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2014-2015 Discover the Heartbeat of Creative Life PEAK Performances Programming History

2-7-2015

American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) and Roomful of Teeth

Office of Arts + Cultural Programming

PEAK Performances at Montclair State University

Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/peak-performances-2014-2015

Part of the Theatre and Performance Studies Commons Film byCarolineShaw videos and theuseofrecording equipmentarenot permitted.Nofood ordrinkispermitted inthetheater. In consideration ofbothaudience andperformers, pleaseturnoffall electronicdevices. Thetakingofphotographs or Duration: 1hour35 minutes,includingone15-minuteintermission. by ourpeers. Excellence fromtheNewJerseyState CouncilontheArtsforachievinghigheststandardofexcellenceasrecognized Arts andCulturalProgrammingatMontclair StateUniversityishonoredtohavebeenawardeda2015Citationof 2.3 Ritornello Fantasia no. 6inFMajor, Z. 737 Partita for8 Voices Yet Me Failed Never Blood Jesus’ Fantasia uponOneNote, Z. 745 Fantasia no. 10inEMinor, Z.741 Clarice Jensen, Yuki NumataResnick, Laura Lutzke, Ben Russell, Clarice Jensen, ACME Works ofCarolineShaw, GavinBryars,andHenryPurcell Teeth of Roomful Music Ensemble (ACME) Contemporary American Director, &Cultural Programming Wheeler,Jedediah Executive Arts CollegeDaniel Arts Gurskis, of Dean, the Dr. Cole, A. President Susan Passacaglia Courante Sarabande Allemande violin violin (2015;worldpremiereofversionforstringsandvoices) cello ArtisticDirector (2009–2012) viola (1680) Purcell (1680) (1680) (1971) ~~Intermission~~ PROGRAM Cameron Beauchamp, Dashon Burton, Avery Griffin, Eric Dudley, Virginia Warnken, Caroline Shaw, Sarah Brailey, Estelí Gomez, Brad Wells, Teeth of Roomful tenor ArtisticDirector baritone soprano soprano alto bass-baritone Henry Purcell(1659–1695) Henry alto Caroline Shaw(b.1982) Gavin Bryars (b.1943) Gavin Bryars bass

Purcell Shaw Wayne McGregor, LaurieAnderson,RomeoCastellucci,RichardAlston,SusanMarshall,FredHersch,andDavidGordon. Field byDavidLang.Inaddition,ACPhascommissionedworksBillT. Jones,KronosQuartet,JanFabre,LizLerman, Dog DaysbyDavidT. LittleandRoyceVavrek;Partch’s Harry Oedipus;andRidgeTheater’s TheDifficultyofCrossinga The LifeofClementineHunterbyRobertWilson,BerniceJohnsonReagon,Toshi Reagon,andJacquelineWoodson; dance, music,theater, andopera.UnderitssignatureseriesPeakPerformances,ACPhasproducedworkssuchasZinnias: Montclair State’s OfficeofArts&CulturalProgramming(ACP)presentsandproducesleadingartiststheworldin Press EllenJacobsAssociates Graphics PatrickFlood/pfloodesign.com Marketing/PR AssistantNoahBefeler House ManagerMaureenGrimaldi Box OfficeManagerPiersonVan Raalte Film ProjectCoordinatorOmonikeAkinyemi Production AssociateGillianP. Holmes Cultural EngagementAssistantHannahRolfes Audio VisualEngineerErikTrester ChrisHolland Lighting Supervisor RobertHermida Director ofAudienceServices Media andMarketingSpecialistAmyEstes Cultural EngagementDirectorCarrieUrbanic Production/Facility ManagerJ.RyanGraves Producer JessicaWasilewski Executive ProducerJillDombrowski Executive DirectorJedediahWheeler Programming Cultural & Arts of Office To viewourcompleteseason andformoreinformation,visit Mochary The HonorableMary Robert andHollyGregory Alison andJamesT. Cirenza National DanceProject(NDP)oftheNew EnglandFoundationfortheArts Discover JerseyArts a PartnerAgencyoftheNationalEndowmentforArts The NewJerseyStateCouncilontheArts/DepartmentofState, The AndrewW. MellonFoundation The 2014/15seasonismadepossibleinpartbyfundsfrom: Jack andJeanetteSullivan Margaret andHermanSokol Montclair StateUniversityAlumniAssociation George andLindaHiltzik Andrew Constable Robert andBarbaraConstable Doris andFelixBeck Automatic DataProcessing ______Matthew Mochary Alexandra andSethBergstein I. MichaelKasser Mochary Mary Founders Alexander KasserTheater Major Donors Staff @peakperfs Production RunCrewJesseHaack Program EditorSusanR.Case University ArtGalleriesTeresa Rodriguez Broadcast andDigitalMediaFacilitiesNickTzanis Theatre andDanceRandyMugleston School ofCommunicationandMediaMerrillBrown John J.CaliSchoolofMusicJonRobertCart Art andDesignAissaDeebi Program AssistantKiloloKumanyika Executive AssistanttotheDeanAlysonThelin College AdministratorZacrahS.Battle Director ofAdministrationMarieSparks Assistant DeanLindaD.Davidson Associate DeanRonaldL.Sharps Dean DanielGurskis Arts the of College Josh andJudyWeston Wachovia Bank Schering-Plough ResearchInstitute The PrudentialInsuranceCompanyofAmerica Audrey V. Leef The HillierGroup Jean Hall Grace Lyon Concialdi John andCynthiaBarnes Bank ofAmerica Arlene Allen Benefactors peakperfs.org.

