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Category: Blogcast

Ned Rothenberg’s 60th Birthday Party: A Benefit For Roulette Featuring Muhal Richard Abrams, John Zorn, George Lewis, and More

What: Ned Rothenberg convenes John Zorn, Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis, Sylvie Courvoisier, Ikue Mori, Mark Feldman, Jim Staley, Mivos Quartet, Erik Friedlander, Marty Ehrlich, and Gamin for an improvisational performance on the occasion of the composer’s 60th birthday.
When: Sunday, September 18, 2016, 7pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $20/15 Online $25/20 Doors $60 Benefit Ticket (Premium Seating + CD)
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets:  General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door, $60 Benefit Ticket

“What could be a better way to celebrate 60 years on this earth than playing with some of my favorite musicians?  And what better purpose than to support the wonderful activities of Roulette? It’s an honor to have some of my oldest partners in crime, musical heros, most amazing improvisers on the planet and dearest friends (all these categories cross over each other) to join me for the festivities.”

Ned Rothenberg

John Zorn is a composer and saxophonist with hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, and producer across a variety of genres. Zorn established himself within the New York City downtown music movement in the mid-1970s performing with musicians across the sonic spectrum and developing experimental methods of composing new music.

Muhal Richard Abrams is a composer, cellist, and jazz pianist working in the free jazz medium. Following his move to New York in 1975, Abrams began involved in the Loft Jazz scene. In 1983, he established the New York chapter of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.

– A member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) since 1971, George Lewis‘ work in electronic and computer music, computer-based multimedia installations, and notated and improvisatory forms is documented on more than 140 recordings.

Sylvie Courvoisier is a pianist, composer and improviser born and raised in Lausanne, Switzerland and currently residing in Brooklyn. As the leader of several groups over the years, Courvoisier has recorded over 25 records for top labels in including ECM, Tzadik, and Intakt Records.

Ikue Mori moved from her native city of Tokyo to New York in 1977. She started playing drums and soon formed the seminal No Wave band DNA with fellow noise pioneers Arto Lindsay and Tim Wright. After becoming involved with the city’s flourishing improvisational scene via John Zorn, she began experimenting with drum machines, and in recent years utilizes the laptop as her primary instrument.

Mark Feldman is currently a member of the John Abercrombie Quartet along with Joey Baron and Marc Johnson. In addition to international concert tours the resulting recordings “Open Land,” “Cat n’ Mouse,” and “Class Trip” on ECM Records.

– Roulette artistic director and producer Jim Staley occupies a unique position among trombonists, crossing genres freely between post-modern classical music and avant-garde jazz. He boasts spectacular technique, including the ability to spit forth clusters of notes at rapid speed.

Gamin is one of the most celebrated piri, taepyeongso (Korean traditional oboe family), and saengwhang (ancient wind-blow instrument) performers in Korea today. Solidly trained in jeongak, the classical court music, Gamin also studied the techniques of sinawi, the shaman ritual music.

Ikue Mori: Pomegranate Seed // World Premiere of OBELISK

What: Ikue Mori presents a live audio-visual piece based upon Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Tanglewood Tales followed by the world premiere of her new group OBELISK, featuring Sylvie Courvoisier, Okkyung Lee, and Jim Black.
When: Friday, September 16, 2016, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $20/15 Online $25/20 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 welcomes back veteran performer Ikue Mori for a double feature including Pomegranate Seed, a live audio-visual performance inspired by the story of the same from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Tanglewood Tales, followed by the world premiere of her new group OBELISK, featuring Sylvie Courvoisier on piano, Okkyung Lee on cello and Jim Black on drums.

Published in 1853, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Tanglewood Tales retells well-known Greek myths for children. Ikue’s rendition of the classic tale of Persephine’s kidnapping at the hands of King Pluto will include video clips and puppetry. The second performance of the night will call upon the talents of Sylvie Courvoisier, Okkyung Lee, and Jim Black to premiere new pieces developed from Ikue’s solo electronic compositions.

