carlos Simon. Few tickets remain, so act fast if you’re interested.
13
Striped Light
unnamed location
Long Island City, Queens
Monday, May 13 at 8pm; $15
Instagram
The latest installment in David Watson’s inviting clandestine series features keyboardist Hans Young Binter, experimental turntablist Yo Vinyl Richie, and Schism, a two-bass, two-drummer quartet formed by Simon Hanes. Send a DM via Instagram for details.
For the Record: May 10, 2024.
New this week.
Holland Andrews - Answers (Leiter)
Luka Aron - XV XXVII III XXI IX: Variations & Coda (Warm Winters Ltd.)
Matt Atkins + Mark Wastell - live at ARCH 1 (scatterArchive)
Gelsey Bell & Erin Rogers - Skylighght (Chaikin)
Nicola Caminiti - Vivid Tales of a Blurry Self-Portrait (self-released)
Alvaro Daguer, Pablo Picco, Tomás Salvatierra & Mark Harwood - En el jardÃn de las Matemáticas (In the Garden of Mathematics) (Penultimate Press)
Decoda - Decoda - compositions by Valerie Coleman, William Bolcom, and Reza Vali (Bright Shiny Things)
Du.0 (Aimée Niemann and Charlotte Munn-Wood) - Thoughts from the Future - compositions by Emily Praetorius, Leah Asher, and Scott Wollschleger (Gold Bolus)
Chase Elodia - Have, Know, Want (Biophilia)
Jeremy Gignoux - Odd Stillness (self-released)
Joy Guidry - AMEN (Whited Sepulchre)
House of Gold - House of Gold - compositions by Isaiah Ceccarelli (Sofa Music)
Yi-Ting Lu - An Unopened Seashell - Ben Roidl-Ward, Ben Melsky, Lam Wong, Thomas Giles, and Daniel Lippel (New Focus)
Brad Mehldau - After Bach II (Nonesuch)
Brad Mehldau - Après Fauré (Nonesuch)
Ron Miles - Old Main Chapel (Blue Note; recorded 2011)
Elaine Mitchener - Solo Throat (Otoroku)
Meg Okura & Kevin Hays - Lingering (Adhyâropa)
Shane Parish - Repertoire (Palilalia)
Bernard Parmegiani - Complete Works 4 (self-released)
Juri Seo - Toy Store - Jinjoo Cho, Juri Seo (Carrier)
Wadada Leo Smith/Amina Claudine Myers - Central Park’s Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens (Red Hook)
Jason Treuting - Go Placidly with Haste (Cantaloupe Music)
RLW - C.D. (Penultimate Press)
Upcoming releases.
May 23
Gregg Belisle-Chi - Hum (AGS Recordings)
May 24
Orlando Jacinto GarcÃa - la vida que vendrá - loadbang (New Focus)
May 31
Arooj Aftab - Night Reign (Verve)
Gabriele Gasparotti - Tropismi (cassauna)
Kenneth James Gibson & Paul Carman - Murals for Immersion (cassauna)
Jack Langdon & Anthony Vine - The Generous Law (cassauna)
June 7
John Escreet - The Epicenter of Your Dreams (Blue Room Music)
The Rhythm Method - Pastorale - compositions by Paul Pinto, Marina Kifferstein, and Lewis Nielson (New Focus)
June 21
Scott Wollschleger - Between Breath - performances by andPlay, Anne Rainwater, William Lang, Lucy Dhegrae, Nathaniel LaNasa, and Miranda Cuckson (New Focus)
July 12
Peni Candrarini - Wulansih (New Amsterdam)
Find many more upcoming releases in For the Record: The Master List.
Photographs by Steve Smith, except where indicated.