Kimbra, JACK Quartet and More at National Sawdust in March
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Feb. 06, 2020
See what's on the schedule at National Sawdust in March! Kimbra, Little Kruta, JACK Quartet, Metropolis Ensemble and more...
Sunday, March 1 - Doors at 6:00 pm, Show at 7:00 pm - $25
Jennifer Walshe and Mivos Quartet: EVERYTHING IS IMPORTANT and AN GLÉACHT
Genres: Irish, Opera, Theater, Contemporary Classical, Film, Live Scoring
Composer and vocalist Jennifer Walshe is "the most original compositional voice to emerge from Ireland in the past 20 years" (Irish Times). She has won acclaim and notoriety for her music, most notably for her first opera, which revives an ancient Greek comedy with a cast of Barbie dolls. With imagination, wit, and more than a hint of the surreal, Walshe's compositions playfully, but pointedly, explore the complications and complexities of the 21st century. Walshe is joined by the acclaimed Mivos Quartet for two recent compositions. In EVERYTHING IS IMPORTANT, Walshe considers our relationship with technology and the encroachment of the internet on every face of life, articulating a world of rapidly accumulating information that arrives at a frenetic, nearly punishing speed. AN GLÉACHT is based on an unfinished film by reclusive artist Caoimhín Breathnach, who for decades made tapes and films on astronomy, folkore, crystallography, and found video footage that he believed had the power to heal and shift consciousness. Walshe and Mivos perform a live score to accompany a screening of the film, which Walshe completed.
Friday, March 6 - Doors at 7:00 pm, Show at 8:00 pm - $20
Sonic and Womxyn Amplify: Seasons - An Experimental Voyage Through Sound
Genres: R&B, Singer/Songwriter, Disability Rights, Sonic Experimentalism, Multimedia
SEASON 5 NATIONAL SAWDUST ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE
Seasons: An Experiential Voyage Through Sound, a multimedia concert from R&B singer/songwriter and Sonic, reflects her unique relationship with sound: she's partially deaf. The performance makes innovative use of National Sawdust's new Constellation and Spacemap audio systems from Meyer Sound to draw audiences into Sonic's singular aural world. Based on songs from her LP of the same name, and made in collaboration with her collective Womxyn Amplify, Seasons immerses audiences in Sonic's journey of self-discovery, acceptance, and self-love by navigating her experiences as a queer, partially deaf womxn of color. This second work-in-progress showing of Seasons, a new piece developed as part of Sonic's residency at National Sawdust, dives into her adolescence. Featuring an expanded cast of performers and more extensive production design, the performance guides the audience through Sonic's story with narration by members of Womxyn Amplify. Come early to experience an interactive installation that asks audience members to engage with "invisible differences." Captions are provided throughout the performance.
Saturday, March 7 - Show at 11:00 am - $20, $5 for kids 12 and under
Oran Etkin - Timbalooloo Jazz for Kids with special guest Vitor Gonçalves
Genres: Jazz, Family, Global Pop
In Timbalooloo, instruments come to life and speak through their music, encouraging children to conceive of playing music as performing the magical act of making their instrument talk! The Timbalooloo Monthly Duo Series at National Sawdust features Oran Etkin with his sidekick instrument Clara Net (Etkin's clarinet) meeting a new instrument friend from around the world each month. Today's special musical guest is Brazilian accordionist Vitor Gonçalves, joining Oran as they explore the world of Brazilian music. The concerts are highly interactive - children will be singing along, drumming, and learning new dances as they become friends with Clara Net and her instrument friends from around the world, excited and empowered to create music themselves.
