Author: Kerry

Roulette Announces Fall 2017 Season (September—December)

Brooklyn, NY — Roulette is pleased to announce the release of their fall season from September 5 to December 21, 2017.

The fall seasons begins in September with the fifth annual Resonant Bodies Festival, a one-of-a-kind opportunity to hear expert contemporary music vocalists curate and present repertoire that feeds their passion. Taking place over three nights, the festival features Theo Bleckmann, Jennifer Walshe, Davóne Tines, Hai-Ting Chinn, Joan La Barbara, Odeya Nini, Mary Bonhag, Kamala Sankaram, and Kayleigh Butcher. The following week, the Peggy Lee Septet, featuring Vancouver’s leading improvisers, presents Tell Tale, a project conceived in 2009 as a musical response to the HBO series Deadwood; followed by Matana Roberts presenting “breathe….” , a conceptual sound cycle exploring rise of militarized police in American culture. The month concludes with former artist-in-residence James Brandon Lewis presenting two new ensembles — UnRuly Notes, featuring works arranged and inspired by Antonin Dvorak, and a saxophone + electronics duo with composer Val Jeanty; followed by Japanese guitarist Kudzu Oshitashi performing FLECT with special guests Shelley Hirsch and Ikue Mori.

The month of October begins with Lunar Eclipse, an interactive audiovisual performance within an inflatable dome sculpture from the ensemble RE. Guitarist, vocalist, and composer Brandon Ross calls upon the photographs of Venezuelan artist, Carolina Muñoz, to present Immortal Obsolescence, followed by the acoustic duo of Ross and Stomu Takeishi. Ches Smith debuts new ensemble Laugh Ash, whose composition are morphed through a lens of low-fi hip hop, damaged electronics, and block structures. Glorious Ravage, a panoramic free jazz cycle from San Francisco bassist-composer Lisa Mezzacappa takes its inspiration from adventures and writings of 19th century female explorers. The Austrian Cultural Forum of New York once agains opens its Moving Sounds Festival at Roulette, featuring MSHR, Yatta, and BR-Laser; followed by emerging composer Kelly Moran presenting pieces influenced by states of altered consciousness and their effect on musical processes; and vocalist Charmaine Lee presenting Ceremony, a collaborative work developed with pianist and composer Conrad Tao preceded by an improvisational duo with Nate Wooley. Veteran string quartet Brooklyn Rider presents Spontaneous Symbols, an evening of new works from Tyondai Braxton, Paula Matthusen, and more; and dancer Nami Yamamoto draws on love and loss to present three nights of Headless Wolf.

November kicks off with Tredici Bacci celebrating 1960s-1970s pop culture by scoring soundtracks to Italian silent films. Composer Chris Lightcap combines for his two working groups, Big Mouth and Suprette, to convene SuperBigmouth; followed by violinist Mari Kimura presenting two world premieres inspired by the work of Japanese master ceramacist Susumu Notomi that utilize her prototype motion sensor “mugic.” Victoria Keddie returns to curate the second annual video art festival, Optics 0:1 Combinations; and David First’s Western Enisphere ensemble presents new works that explore hyper-minimalist microtonality and sensual phenomena. Producer Raz Mesinai performs Sleepwalker 3, a piece for piano, violin, bass and electronics that combines dub, contemporary composition, and sound system design. The month concludes with Experiments in Opera, ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble), and M.o.M., Inc. celebrating the life and legacy of Pauline Oliveros with the premiere of The Nubian Word for Flowers; A Phantom Opera, Oliveros’ opera collaboration with writer / director IONE.

December concludes with Austrian group Studio Dan performing Breaking News, featuring the premiere of a new work from George Lewis; followed by Jeremiah Cymerman premiering hypnotic new music for four clarinets and two percussionists inspired by Carl Jung’s Red Book. Acclaimed saxophonist Darius Jones will perform Samesoul Maker, which explores the commitment of the father figure during the process of childbirth on the planet Or’gen. The piano duo of Vicky Chow and a special guest, under the name X88, will present Outer Limits, featuring works by composers Tristan Perich, Nik Baärtsch, and more. Adam Rudolph’s Go: Organic Orchestra returns to Roulette’s stage for Murmuration, which draws on Rudolph’s usage of a non-linear score. The fall season concludes with Phill Niblock’s annual 6-hour Winter Solstice concert.

