Tempus fugit.
Recommended live new-music events July 8–15.
No preamble or delay: let’s jump straight into the listings, since there’s at least one piece of timely news about an event scheduled for this evening.
The Night After Night Watch.
Concerts listed in Eastern Standard Time
NOTAFLOF = no one turned away for lack of funds.
8
JJJJJerome Ellis
Issue Project Room
22 Boerum Place; Brooklyn
Tuesday, July 8 at 8pm; $17
issueprojectroom.org
The consistently fascinating poet, composer, and performing artist JJJJJerome Ellis, joined by frequent collaborator S T A R R busby, transforms Issue Project Room’s splendid 22 Boerum space into a custom-made recording studio for Glory, Glory, a participatory project rooted in Black spirituals and hymns.
The Gospel at Colonus
The Amph at Little Island
Pier 55 at Hudson River Park; Meatpacking District
Tuesday, July 8 at 8:30pm, through July 26; $25, standing room $10
littleisland.org
Introduced at BAM’s 1983 Next Wave festival, The Gospel at Colonus, a groundbreaking musical show by director and Mabou Mines founder Lee Breuer and composer Bob Telson, reimagines the ancient Greek tragedy Oedipus at Colonus as a Pentecostal church ritual. This new production, staged by Pulitzer Prize finalist Shayok Misha Chowdhury, features a power-packed cast, including the invaluable Davoné Tines in the title role.
DoYeon Kim
Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater
425 Lafayette St.; East Village
Tuesday, July 8 at 7pm; $20 plus 2 drink or 1 food item minimum
publictheater.org
Widely celebrated for her groundbreaking work integrating the gayageum, a traditional Korean zither, into all manner of uncompromising contemporary formats and situations, DoYeon Kim comes to Joe’s Pub for what’s certain to be an ear-opening, memorable encounter with two leading figures in the New York City creative-music ecosphere, pianist Kris Davis and drummer Tom Rainey.
Super Bolus VIIFort Greene Park
136-144 DeKalb Ave. (near Tennis Courts); BrooklynTuesday, July 8 at 6pm; free admission
goldbolus.com/superbolus
The scrappy and consistently special new-music indie label Gold Bolus has postponed its audio picnic at Fort Greene Park due to anticipated heavy weather… stay tuned for rescheduling details.
9
Matana Roberts
Glass Box Theatre, The New School
55 W. 13th St., Greenwich Village
Wednesday, July 9–Saturday, July 12 at 8:30pm; $20 cash only
thestonenyc.com
Appearing at The New School under the auspices of John Zorn’s Stone series, saxophonist, composer, poet, and visual artist Matana Roberts introduces a new solo initiative they call “Coin Coin Community: Sound Exploration with Heart and Purpose.” Named for their essential cycle of Coin Coin albums, these evenings feature Roberts mixing sound, storytelling, and collective vocalization, each event focused on a right worth defending. Then on Sunday, July 13, at 2pm, Roberts anchors a town hall meeting, “Listening Through the Fire,” at Issue Project Room; admission is free, and details are here.
10
Music for New Bodies
David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center
10 Lincoln Center Plaza; Upper West Side
Thursday, July 10 & Friday, July 11 at 8pm; choose-what-you-pay
lincolncenter.org
Run AMOC* Festival. The ingenious composer, pianist, and AMOC* founding member Matthew Aucoin conducts his Music for New Bodies, an urgent, dramatic vocal symphony for five soloists and instrumental ensemble based on poetry by Jorie Graham, in the premiere performances of a new staging by director Peter Sellars. For more information about this striking work and its origin, read this Katelyn Simone feature in Classical Voice North America.
Soup & Sound
Greenwich House Music School
46 Barrow St.; Greenwich Village
Thursday, July 10–Saturday, July 12 at 7:30pm; $25, advance $20
soupandsound.org
Soup & Sound – the long-running series organized by percussionist Andrew Drury, purveyor of Brooklyn’s most soulful bowlful – returns to Greenwich Village for a three-evening series. Violinist Gwen Laster opens on Thursday with her New Muse 4tet, featuring violist Melanie Dyer, cellist Teddy Rankin-Parker, and Drury on drums. Friday’s event features Adegoke Steve Colson and Iqua Colson, A.A.C.M. pillars and partners in life and art, playing with bassist Mark Helias and drummer Ronnie Buurage ahead of their upcoming release, GLOW: Music for Trio... Add Voice. Completing the series on Saturday night is violinist, vocalists, and multimedia artist Terry Jenoure, playing with bassist Joe Fonda and drummer Reggie Nicholson.
