Zorn’s writing for strings has yielded some of the most powerful and virtuosic string music around—and Roulette is proud to present an exciting program of three world premieres written for and performed by select members of Zorn’s inner circle.
Sigil Magick, subtitled A Curious and Detailed Exposition of Sigils, Signs, and Hieroglyphs Peculiar to the Occult Orders, Hermetic Brotherhoods, and Dark Mystery Schools of the Late Middle Ages is a tour de force concerto for cello and string quartet and features the phenomenal JACK Quartet with virtuoso master Michael Nicolas.
Drawing on a life-long interest in Dada and Surrealism, and based on Tristan Tzara’s provocative play Le Coeur à Gaz, The Gas Heart is an outrageous Dadaist opera scored for two celli and two percussionists. Absurd texts, virtuosic chamber music, bizarre foley sound effects, and wild improvisations blend together into a strange and unique landscape where anything becomes possible.
Concluding the concert is an expansive twenty-minute piece scored for six strings, and is one of Zorn’s major recent works: Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics That Will Be Able to Present Itself as a Science. “Magic is not the contradiction to the law of cause and effect, but its crown or nightmare.”—J.L.Borges
Sigil Magick: A Curious and Detailed Exposition of Sigils, Signs, and Hieroglyphs Peculiar to the Occult Orders, Hermetic Brotherhoods, and Dark Mystery Schools of the Late Middle Ages
for string quintet (2020)
Jack Quartet
Chris Otto – violin
Austin Wulliman – violin
John Pickford Richards – viola
Jay Campbell – cello
with
Michael Nicolas – cello
The Gas Heart
a mini opera for 2 celli and 2 percussionists (2020)
Jay Campbell – cello, voice
Michael Nicolas – cello, voice
Sae Hashimoto – percussion, voice
Ches Smith – percussion, voice
Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics That Will Be Able to Present Itself as a Science
for string sextet (2020)
Jack Quartet
Chris Otto – violin
Austin Wulliman – violin
John Pickford Richards – viola
Jay Campbell – cello
with
Yura Lee – viola
Michael Nicolas – cello
Please note: this concert will be in-person only and will not be livestreamed.
