Anthony Braxton to Premiere New Opera TRILLIUM J at Roulette, 4/17-19

Esteemed American composer, musician, educator, recording artist and philosopher Anthony Braxton continues his 69thbirthday season with the premiere of his latest multimedia opera, Trillium J (The Non-Unconfessionables) at Roulette in Brooklyn April 17-19. The semi-staged, four-act opera is being presented as part of the two-weekend Tri-Centric Music Festival produced by Braxton's Tri-Centric Foundation, where audiences-or "friendly-experiencers," as the prolific MacArthur Fellow, Doris Duke Performing Artist and recently-named NEA Jazz Master likes to refer to his listeners-will have the option of experiencing two acts at a time on two separate evenings, or attending a full day with the first two acts presented as a matinee and the second two acts presented that same evening.

Crucial to the mission of Braxton's Tri-Centric Foundation is the cultivation of a vibrant community of creative musicians, of which Trillium J-with its cast of 12 vocalists, 12 instrumental soloists, two dancers and 37-piece orchestra-is a shining example. Led by a team that includes Braxton (composer, librettist, conductor), Acushla Bastible (director), Chris Jonas(video director) and Taylor Ho Bynum (producer), the production brings together over 60 artists to explore new ideas of opera and performance. The work clearly demonstrates the technical rigor and improvisational magic for which Braxton is famed, but also features broad humor, sly satire and a broad appreciation of the unexpected. Philosophical insight is balanced with moments of absurdist surprise-offering multiple levels of appreciation to listeners both familiar with Braxton's canon and those new to his work.

Following the premiere the project will move into the studio to be recorded and released as a CD/DVD box set in the spring of 2015. The set will incorporate both live video and animation in order to fully document this massive work.

Braxton has identified the Trillium opera cycle as the ongoing project closest to his heart. Once complete, he envisions an interlinked "opera complex" of 36 acts where each chapter also exists as a stand-alone opera. Three have been performed so far: Trillium A (one act, fully staged in San Diego in 1985), Trillium M (two acts, in a concert performance in London in 1994) and Trillium R (four acts, fully staged in NYC in 1996). The performances of Trillium M and Trillium R both resulted in CD releases, and the four-act Trillium E was recorded in the studio in 2010 and commercially released the following year. Braxton is currently in the final stages of Trillium X (four acts), which will bring him more than halfway to his ultimate goal.

The settings of the various acts of the Trillium cycle range from corporate board meetings to interplanetary space travel.Trillium J includes portrayals of the completion of the intercontinental railroad, a garden of anthropomorphized animals accused of corruption and fraud, a murder mystery in a haunted house and two trials-one by gangsters and one by jury. Each act occurs within these specific dramatic contexts, but there is no overarching narrative structure; rather, the interest is in how the characters interact within the parameters of these situations. However, the "apparent story" is just one of three levels; underlying each act are the "philosophical" and "mystical" dynamics that so deeply inform Braxton's libretto and music.

"Events in this sound world attempt to act out a given central concept from many different points of view," Braxton explains. "There is no single story line in Trillium because there is no point of focus being generated. Instead the audience is given a multi-level event state that fulfills vertical and horizontal strategies (objectives). The wonder of this approach brings a fresh vitality to the music and will allow for a broad range of interpretations. I believe that the medium of opera is directly relevant to cultural alignment and evolution."

Taking a cue from Braxton's "Tri-Axium" philosophical writings exploring the "partials" of his life's work-music (sound logic) systems, thought (philosophical) systems, and ritual and ceremonial (belief) systems-the decision to publicly celebrate his 69th birthday (a number divisible by three) is a natural one. The season continues through the fall of 2014 with the release of a series of CD box sets of new material: Trio (New Haven) 2013, a 4-CD set of Braxton performing with two of contemporary improvisation's leading drummers, Tom Rainey and Tomas Fujiwara; 12 Duets (DCWM) 2012, a 12-CD set presenting Braxton in dialogue with three distinctive duet partners: violinist Erica Dicker, vocalist Kyoko Kitamura and bassoonistKatherine Young; and 3 Compositions (EEMHM) 2011, a 3-CD set documenting Braxton's newest composition system, Echo Echo Mirror House Music, featuring Braxton's long-running septet with Taylor Ho Bynum (brass), Jessica Pavone(viola), Mary Halvorson (guitar), Jay Rozen (tuba), Carl Testa (bass) and Aaron Siegel (percussion). More information on these recordings is available separately.

Photo credit: Michael Weintrob

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