Clarinetist David Krakauer along with musical pioneer cellist Matt Haimovitz, will present Akoka: The End of Time featuring beat architect Socalled, with violinist Maria Bachmann and pianist Geoffrey Burleson, at 9pm on Saturday, January 14, 2012 at Joe’s Pub (425 Lafayette Street, NYC). Akoka: The End of Time comprises Krakauer’s own composition Akoka, Messiaen’s masterwork Quatuor pour la fin du Temps (Quartet for the End of Time), and Socalled’s astonishing coda Meanwhile. This is the second concert of DK55, in a series of concerts in New York celebrating Krakauer’s 55th birthday. Further concerts to be announced.
This innovative program is centered around Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time, which was composed and premiered in a prisoner of war camp during World War II in the midst of tremendous upheaval. Henri Akoka was the Jewish clarinetist in the prison camp who performed the world premiere. This program has a musical focus on Akoka’s story, bringing out the human aspect of this composition as seen from the perspective of someone caught in terrifying events beyond his control. Quartet for the End of Time will be performed in its entirety between two new works – an opening piece by Krakauer called Akoka (a raw improvisation that takes as its point of departure some of the musical gestures of the Messiaen) and a closing piece by Socalled called Meanwhile (sequences and samples of the acoustic recording of the Messiaen combined with sound images that illustrate the violence and turbulence of the piece). Akoka: The End of Time lifts Messiaen’s original work out of the polite context of a chamber music concert and places it in a dramatic setting that drives home the gravity and impact of the work, while bringing it into the 21st century.
About David Krakauer:
Clarinetist David Krakauer occupies the unique position of being both one of the world’s leading exponents of Eastern European Jewish klezmer music, plus a major voice in classical music and avant-garde improvisation. His klezmer sound has been described by RootsWorld as “an electrifying amalgam of cozy Eastern European traditions, free-form jazz, and dissonant howls of rage and pain ... a bittersweet statement of personal and collective race memory.”
In recent years, Krakauer has emerged as a compelling soloist, introducing his distinctive sound to symphonic audiences in the US and Europe. Throughout his career, he has enjoyed major ongoing artistic collaborations with a diverse group of the world’s foremost performers and composers including the Kronos Quartet, Emerson String Quartet, pianist Uri Caine, Aspen Wind Quintet, the Orion String Quartet, and many more. Krakauer and his band Klezmer Madness! have performed around the world since 1996, forging alliances between his branch of world music and a multitude of musical genres including jazz, funk and most recently, electro. While firmly rooted in traditional klezmer folk tunes, the band “hurls the tradition of klezmer music into the rock era” (The New York Times). In 2006, Krakauer co-founded the multi-genre super group Abraham Inc. with legendary funk trombonist and arranger Fred Wesley and Jewish hip-hop renegade and beat architect Socalled. Abraham Inc. heralds a time when boundaries are eroding, mutual respect is presumed, and musical traditions can hit with full force without concession or appropriation.
In addition to Abraham Inc.’s Tweet Tweet, Krakauer’s discography contains some of the most important clarinet recordings of recent decades on the Label Bleu, Nonesuch, Tzadik, and Deutsche Grammophon labels. Krakauer makes his home in New York, and is managed by Bernstein Artists, Inc. He is an artist and clinician for the Selmer, Conn-Selmer and Rico companies. For more information, visit www.davidkrakauer.com.
About Matt Haimovitz:
Renowned as a musical pioneer, cellist Matt Haimovitz has inspired classical music lovers and countless new listeners by bringing his artistry to concert halls and clubs, outdoor festivals and intimate coffee houses, any place where passionate music can be heard. He brings a fresh ear to familiar repertoire, champions new music and initiates groundbreaking collaborations, all while mentoring an award-winning studio of young cellists at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music in Montreal.
Haimovitz made his debut in 1984, at the age of 13, as a soloist with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic, and at 17 he made his first recording for Deutsche Grammophon (Universal Classics) with James Levine and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Haimovitz made his Carnegie Hall debut when he substituted for his teacher, the legendary Leonard Rose, in Schubert’s String Qu
