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Category: Blogcast

Resist x Improvise: An Evening for Roscoe Mitchell

What: An evening honoring legendary American avant-garde jazz and new classical composer, improviser and performer Roscoe Mitchell featuring performances by producer Anna Wray, Michael Lofton, and the Human Time Machine.
When: Tuesday, June 5, 2018
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $20 Door, $15 Online
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: http://bit.ly/SP180605

Brooklyn, NY – This special evening focuses on the work of legendary composer and performer Roscoe Mitchell. Rooted in activism, Mitchell’s work has become extremely influential to a new generation of artists who merge their artistic practice with social justice. In these performances by Anna Wray, Michael Lofton, and Brian Adler and the Human Time Machine, the artists join forces with electronics and visuals to explore Mitchell’s work and the injustice being done to the African American community.

Anna Wray’s newest chapter has her returning to her roots to New York after earning a BA and MFA in California. Her time on the West Coast provided her with multiple opportunities to improvise and perform with top artists such as William Winant, Zeena Parkins, Roscoe Mitchell, Steven Schick, Julia Wolfe, Christian Wolff, among others. Anna’s primary focus is to embark on a creative collaboration process with composers, musicians, dancers, theatre groups, and artists on the cutting edge of experimental music and experimental art.

Human Time Machine:
Brian Adler – Musical Director, Percussion
Jeremy Smith – Alto Percussion
Elizabeth Pupo-Walker – Tenor Percussion
Ned Haweeli – Soprano Percussion
Anna Wray – Bass Percussion

With Special Guests:
Jesse Neuman – Laptop, Samples, Trumpet
Michael Lofton – Baritone Voice
Crockett Doob – Film/Video/Projection
Red Wierenga – Piano
The program includes the following, among other compositions:

“Sunrise on an Ice Moon” *
Solo Vibraphone by Roscoe Mitchell
* World Premiere, Performed by Anna Wray

“dim,” “this is,” and “because it’s” by Roscoe Mitchell
Scored for baritone and piano
Performed by Michael Lofton and Red Wierenga

Face the Music and Luna Composition Lab

What: Face the Music presents world premiere performances written by the five young female composers selected as 20172018 Luna Lab Fellows
When: Monday, June 4, 2018
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost:  $25 Door, $10 Online
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: http://bit.ly/SP180604

Brooklyn, NY – The student-musicians of Kaufman Music Center’s Face the Music present world premiere performances of new works written by the 20172018 Luna Composition Lab Fellows, as well as established composers. The five young female composers chosen as this season’s Luna Lab Fellows were selected from a national pool of applicants, and are mentored closely by established female composers of the contemporary music. Face the Music, an original collaborator of Luna Lab, works with the fellows to read, workshop, and present professional-quality performances of their pieces. This season’s fellows include Caroline Bragg, Maya Johnson, Helen Lyons, Katie Palka, and Aliya Salmanov. Mentors include Ellen Reid, Reena Esmail, Kristin Kuster, Tamar Muskal, and Gity Razaz.

Kaufman Music Center’s Face the Music is the country’s first youth ensemble dedicated to studying and performing music by living composers. Called “a force in the New York new-music world” by the New York Times, Face the Music is a unique youth orchestra: an ensemble and collective music-making program where young and committed musicians use the music of today as a vehicle to explore collaborative decision making and develop leadership skills. Face the Music features a collection of ensembles including chamber orchestras, a jazz big-band, an improvisation collective, string quartets, and mixed chamber-groups.

Luna Composition Lab is a program that provides mentorship, performances and networking opportunities to female composers ages 1319. Luna Composition Lab was founded in 2016 by composers Missy Mazzoli and Ellen Reid in collaboration with Face the Music at the Kaufman Center, and in its inaugural season garnered attention from the New York Times, Musical America, The New
Yorker, Huffington Post, and NY1 News. Luna Composition Lab aims to help close the gender gap in the classical music field by providing participants with one-on-one mentorship with established female composers, performance opportunities in New York City, high-quality recordings, and instant access to a network of like-minded peers and professionals.

