Bang on a Can and The Jewish Museum to Present La Mar Enfortuna

Bang on a Can and the Jewish Museum's 2017-18 concert season, which focuses on pioneering female artists, continues on November 9 with a performance by La Mar Enfortuna.

Sensuous and lyrical, La Mar Enfortuna is a modern exploration of lost and forgotten Sephardic melodies, creatively arranged and performed in various languages including Arabic and Spanish.

Long-time collaborators Jennifer Charles and Oren Bloedow, known also as the core of the acclaimed NY-based band Elysian Fields, lead an all-star cast on modern and ancient instruments, incorporating the sounds of jazz, folk, Middle Eastern, and Latin music.

Charles explains, "Often Sephardic music made today has a rather liturgical quality, an 'early music' stiffness of sound to it; we wanted to bring the spirit of the land and the people back into it, to give the music a more human and soulful quality. It's really just being us, infusing that ancient stuff with our own style and spirit."

The performance is presented in conjunction with Modigliani Unmasked, the Jewish Museum's current exhibition of early drawings by Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920)-many of which are being shown for the first time in the United States.

Modigliani Unmasked illuminates the artist's heritage as an Italian-Sephardic Jew shortly after he arrived in Paris in 1906, when the city was still roiling with anti-Semitism after the long-running tumult of the Dreyfus Affair and the influx of foreign emigres. Modigliani's background helped forge a complex cultural identity that rested in part on the ability of Italian Jews historically to assimilate and embrace diversity. The exhibition shows that Modigliani's art cannot be fully understood without acknowledging the ways the artist responded to the social realities that he confronted in the unprecedented artistic melting pot of Paris.

Jennifer Charles' career has been illustrious, varied, and unique in many artistic endeavors. After her graduation from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, Charles appeared in Off-Broadway shows and curated a performance/poetry series at the original Knitting Factory and at The Stone. Besides co-leading the bands La Mar Enfortuna and Elysian Fields, Charles co-composed with Jonny Klimek and Reinhold Heil (Run Lola Run) for the film Tangled, co-wrote and sang with the band Lovage, and produced Oren Bloedow's solo album She Goes With me to a Blossom World. Charles channeled Emily Dickinson in the production of Lightning at Our Feet, inspired by the 19th-century poet, under the direction of Obie winner Bob McGrath, with filmmaker Bill Morrison and composer Michael Gordon, at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music's Next Wave Festival in 2008.

This season's focus on pioneering female artists continues on February 22, 2018 with Iva Bittová and Tomeka Reid Quartet on April 27, 2018.

The 2017-2018 season marks the fourth year of the Jewish Museum and Bang on a Can's partnership, producing dynamic musical performances inspired by the Museum's diverse slate of exhibitions.

Tickets for the November 9 program are $18 general public; $15 students and senior citizens; and $12 for Jewish Museum members and Bang on a Can list members, and include exhibition admission prior to the performance. Further program and ticket information is available by calling 212.423.3337 or at TheJewishMuseum.org/calendar. The Jewish Museum is located at Fifth Avenue and 92nd Street, NYC.

Bang on a Can is dedicated to making music new. Founded by composers Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe, who curatored the first Marathon concert in 1987 and remain co-Artistic Directors to this day, Bang on a Can has been creating an international community dedicated to innovative music, wherever it is found. With adventurous programs, it commissions new composers; performs, presents, and records new work; develops new audiences; and educates the musicians of the future. "Bang on a Can plays "a central role in fostering a new kind of audience that doesn't concern itself with boundaries. If music is made with originality and integrity, these listeners will come" (The New York Times). Current projects include the annual Bang on a Can Marathon; The People's Commissioning Fund, a membership program to commission emerging composers; the Bang on a Can All-Stars, who tour to major festivals and concert venues around the world; the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA, a professional development program for young musicians; Asphalt Orchestra, Bang on a Can's extreme street band; and Found Sound Nation, a musical outreach program partnering with the U.S. State Department to create OneBeat, a program that bridges the gulf between young American musicians and young musicians from developing countries. For more information, visit www.bangonacan.org.

Located on New York City's famed Museum Mile, the Jewish Museum is a distinctive hub for art and Jewish culture for people of all backgrounds. Founded in 1904, the Museum was the first institution of its kind in the United States and is one of the oldest Jewish museums in the world. Devoted to exploring art and Jewish culture from ancient to contemporary, the Museum offers intellectually engaging exhibitions and programs, and maintains a unique collection of nearly 30,000 works of art, ceremonial objects, and media reflecting the global Jewish experience over more than 4,000 years.

Location: 1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street, New York City
Hours: Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, 11 am to 5:45 pm; Thursday, 11 am to 8 pm; and Friday, 11 am to 4 pm
Admission: $15.00 for adults, $12.00 for senior citizens, $7.50 for students, free for visitors 18 and under and Jewish Museum members. Pay What You Wish on Thursdays from 5 pm to 8 pm. Free on Saturdays.
Information: The public may call 212.423.3200 or visit TheJewishMuseum.org