This week: concerts in New York (May 14, 2018 – May 20, 2018)

Ensemble Signal Plays Lachenmann

In an encore appearance, Ensemble Signal delivers their second Pop-Up program of the spring. The evening features a singular piece – a 30-minute trio for clarinet, cello, and piano by Helmut Lachenmann, with whom they worked closely, including at Miller Theatre in 2010 and 2015.
Monday, May 14 at 6:00 PM
Free
Miller Theatre, 2960 Broadway, New York, NY
..:: Website

CONNECTIONS: Part 1 | ensemble mise-en

ensemble mise-en performs world premieres and US premieres of three Austrian and three American-Korean composers as part of their CONNECTIONS concert series. The two concerts will showcase solo and ensemble works by the composers Sungji Hong (Korea/Texas), Mirela Ivičević (Croatia/Austria), Peter Jakober (Austria), Seong Ae Kim (Korea/NYC), Matthias Kranebitter (Austria), and Sojin Yoon (Korea). Taking place at the ACFNY, Part 1 will feature works written for solo instrumentation accompanied by electronics and includes a public talk with the musicians and composers.
Wednesday, May 16 at 7:30 PM
Free
Austrian Cultural Forum New York, 11 East 52nd Street, New York, NY
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Queens College New Music Group with the RAM Players String Quartet | Queens New Music Festival

Queens College New Music Group joins the RAM Players String Quartet for the kick-off concert for the Queens New Music Festival. The concert features music by Christopher Thomas Emery, Joe Landi, Michael Barrett Donovan, Philip Henry Garcia, Riccardo Maira, and Ebin Samuel.
Wednesday, May 16 at 8:00 PM
Tickets $20, $15 students
The Secret Theatre, 4402 23rd Street, Queens, NY
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Four Decades of Exploration | Queens New Music Festival

The concert includes music written in every decade from 1970 until the present day, spanning several continents and countries (USA, United Kingdom, Turkey, Estonia, Argentina); from dreamy and improvisatory to rhythmic and dance-like. Music by George Crumb, Arvo Pärt, Thomas Adès, Fazil Say, Fernando Otero, Lowell Liebermann, and Astor Piazzolla
Thursday, May 17 at 7:30 PM
Tickets $20, $15 students
The Secret Theatre, 4402 23rd Street, Queens, NY
..:: Website

CONNECTIONS: Part 2 | ensemble mise-en

ensemble mise-en performs world premieres and US premieres of three Austrian and three American-Korean composers as part of their CONNECTIONS concert series. The two concerts will showcase solo and ensemble works by the composers Sungji Hong (Korea/Texas), Mirela Ivičević (Croatia/Austria), Peter Jakober (Austria), Seong Ae Kim (Korea/NYC), Matthias Kranebitter (Austria), and Sojin Yoon (Korea). The second evening of CONNECTIONS will take place at the cell, a space and platform for artists and musicians to share their new and innovative work, where ensemble mise-en will perform ensemble works of the six composers.
Thursday, May 17 at 8:00 PM
Free
the cell, 338 West 23rd Street, New York, NY
..:: Website

To Be Sung by Pascal Dusapin

To Be Sung is an opera in one act. The libretto was adapted by the composer from a short story by Gertrude Stein: “A Lyrical Opera Made By Two (To Be Sung)”.
Thursday, May 17 & Saturday, May 19 at 8:00 PM
Tickets $35, $30 students/seniors
Irondale, 85 South Oxford Street Brooklyn, NY
..:: Website

The Bowers-Fader Duo | Queens New Music Festival

The Bowers-Fader Duo’s mission is to promote new American art songs for mezzo and guitar, and this program features seven living composers who wrote or arranged music for them in the past year. Composers include Frank Brickle, Hilary Purrington, Scott Wheeler, David Claman, Tim Mukherjee, Erin Rogers, and Paul Salerni.
Friday, May 18 at 6:00 PM
Tickets $20, $15 students
The Secret Theatre, 4402 23rd Street, Queens, NY
..:: Website

More Forever

Caleb Teicher & Company continue their investigation of American dance traditions on a stage filled with a thin layer of sand. Using vernacular jazz, tap dance, and Lindy Hop with a new contemporary score for piano and electronics by composer/pianist Conrad Tao, this sonic journey will brush away the fine line between movement and music and expand the expressive capacity of American music and dance.
Friday, May 18 at 7:30 PM
Tickets $20, $10 students
Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY
..:: Website

icarus quartet | Queens New Music Festival

The 2 piano, 2 percussion icarus quartet presents a program of music written in the last five years including works by Steve Reich and Paul Lansky. Also two New York premieres by Thomas Kotcheff and Ensemble Signal’s Brad Lubman.
Friday, May 18 at 8:00 PM
Tickets $20, $15 students
The Secret Theatre, 4402 23rd Street, Queens, NY
..:: Website