Clara Latham: Bertha the Mom

What: World premiere of Bertha the Mom, a chamber opera examining hysteria, feminism, and the birth of psychoanalysis.
When: Sunday, June 3, 2018
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost:  $20 Door, $15 Online
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: http://bit.ly/SP180603

Brooklyn, NY Bertha the Mom merges the histories of hysteria and feminism in a chamber opera that questions the validity of truth and how it relates to what we know about the past. The work is based on the historical accounts of German feminist Bertha Pappenheim—commonly known under the pseudonym Anna O—patient of Dr. Josef Breuer, a contemporary of Sigmund Freud and the first subject of psychoanalysis. Told through four performers, the stories of Pappenheim and Anna O are told in parallel to examine radically different types of female subjects within 1880s Vienna. Employing the fiercely original palates of these four creative performers, Clara Latham merges fantastical sonorities with earnest melodies, creating an uncanny mixture of camp and sincerity.

The well-lauded cast includes soprano Alice Teyssier, baritone Michael Weyandt, trumpet player Peter Evans, and Seth Parker Woods, described by the Guardian as “a cellist of power and grace.”

Performers:
Alice Teyssier – Bertha
Michael Weyandt – Doctor Josef Breuer
Peter Evans – Character’s Unconsciouses
Seth Parker Woods – Character’s Unconsciouses

Directed by Katherine Brook
Composed by Clara Latham
Libretto by James Currie

Kit Fitzgerald and Peter Gorgon: Into the Hot, Out of the Cool

What: Large-scale video paintings by Kit Fitzgerald accompanied by six-piece musical ensemble directed by Peter Gordon.
When: Sunday, April 22, 2018, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $20 Online $25 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org // (917) 267-0368

Brooklyn, NY – Long-standing collaborative duo Peter Gordon (keyboard, sax, electronics) and Kit Fitzgerald (video) present Into the Hot, Out of the Cool. The performance will feature large-scale video paintings by Fitzgerald accompanied by a six-piece musical ensemble directed by Gordon. Fitzgerald’s visual imagery will include video drawings, animations, and camera imagery—mixed and processed live—combining early analog and current digital technology. The dialogue between the early and the contemporary video aesthetic is part of Fitzgerald’s signature look and is at the heart of the Hot/Cool dialogue. Into the Hot, Out of the Cool is a new work that marks the 35th year of collaboration between Fitzgerald and Gordon, a pioneering duo incorporating live video and musical performance. Read

Kit Fitzgerald has collaborated with composers Max Roach, Peter Gordon, Ned Sublette, and Ryuichi Sakamoto; choreographers Donald Byrd, Bebe Miller, and Bill T. Jones; poets Sekou Sundiata and Bob Holman, and theater companies The Wooster Group and The Talking Band. She directs award-winning documentaries on art and culture, music videos, dance videos, video installations, live performance, and album covers. Her work is in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art and has been featured twice in the Whitney Biennial. Her work has been commissioned by Tokyo Broadcasting, Fuji TV, SONY Japan, and Northern Netherlands Theatre. Fitzgerald is the recipient of prizes at international film and television festivals and awards from The Rockefeller Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and Japan Foundation. Her work is distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York. Fitzgerald is Professor of New Media at Concordia College-New York.

Peter Gordon moved to New York in 1975, where his Love of Life Orchestra first gained attention at downtown venues such as The Kitchen, CBGB, Max’s Kansas City, and the Mudd Club. An early proponent of the recording studio as a compositional tool, Gordon produced recordings for LOLO, as well as Robert Ashley, Arthur Russell, Rhys Chatham, Laurie Anderson, Jill Kroesen, David Van Tieghem, and “Blue” Gene Tyranny. He was music producer for Robert Ashley’s video opera Perfect Lives, as well as the recent Spanish-language version, Vidas Perfectas (presented at the Whitney Museum in 2014). A friend and frequent collaborator of the late Arthur Russell, Gordon has recently been touring Arthur Russell’s INSTRUMENTALS at several international festivals. Gordon is Professor of Music at Bloomfield College.

