The long wait is finally over. Roulette re-opens bigger and better than ever. With a newly renovated Art Deco concert hall, seating for up to 400 people (600 standing!), hifi multi-channel sound system, massive projection screen for film and multi-media events, state-of-the-art lighting system, modular stage, and specially designed floor to accommodate dance, the new Roulette promises to be one of the most exciting places in New York City to experience adventurous music and art. Join us as we kick off our inaugural season with a huge three day Grand Opening Celebration!

Kaija Saariaho studied composition in Helsinki, Freiburg and Paris, where she has lived since 1982. Her studies and research at IRCAM have had a major influence on her music and her characteristically luxuriant and mysterious textures are often created by combining live music and electronics. Although much of her catalogue comprises chamber works, from the mid-nineties she has turned increasingly to larger forces and broader structures, such as the operas L’Amour de loin and Adriana Mater and the oratorio La Passion de Simone.

Margaret Len Tan performs Daughters of the Lonesome Isle, Music for Piano no.2 (string piano), and Water Music by John Cage.

Margaret Leng Tan has established herself as a major force within the American avant-garde: a highly visible, visionary pianist whose work embraces theater, choreography, performance. She is regularly featured at international festivals, records for Mode, New Albion, ECM, and has appeared on PBS and at Carnegie Hall. Originally from Singapore, Tan was the first woman to earn a doctorate from Juilliard, but exploring cultural crosscurrents between Asia and the West led her to John Cage. An active collaboration ensued that lasted from 1981 to his death in 1992, establishing her as his pre-eminent interpreter. Tan is fascinated by the artistic potential of toy instruments and her groundbreaking 1997 CD, The Art of the Toy Piano (Philips/Universal), made her the world’s first professional toy piano virtuoso. Favoring music that confronts the piano’s normal boundaries, like-minded composers have written for her such as Somei Satoh, Tan Dun, Ge Gan-ru, Michael Nyman and Toby Twining. She is also a favorite of composer George Crumb. Filmmaker Evans Chan’s documentary, Sorceress of the New Piano: The Artistry of Margaret Leng Tan, has been screened at numerous international film festivals.

Henry Threadgill is one of the great musical masterminds of the past quarter century – a composer, arranger, and innovator who transcends genres in contemporary music. A multi-instrumentalist whose principle axes include alto sax and flute, Threadgill emerged from Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.

Threadgill’s music has been performed by many of his long lasting instrumental ensembles, including the trio Air, the seven-piece Sextett, Very Very Circus, twenty-piece Society Situation Dance Band, X-75, Make a Move, Aggregation Orb, and his current group Zooid. He has recorded many albums as a leader of various ensembles.

Since 1996, composer/pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and violinist Mark Feldman have been performing regularly in the USA , Canada and have toured widely in Europe (playing at festivals such as Willisau, Saalfelden, Mulhouse, Partheney, Shaffhouse, Muenster, Bath , Vancouver, and Bordeaux). Together they perform the music of John Zorn, Masada Book II (Book of Angels) and their own compositions from their CD OBLIVIA on Tzadik Records.

$35 General Admission
$100 Front Rows (Includes reception before concert)
*No student, senior or member pricing

*$65 of the Front Row ticket price is a tax deductible donation to Roulette in celebration of its Grand Opening*