S.E.M. Ensemble to Present Three Live Concerts in May

The S.E.M. Ensemble, directed by Petr Kotik, will perform an in-person mini-tour across Brooklyn and Manhattan on May 16th, 19th and 20th. Since each concert will have limited seating in accordance with current COVID-19 guidelines, the ensemble will offer the same program three times to reach an audience similar to a single, pre-COVID concert. The programs will include Petr Kotik's Letters to Olga (1988) - a 50-minute piece for two narrators, four winds and three guitars, which uses text from letters that Václav Havel wrote to his wife while imprisoned for political activities from 1979 to 1982; Havel would go on to become the first president of Czechoslovakia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The concerts will also feature the world premiere of Kotik's new solo guitar piece The Lost Guitar, performed by Xander Naylor.

Kotik composed Letters to Olga in 1988, during a time of major political upheaval in Europe. Havel's letters cover a broad range of topics, from descriptions of jail to ruminations on modern life. "It was this mixture of profound and trivial, meditative and practical, the continuous and discontinuous stream of thought that attracted me to the text," Kotik explains. "Upon learning about my composition, Václav was thrilled, and encouraged me to use the text in any way I needed to complete the piece." Letters to Olga was premiered at the Paula Cooper Gallery in New York on December 19, 1989, and Václav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia on December 29th of that same year. It has not been performed since 2010.

The Lost Guitar was composed in 2021 for the Slovakian guitarist Ondrej Veselý and is dedicated to the memory of Morton Feldman. The title refers to a guitar piece Feldman composed for Christian Wolff, which was irretrievably lost.

(On view at Kentler: Joanne Howard's exhibition SKID MARKS through May 30th)

The May 16th performance will take in the yard adjacent to the Willow Place Auditorium, located at 25 Columbia Place, Brooklyn. In case of rain, it will be moved inside. FREE/RSVP Required. To RSVP, visit www.eventbrite.com/e/letters-to-olga-and-the-lost-guitar-outside-the-willow-place-auditorium-tickets-153047002705

The May 19th performance will take place at WhiteBox Gallery, located at 93 Allen St, NYC. Tickets: $15 General. To order tickets, visit sem-at-whitebox.bpt.me

The May 20th performance will take place at Kentler International Drawing Space, located at 353 Van Brunt St, Brooklyn. Tickets: $15 General. To order tickets, visit sem-at-kestler.bpt.me

PROGRAM:

Petr Kotik: Letters to Olga (1988)
Petr Kotik: The Lost Guitar (2021)

The S.E.M. Ensemble
Petr Kotik, director/conductor
Ashley Robyn Patten, narrator
Zach Hendrickson, narrator
Roberta Michel, flute
Laura Cocks, flute
Sam Jones, trumpet
Clint McLendon, trumpet
Xander Naylor, guitar
Chris Nappi, guitar
Troy Rinker, bass guitar

Petr Kotik (b. 1942, Prague, Czech Republic) is a composer, conductor, and flutist. Educated in Europe, Kotik arrived in the U.S. in 1969, and together with Julius Eastman and Jan Williams founded the S.E.M. Ensemble in 1970. SEM expanded into The Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble in 1992. Since the mid-1990s, Kotik has been regularly returning to the Czech Republic to perform in and organize various projects, such as the biennial Institute and Festival Ostrava Days (2001-present), the international chamber orchestra Ostravská banda (2005-present), the New Opera Days Ostrava festival (NODO; 2012-present), and the 100-piece international youth orchestra ONO (Ostrava New Orchestra, 2017-present).

Founded by Petr Kotik, the S.E.M. Ensemble is one of the oldest new music ensembles in the U.S., performing and producing concerts continuously since 1970. Among the composers who have worked with the ensemble are SEM's past members - composers Julius Eastman, Garret List, Ben Neill and the percussionist Jan Williams - as well as John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, Morton Feldman, David Tudor, Christian Wolff, Roscoe Mitchell, Earle Brown, Maryanne Amacher, Alvin Lucier, David Behrman, as well as many younger and emerging composers. In 1992, SEM expanded into The Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble with a debut concert at Carnegie Hall premiering the complete Atlas Eclipticalis by Cage with a force of 86 musicians.

The S.E.M. Ensemble champions music which is rarely heard in mainstream productions. The openness in programming that Petr Kotik brings to SEM concerts follows his lifelong pursuit of art that is authentic and relevant. SEM continues to present performances with large-scale ensembles and orchestras. Since the mid-1970s, SEM has performed annually at the Paula Cooper Gallery in New York, in addition to concerts at its venue in Brooklyn (the Willow Place Auditorium), and other locations throughout New York, from alternative spaces such as the Stone, to major halls (Zankel Hall, Alice Tully Hall, etc.). SEM regularly tours in Europe and has also performed in South America and Japan. www.semensemble.org