Many happy returns.
Kronos Quartet celebrates a half century, Ambient Church returns to Brooklyn, and live music highlights for the next seven days in New York City.
It took me quite some time finding the right words to account for my feelings about the Kronos Quartet 50th Anniversary celebration at Carnegie Hall last Friday night. It’s just been published by Musical America – which means it’s behind a paywall.
I’ll commend you to read a fine, detailed notebook about the event by Zachary Woolfe for The New York Times (gift link), as well as perceptive reviews by Gail Wein on EarRelevant and Peter Matthews on Feast of Music.
There was so much so enjoy about the concert, and surprises, too. But, like Pete, I missed some sense of the emphasis on weighty compositions that I admired so much as a younger Kronos groupie during the late ’80s and early ’90s.
I never really thought Kronos needed to spend time with Witold Lutosławski or Alban Berg, two composers whose works they featured in their series of Nonesuch CD singles. But I valued their engagement with composers as varied as Alfred Schnittke, Philip Glass, Kaija Saariaho, and John Oswald. And I recall in vivid detail the coiled intensity of concerts featuring pieces like John Zorn’s The Dead Man (heard twice, since different movements are selected for every account) and István Márta’s Doom. A Sigh. (And yeah, “Purple Haze,” too.)
I don’t mean to suggest that Kronos should be doing anything differently, and it seems clear that David Harrington’s view of the group’s mission has evolved from what it once was—natural and admirable for a band that’s just hit 50. So more power to this Kronos, with its devotion to community building and activism; I’ll always have my memories of those powerful older encounters.
As of now, I have no more review assignments on my calendar. Let’s see what happens.
Elsewhere on Friday, X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X opened at the Metropolitan Opera, where it will run through Saturday, December 2. It was inspiring on Friday to see my various social-media feeds overflowing with posts from the Met and Carnegie Hall. I look forward to seeing the opera soon.
Saturday night saw the return of Ambient Church with a gorgeous concert by Robert Rich, who’s been active in space-music, trance, and ambient circles for 40 years. This was Rich’s first solo concert in four years, he announced at the start. (You can see more, better photos and a video clip with sound on the presenter’s Instagram page.)
This also was Rich’s first New York City concert since his memorable Ambient Church show at Brooklyn’s St. Ann and the Holy Trinity in September 2018. Between then and now the presenter endured a crisis, which appears to have blown over. I’m curious to know what’s transpired—and selfishly I’m glad to see someone presenting concerts like this again. (Now, can we persuade Michael Stearns to come?)
If we’re connected on Bluesky, Facebook, or Notes, you’ve read this next bit and you can skip ahead. (Don’t bother with xTwitter—I don’t share anything there anymore.)
You already read Damon Krukowski, of course—but if you don’t, this is as clear and concise an explanation of what’s coming up at Spotify as anything I’ve seen.
I anticipate a lot of “EFF Spotify” and “I don't use Spotify” replies, and that’s well and good: I still feel like it’s important to circulate this information.
Last week I foreshadowed a rant about the state of music media, something I’m still mulling at length. (Foreshadowing: What if arts and culture executives, board members, and donors spent less time lamenting a certain powerful critical monopoly, and instead directed effort, support, and funding toward building alternatives?)
So, while I continue to simmer that notion, read Domenick Ammirati on the meltdown at Artforum and a wider malaise in the art magazine world.
The visual arts world is its own thing, thanks to uber-rich collectors. But some aspects and lessons from that particular tempest are surely more widely applicable.
Let’s not end this part of the newsletter on the sour note above. Instead, something new and very welcome has just arrived in Boston.
During my two-year Boston Globe stint from 2014 to 2016, I tried hard to keep track of Boston’s burgeoning new-music scene in a monthly column on my old-school blog. (Here’s a good example, from April 2015.) I bring this up in order to express my deep admiration for New Music Calendar Boston. The very thorough new site is designed by composer Todd Tarantino along the lines of his similarly packed NYC resource, New Music Calendar, and curated by composer Curtis K. Hughes.
“This calendar primarily covers contemporary concert music in Boston,” the website says, but I was grateful to see the vital experimental-music series Non-Event included. You can submit listings via bostonnewmusic at gmail.com.
Stream of the week.
Omar, the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels, opened on Sunday at San Francisco Opera, where it runs through November 21. The San Francisco Chronicle review by Joshua Kosman – with whose viewpoints I’m nearly always in sync – is decidedly not positive. Still, one should always endeavor to see a thing personally and make up one’s own mind.
Fortunately, while we still don’t have a production of Omar scheduled for the New York City area just yet, SFOpera is providing a ticketed livestream on Saturday, November 11, at 7:30pm PST. If you can’t watch in real time, the video will be available on demand for 48 hours starting on Sunday. Learn more here.
Night After Night Watch.
Concerts listed in Eastern Standard Time.
9
American Composers Orchestra
Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall
881 Seventh Ave., Midtown Manhattan
Thursday, Nov. 9 at 7:30pm; $49–$59
carnegiehall.org
Conductor Vimbayi Kaziboni leads world premieres by George Lewis, Jack Hughes, Guillermo Klein, and Nina C. Young, plus the first local performance of Augusta Read Thomas’s Sun Dance—In memoriam Oliver Knussen in a reduced orchestration.