Resonant Bodies Festival 2017

What: The annual Resonant Bodies Festival returns in September to present nine boundary-pushing vocalists perform over three consecutive nights.
When: Tuesday—Thursday, September 5-7, 2017, 7:30pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $25/20 Online $20/15 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY – Roulette is pleased to host the fifth annual Resonant Bodies Festival, taking place September 5-7, 2017.

Highlights include Grammy-nominated jazz singer and composer Theo Bleckmann performing “Songs in Color and Black and White,” a piece he has written and developed over the past seventeen years, on opening night, Tuesday, September 5, followed by legendary composer / performer / sound artist Joan La Barbara presenting a world premiere opera based on the lives and work of Joseph Cornell and Virginia Woolf on Wednesday, September 6. The festival closes on Thursday, September 7 with Kayleigh Butcher (director and founder of Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble) presenting newly commissioned works by Sivan Cohen Elias, Cara Haxo, Andrew Tham, and Daniel Felsenfeld, with the help of choreographers Katelyn Halpern and Miro Magloire, as well as violinist Hajnal Pivnick.

Tuesday, September 5 Theo Bleckmann, Jennifer Walshe, Davóne Tines

Wednesday, September 6 Hai-Ting Chinn, Joan La Barbara, Odeya Nini

Thursday, September 7 Mary Bonhag, Kamala Sankaram, Kayleigh Butcher

Founded in 2013, Resonant Bodies Festival is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to hear expert contemporary music vocalists present repertoire that feeds their passion. Presented over three nights, nine dynamic and unique vocalists curate and present 45-minute sets expressing their particular blend of musical tastes. The festival recently expanded to Australia and was presented at the Melbourne Recital Center in May 2017, with further expansion on the horizon.

Roulette Announces Tracking The Odds: The Roulette Concert Archive In Collaboration With Wave Farm

What: A new radio broadcast from Roulette + Wave Farm explores Roulette’s extensive performance archive.
When: Third Thursday of Every Month @ 1:00 AM ET
Where To Listen: http://bit.ly/tracking-the-odds

EDITOR’S NOTE: As of February 2019, the broadcast/streamcast time is moved to the 4th Monday of the month from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET and all are archived.

Brooklyn, NY – As part of Roulette’s ongoing mission bring the experimental performing arts to a wider public through its rich performance archive, Roulette is pleased to announce Tracking The Odds: The Roulette Concert Archive — a new monthly hour-long radio special produced by Roulette in partnership with Wave Farm’s WGXC 90.7-FM in Hudson, New York. The broadcasts will feature selections from Roulette’s legendary experimental music space dating from the early 1980s to the present, including thousands of rare, formative, and often unheard recordings by innovators and adventurous musicians. Spearhead by Roulette co-founder David Weinstein, the program will air the third Thursday of each month at 1:00 AM EST and will be archived on Wave Farm’s website.

The inaugural broadcast will take place July 20, 2017 and will feature an uncharacteristically raucous set from The Deep Listening Band, featuring Pauline Oliveros on accordion, David Gamper on keyboards, and Stuart Dempster on trombone and didjeridu from October 2008.

David Weinstein co-founded Roulette in 1978 at the height of the downtown experimental arts revolution alongside Jim Staley and Dan Senn. Currently, he works as the director of the Historic Audio Restoration Project of Clocktower Radio and the host of the weekly radio program, Ridgewood Radio, produced with Outpost Artists Resources in Ridgewood, Queens and broadcast on the WFMU’s Give The Drummer Radio. Weinstein was Program Director of the legendary Manhattan alternative space Clocktower Gallery from 2009-15. From 2004-2008, he was Director of Public Programs at MoMA PS1 and Managing Director of its radio station, Art Radio WPS1.org. He was the curatorial director of MoMA PS1’s summer concert series, Warm Up, in 2007-08. Born in Chicago in 1954, Weinstein studied music composition at the University of Illinois with Ben Johnston and Salvatore Martirano. He has taught music, sound and multimedia at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Yale University, and the City University of New York. Weinstein has lived in Brooklyn since 1979.