Lineup:
Kit Fitzgerald – Video Artist
Max Gordon – Keyboards, Trumpet
Peter Gordon – Composer, Saxophone, Keyboards, Electronics
Matt Mottel – Synthesizer
Michael Attias – Saxophone
Paul Nowinski – Bass
Ron Blake – Saxophone
Bill Ruyle – Percussion

ECCE and Court-Circuit: French/American Music in Dialogue

What: A tour de force of French and American repertoire by two leading ensembles from America and France.
When: Thursday, April 19, 2018, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $15 Online, $20 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: https://roulette.org/event/ecce-and-court-circuit-french-american-music-in-dialogue/

Brooklyn, NY ECCE and Court-Circuit join forces to present works by Christophe Bertrand, Philippe Hurel, David Felder, Philippe Leroux, and John Aylward. The ensembles themselves will present smaller chamber works featuring members of each ensemble. Then, Maestro Jean Deroyer from Court-circuit will lead the combined ensembles in performances of Philippe Hurel’s Figures Libre and the world premiere of John Aylward’s Narcissus.

Founded by composer John Aylward, ECCE is an East Coast-based ensemble of culturally and socially engaged musicians. The French ensemble Court-Circuit has been dedicated to experimentation and intense risk-taking in contemporary music since its founding in 1991.

Performers

ECCE
Jennifer Choi — Violin
John Popham — Cello
Roberta Michel — Flutes
Carlos Cordeiro — Clarinets
Hassan Anderson — Oboe
Julia Den Boer — Piano
Dennis Sullivan — Percussion
Nicholas Demaison — Conductor

Court-Circuit
Jeremie Fèvre — Flute
Pierre Dutrieu — Clarinet
Tom Kolor — Percussion
Jean Marie Cottet — Piano
Alexandra Greffin Klein — Violin
Frédéric Baldassare — Cello
Jean Deroyer — Conductor

Spotlight On: Gabrielle Herbst

Photo: Tom Saccenti courtesy New Sounds 

[RESIDENCY] Gabrielle Herbst: Vulnerability
Thursday, May 31, 2018 @ 8:00 pm

Tell us about yourself and what you do.

I am a composer and vocalist currently living in Brooklyn. I went to Bard College in upstate New York and am originally from the Berkshires in Massachusetts.

I compose from a very intuitive place – not starting from a set of compositional rules, but rather from a place of openness, improvisation, and spontaneity. I’m interested in creating spatialized architectural sound that engulfs the listeners and transports them into a different state through color and texture. I compose for all instruments with the mindset of writing for the human voice: I imagine clarinets, cellos, and timpani singing. Vocal music has healing qualities that I think our culture is deeply in need of right now –returning to the source, the breath, the heartbeat. My music is very much seeking a return to the body – exploring sensuality and sensory perception, while clearing the busyness of the mind.

I am interested in experimenting with electronics and live processing in performance because I think it embodies our socio-technological environment, and I’m intrigued with digital sounds creating organic, beautiful sonic spaces.

I’ve been exploring two sides of my musical self – one as GABI and the other as Gabrielle Herbst. As GABI I compose short form songs for my own voice and small instrumental ensembles as well as electronics. Sometimes I perform solo, and much of GABI has been developed in the studio and taken on tour.

Under my full name, I compose operas and varied configurations of instrumental and vocal music in a more classical vein. The two intersect in many ways and influence each other, feeling like two characters of my personality – GABI being more raw and emotional, Gabrielle Herbst a little more orchestral, calculated and structured, utilizing standard notation. For GABI music, I often do not use standard notation and develop songs more on intuition, composing by ear and improvisation. In both projects, I am influenced by opera singing, vocal traditions from many world cultures, and pop singing, creating my own take on contemporary vocal and instrumental music.

Describe the project you are developing for Roulette.

Written for two voices and two loop pedals, electronics, harp, violin, cello, flute, piano and clarinet, the opera I’m composing for this Roulette Residency explores themes of personal and collective vulnerability, anxiety, fear and struggle – investigating self-care and interpersonal relationships within our current sociopolitical climate. Progressing through dreamlike non-narrative tableaux, with close harmonization, textural rhythms, melismatic vocals, electronics and cross-genre pollination, this opera looks at inward struggles and connecting outwards. It will be performed by the Nouveau Classical Project, joined by Marilu Donovan on Harp as well as myself and Charlotte Mundy as the vocalists.

What is your first musical memory?

