BAM presents the US premiere of Planetarium, an evening of songs and instrumental works inspired by the solar system by Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, and Sufjan Stevens

Bloomberg is the BAM 2013 Winter/Spring Season sponsor

Planetarium By Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, and Sufjan Stevens

Projection design by Deborah Johnson

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House (30 Lafayette Ave) Mar 21—23 at 8pm; Mar 24 at 7pm Tickets start at $25

Special Event: A Look at the Stars A stargazing event with Summer Ash, director of outreach for the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics at Columbia University, and fellow astronomers BAM Fisher Rooftop Terrace, weather permitting* March 21—23, following the performance (at approximately 10:30pm) *in case of rain or cloud cover, event will take place before a projection screen at the BAM Fisher (Hillman Studio) Tickets: $10 ($5 for Friends of BAM)

Feb 14, 2013/Brooklyn, NY—With the US premiere of Planetarium, three of today’s leading music talents—The National’s Bryce Dessner (The Long Count, 2009 Next Wave; Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, 2012 Winter/Spring Season), composer Nico Muhly, and singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens (The BQE, 2007 Next Wave)—come together to consider the cosmos. In the first half of the evening, a string quartet made up of members of yMusic and ACME (American Contemporary Music Ensemble) performs each artist’s classically informed compositions. In the latter half, Stevens’ voice anchors a planet-by-planet song cycle that melds the collaborators’ distinct creative contributions—“The National’s honeyed scree, Muhly's disjointed pomp and Stevens' electronics and modernist folk tendencies” (The Guardian)—into a harmonic whole.

With Dessner on guitar, Muhly on piano, celeste, and keyboard, and Stevens on vocals and keyboard, the musicians are accompanied by an ensemble consisting of the string quartet, seven trombones, and a drummer. The cycle unfolds against projection designer Deborah Johnson’s striking backdrop, a giant orb that morphs to reflect the characteristics of the sphere being celebrated.

About the artists Bryce Dessner is a composer, guitarist, and curator based in New York. He is best known as the guitarist for the rock band The National and has also received widespread acclaim as a composer and guitarist for the new music quartet Clogs. He is the founder and artistic director of the annual Music Now Festival in Cincinnati, OH, and the co-founder of the artist-operated label Brassland. Dessner has appeared at BAM with The Long Count (2009 Next Wave Festival) and was the co-founder with his brother Aaron of last spring’s inaugural Crossing Brooklyn Ferry music and film festival, which returns to BAM April 25—27.

Nico Muhly has composed a wide scope of work for ensembles, soloists, and organizations including the American Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, Carnegie Hall, the Chicago Symphony, countertenor Iestyn Davies, violinist Hilary Hahn, choreographer Benjamin Millepied, New York City Ballet, the New York Philharmonic, Paris Opéra Ballet, soprano Jessica Rivera, and designer/illustrator Maira Kalman. Born in Vermont in 1981 and raised in Providence, RI, Muhly graduated from Columbia University with a degree in English literature. In 2004, he received a master’s degree in music from the Juilliard School, where he studied under Christopher Rouse and John Corigliano. His writings and performance schedule can be found at nicomuhly.com.

Sufjan Stevens mixes autobiography, religious fantasy, and regional history to create folk songs of epic proportions. His albums Michigan and Illinois grew out of his desire to make a record for each of the 50 states. With his stepfather Lowell Brams, Stevens owns and operates his own music label, Asthmatic Kitty Records, which is named after Brams’ beloved cat Sara, who suffers from acute feline asthma. Stevens lives in Brooklyn and was last at BAM with the commissioned work The BQE (2007 Next Wave), a symphonic and cinematic exploration of New York City’s infamous Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

From 2003 to 2005 Deborah Johnson toured exclusively with the music group Wilco, designing and performing projections for their Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost is Born tours. In 2005 she moved to Brooklyn, New York where she continues to design and perform live visuals for bands and musicians including Sufjan Stevens, M. Ward, Calexico, and Lambchop. She has performed in such venues as BAM, MASS MoCA, MoMA, Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden, The Fillmore, The Ryman, and Wiener Konzerthaus.

Culled from the ranks of yMusic and ACME (American Contemporary Music Ensemble) the members of the Planetarium string quartet are among the most sought-after soloists and collaborators in the world, frequently working with such artists as Bon Iver, Steve Reich, Dirty Projectors, The National, and John Luther Adams. While they often work together, the first performance in which this particular constellation of players collaborated was Aaron and Bryce Dessner's staged song cycle The Long Count, designed and directed by artist Matthew Ritchie, which premiered as part of the 2009 Next Wave.

For press information contact Adriana Leshko, [email protected], 718.724.8021.

Credits Bloomberg is the BAM 2013 Winter/Spring Season sponsor

Leadership support provided by Frances Bermanzohn & Alan Roseman

Planetarium receives endowment support from the BAM Fund to Support Emerging and Local Musicians

Programming in the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House is supported and endowed by The Howard Gilman Foundation

BAM Winter/Spring 2013 supporters: Bank of America; The Irene Diamond Fund; Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art; The Florence Gould Foundation; The Leona M. & Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust; The Jaharis Family Foundation; The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Mikhail Prokhorov Fund; Stavros Niarchos Foundation; The Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc.; The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation; The SHS Foundation; The Shubert Foundation, Inc.; The Skirball Foundation; The Starr Foundation; Time Warner Inc.; The Winston Foundation, Inc.

Pepsi is the official beverage of BAM. Sovereign Bank is the BAM Marquee sponsor. Yamaha is the official piano for BAM. R/GA is the BAM.org sponsor. New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge is the official hotel for BAM.

Your tax dollars make BAM programs possible through funding from the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts. The BAM facilities are owned by the City of New York and benefit from public funds provided through the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs with support from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg; Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kate D. Levin; the New York City Council including Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, Finance Committee Chair Domenic M. Recchia Jr., Cultural Affairs Committee Chair Jimmy Van Bramer, the Brooklyn Delegation of the Council, and Councilwoman Letitia James; and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.

BAM would like to thank the Brooklyn Delegations of the New York State Assembly, Joseph R. Lentol, Delegation Leader; and New York Senate, Senator Velmanette Montgomery, Delegation Leader.

General Information BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, and BAMcafé are located in the Peter Jay Sharp building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell Places). Both locations house Greenlight Bookstore at BAM kiosks. BAM Fisher, located at 321 Ashland Place, is the newest addition to the BAM campus and houses the Judith and Alan Fishman Space and Rita K. Hillman Studio. BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn’s only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafé, operated by Great Performances, is open for dining prior to BAM Howard Gilman Opera House evening performances. BAMcafé also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music for BAMcafé Live on Friday and Saturday nights with a special BAMcafé Live menu available starting at 6pm.

Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center (2, 3, 4, 5 to Nevins St for Harvey Theater) D, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue Train: Long Island Railroad to Atlantic Terminal-Barclays Center Bus: B25, B26, B41, B45, B52, B63, B67 all stop within three blocks of BAM Car: Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM

For ticket and BAMbus information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit BAM.org. ## ## ##