Wave Farm is a non-profit arts organization driven by experimentation with broadcast media and the airwaves. Wave Farm’s programs—Transmission Arts, WGXC-FM, and Media Arts Grants—provide access to transmission technologies and support artists and organizations that engage with media as an art form. A creative community radio station based in New York’s Greene and Columbia counties, WGXC 90.7-FM provides a public platform for information, experimentation, and engagement.

Bill Frisell & Thomas Morgan

What: Guitarist Bill Frisell and bassist Thomas Morgan present a program of duets from their new album, Small Town.
When: Friday, June 30, 2017, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $25/20 Online $20/15 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY – Roulette’s spring season concludes with a duet performance from one of the earliest performers at Roulette, guitarist Bill Frisell, and bassist Thomas Morgan. The duo celebrates the release of their new album, Small Town, available this month on ECM Records.

The album draws upon the poetic chemistry of Frisell and Morgan live at New York’s hallowed Village Vanguard. Small Town begins with a tribute to Paul Motian in the form of a searching, 11-minute interpretation of the late drummer’s composition “It Should’ve Happened a Long Time Ago,” the duo’s counterpoint yielding a hushed power. The album sees Frisell and Morgan pay homage to jazz elder Lee Konitz with his “Subconscious Lee,” along with several country / blues-accented Frisell originals, including the hauntingly melodic title track. The duo caps the set with an inimitable treatment of John Barry’s famous James Bond theme “Goldfinger.”

Thomas Morgan is a double bass player with a unique approach to the instrument and an exceptional musical understanding. He has appeared on several ECM albums of late, as bassist of choice for Tomasz Stanko, Jakob Bro, David Virelles, Giovanni Guidi and Masabumi Kikuchi. As one of the most in demand jazz bassists on the international scene, Morgan owes his success to his ability to stay in the moment and put his own signature on a classic instrument.

Bill Frisell made his debut as a leader for ECM in 1983 with the similarly intimate In Line. The guitarist’s rich history with the label also includes multiple recordings by his iconic cooperative trio with Paul Motian and Joe Lovano, culminating in Time and Time Again in 2007. Frisell’s career as a guitarist and composer has spanned more than 35 years and many celebrated recordings, whose catalog has been cited by Downbeat as “the best recorded output of the decade.” Recognized as one of America’s 21 most vital and productive performing artists, Frisell was named an inaugural Doris Duke Artist in 2012.  

[DANCEROULETTE] Biba Bell

What: Biba Bell presents a project created for summer, inspired by the social dance framework for the ensemble.
When: Tuesday, June 27 — Thursday, June 29, 2017, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $25/20 Online $20/15 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY – Dancer, choreographer, and scholar Biba Bell presents a project created for summer, inspired by the social dance framework for the ensemble. Coming together in the structure of the group, drawing upon a range of real and imagined social dances for and of the time, this piece is about building a scene, feel, and sense of belonging in the room.

The piece is animated by the question: how does the concert dancer take the step (what does it look like, feel like, sound like) into the social field? The question has been asked through a series of participatory events, dance-marathons in city parks and green spaces. In this sense, the goal is to find a way to dance together that takes a step offsides from (modern) dance’s individuating stage, into the room, into the park, into the group, as the choreographic goal. To step out, from the inside; or in, from the outside.

Biba Bell is a writer, dancer, and choreographer. She received her Ph.D. in Performance Studies from New York University where her research focused on contemporary choreography’s geographic interventions within architectural, disciplinary, and dance’s artistic homes and theatrical houses. Bell’s performance work has most recently been produced at the Kunstlerhaus (Bremen, Germany), the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), the Cranbrook Museum of Art, and in an apartment in Detroit’s Lafayette Park. Her work has additionally been shown at Times Square Arts and the Clocktower Gallery (NYC), Visual Arts Center at UT Austin (Texas), Insel Hombroich (Germany), NADA Fair (NYC), Detroit Institute of Art (Michigan), The Garage for Contemporary Culture (Moscow), Centre Pompidou (Paris), The Kitchen (NYC), Roulette (NYC), Performa (NYC), Dixon Place (NYC), and many others. She has toured extensively with choreographer Maria Hassabi, has collaborated with visual artist Nick Cave, visual artist Davide Balula, and composer Frank Pahl. Bell was a 2015 DAAD guest professor of Experimental Performance at the University of the Arts (Hochschule für Künste) in Bremen, Germany. She is a co-editor of Critical Correspondence, Movement Research’s online journal, and is on the editorial board for Detroit Research, a new journal of artistic thought and aesthetics.