My dad singing. He is an amazing singer and used to sing to me as a baby.

How did you become involved with Roulette?

When I first moved to NYC after college in 2009 I set up a meeting with Jim and he was so incredibly supportive. I instantly become involved in the Roulette community, first as a sound intern, then working in the box office, and then as an artist. I’m forever grateful.

What is it like living and working in New York City?

Difficult but so fulfilling. I find the struggle of keeping up, both financially and artistically really beneficial to my work.

Describe your performance at Roulette in three words.

Vulnerable. Vocal. Raw.

Describe Roulette in three words.

Beautiful. Open. Unexpected.

[RESIDENCY] Gabrielle Herbst: Vulnerability

What: World premiere of composer and vocalist Gabrielle Herbst’s opera exploring vulnerability, anxiety, fear, and struggle through the lens of self-care and interpersonal relationships.
When: Thursday, May 31, 2018
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $20 Door, $15 Online
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368

Brooklyn, NY – How do we talk about our lives in 2018? What methods do we use to explore it? Gabrielle Herbst returns to Roulette to present Vulnerability, an opera unpacking America’s current sociopolitical climate and the ways we live within it. Exploring themes of personal and collective vulnerability, anxiety, fear and struggle, while investigating self-care and interpersonal relationships, this process-based work is written for two voices and two loop pedals, electronics, harp, violin, cello, flute, piano and clarinet, and is rendered through a dreamlike non-narrative tableaux with close harmonization, textural rhythms, melismatic vocals, electronics, and cross-genre pollination. The work seeks to connect internal struggles to outward means.

Gabrielle Herbst (b. 1986) is a composer and vocalist residing in Brooklyn. Herbst’s formal training began at an early age, studying Balinese dance and gamelan in Indonesia while learning both the clarinet and piano. She continued her training at Bard College where she studied voice and composition. Her work has been showcased at Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center, as well as Roulette, who in 2014 commissioned and premiered her first opera, Bodiless. Herbst has also developed a repertoire of short-form, vocal-centric compositions under the name GABI, driven by solitary explorations with a dual-track loop pedal.

The Nouveau Classical Project is a New York-based, all-women contemporary classical music ensemble that is “bringing a refreshing edge to the widely conservative genre” (VICE). It began by collaborating with fashion designers for its concerts and has expanded to creating multidisciplinary performances. Its mission is to engage new audiences and show that classical music is a living, breathing art form.

Lineup:

The Nouveau Classical Project
Laura Cocks – Flute
Mara Mayer – Clarinet
Maya Bennardo – Violin
Thea Mesirow – Cello
Sugar Vendil – Piano
Marilu Donovan – Harp
Charlotte Mundy – Voice
Gabrielle Herbst – Voice

thingNY and Varispeed: Musical Voices Around A Table

What: Experimental composer-collectives thingNY and Varispeed perform three vocal-heavy works around a communal table on Roulette’s stage.
When: Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost:  $25 Door, $20 Online
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368

Brooklyn, NY – Two quirky, unconventional groups merge for vocal chamber music by Gelsey Bell, Rick Burkhardt, and the legendary absurdist Kenneth Gaburo. First, thingNY presents a short selection of songs from Gelsey Bell’s Rolodex, in which the ensemble surrounds the interrogation table to investigate a crime. Next, thingNY performs Rick Burkhardt’s Passover, a performance-ritual for six singing/speaking instrumentalists seated at a dinner table. Finally, Varispeed performs a new homespun arrangement of Kenneth Gaburo’s 1968 cult-classic Maledetto, a fusion of taxonomy lecture, absurdist inner dialogue, Dadaist choral music, and your uncle’s dirty jokes for seven “virtuoso speakers.” Three works are performed around a communal table.

thingNY is a New-York-based collective of composer‐performers who fuse electronic and acoustic chamber music with new opera, improvisation, theater, song, and installation.

Varispeed is a collective of composer-performers that creates site-specific, sometimes-participatory, oftentimes-durational, forevermore-experimental events.

Rick Burkhardt is an Obie-award-winning playwright, composer, director, and performer. He is a founding member of the Nonsense Company, an experimental chamber music-theater trio, and the Prince Myshkins, a cabaret-folk political satire duo.

