Yarn/Wire Unveils 2023-2024 International Season

Yarn/Wire is a New York-based percussion and piano quartet (Sae Hashimoto and Russell Greenberg, percussion; Laura Barger and Julia Den Boer, pianos) dedicated to the promotion of creative, experimental new music.

Yarn/Wire's 2023-24 season exemplifies its expansive reach, musical breadth, and international acclaim with a German debut at the prestigious Donaueschingen Musiktage; a residency at IRCAM (Paris) and performances at the Eclat Festival (Stuttgart, Germany); an appearance at the Bergen International Festival (Norway) with JACK Quartet; shows at Monday Evening Concerts (Los Angeles, USA) and The Lab (San Francisco, USA); and returns to Miller Theatre, Time:Spans Festival, Italian Academy at Columbia University, and Pioneer Works (NYC). Yarn/Wire will also perform Øyvind Torvund's children's piece, The Sound of the Forest at the Ultima Festival in Norway. Yarn/Wire holds educational and performance residencies this season at Emory University, Georgia Tech, and UC Berkeley.

Since its formation in 2005, the ensemble has garnered widespread acclaim for its steadfast commitment to adventurous compositions and unique collaborative approach to music making. With a worldwide presence, Yarn/Wire strives to connect with audiences, building community to help new compositions realize their full creative potential. New York Classical Review claims, "Yarn/Wire may well be the most important new music ensemble on the classical scene today."

Yarn/Wire's season opened at the Time:Spans Festival on Thursday, August 24, 2023, performing Michaelle Lou's Furs (2017), James Diaz's negative mercury for piano, percussion, and electronics (2022-23); and the world premiere of Anthony Cheung's Tactile Values commissioned by The Earle Brown Music Foundation Charitable Trust. About the performance, ConcertoNet raved, "The ensemble for all three works was utterly fascinating... The sounds were classical paintings in themselves."

The ensemble returns to the Ultima Festival in Oslo, Norway for two performances of Øyvind Torvund's The Sound of the Forest, part of the Festival's children's day on September 17, 2023. The interactive concert with singing, animation and storytelling with narrator Silje Aker Johnsen. On May 31 and June 1, 2024, Yarn/Wire performs the piece with the JACK Quartet at the Bergen International Festival alongside Torvund's In the Clouds.

On September 20, 2023, Yarn/Wire begins a season-long collaboration with composer, improviser and artist Ben Vida, workshopping his new piece The Beat My Head Hit at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, NY. The set opens a concert by Natural Information Society featuring music from their latest album Since Time Is Gravity with Chicago saxophone legend Ari Brown. The Ensemble performs Vida's work again on December 16, 2023 at The Lab in San Francisco, California.

Yarn/Wire makes its highly anticipated German debut in two performances at the prestigious Donaueschingen Musiktage on October 21 and 22, 2023. First, Yarn/Wire joins in a celebration of NYC with composer and percussionist Tyshawn Sorey, saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, and trumpeter Peter Evans. Later, the ensemble takes part in a program of world premieres by Olga Neuwirth, Giulia Lorusso, and Rohan Chander (a.k.a. Bakudi Scream), recent winner of the Gaudeamus prize. During the same program, Yarn/Wire and Annea Lockwood present the European premiere of their collaborative work and album, Into the Vanishing Point.

Monday Evening Concerts in Los Angeles, California presents Yarn/Wire on December 9, 2023 in Andrew McIntosh's Little Jimmy, written for Yarn/Wire and recorded for a 2022 album on Kairos, which The New York Times described as conjuring "a shimmering, shivering, seething, pounding sound world." Yarn/Wire's musical relationship with Andrew McIntosh has lasted over a decade, and Little Jimmy features field recordings of a Californian wilderness that has since been decimated by wildfire. The sonic landscapes of the forest, mountains, wind, and birds are echoed by Yarn/Wire's soundscape of piano and percussion, inviting meditative reflections about humans and nature that both connect and contrast the two worlds. Yarn/Wire conducts a residency at University California, Berkeley from December 11-15, 2023.

In the new year, Yarn/Wire appears at Stuttgart, Germany's Eclat Festival from January 31-February 3, 2024 with large new works by Eric Wubbels and Christoph Ogierman. After returning to the U.S. for five days in residence at both Emory University and Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Georgia from February 7-11, 2024, the Ensemble returns to Europe for an eight day residency and concerts at IRCAM from February 17-24, 2024 workshopping a new piece by Danish composer Simon Steen Andersen.