Ghost Ensemble
Invisible Dog Arts Center
51 Bergen St., Brooklyn
Thursday, Nov. 9 at 7:30pm; $20, students $15
donorbox.org
Non-profit composer/performer collective Anti-Social Music hosts an evening with the adventurous Ghost Ensemble, which presents the world premiere of Carl Bettendorf's Variations on 4x25 Notes and the first New York performance of Miya Masaoka’s Spirals of Energy. The program also includes works by Sky Macklay, James Ilgenfritz, and Caroline Louise Miller.
10
Augustus Arnone
Greenwich House Music School
46 Barrow St., Greenwich Village
Friday, Nov. 10 at 7pm; $20
Eventbrite
An adventurous pianist who favors extremes of prodigious technique and duration, Augustus Arnone opens a new series of concerts in which he’ll traverse two milestone compositions that embody both qualities: J.S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II, and Michael Finnissy’s The History of Photography in Sound.
Choir of Trinity Wall Street
Trinity Church Wall Street
89 Broadway, Lower Manhattan
Friday, Nov. 10 at 7:30pm, Saturday, Nov. 11 at 6pm; free, with suggested R.S.V.P.
trinitywallstreet.org
Elaine Kelly conducts the renowned Choir of Trinity Wall Street, joined by Trinity Youth Chorus, Downtown Voices, Artefact Ensemble, and NOVUS NY, in the world-premiere performances of Akathist, a new large-scale oratorio by Benedict Sheehan.
11
KHORIKOS
Church of St. Anthony of Padua
154 Sullivan St., Greenwich Village
Saturday, Nov. 11 at 7:30pm and Sunday, Nov. 12 at 2pm; each concert $30, both concerts $50
Eventbrite
The adventurous vocal ensemble KHORIKOS, directed by Alec Galambos, makes a speciality of forming conversations between early music and contemporary works. In a two-part program titled “CIVITAS,” Renaissance-era works based on the Lamentations of Jeremiah are set alongside new and recent pieces inspired by modern themes, including premieres by Galambos, Ben Zucker, Evelin Seppar, and Andrew Smith. German saxophonist-composer Charlotte Greve, the artist behind the stunning 2021 New Amsterdam release Sediments We Move, is featured on both programs.
MATA Festival
Greenwich House Music School
46 Barrow St., Greenwich Village
Saturday, Nov. 11 at 7pm; $20, children, students, and low income $5
Eventbrite
MATA hosts composer-percussionist Jane Boxall in the world premiere of Replaying the Tape, a multidisciplinary contemplation of evolutionary science developed in collaboration with paleontologist Dr. Frankie Dunn and poet Penny Boxall. “We will conjure an imaginary menagerie of animals which might have existed had the dice-throw of evolution fallen differently,” the composer writes—a fascinating premise, to be explored through music, field recordings, and recited poetry.
Unheard-of//Ensemble
Alchemical Studios
50 W. 17th St., 12th floor, Greenwich Village
Saturday, Nov. 11 at 8pm; free, with optional R.S.V.P.
Eventbrite
Brian Harnetty, a Columbia, OH-based composer and sound artist who creates works intended to foment social change, turned many heads last year with the release of Words and Silences, a gently sublime juxtaposition of Thomas Merton’s recorded voice with new original music. Harnetty’s newest creation, The Workbench, performs a similar transformation with the recorded voice of his late father, to poignant effect. (You can read more about Harnetty and his deeply personal project here.) New pieces by fellow Ohio composers Robert McClure and HyeKyung Lee complete the bill.
12
Prospect Series Brooklyn
1923 8th Ave. at 20th St., Brooklyn
Sunday, Nov. 12 at 5pm; pay-what-you-will + BYOB
Instagram
The 29th installment of Jonathan Moritz’s house-concert series features two potent trios: one comprising violist Joanna Mattrey, cellist Leila Bordreuil, and bassist Sean Ali, the other with saxophonist Tony Malaby, guitarist Todd Neufeld, and drummer Samuel Ber.
Eric Wubbels, Josh Modney, Mariel Roberts
Tenri Cultural Institute
43A W. 13th St., Greenwich Village
Sunday, Nov. 12 at 8pm; $20
eventbrite.com
Pianist-composer Eric Wubbels celebrates the release of a new CD, If and Only If, featuring the exhilarating, virtuosic trio work he composed in 2018-19 to perform with two Wet Ink associates, violinist Josh Modney and cellist Mariel Roberts. A copy of the CD is included in the modest price of admission.
13
Disfigured Rivers
Sisters Restaurant
900 Fulton St., Brooklyn
Monday, Nov. 13 at 7:30pm; $10–$20 sliding scale (cash/Venmo; no advance)
sistersbklyn.com
Disfigured Rivers, a Berlin-based showcase for experimental music and improvisation, plants a flag in Brooklyn with a packed bill, featuring a trio of local trumpeter Nate Wooley and guitarist Todd Neufeld with Belgian drummer Melvin Bauer, a solo set from violist Joanna Mattrey, and other distinguished guests.
For even more listings, see the Night After Night Watch master list, here.
Thank you.
(Photographs by the author, except where indicated otherwise.)