[COMMISSION] Gemma Peacocke: Waves + Lines

What: Gemma Peacocke presents a newly commissioned multimedia song cycle adapted from Afghan women’s folk poems.
When: Thursday, June 22, 2017, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $25/20 Online $20/15 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY – New Zealand composer Gemma Peacocke presents Waves + Lines, a multimedia song cycle for soprano, electronics and chamber ensemble, adapted from Eliza Griswold‘s book, I Am the Beggar of the World: Landays from Contemporary Afghanistan.

Landays comprise a single rhyming couplet on subjects like love, grief, home, and war. They relay both a collective and a very individual experience so vivid and relatable that it is hard not to be captivated by the passion, desperation, and humor of the authors. Exploring the distance, anonymity and strange intimacy of phone calls, text messages, and radio broadcasts in which the poems are shared, the performances will feature the use of fixed electronics and projections. The ultra-conservative regime of the Taliban has meant that the lives of Afghani women are largely invisible to the outside world. Landays offer a surprising and vivid glimpse into this secret world.

New-York-via-New-Zealand composer Gemma Peacocke writes both acoustic and electronic music and composes music that seamlessly combines electronics with traditional instruments and voices. She often collaborates with filmmakers, choreographers, and theatre practitioners, including with director Benita de Wit and renowned choreographer Sylvain Émard. Peacocke studied with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Julia Wolfe with support from the Arts Council of New Zealand and NYU Steinhardt, and spent fall 2015 studying at the Institute for Music / Acoustic Research and Coordination (IRCAM) in Paris. Her music has been performed in New Zealand, Australia, Austria, Brazil, United States, and Denmark.

[RESIDENCY] Brendon Randall-Myers: Dynamics of Vanishing Bodies

What: Composer and 2017 artist-in-residence Brendon Randall-Myers presents Dynamics of Vanishing Bodies.
When: Tuesday, June 20, 2017, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $25/20 Online $20/15 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY – As a follow up to February’s Invisible Anatomy performance, composer Brendon Randall-Myers continues his artist residency at Roulette with Dynamics of Vanishing Bodies, featuring premieres for soprano Eliza Bagg of Pavo Pavo, vocalist Doug Moore of Pyrrhon, and Dither Quartet.

Bookended with solo and duo sets by Randall-Myers and vocalist Doug Moore, Dynamics of Vanishing Bodies will premiere two large pieces by Randall-Myers written from opposing angles — first, a set of microtonal electro-folk songs for soprano Eliza Bagg, and second, a brutally ethereal electric guitar for Dither Quartet. At play are psychoacoustic effects (timbral fusion and phantom rhythms) created by overtone interaction, interlaced with gradual decay in cycles at a nearly-imperceptible scale.

Brendon Randall-Myers is a Brooklyn-based composer, guitarist, and co-founder of composer / performer / dramatist ensemble Invisible Anatomy and artpunk band Marateck. Described as “fiercely aggressive but endlessly compelling” by The San Francisco Chronicle, his music amplifies the raw physical and emotional power of bodies creating sound. Randall-Myers has received commissions from the Jerome Fund for New Music, the Tang Museum at Skidmore College, the Guitar Foundation of America, Ecstatic Music Festival, and MATA, and he has collaborated with performers such as the Bang on a Can All-Stars, the Omaha Symphony, Friction Quartet, Exceptet, and Sandbox Percussion. He is a member of the Glenn Branca Ensemble and the Dither Big Band, and has also performed with groups such as Ensemble Signal, Opera Saratoga, Magik*Magik Orchestra, and Contemporaneous. Brendon grew up home-schooled in rural West Virginia, and holds degrees from Pomona College and the Yale School of Music.