12
Brooklyn Free Spirits Festival
iBeam Brooklyn
168 7th St.; Brooklyn
Saturday, July 12 at 5pm & Sunday, July 13 at 3pm; each day $20
ibeambrooklyn.com
Presented by Siren Xypher, the collective of improvising composers Melanie Dyer, Mara Rosenbloom, and Kyoko Kitamura, the second annual Brooklyn Free Spirits Festival offers matinee improvisation workshops, an in-person interview with pianist-composer Amina Claudine Myers, and performances by Siren Xypher, DoYeon Kim, Mazz Swift, and others.
The Cello Player
Hearst Plaza, Lincoln Center
30 Lincoln Center Plaza; Upper West Side
Saturday, July 12 at 5pm; free admission
lincolncenter.org
A Run AMOC* Festival event. AMOC* dancer-choreographer Or Schraiber and cellist Coleman Itzkoff collaborate in a hybrid work meant to explore “friendship as a messy amalgam of love, hatred, insecurity, and neediness.”
13
Ursula Oppens
Bargemusic at the Brooklyn Bridge Park Boathouse
10 Montague St. at Pier 5; Brooklyn
Sunday, July 13 at 4pm; free admission
bargemusic.org
A prominent force in contemporary music for half a century, pianist Ursula Oppens comes to the new landlocked Bargemusic series to play The People United Will Never Be Defeated, a hour-long set of 36 variations on a Chilean protest song, by radical virtuoso Frederic Rzewski. The piece, a signature work for Oppens, is among the most powerful milestones of the 20th-century repertoire—and an especially timely statement right now.
Rome Is Falling
Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center
1941 Broadway; Upper West Side
Sunday, July 13 at 8pm; choose-what-you-pay
lincolncenter.org
A Run AMOC* Festival event. Created by AMOC* bassist Doug Balliett, Rome Is Falling brings together vocal soloists, the Young People's Chorus of New York City, and an instrumental ensemble in a whimsical investigation of what causes empires to fall.
Table of the Elements Label Relaunch
The P.I.T.
411 S. 5th St.; Brooklyn
Sunday, July 13 at 6pm; free admission
propertyistheft.org
The essential indie label Table of the Elements is reinventing itself as a member-supported “rigorous curatorial network and publishing platform,” with a Kickstarter campaign, a new Bandcamp page, and a series of relaunch events heralding its moment of full-blown emergence. Performing at this event are two acts with releases pending on the revived imprint: improvising guitarist and composer David Grubbs and Everloving, a new band in which Jonathan Kane, Dave Soldier, Jim McHugh, Peter Kerlin, and Matt Mottel play the mystical minimalist hillbilly ragas of polymath fiddler Henry Flynt.
14
Striped Light
undisclosed location; Queens
Monday, July 14 at 8pm; $15
Instagram
Striped Light, the innovative covert concert series organized by Ian Douglas-Moore, Jessica Pavone, and David Watson, presents a fascinating triple bill of diverse acts. Flutist Samantha Kochis, bassist Luke Stewart, and tap dancer Melissa Almaguer improvise together. Trombonist Sam Kulik marks the release of an arresting new solo album, Putting a Hand on the World. Rounding out the bill is a mighty quintet of saxophonist Michael Foster, trombonist Steve Swell, Webb Crawford on banjo and guitar, bassist Sean Ali, and drummer Ryan Sawyer.
15
Life of Brian Trio
Bar LunÀtico
486 Halsey St.; Brooklyn
Tuesday, July 15 at 9 & 10:15pm; suggested donation $10
barlunatico.com
Pianist and organist Brian Marsella came to New York from Philadelphia a little over 15 years ago, and wasted no time making himself utterly essential, not least in collaborations with ebullient percussionist Cyro Baptista and as an increasingly crucial fixture of John Zorn’s expanding universe. His trio tonight features bassist Trevor Dunn and drummer Kenny Wollesen, players who’ll be able to follow anywhere Marsella might lead.
More vital directories of new-music destinations:
Find even more events in Night After Night Watch: The Master List, here.
Photographs by Steve Smith, except where indicated.
Many thanks Steve for including Bargemusic in your irreplacable night after night.
Warmest regards,
Mark