Sunday, March 8 - Doors at 6:00 pm, Show at 7:00 pm - $25
Women's Raga Massive
Genres: Indian Classical, Global, Raga
Hailed as "leaders of the Raga Renaissance" by the New Yorker and praised by the New York Times for "preserving the past while blurring genres in an inventive spirit," Brooklyn Raga Massive is a prolific artist collective promoting cross-cultural understanding through Indian classical and Raga-inspired music. Women's Raga Massive (WRM), an offshoot of Brooklyn Raga Massive, highlights the diverse creative work of female-identified artists, using the Indian classical music tradition as a framework to improvise and draw together influences from the diverse cultures of Brooklyn. WRM presents an evening of poetry, narrative, and sound featuring readings by poet Sham-e-Ali Nayeem, accompanied by tabla player Roshni Samlal and cellist Amali Premawardhana, and author Kavita Das, accompanied by STARR Ensemble - whose music blends Indian classical, jazz, Western classical, and bluegrass - in a tribute to celebrated Hindustani vocalist Lakshmi Shankar. Join them for a showcase of the vast diasporic multiplicity within the identity of the Indian woman on this International Women's Day.
Tuesday, March 10 - Doors at 7:00 pm, Show at 8:00 pm - $25
A/V 360: Fritz Lang's Metropolis
Screening and Live Score with Metropolis Ensemble and Ricardo Romaniero
Genres: Film, Live Scoring, Electronic, Contemporary Classical, Sonic Experimentalism
Grammy-nominated chamber orchestra Metropolis Ensemble makes its National Sawdust debut with a special screening of iconic silent film Metropolis (1927), featuring a live original score by composer and electronic artist Ricardo Romaneiro. The German expressionist science-fiction classic directed by Fritz Lang, Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia in which wealthy industrialists and business magnates reign from high-rise towers, while underground-dwelling workers operate the great machines that power the city. The film is now viewed as an accusative warning about the "profound impact technological progress has...as a subjugating and corrupting" influence over human society (Lane Roth, Film Quarterly). Metropolis performs Romaneiro's score in conjunction with an electro-acoustic jazz trio featuring saxophone prodigy Immanuel Wilkins, clarinetist Narek Arutyunian, and foley percussionist Keita Ogawa. Romaneiro and sound designer Leo Leite use Meyer Sound's Constellation and Spacemap audio systems, newly installed at National Sawdust, to immerse audience members in the exaggerated mise-en-scène of Metropolis, from futuristic cityscapes to an enormous Gothic cathedral, reproducing Lang's pioneering visual innovations in sound.
Thursday, March 12 - Doors at 7:00 pm, Show at 8:00 pm - $18
Rosehardt
Genres: Broadway, R&B, Pop, Celebrity
Self-produced R&B/hip-hop artist and actor Rosehardt is a spellbinding lyricist, equally capable of heartrending, emotionally precise verses and soaring, pleading hooks. Having garnered attention from Pitchfork, Pigeons & Planes, Village Voice, and more, Rosehardt's songs are earnest self-portraits of a young black artist, rooted in gospel and black folk music. After a Broadway debut in Tony-nominated play Choir Boy and a leading role in highly-anticipated HBO series Betty, Rosehardt returns to music with a special night of brand new, unreleased songs, featuring a full live band, visual projections, and some extra special guests.
Friday, March 13 - Doors at 7:00 pm, Show at 8:00 pm - $29
Saturday, March 14 - Doors at 7:00 pm, Show at 8:00 pm - $29
JACK Quartet performs John Zorn's Complete String Quartet Cycle
Genres: Contemporary Classical, Chamber Music
JACK Quartet, hailed by The New York Times as the "nation's most important quartet," perform the full cycle of string quartets by seminal avant-garde composer John Zorn over two nights. The first night of the program will include the works Cat O'Nine Tails, The Dead Man, Memento Mori and Kol Nidre, while the second night features Necronomicon, The Unseen, The Alchemist and The Remedy of Fortune. JACK Quartet is one of the most acclaimed, renowned, and respected groups performing today. JACK has maintained an unwavering commitment to their mission of performing and commissioning new works, giving voice to under-heard composers, and cultivating an ever-greater sense of openness toward contemporary classical music. Over the past season, they have been selected as Musical America's 2018 "Ensemble of the Year," named to WQXR's "19 for 19 Artists to Watch," and awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant. The quartet has worked with artists such as Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Julia Wolfe, George Lewis, Chaya Czernowin, and Simon Steen-Andersen, and more.