Lineup:
Gelsey Bell – Voice, Percussion, Celtic Harp
Andrew Livingston – Voice, Double Bass, Cello
Paul Pinto – Voice, Percussion
Erin Rogers – Voice, Saxophone
Dave Ruder – Voice, Clarinet, Guitar
Jeffrey Young – Voice, Violin
Brian McCorkle – Voice
Aliza Simons – Voice

Anaïs Maviel: DIáSPORA / Cross Times

What: Anaïs Maviel celebrates the release of her duo DIáSPORA’s new album exploring trance in popular music.
When: Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $20 Door, $15 Online
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368

Brooklyn, NYVocalist and multi-instrumentalist Anaïs Maviel and collaborators present the composer’s latest investigations into the manifestations of song in relation to trance in electro-acoustic settings. Cross Times, will focus on the dilatation and crossing of time layers in songs written on the n’goni (West African gourd lute). The second set of the evening will focus on the collaboration of the touring duo DIáSPORA in conjunction with their debut record of the same name. DIáSPORA seeks to use voice and rhythm as a base for exploration of trance in popular music. The album was recorded live in Mexico City and produced in South, Central and North America, in collaboration with Principa (MX) & Hérnia de Discos (BR).

Album Digital Release: May 25 2018

Album Preview: https://soundcloud.com/ana-s-maviel/sets/diaspora-1/s-feAa

Anaïs Maviel is a vocalist, percussionist, composer, music director, educator, curator, and healer. Her work focuses on the function of music as essential to settling common grounds, addressing Relation, and creating utopian futures. She works at the crossroads of several mediums – music, visual art, dance, theater, and performance art.

Chiquita Magic is interested in the cross-pollination of seemingly contrasting styles (cumbia, salsa, choral music, hip-hop, jazz) with futuristic electronic textures.

Luke Stewart is a DC-based multi-Instrumentalist and organizer, recognized by the Washington Post as a key contributor to the scene there. In DC his regular ensembles include Trio OOO with legendary DC Free Jazz saxophonist Aaron Martin, Six-Six, a duo with guitarist Anthony Pirog, experimental jazz trio Heart of the Ghost, and experimental electronic group MOM^2 (Mind Over Matter, Music Over Mind).

Sam Yulsman is a composer, pianist and multimedia artist from New York City, whose music spans a wide range of musical idioms. Currently, Yulsman performs regularly as a member of Brandon Lopez’s trio “the Mess”, and co-directs “Little Moments of Invisible Death” – a multi-media performance installation, designed and performed in collaboration with Martin Hiendl.

Lineup:

DIáSPORA
Chiquita Magic – synths, voice
Anaïs Maviel – surdo, voice

Cross Times
Sam Yulsman – keyboards, electronics
Luke Stewart – bass
Anaïs Maviel – voice, n’goni

Yuko Fujiyama Ensemble: Album Release Celebration

What: Yuko Fujiyama performs with her jazz quartet in celebration of the release of a new album.
When: Monday, April 16, 2018, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $20 Online, $25 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: https://roulette.org/event/yuko-fujiyama-ensemble-album-release-celebration/

Brooklyn, NY After a 15-year hiatus, jazz pianist Yuko Fujiyama returns to Roulette to perform with her new quartet and celebrate the release of their first album. Fujiyama will be joined by Graham Haynes on cornet and flugelhorn, Jennifer Choi on violin, and Reggie Nicholson on drums and percussion.

Born in Sapporo, Japan, Fujiyama studied music in college and moved to the U.S. in 1987, after being touched by the music of Cecil Taylor. Since 1993, she has been an active performer of original music in concerts, clubs, and festivals in and around New York City and overseas. She has performed as a leader with musicians such as William Parker, Mark Dresser, Ikue Mori, Susie Ibarra, Billy Bang, Mark Feldman and Roy Campbell, among many others. She is featured on a number of CDs, including two releases with her ensemble on the CIMP label. In the words of the Village Voice, “she’s created her own pass.”

Lineup
Yuko Fujiyama — Piano
Jennifer Choi — Violin
Graham Haynes — Cornet, Flugelhorn
Reggie Nicholson — Drums, Percussion