Oboist Matt Sullivan to Present NARRATIVE MUSIC: A LIFE NOT A LIFE STYLE at 9B9

Oboist and composer Matt Sullivan will present Narrative Music: A Life Not A Life Style on Sunday, June 23 and Sunday, June 30 - 3 PM each day at Gallery 9B9, 9 Avenue B in Manhattan's Alphabet City/East Village, in association with 2B&2C: The Ken Kro-Ken Memorial Foundation.

This program, in celebration of Gay Pride 2024, will be a music and spoken word memoir, featuring Sullivan performing works for oboe/English horn and electronics, including his comprovisations for solo oboe and English horn.

Sullivan writes, "I created this program in response to those who do not believe in my rights and often refer to "being gay" as a lifestyle choice. It's not a choice - it is a matter of acceptance - life itself. I'll talk about periods of my life that have helped define who I am via defining experiences by way of the spoken word and my own original acoustic and electro-acoustic music."

The June 23 and 30 events have a $10 suggested donation. Seating is limited so please make a reservation at quintetorg@gmail.com.

These presentations are ADA accessible. For MTA transportation information, visit http://tripplanner.mta.info/MyTrip/ui_web/customplanner/TripPlanner.aspx.

Matt Sullivan, Founder/Director of 2B&2C: The Ken Cro-Ken Memorial Foundation is an oboist/English hornist, digital hornist, composer/improviser, cultural activist and Buffet Performing Artist. His performances have been praised by The New York Times as "gorgeously lyrical" and the New Yorker for performance/programming called the "cutting edge". As composer, his innovative works for oboe, English Horn and digital horn, have been featured on WNYC and WQXR, and nationally on National Public Radio and Voice of America.

Sullivan began his professional career at the age of 17 with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra/Wind Quintet and the Miami Philharmonic at the age of 21. Matt has been a member of Quintet of the Americas since 1980. His electro-acoustic trio, First Avenue (1981 - 2004) was one of classical music's only improvising trios ("Solace and adventure floating in the unforeseen" - NY Times). He's performed at venues include the Palladium, Roulette, The Kitchen, CBGBs, Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, The American Embassy in Kharkiv, Ukraine and others.

Matt Sullivan served as Director of both the Double Reeds Studies Program and the Woodwind Studies Program at New York University Steinhardt School's Music Performing Arts Professions (2004 - 2022) and Princeton University (1991-2022). Sullivan has been a Performing Artist for Buffet Crampon since 1997 and plays exclusively on Buffet Greenline Oboe. Sullivan's new art/performance space, 2B&2C: The Ken Cro-Ken Memorial Foundation, is quickly becoming one of the East Village's most exciting art/performance venues.