Out of time.
A scary referral, a new video of a Vijay Iyer world premiere, and live music highlights for the next seven days in New York City.
I feel a tirade about the current state of music and culture in media coming on, but I’m trying to moderate that impulse until my blood stops boiling and I can process my thoughts and feelings more clearly.
In the meantime, I’ll commend those seeking timely content for today to George Grella, who’s got a fascinating free post about sound design in horror cinema.
Video of the week.
Perhaps you heard the world premiere of Handmade Universe, a new concerto for piano and strings by Vijay Iyer, presented by pianist Shai Wosner and the East Coast Chamber Orchestra on Saturday night as part of the miraculous Peoples’ Symphony Concerts series. Perhaps, like me, you missed it. Maybe you’re preparing to hear the Philadelphia premiere Wednesday night at the Kimmel Center, hosted by Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. Whatever the case, now anyone and everyone can see and hear a recording of the world premiere, courtesy of PSCNY. The video is available for the next five days only, so act fast. (I’ve cued it to Iyer’s introductory comments here, but if you can find time to watch the entire concert, you won’t regret it.)
Night After Night Watch.
Concerts listed in Eastern Standard Time.
31
Kate Gentile
Roulette
509 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn
Tuesday, Oct. 31 at 8pm; $30, advance $25, seniors and students $20
Free livestream
roulette.org
Drummer and bandleader Kate Gentile is an improviser and composer who somehow manages to alchemize modernist composition, freewheeling jazz, and ferocious death metal into a detente as visceral as it is heady—you could picture Milton Babbitt, Evan Parker, and Cannibal Corpse banging their heads side-by-side in approval. Here, she leads leads a quartet with saxophonist Jeremy Viner, bassist Kim Cass, and pianist Matt Mitchell in re-imagined versions of pieces from her overwhelming new triple-CD release, Find Letter X. (P.S. Gentile will host a listening party on Bandcamp Nov. 7; stream the entire album and chat with its makers.)
Tyshawn Sorey Trio
Village Vanguard
178 Seventh Ave. S., Greenwich Village
Tuesday, Oct. 31–Sunday, Nov. 5 at 8 & 10pm; $40
villagevanguard.com
Percussionist, composer, and bandleader Tyshawn Sorey returns to the Village Vanguard with a version of the trio heard on his recent albums Mesmerism and Continuing: Aaron Diehl at the piano, and Harish Raghavan filling in on bass.
1
Tim Berne, Aurora Nealand & Hank Roberts
Roulette
509 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn
Wednesday, Nov. 1 at 8pm; $30, advance $25, seniors and students $20
Free livestream
roulette.org
Saxophonist Tim Berne and cellist Hank Roberts have been working together literally for decades. Aurora Nealand, a triple threat on woodwinds, accordion, and voice, is a newer entrant into Berne’s expansive universe, but adapts as through she were born to the manner. You can hear what the trio sounds like on a beautiful, melancholy recent album, Oceans And, which captures a certain cry at the root of Berne’s canon in a manner unlike any other combo he’s led—and even so, you should come to Roulette expecting to hear something similar but different, and never to be repeated.
International Contemporary Ensemble
Merkin Hall, Kaufman Music Center
129 W. 67th St., Upper West Side
Wednesday, Nov. 1 at 7:30pm; $30
kaufmanmusiccenter.org
Vimbayi Kaziboni conducts a program titled “Composing While Black, Vol. 1,” which features two substantial world premieres: Dreaming (Freedom Sounds), by recently announced MacArthur fellow Courtney Bryan, and MIRRORS, a Fromm Foundation commission by A.A.C.M. mainstay Adegoke Steve Colson. Completing the program are Thread and Pull by Brittany J. Green and Runagate, Runagate by Wendell Logan.
2
I Will Tell You The Truth About It, I Will Tell You All About It
Merkin Hall, Kaufman Music Center
129 W. 67th St., Upper West Side
Thursday, Nov. 2 at 7:30pm; $25
kaufmanmusiccenter.org
Eight vocalists and the piano trio Longleash join forces to present a new oratorio by composer Aaron Siegel and former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith, describing the lives of Black soldiers and their families during the U.S. Civil War as gleaned from historical sources. Prior to the premiere performance, Smith will read the poems and discuss the work’s development.
3
Kronos Quartet
Isaac Stern Auditorium, Carnegie Hall
881 Seventh Ave., Midtown West
Friday, Nov. 3 at 8pm; $59–$114
carnegiehall.org
The trailblazing quartet that changed the face of modern music celebrates its 50th anniversary in the big room at Carnegie Hall… and it’ll need room for all the special guests in store, including Laurie Anderson, Jake Blount, Tanya Tagaq, Wu Man, and an all-star big band comprising the Aizuri Quartet, Attacca Quartet, Bang on a Can All-Stars, PUBLIQuartet, and Sō Percussion. The program includes premieres by Michael Gordon and Gabriella Smith, plus a new widescreen version of an early Kronos hit, Terry Riley’s Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector.
X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X
Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center
30 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side
Various dates and times through Saturday, Dec. 2; $47–$470
metopera.org
The first opera by composer Anthony Davis and librettist Thulani Davis – introduced at the American Music Theater Festival in Philadelphia in 1985, and presented in its operatic premiere by New York City Opera in 1986 – comes at last to the Metropolitan Opera, in a new production helmed by the Tony-nominated director Robert O’Hara. Will Liverman is featured in the title role, and Kazem Abdullah conducts.
For another take on Gentile, Sorey, and Berne, check out Lament for a Straight Line, where veteran critic Jim Macnie publishes listings that demonstrate the lapidary brilliance that made us all follow his work in the Village Voice. Those were the days.
For even more listings, see the Night After Night Watch master list, here.
Thank you.
(Photographs by the author, except where indicated otherwise.)