Back in NYC, Yarn/Wire performs in a Miller Theatre Composer Portrait celebrating composer Sarah Hennies with the MIVOS Quartet on April 4, 2024 at Columbia University. The groups perform the U.S. premiere of Hennies' Borrowed Light and the world premiere of a new work commissioned by Miller Theatre. On April 16, 2024, The Italian Academy at Columbia University presents Yarn/Wire in a world premiere by Andrea Agostini and Zeno Baldi's Laminar Flow.

Yarn/Wire's annual Currents Series in May 2024 features the premieres of ensemble-commissioned works by Jad Atoui, Bryan Jacobs, and Seong Ae Kim.

From June 15-23, 2024, Yarn/Wire's International Institute and Festival gives composers and performers interested in exploring the collaborative side of contemporary music the opportunity to study with and interact with the ensemble and leading mentors such as Tyshawn Sorey, Vicky Chow, Ann Cleare, Wang Lu, Klaus Lang, Catherine Lamb, Michelle Lou, Peter Evans, and Eduardo Leandro. Affordable, accessible, and open to all instruments, the institute has been organized around a mission to challenge and deepen our understanding of performance, scholarship and practice. The Yarn/Wire Institute Festival provides both participants and the public a week of free performances on Long Island and NYC. Additional details available in fall 2023.

Yarn/Wire 2023/2024 Season

August 24, 2023

Time:Spans Festival
New York, New York
Link: https://timespans.org/concert/yarn-wire-cheung-diaz-lou/

Program:
Premieres of new works by James Diaz, Anthony Cheung, Michelle Lou

September 17, 2023

Ultima Festival Children's Day
Oslo, Norway
Link: www.ultima.no/en/barnas-ultima-dag-ultima-childrens-day

Program:
Øyvind Torvund's - The Sound of the Forest

September 20, 2023

Pioneer Works Presents Yarn/Wire and Ben Vida, opening for Natural Information Society
Brooklyn, NY
Link: https://pioneerworks.org/programs/false-harmonics-17-natural-information-society-and-ben-vida-feat-yarn-wire

Program:
Ben Vida - The Beat My Head Hit

October 21-22, 2023

Donaueschingen Festival (Yarn/Wire Debut)
Donaueschingen, Germany
Link (Oct. 21): www.swr.de/swr2/musik-klassik/donaueschinger-musiktage/veranstaltung-21-10-2023-20-uhr-8-konzert-100.html

Program:
New works by and with Tyshawn Sorey, Ingrid Laubrock, and Peter Evans

Link (Oct. 22): www.swr.de/swr2/musik-klassik/donaueschinger-musiktage/veranstaltung-22-10-2023-11-uhr-10-konzert-100.html

Program:
World Premieres by Olga Neuwirth, Annea Lockwood (European Premiere), Rohan Chander, and Giulia Lourusso

December 9, 2023

Monday Evening Concerts Presents Yarn/Wire
Los Angeles, CAProgram:
Andrew McIntosh - Little Jimmy

December 16, 2023

The Beat My Head Hit with Ben Vida at The Lab
San Francisco, CA
Link: www.thelab.org

Program:
Ben Vida - The Beat My Head Hit

December 11-15, 2023

Residency at UC Berkeley

January 31-February 3, 2024
Eclat Festival
Stuttgart, Germany

Program:
New works by Eric Wubbels and Christoph Ogierman

February 7-11, 2024

Emory University-GA Tech Residency and Concert
Atlanta, GA

February 17-24, 2024
Residency at IRCAM
Paris, France

Program:
Workshop of a new piece by Danish composer Simon Steen Andersen.

April 4, 2024

Miller Theatre Composer Portrait of Sarah Hennies with MIVOS Quartet
New York, New York
Link: www.millertheatre.com/events/sarah-hennies

Program:
Sarah Hennies - Borrowed Light (2023) [U.S. Premiere]
Sarah Hennies - new work (2023) [World Premiere, Miller Theatre Commission]

April 16, 2024

The Italian Academy at Columbia University
New York, New York

Program:
New Work by Andrea Agostini, and Zeno Baldi's Laminar Flow

May TBA, 2024
Yarn/Wire Currents
New York, NY
Link: www.yarnwire.org/currents

Program:
New music by Jad Atoui, Bryan Jacobs, Seong Ae Kim

May 31 and June 1, 2024

Bergen International Festival with JACK Quartet
Bergen, Norway
Link: www.fib.no/en/

