Town Hall Presents Meredith Monk + BoaC All-Stars In New York Premiere Of MEMORY GAME, September 15

The Town Hall opens its 2022/23 concert series spotlighting women composers who have shaped American culture with the New York premiere of Meredith Monk's MEMORY GAME, Saturday, October 15 (8 pm).

Monk will be joined by her celebrated Vocal Ensemble, including Theo Bleckmann, Katie Geissinger, and Allison Sniffin, plus long-time collaborators the Bang on a Can All-Stars. As its title implies, MEMORY GAME is both a look back at a pivotal point in her storied career, and a richly layered portrait of how vocal music, under the guidance of an indefatigable master, can play with our expectations in poignant and compelling ways.

This concert will be Monk's third headlining appearance at the Hall since she performed her Our Lady of Late 50 years ago. Tickets start at $57, available at http://thetownhall.org.

MEMORY GAME, released as an album on Cantaloupe Music in 2020, features previously unrecorded selections from Monk's sci-fi opera, The Games, and freshly reworked pieces from classic albums such as Do You Be and impermanence. The vivacious new arrangements are by Monk, Bang on a Can founders Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe, All-Stars member Ken Thomson, and Vocal Ensemble member Allison Sniffin.

The program at Town Hall includes Spaceship, Memory Song, Gamemaster's Song, Migration, and Downfall from The Games (1984); Waltz in 5s, from The Politics of Quiet (1996); Tokyo Cha Cha, from Turtle Dreams (Cabaret) (1983); Totentanz, from impermanence (2006); and Double Fiesta, from Acts from Under and Above (1986). The program is subject to change.

Says Michael Gordon, "[Monk's] first appearance on the Bang on a Can Marathon was in 1989, and we've had a close association ever since. In 1999, we arranged some of her music for her to sing with the Bang on a Can All-Stars. It was magic, and sparks flew! MEMORY GAME is a collection of pieces we've performed together in New York and on tour, with some new arrangements."

As Monk writes in her liner notes for the recording: "Right from the beginning of conceiving MEMORY GAME, the prospect of uniting the magnificent singers and players from Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble and Bang on a Can All-Stars filled me with excitement. My hope is that our rich and joyous experience of making music together inspires and resonates with the listener."

Town Hall's women composer series continues on Saturday, November 5 with the New York premiere of composer Laura Kaminsky and librettist Kimberly Reed's searing new chamber opera Hometown to the World This concert staging of Hometown to the World will be conducted by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Tania León. Mezzo-sopranos Blythe Gaissert and Cecile Duarte, and baritone Michael Kelly will be joined by the chamber quintet Sybarite 5 and a chorus comprised of 100+ public high school students from LaGuardia/Music & Art and Repertory Company High School for Theatre Arts.

On Friday, January 20, Town Hall celebrates the Grammy-winning Gospel singer, songwriter, record producer, musician, and evangelist Dr. Elbernita "Twinkie" Clark, making her Town Hall debut in a program of her compositions curated in partnership with composer/producer/arranger Damien Sneed, who serves as musical director. In this rare appearance in a secular setting, Clark will play the B3 Hammond organ and perform her own compositions, both solo and with special guests such as her sister Karen Clark Sheard.

On Saturday, February 25, legendary singer-songwriter Judy Collins will perform all of the songs on Wildflowers in concert with the Harlem Chamber Players, conducted by Tania León.

Tickets are now on sale at thetownhall.org.

Meredith Monk is a composer, singer, and creator of new opera and music-theater works. Recognized as one of the most unique and influential artists of our time, she is a pioneer in extended vocal technique. Her groundbreaking exploration of the voice as an instrument, as an eloquent language in and of itself, expands the boundaries of musical composition, creating landscapes of sound that unearth feelings, energies, and memories for which there are no words. Among her many awards, Monk has received three of the highest honors bestowed to a living artist in the United States: induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2019), the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize (2017), and a 2015 National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama.

Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble consists of some of the finest and most adventurous singer/ instrumentalist/performers active in new music. Founded in 1978 to further expand Monk's groundbreaking exploration of the human voice, the Vocal Ensemble has received multiple awards and critical acclaim, including a 2008 GRAMMY nomination for impermanence. Appearing in festivals, theaters and concert halls around the world, Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble can also be heard on numerous recordings on the ECM New Music Series label. Website: www.meredithmonk.org.

Formed in 1992, the Bang on a Can All-Stars (Robert Black, bass; Vicky Chow, piano and keyboard; David Cossin, percussion; Arlen Hlusko, cello; Mark Stewart, electric guitar; Ken Thomson, clarinets) are recognized worldwide for their ultra-dynamic live performances and recordings of today's most innovative music. Together, the All-Stars have worked in unprecedented close collaboration with some of the most important and inspiring musicians of our time, including Steve Reich, Ornette Coleman, Meredith Monk, George Lewis, Louis Andriessen, Terry Riley and dozens more. With a massive repertoire of works written specifically for the group's distinctive instrumentation and style of performance, the All-Stars have become a genre in their own right. The All-Stars record on Cantaloupe Music and have released past recordings on Sony, Universal and Nonesuch. Visit bangonacan.com.

Since 1921, when a group of Suffragists known as the League for Political Education saw the need for a meeting space to educate people on the important issues of the day, The Town Hall has been home to groundbreaking live events that have cemented its reputation as a historical landmark. Designed by renowned architects McKim, Mead & White to reflect the democratic principles of the League, Town Hall opened its doors on January 12, 1921. Box seats were eliminated and no seats had an obstructed view giving birth to the term "Not a bad seat in the house." That year German composer Richard Strauss made his US debut when he performed a series of concerts that cemented its reputation as an ideal venue for musical performances. Since then, Town Hall has become world-renowned for its civic events and for its history of debuts and inclusivity. While the 20s and 30s at the Hall were best known for debuts like that of Isaac Stern, Marian Anderson and Pablo Casals, the 40s and 50s were known for both classical and jazz concerts. In 1945, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker introduced bebop to the world at Town Hall. Those years saw the concert hall debuts of Billie Holiday, Glenn Gould, Leontyne Price and Nina Simone, among others. The 1960s saw the concert hall debut of Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, and others from the world of folk music as well as the theater debuts of Dick Gregory, Redd Foxx and Nichols and May, among other comics.

From 1935 - 1956, Town Hall hosted America's Town Meeting of the Air, one of radio's first public affairs talk shows, a program which featured guests, scholars, and experts who discussed important issues of the day. Over its two-decade run, the program's guests included Eleanor Roosevelt, Langston Hughes, Earl Browder, Senator Joseph McCarthy, Carl Sandburg, Pearl S. Buck and Mary McLeod Bethune.

Because of the restriction of the Covid 19 pandemic, Town Hall celebrated its centenary with an outdoor concert on September 20, 2021 in New York's Bryant Park featuring Grammy-winning musician Chris Thile and special guests Cécile McLorin Salvant and Sullivan Fortner, Zakir Hussain and Ganesh Rajagopalan, Damon Daunno, and Timo Andres.