Works ofCaroline Shaw, Gavin Bryars, and Henry Purcell Teeth of Roomful (ACME) Ensemble Music Contemporary American Photo by Mark Shelby Perry

Alexander KasserTheater 7,February 2015 8:00pm Photo by Nicholas Whitman reconsider the colors and small details with every Ritornello 2.3 to perform barefoot whenever possible). Shaw loves Chen Yi, and more. ACME has also collaborated performance. Allemande opens with the organized the color yellow, avocados, otters, salted chocolate, with bands and artists including Grizzly Bear, Low, Program Notes chaos of square dance calls overlapping with Ritornello 2.3 is the newest iteration of a long-term kayaking, Beethoven opus 74, Mozart opera, Matmos, Craig Wedren, Micachu & The Shapes, technical wall drawing directions of the artist Sol musical project, Ritornello, that has its roots in the the smell of rosemary, and the sound of a janky and composers/performers Hauschka, Jóhann In 2013, I gave myself a challenge to write the same Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet 17th-century music of Monteverdi and its recent music for voices and for strings, separately. It was a LeWitt, suddenly congealing into a bright, angular mandolin. Jóhannsson, Max Richter, and Dustin O’Halloran. In 1971, when I lived in London, I was working with tune that never keeps its feet on the ground for very branches in experiments with Roomful of Teeth and way for me to consider both the history of early viol ACME. and vocal music as well as my own relationship to a friend, Alan Power, on a film about people living long. There are allusions to the movement’s intended American Contemporary Music ACME was founded by cellist Clarice Jensen, my two main musical arms—my voice and my violin. rough in the area around Elephant and Castle and simulation of motion and space in the short phrases conductor Donato Cabrera, and publicist Christina Waterloo Station. In the course of being filmed, of text throughout, which are sometimes sung and Sometimes it is the smallest things that return— Ensemble (ACME) Jensen and has received support from The Aaron This became Ritornello 2.0, a 30-minute work in again and again and again. Sometimes repetition some people broke into drunken song—sometimes sometimes embedded as spoken texture. The American Contemporary Music Ensemble Copland Fund for Music, New Music USA’s Cary two versions, one for Roomful of Teeth and one for a enhances meaning. Reinforces meaning. Depletes bits of opera, sometimes sentimental ballads—and (ACME), celebrating its 10th season in 2014–2015, New Music Performance Fund, and the Greenwall string quartet subset of ACME. it, warps it. Envelopes it. The simplest words, one, who in fact did not drink, sang a religious song, Sarabande’s quiet restraint in the beginning is is dedicated to the outstanding performance of Foundation. acmemusic.org. when repeated aloud, develop a strangeness that is “Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet.” This was not punctured in the middle by an ecstatic, belted melody masterworks from the 20th and 21st centuries, Tonight’s performance is a dream of mine—a delightful and chilling at the same time. Repetition ultimately used in the film, and I was given all the that resolves quietly at the end, followed soon after primarily the work of American composers. The collaboration between ACME and Roomful of folds and unfolds a signifier until the relationship Roomful of Teeth Teeth, my closest musical friends and partners unused sections of tape, including this one. by the Inuit-inspired hocketed breaths of Courante. ensemble presents fresh work by living composers between the signifier and the signified breaks Founded in 2009 by Brad Wells, Roomful of Teeth is of the last five years. It was with ACME that I first A wordless quotation of the American folk hymn alongside the classics of the contemporary. ACME’s down, articulated best in fragments and distilled to a vocal project dedicated to mining the expressive discovered Gavin Bryars’s Jesus’ Blood Never Failed When I played it at home, I found that his singing “Shining Shore” appears at first as a musical non dedication to new music extends across genres and something nonverbal. Elusive semiotic theory aside, potential of the human voice. Through study with Me Yet; played the music of Jóhann Jóhannsson, was in tune with my piano, and I improvised a simple sequitur but later recombines with the rhythmic has earned them a reputation among both classical this, I think, is where some of our music comes from. masters from nonclassical traditions the world over, Lutoslawski, and Cage; and toured in a van with accompaniment. I noticed, too, that the first section breaths as this longest movement is propelled to and rock crowds. NPR calls them “contemporary And maybe this is why some music keeps coming the eight-voice ensemble continually expands its A Winged Victory for the Sullen (recently on the of the song—13 bars in length—formed an effective its final gasp. Passacaglia is a set of variations on music dynamos,” and the New York Times describes back. vocabulary of singing techniques and, through