[DANCEROULETTE] Sally Silvers: Tenderizer

What: Sally Silvers & Dancers present three nights of Tenderizer, a mash-up of three new dance pieces / modes.
When: Thursday, June 15 — Saturday, June 17, 2017, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $25/20 Online $20/15 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY –  Sally Silvers & Dancers present three nights of Tenderizer, a mash-up of three new dance pieces / modes that contradict and illuminate each other through their distinct approaches to movement and social play. Calling upon a cast of 14 dancers, the program consists of three different dances that interrupt and interweave throughout the evening-length work, complete with identifying music and video for the three modes.

The first piece will be a companion to Actual Size — a piece performed at Roulette in 2014 that subterfuges Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 North by Northwest film. The new work will once again tease Hitchcock’s obsessions and repeating motifs, but will call upon darker his darker films such as The Birds, Marnie, and Psycho. The second piece, Threading In, celebrates girl power and liberation. The third and final piece is will feature structured improvisation with experienced movers including Sally Silvers, Paul Langland, and two additional dancers.

The music will be a collaboration between music director Bruce Andrews and 2017 Mixology curator Michael Schumacher with identifying soundscapes for each mode: movie soundtrack, post dowop / postpunk girl group, and experimental free improvisation. Ursula Scherrer, who created the evocative, multi-projector, video visuals for Actual Size, will once again contribute visuals.

Sally Silvers & Dancers has an on-going engagement with the poetic as well as the social meanings of movement. Often operating in areas between idiomatic dance and unconventional movement, Silvers’ work keep its focus on clearly defined, if unusual, structures for the articulated body. The company has performed with composers John Zorn, Lawrence “Butch” Morris, Ikue Mori, Bun-Ching Lam and George Lewis, among others. Active since the 1980s, choreographer Sally Silvers is a Guggenheim Foundation and Bessie-award-winning choreographer. She is also known for several large dance community curatorial projects: TalkTalkWalkWalk (combining dance artists and poets) and Surprise Every Time (a festival of  “live choreography” – making work live in front of the audience on the spot). From 2005 to 2011, she danced in new and historical works of Yvonne Rainer.

Curated by Meredith Monk: Ensemble Connect: Immigrant Voices

What: Ensemble Connect celebrates the voices of immigrants in our nation.
When: Thursday, June 8, 2017, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $25/20 Online $20/15 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY – Meredith Monk curates Ensemble Connect to celebrate the voices of immigrants in our nation, featuring works by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Shulamit Ran, Anna Clyne, and the next generation of international composers who have come to live and create in the United States.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary during the 2016–2017 season, Ensemble Connect — formerly known as Ensemble ACJW — is a two-year fellowship program for the finest young professional classical musicians in the United States. The program prepares its members for careers combining musical excellence with teaching, community engagement, advocacy, entrepreneurship, and leadership. along with offering top-quality performance opportunities, intensive professional development, and the opportunity to partner throughout the fellowship with a New York City public school.

[RESIDENCY] Tomeka Reid Large Ensemble

What: Cellist and composer Tomeka Reid continues her 2016-2017 residency at Roulette.
When: Wednesday, June 7, 2017, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $25/20 Online $20/15 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door
Brooklyn, NY – Following two successful quartet performances as part of her artist residency at Roulette, Tomeka Reid presents works for large ensemble.

For the final performance of her Roulette artist residency, cellist + composer Tomeka Reid presents a series of compositions for 7-piece string ensemble with drums. Inspired by her mother’s drawings and a childhood spent at Washington, DC, the program contains many several musical vignettes, each accompanied by one of Reid’s mother’s drawings.

Over the last decade Tomeka Reid has emerged as one of the most original, versatile, and curious musicians in the Chicago’s bustling jazz and improvised music community. Her distinctive melodic sensibility, usually braided to a strong sense of groove, has been featured in many distinguished ensembles over the years. She is a key member of ensembles led by legendary reedists such as Anthony Braxton and Roscoe Mitchell, as well as a younger generation of visionaries including flutist Nicole Mitchell, singer Dee Alexander, and drummer Mike Reed. She’s also a founding member of the adventurous string trio called Hear in Now.

Lineup:
Tomas Fujiwara
Sarah Bernstein
Mazz Swift
Jason Hwang
Christopher Hoffman
Melanie Dyer
Adam Hopkins
Tomeka Reid