Program:
Øyvind Torvund - In the Clouds
Øyvind Torvund - Sound of the Forest

June 15-23, 2024

Yarn/Wire International Institute and Festival
New York, NY
Link: www.yarnwire.org/institute

More About Yarn/Wire

A fixture at the world's preeminent halls and music festivals, Yarn/Wire is known for performances at Lincoln Center and Brooklyn Academy of Music (New York, USA), Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Hall (China), Dublin SoundLab (Ireland), and Monday Evening Concerts (Los Angeles, USA), plus numerous European music festivals: the Edinburgh International Festival (Scotland); Rainy Days (Luxembourg), Ultima (Norway), Transit (Belgium), Contemplus (Prague), and Wien Modern (Austria). The ensemble makes its German debut in Fall 2023 at the prestigious Donaueschingen Musiktage, showcasing its approach to collaboration in two concerts: First, Yarn/Wire joins in a celebration of NYC with composer and percussionist Tyshawn Sorey, saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, and trumpeter Peter Evans. Later, the ensemble takes part in a program of world premieres by Olga Neuwirth, Giulia Lorusso, and Rohan Chander (a.k.a. Bakudi Scream), recent winner of the Gaudeamus prize. During the same program, Yarn/Wire and Annea Lockwood present the European premiere of their collaborative work Into the Vanishing Point.

Through hundreds of commissions over 18 years, Yarn/Wire has championed composers including Annea Lockwood, Enno Poppe, Michael Gordon, George Lewis, Ann Cleare, Catherine Lamb, Tyshawn Sorey, Peter Evans, Alex Mincek, Thomas Meadowcroft, Misato Mochizuki, Sam Pluta, Tyondai Braxton, Kate Soper, and Øyvind Torvund. The ensemble enjoys collaborations with genre-bending artists such as Tristan Perich, Ben Vida, Mark Fell, Sufjan Stevens, and Pete Swanson. Their ongoing commissioning series, Yarn/Wire/Currents, serves as an incubator for new experimental music in partnership with a variety of Brooklyn-based institutions including Roulette, Blank Forms, and ISSUE Project Room.

In Spring 2023, the Ensemble premiered Sorey's multidisciplinary performance work, Be Holding, as part of their multi-year residency at Girard College in Philadelphia. Using poet Ross Gay's book-length poem inspired by Philadelphia basketball champion Julius Erving (a.k.a. "Dr. J") as its libretto, the piece explored themes of Black genius and beauty in the face of racial violence and inequities. Recent highlights also include a debut appearance at the Big Ears Festival; Michael Gordon's tour-de-force Material in Leuven, Belgium; and performances at Bowerbird (Philadelphia), The Momentary (Bentonville) and The Stone.

Yarn/Wire has recorded for the WERGO, Kairos, New Amsterdam, Northern Spy, Distributed Objects, Black Truffle, Shelter Press, Populist, and Carrier record labels, in addition to maintaining their own imprint. Recent and upcoming releases include Tonband, featuring works by Enno Poppe and Wolfgang Heiniger, on the WERGO label; Annea Lockwood's Becoming Air and Into the Vanishing with trumpeter Nate Wooley on Black Truffle Records; Yarn/Wire Currents 7 featuring works by Victoria Cheah, Zeno Baldi, and Diana Rodriguez; Marcel Zaes' Parallel Prints; the piano and percussion works of Andrew McIntosh; and many more. The 2023-2024 season brings the release of Yarn/Wire Currents 8 and 9, plus a portrait album of the works of Thomas Meadowcroft on MODE Records.

A strong advocate for education, Yarn/Wire has presented collaborative workshops, masterclasses, and residencies at Princeton University, Columbia University, Harvard University, Stanford University, Brown University, Duke University, Northwestern University, Cornell University, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Adelphi University, UC Santa Cruz, Girard College, Brandeis University, and University of Pennsylvania.

At the core of Yarn/Wire's artistic mission is its dedication to transformative work and creating unforgettable experiences. Through performances, commissions, collaborations, and mentorship initiatives, the ensemble's commitment to pushing creative boundaries leaves an impact on audiences and composers alike. For more information, please visit www.yarnwire.org.

Photo Credit: Pascal Perich

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