Sunday, March 15 - Doors at 6:00 pm, Show at 7:00 pm - $20
Jeffrey Zeigler and Dai Matsuoka: We Were Fridays - A Work-in-Progress
Genres: Dance, Puppetry, Theater, Japan
Butoh dance and puppetry meet adventurous improvisations for cello in We Were Fridays, a new interdisciplinary collaboration featuring acclaimed cellist and National Sawdust Artist-in-Residence Jeffrey Zeigler and Butoh master Dai Matsuoka. The result of a 3-day workshop at National Sawdust, We Were Fridays is a story of restlessness, identity, forbidden love, and reconciliation tracing threads from Japan to the Deep South to Philadelphia to New York. This work-in-progress suggests that, emotionally and physically, our pasts live within us.
Thursday, March 19 - Doors at 6:45 pm, Artist Talk at 7:15 pm, Show at 8:00 pm - $25
Kinds of Kings: Isabelle O'Connell, Adam Holmes and Nicole Patrick:
Equilibrium and Disturbance: Works by Gemma Peacocke and Cassie Weiland
Genres: Contemporary Classical, Sonic Experimentalism, New Music
SEASON 5 NATIONAL SAWDUST ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE
Composer collective Kinds of Kings, a group of "distinguished young creators who work in diverse styles" (The New Yorker), present Equilibrium and Disturbance, an evening of new music for piano, percussion, and electronics featuring world premieres by Gemma Peacocke, one of the group's co-founders, and Cassie Wieland, one of its inaugural Bouman Fellows. These electroacoustic works make use of National Sawdust's state-of-the-art Spacemap and Constellation systems from Meyer Sound to envelop listeners in ghostly granular textures, warm analog synths, and haunting vocal samples. This evening is a part of Kinds of Kings' yearlong project as Artists-in-Residence at National Sawdust, also titled Equilibrium and Disturbance.
Friday, March 20 - Doors at 7:00 pm, Show at 8:00 pm - $25 - Tickets on Sale 2/7
Anna Meredith
Genres: Pop, New Music, Electronic
Described by Pitchfork as "one of the most innovative voices in British Music," Anna Meredith is a genre-defying composer and producer whose work straddles the worlds of contemporary classical, art pop, electronica, and experimental rock. She brings her second studio album, FIBS, to National Sawdust. Arriving three and a half years on from the release of her Scottish Album of the Year Award-winning debut studio album Varmints, FIBS is 45 minutes of technicolor maximalism and rhythmic reinvention, boasting a visceral richness and unparalleled accessibility. FIBS is Varmints 2.0, an overhauled and updated version of the composer's sound-world. FIBS, says Meredith, are "lies - but nice friendly lies, little stories and constructions and daydreams and narratives that you make for yourself or you tell yourself." They can be a source of comfort and excitement, intrigue, and endless entertainment.
Saturday, March 21 - Doors at 7:00 pm, Show at 8:00 pm - $30
The Hum Presents An Evening with Kimbra Featuring Little Kruta
Genres: Pop, Singer/Songwriter
NEARING SELL OUT
In the latest edition of the female and nonbinary series The Hum at National Sawdust, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Kimbra, known for both her enormous 2011 hit with Gotye, "Somebody I Used to Know" and her three solo albums, teams up with 25-piece multi-genre orchestra Little Kruta on new arrangements of her songs by cellist and producer Kristine Kruta for an intimate, one-time-only collaboration (featuring an entirely female version of Little Kruta).
Wednesday, March 25 - Doors at 6:00 pm, Show at 7:00 pm
Dan Weiss and Miles Okazaki - Presented by John Zorn's Stone Commissioning Series
Genres: New Music, Jazz
John Zorn's Stone Commissioning Series celebrates The Stone, Zorn's revolutionary venue "dedicated to the experimental and avant-garde," which served as a vital spot for new music in the East Village for over a decade and now continues in the Glass Box Theatre at the New School. Held on the last Wednesday of every month, National Sawdust honors the spirit of The Stone, hosting artists selected by John Zorn presenting world premieres of new works. This month's installment of the Stone Commissioning Series features drummer and composer Dan Weiss with guitarist Miles Okazaki.