an stage of Peak Performances with 2014’s Atomos). loop that repeated in a slightly unpredictable way. I a repeated chord progression, first experimenting ACME’s performances as “vital,” “brilliant,” took the tape loop to Leicester, where I was working simply with vowel timbre, then expanding into and “electrifying.” Time Out New York reports, ongoing commissioning project, invites today’s With Teeth, beginning in 2009, I quite literally began Ritornello does not exist in a single, finished form. in the Fine Art Department, and copied the loop onto a fuller texture with the return of the Sol LeWitt “[Artistic Director Clarice] Jensen has earned a brightest composers to create a new repertoire discovering my own voice through the singing It’s designed intentionally as a general project that a continuous reel of tape, thinking about perhaps text. At Passacaglia’s premiere in 2009, there was sterling reputation for her fresh, inclusive mix of without borders. traditions of others far and near, and alongside could expand and contract like an accordion (or be adding an orchestrated accompaniment to this. The spontaneous applause and cheering at the explosive minimalists, maximalists, eclectics and newcomers.” these dear friends I wrote and performed the four unfolded and folded and unfolded again, slightly door of the recording room opened onto one of the return of the D-major chord near the end—so feel ACME has performed at leading venues across the The ensemble gathers annually at Massachusetts movements that comprise Partita. differently each time). I know that it will be something large painting studios, and I left the tape copying, free to holler or clap any time if you feel like it. country including (Le) Poisson Rouge, Carnegie Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA), I return to, again and again, for many years. where they have studied Tuvan throat singing, Threaded throughout this concert are several of with the door open, while I went to have a cup of Hall, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Joyce Theater, yodeling, belting, Inuit throat singing, Korean Purcell’s Fantasias for Viols, published in 1680. coffee. When I came back I found the normally lively Of the premiere of Partita, New York magazine wrote —Caroline Shaw Noguchi Museum, Whitney Museum, Guggenheim P’ansori, Georgian singing, Sardinian cantu a tenòre, Viols come in many ranges, much like their close room unnaturally subdued. People were moving that I had “discovered a lode of the rarest commodity Museum, Columbia University’s Miller Theatre, the Hindustani music, and Persian classical singing with relatives in the violin family, and were often combined about much more slowly than usual, and a few were in contemporary music: joy.” And it is with joy that Metropolitan Museum of Art, Symphony Space, some of the world’s top performers and teachers of in consorts—the predecessor to the modern string sitting alone, quietly weeping. this piece is meant to be received in years to come. Stanford Live, UCLA’s Royce Hall, Virginia Tech, the styles. Commissioned composers include Rinde quartet. As instrumental music making became Newman Center at the University of Denver, Flynn —Caroline Shaw Eckert, Judd Greenstein, Caleb Burhans, Merrill more popular in private homes throughout the I was puzzled until I realized that the tape was still Center, South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center, Garbus (of tUnE-yArDs), William Brittelle, Sarah 16th and 17th centuries, the viol consort was the playing and that they had been overcome by the old Montclair State’s Peak Performances, and All Kirkland Snider, Missy Mazzoli, Sam Amidon, and perfect medium for composers and performers to man’s singing. This convinced me of the emotional Tomorrow’s Parties in the UK, among others. ACME Julia Wolfe. explore complex, polyphonic textures. Music for viol power of the music and of the possibilities offered About the Artists can be heard on the New World Records and New consorts was especially popular in England, and by adding a simple, though gradually evolving, Amsterdam Records labels. orchestral accompaniment that respected the tramp’s The project’s debut album, Roomful of Teeth, Purcell’s Fantasias represent the culmination of this Shaw was virtually unknown as a composer before nobility and simple faith. Although he died before he Caroline Shaw was released in 2012 and was nominated in three rich tradition. the Pulitzer announcement in 2013, having written ACME’s instrumentation is flexible and includes could hear what I had done with his singing, the piece categories for the 56th Grammy Awards in 2014, Caroline Adelaide Shaw is a New York–based only a handful of pieces. While committed to some of New York’s most sought-after, engaging remains as an eloquent but understated testimony to including Best Engineer for Classical Album, Best These pieces illustrate the transition from the musician appearing in many different guises. Trained maintaining a busy freelance career as a violinist musicians. Core ACME members include violinists his spirit and optimism. Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance, prevalence of polyphonic vocal writing in the 15th primarily as a violinist from an early age in North and singer, performing primarily contemporary Caleb Burhans, Ben Russell, Caroline Shaw, Yuki —Gavin Bryars and Best Contemporary Classical Composition for and 16th centuries to the rise of instrumental Carolina, she is a Grammy-winning singer in Roomful classical music, she has taken commissions to Numata Resnick, and Laura Lutzke; violists Nadia (Source: gavinbryars.com; reprinted with permission.) Caroline Shaw’s Partita for 8 Voices. The album “chamber music.” The Fantasia upon One Note of Teeth and in 2013 became the youngest winner create new work for the Carmel Bach Festival, the Sirota and Caitlin Lynch; cellist and artistic director subsequently received a Grammy for Best Chamber is particularly interesting in that a single pitch is of the Pulitzer Prize for Music, for her enigmatic Cincinnati Symphony, the Guggenheim Museum Clarice Jensen; flutists Alex Sopp and Andrew Music/Small Ensemble Performance. threaded throughout the entire three minutes of Partita for 8 Voices composition Partita for 8 Voices (also nominated for (FLUX Quartet), The Crossing, and the Brooklyn Rehrig; pianist Timo Andres; and percussionist Chris music, which is never static. (For tonight, I have a Grammy for Best Classical Composition). She will Youth Chorus. Other personal projects include the Thompson. Since its first New York concert season The score’s inscription reads: “Partita is a simple In April 2013, ensemble member Caroline Shaw made a version of this piece for voices and strings make her solo violin debut in 2015 with the Cincinnati development of an evening-length theater work, in 2004, the ensemble has performed works by John piece. Born of a love of surface and structure, of received the Pulitzer Prize for Music for Partita, the together, alternating who holds “The Note.”) Likewise, Symphony (MusicNOW). She was the inaugural Ritornello, and a slowly evolving ambient electronic Adams, John Luther Adams, Louis Andriessen, the human voice, of dancing and tired ligaments, of four movements of which appear on the group’s Bryars uses this idea of threading a hauntingly musician-in-residence at Dumbarton Oaks in fall album. Shaw studied for 15 years with Suzuki violin Gavin Bryars, Caleb Burhans, John Cage, Elliott music, and of our basic desire to draw a line from one debut album. Composed over three summers from unchanging element throughout his ecstatic Jesus’ 2014, and she will be the composer-in-residence for pedagogue Joanne Bath before working with Kathleen Carter, George Crumb, Jacob Druckman, Jefferson point to another.” 2009 to 2011, in collaboration with Roomful of Teeth Blood Never Failed Me Yet. The first half of the two years (through 2016) with Vancouver’s Music Winkler at Rice University (BM violin) and Syoko Aki Friedman, Philip Glass, Charles Ives, Donald during their residencies at Mass MoCA, Partita is the concert closes with Partita for 8 Voices, which is as on Main. Shaw has also performed with American at Yale (MM violin), and she is currently a doctoral Martino, Olivier Messiaen, Nico Muhly, Michael Each movement takes a cue from the traditional only Pulitzer awarded to an a cappella vocal work. much a demonstration of how voices are instruments Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), the Trinity candidate in composition at Princeton. She has Nyman, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Frederic Rzewski, baroque suite in initial meter and tone, but the An iTunes exclusive EP of Partita was subsequently with many colors as it is a playful riff on the idea Wall Street Choir, Alarm Will Sound, the Mark Morris been a Rice Goliard Fellow (busking and fiddling Arnold Schoenberg, Caroline Shaw, Toru Takemitsu, familiar historic framework is soon stretched and released and ranked no. 1 on iTunes Classical charts. of the baroque suite. The program closes with the Dance Group Ensemble, the Knights, Victoire, the Kevin Volans, Charles Wuorinen, Iannis Xenakis, broken, through “speech, whispers, sighs, murmurs, in Sweden) and a Yale Baroque Ensemble fellow, premiere of a new version of Ritornello, combining Yehudim, and many others. (And she has appeared wordless melodies, and novel vocal effects” (Pulitzer and she was a recipient of the infamous Thomas J. voices and strings in ways both very old and, incognito as a backup singer or violinist on Saturday jury citation). Roomful of Teeth’s utterly unique Watson Fellowship, to study historical formal gardens perhaps, a little bit new. Night Live with Paul McCartney, on the Late Show approach to singing and vocal timbre originally and live out of a backpack for a year. As a teenager —Caroline Shaw with David Letterman with The National, and on the many years ago, she spent a life-changing summer helped to inspire and shape the work during its Tonight Show with the Roots.) creation, and the ensemble continues to refine and playing chamber music at Kinhaven Music School in Vermont (which is probably why she would prefer