Rumpelstiltskin | Rhymes With Opera

In Rhymes With Opera’s Rumpelstiltskin, themes of greed, bargaining, magic, and unconditional love combined with elaborate costumes, queer drag culture, and loud makeup transform a very old story into a new, modern opera, inspired by the San Francisco performance troupe, The Cockettes. For this world premiere, the character of Rumpelstiltskin grapples between the two sides of their personality, and will be portrayed by two singers simultaneously. In fact, this unique take on Rumpelstiltskin’s duality is very much reflected in the opera’s creative process: the music is a unique collaboration by Rhymes With Opera co-artistic directors Ruby Fulton and George Lam, with an original libretto by Chicago-based John Clum.
Friday, May 18 & Saturday, May 19 at 8:00 PM
Tickets $20
124 Bank Street Theatre, 124 Bank St, New York, NY
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Sandbox Percussion | Rite of Summer Music Festival

Sandbox Percussion performs music by as Victor Caccese, Jonny Allen, Andy Akiho, Alex Weiser, and Steve Reich part of the Rite of Summer Music Festival.
Saturday, May 19 at 1:00 PM & 3:00 PM
Free
Governors Island, Colonels Row, New York, NY
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Percussionist Zack Baltich | Queens New Music Festival

Utilizing guitar effects pedals, found objects, a slew of drums, and a tiny synthesizer, Minneapolis based percussionist and composer Zack Baltich will present a concert of original works for percussion and marimba, as well as some adaptations of other works for percussion.
Saturday, May 19 at 3:00 PM
Tickets $20, $15 students
The Secret Theatre, 4402 23rd Street, Queens, NY
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Pianist David Holzman with Franklin Verbsky and Joan Dawidziak | Queens New Music Festival

David Holzman, Franklin Verbsky, and Joan Dawidziak team up for a concert featuring music by John McDonald, Stefan Wolpe, James Ricci, George Perle, Joan Dawidziak, Alba Potes, and William Bland.
Saturday, May 19 at 5:00 PM
Tickets $20, $15 students
The Secret Theatre, 4402 23rd Street, Queens, NY
..:: Website

Points of Contact | Queens New Music Fesival

The Blagoeva-Massicotte Duo, a NYC-based flute and piano duo, aims to present compositions written for their instrumentation by contemporary and Bulgarian and American composers, including works written specifically for the Duo. The program will feature works by notable composers including Krasimir Taskov, Seth Boustead, and George Crumb, among others.
Saturday, May 19 at 8:00 PM
Tickets $20, $15 students
The Secret Theatre, 4402 23rd Street, Queens, NY
..:: Website

Stephanie Richards

Trumpeter and composer Stephanie Richards joins forces with Dawn of Midi’s drummer/composer Qasim Naqvi and live-sampler J.A. Dino Deane for a sonic exploration of supernatural groove. Using both acoustic and electronic instruments, Richards will celebrate and premiere the debut release of FULLMOON on Relative Pitch Records.
Saturday, May 19 at 10:00 PM
Tickets $20
National Sawdust, 80 North 6th Street, Brooklyn, NY
..:: Website

The Resurgam Quartet presents Breaking Point | Queens New Music Festival

The Resurgam Quartet presents “Breaking Point,” a high-energy concert featuring works by composers for the saxophone quartet. This program showcases genre-bending new music that draws its inspiration from a wide range of non-classical sources including world music, classic rock, jazz, and more.
Sunday, May 20 at 2:00 PM
Tickets $20, $15 student
The Secret Theatre, 4402 23rd Street, Queens, NY
..:: Website

Sunrise in the City | Music Viva NY

Musica Viva NY celebrates its 40th anniversary. The concert, which features the Musica Viva NY Choir led by Artistic Director Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, includes the world premiere of Ars Poetica #1002: Rally by Elena Ruehr, commissioned by Musica Viva NY in celebration of its 40th anniversary. Also on the program is Mahler’s Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (I am lost to the world) in a choral arrangement by Clytus Sottwald; the New York City premiere of Maarten Spruijt’s Thurémin; and Ola Gjeilo’s Sunrise Mass. Works are accompanied by a string orchestra which includes the Aeolus Quartet.
Sunday, May 20 at 5:00 PM
Tickets $40
All Souls Church, 1157 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY
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RAM Trio Expo | Queens New Music Festival

The trio combination of violin, clarinet, and piano will be explored in the final program of RAM’s 2017-2018 season. In RAM Trio Expo, RAM Players Maya Bennardo on violin, Thomas Piercy on clarinets, and Marija Ilic on piano coalesce into trios, a duo, and a solo for this program of music for clarinet, violin, and piano by Croatian composer and RAM’s 2018 Call for Scores winner, Ivan Božičević, David Fetherolf, Gilbert Galindo, Katherine Hoover, Frances White, and Japanese composer, Joji Yuas.
Sunday, May 20 at 5:00 PM
Tickets $20, $15 students
The Secret Theatre, 4402 23rd Street, Queens, NY
..:: Website