Thursday, March 26 - Doors at 7:00 pm, Show at 8:00 pm
The Revolution, VOL. 48:
Sonic with The Side Project, Ajada Reigns, ZooBerries, Mellissa McMillan, Kumbayaaaaaaa
Genres: Pop, Rock, R&B, Electronic, Hip Hop
The Revolution is a performance series highlighting Brooklyn & Harlem based artists + musicians that not only represent the core of independent pop culture but who currently stand in the breeding ground of evolution within their genre. This local musical movement empowers community, change, and activism through performance and unity amongst the arts. Once a month, three different artists showcasing three different genres have a chance to spread love, light, and awareness through their music and their stories. This series supports revolutionary artistry and how important music is for healing in all aspects of life. Tonight's performance features sets from alternative soul singer (and the evening's host) Sonic, pop neo-soul combo The Side Project, political soul vocalist Ajada Reigns, multi-national funk combo ZooBerries, singer/songwriter Melissa McMillan and spoken word stylist Kumbayaaaaaaa.
Friday, March 27 - Doors at 7:00 pm, Show at 8:00 pm - $20
Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh and Dan Trueman - Presented by The Irish Arts Center
Genres: Irish, Global Folk
Master fiddlers Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, of Irish trad supergroup The Gloaming, and Dan Trueman, Professor of Music at Princeton, launch their new album The Fate of Bones - an austere, otherworldly follow-up to their 2014 debut Laghdú - with a special duo performance. Their music stretches and abstracts the DNA of Norwegian and Irish fiddling, resulting in something new, sparse, and stunning. They both play a 10-string fiddle called the hardanger d'amore, a recent invention closely related to the ornate Hardanger fiddles of Norwegian folk music. Trueman and Ó Raghallaigh have collaborated with award-winning Irish graphic designer Rossi McAuley to reimagine what album artwork can be: in this album launch, the artwork becomes part of the performance itself. Mounted in a custom-made Irish oak frame, the artwork acts as a meditation device and a score for the players while they tune and play.
Saturday, March 28 - Doors at 6:00 pm, Show at 7:00 pm - $25
Lucy Dhegrae - The Processing Series: I Was Breathing
Genres: Contemporary Classical, New Music
SEASON 5 NATIONAL SAWDUST ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE
The Processing Series, from vocalist and 2019-2020 Artist-in-Residence Lucy Dhegrae, was sprung from a prompt to four composers: write a piece for voice that deals with an aspect of trauma recovery. This four-part concert series features works by Eve Beglarian, Angélica Negrón, Osnat Netzer, and Katherine Young, written for and performed by Lucy Dhegrae. The third concert in The Processing Series asks: What is the daily at-home experience of a body holding PTSD? Works by Yoko Ono, Pauline Oliveros, Alison Knowles, Pamela Z, Meredith Monk, Kate Soper, and Luciano Berio explore themes of self-care and domesticity. Interludes that draw from self-defense classes, the writings of Audre Lorde, and EMDR therapy weave through the evening, culminating in the world premiere of How to Hold by Katherine Young, which combines several healing modes (EMDR, meditation, physical vibration, group therapy) in an instruction-based score for voice, violin, percussion, and electronics.
Sunday, March 29 - Doors at 6:30 pm, Show at 7:00 pm - $25
Daniel Pioro and Valgeir Sigurðsson: Dust
Genres: New Music, Contemporary Classical
British violinist Daniel Pioro and Icelandic composer and producer Valgeir Sigurðsson come together for a set that draws inspiration from their shared love of textured, fractured sound, and the grey areas between noise and melody. Inhabiting a sound world that blurs the acoustic and the electronic, Pioro and Sigurðsson intersperse new work with music from long ago, drawing particular inspiration from each one's most recent records, Dust (2019) and Dissonance (2017), respectively.
For their most up to date lineup information, please visit https://nationalsawdust.org/calendar/
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