MUSIQA to Present Mark Flood: Gratest Hits at CAMH This May

Musiqa, two-time winner of the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, presents a free LOFT concert, Mark Flood: Gratest Hits at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston on Thursday, May 5 at 6:30 PM.

The evening's program, which was created to complement the deliberately misspelled exhibit of the same name, features four works for saxophones and showcases members of the saxophone studio at the University of Houston, led by Musiqa regular and audience favorite Dan Gelok. The program will also feature two works for saxophone quartet: Pitch Black, a work for quartet and ghetto-blaster, is by noted Dutch "

The evening's program, which was created to complement the deliberately misspelled exhibit of the same name, features four works for saxophones and showcases members of the saxophone studio at the University of Houston, led by Musiqa regular and audience favorite Dan Gelok. The program will also feature two works for saxophone quartet: Pitch Black, a work for quartet and ghetto-blaster, is by noted Dutch "avant pop" composer Jacob TV (the stage name of Jacob ter Veldhuis) and includes a soundtrack with "spoken word by jazz icons Billie Holiday and Chet Baker, death row inmates, and religious fanatics in Times Square." The evening will conclude with the world premiere of a new Musiqa commission: Joel Love's Saxophone Quartet. Love, Musiqa's current composer+intern, has of late made a name for himself writing music for saxophones; another quartet, In memoriam, was performed at Chamber Music America's National Conference in New York, and his saxophone octet was performed at the North American Saxophone Alliance National Conference.

Gelok's talents will be put on display in Tunisian composer Christian Lauba'sJungle, a work for solo saxophone; the work combines rapid passages with a variety of virtuosic extended techniques to create a veritable tour de force. Also on the program is Walk the Walk, a work for baritone sax and percussion by composer Michael Daugherty, whose music is heavily influenced by American popular music. Daugherty notes that the work "[uses] a deconstructed fragment from the Temptations' My Girl" and draws on "virtuosic Detroit blues, rock, jazz and Latin Motown musical grooves."

The final program of the season of Musiqa's LOFT series of informal, intimate concerts, Mark Flood: Gratest Hits is presented in collaboration with the CAMH exhibition of the same name; the exhibition features a survey of collages, paintings and sculptures by Houston-based artist Mark Flood, whose works "serve to critique exuberantly the perverse ethics of the art world." Flood, whose artistic voice was developed during his time in the punk rock band Culturcide, has produced work which is considered "irreverent, iconic, and self-deprecating," much like the works on Musiqa's program.

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Musiqa's Mark Flood: Gratest Hits

Thursday, May 5

Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

5216 Montrose Blvd.

Houston, TX 77006

6:30 PM - Performance

Admission is free

ON THE PROGRAM:

Michael Daugherty: Walk the Walk for baritone saxophone and percussion

Jacob TV: Pitch Black for saxophone quartet and ghetto-blaster

Christian Lauba: Jungle for solo saxophone

Joel Love: Saxophone Quartet (world premieres)

FEATURING:

Dan Gelok: Soprano saxophone

Matt Singletary: Alto Saxophone

Seth McAdow: Tenor Saxophone

Evan Withner: Bari Saxophone

Blake Wilkins, percussion

Musiqa (www.musiqahouston.org) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the performance of contemporary classical music. Founded in 2002 and led by four composers, Musiqa aims to enrich and inspire the community through programs that integrate contemporary music with other modern art forms. Musiqa celebrates modern creative arts through interdisciplinary concerts that highlight modern music and its connections to literature, film, dance, art, and more. With its innovative collaborations and educational programming, Musiqa strives to make modern repertoire accessible and vital to audiences of all ages and musical backgrounds.

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