After moving to New York from her native Tokyo in 1977, Ikue Mori began playing drums in seminal No Wave band DNA with fellow noise pioneers Arto Lindsay and Tim Wright. In the mid 1980s, Ikue began to employ drum machines in the context of improvised music. While limited to the standard technology provided by the drum machine, she nonetheless forged her own signature style. Throughout in 1990s she collaborated with numerous improvisors throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, while continuing to produce and record her own music. After becoming involved with the city’s flourishing improvisational scene via John Zorn, she began experimenting with drum machines, and in recent years utilizes the laptop as her primary instrument. Last fall, Ikue performed her Twindrums project with Yoshimio at Roulette. Ikue has lead workshops and lectures at University of Gothenburg, Dartmouth College, New England Conservatory, Mills College, Stanford University, and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Elliott Sharp's Vivarium

What: Renowned composer and multi-instrumentalist Elliott Sharp, joined by JACK Quartet, presents new and recent works.
When: Thursday, September 15, 2016, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $20/15 Online $25/20 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY – Elliott Sharp’s Vivarium is a program of new and recent works partially drawn from his new album, Tranzience, on New World Records. Drawing upon the talents of top new music ensembles JACK Quartet and New Thread Quartet, Vivarium places Sharpe’s works in new contexts.

The program features “Tranzience” performed by JACK Quartet, “Approaching The Arches of Corti” performed by New Thread saxophone quartet; “Homage Leroy Jenkins” performed by Jenny Lin, Rachel Golub, and Joshua Rubin; and “The Hidden Variable” for electro-acoustic guitar performed by Elliott Sharp. The evening will conclude with the the world premiere of “Vivarium,” a graphic score by Sharp that will be performed by all of the musicians taking part in the other pieces.

Composer and multi-instrumentalist Elliott Sharp is the leader of such projects as SysOrk, Orchestra Carbon and Tectonics, and Terraplane. Recipient of the Berlin Prize for 2015 and a Guggenheim Fellowship winner for 2014, Sharp has composed for Ensemble Modern, RadioSinfonie Frankfurt, and Arditti Quartet. A contributor to Hilary Hahn’s Grammy-winning album In 27 Pieces, Sharp has been featured at New Music Stockholm, Donaueschingen, Darmstadt, Tomorrow Shenzhen, and Au Printemps festivals. His opera Port Bou premiered in the United States at Issue Project Room October 2014 and in Berlin at Konzerthaus in April 2015. In 2010, Sharp created About Us, a sci-fi opera for all-teenage performers at the Bayerische Staatsoper. His work is the subject of the documentary “Doing The Don't” and he has been featured on NPR's All Things Considered.

  • Elliott Sharp – Electro-acoustic guitar
  • JACK Quartet – Violin, viola, cello
  • New Thread Quartet (Geoffrey Landman, Kristen McKeon, Erin Rogers, Zach Herchen) – Saxophone
  • Jenny Lin – Piano
  • Rachel Golub – Violin
  • Joshua Rubin – Clarinet

ACFNY & Dame Electric Present: Suzanne Ciani, Antenes & E. Indigo

What: Buchla pioneer Suzanne Ciani performs her first solo concert in New York since 1975, preceded by a live collaboration between E. Indigo and Antenes.
When: Wednesday, September 14, 2016, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $20/15 Online $25/20 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY – The Austrian Cultural Forum and Dame Electric offer a rare opportunity to witness legendary analog synth pioneer Suzanne Ciani perform her first solo concert in New York in over 30 years. Ciani will play her Buchla synthesizer live, coupled with video projections that will enable the audience to follow her working process close up. Opening act E. Indigo and Antenes will premiere their first live collaboration. Founded and curated by thereminist Dorit Chrysler and supported by the Austrian Cultural Forum New York, Dame Electric focuses on pioneering women in electronic analog music.

Suzanne Ciani is a five-time Grammy award nominated composer, electronic music pioneer, and neo-classical recording artist whose work has been featured in countless commercials, video games, and feature films. Over the course of her 30+ year career, she has released 15 solo albums, including the live electronic album retrospective, Buchla Concerts 1975. Ciani’s forthcoming collaborative album with Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Sunergy, will be released on September 16, 2016 via RVNG’s FRKWYS imprint.

New York based DJ, producer and electronics artist Antenes operates a laboratory of self-made sequencers and modular synthesizers. Tracing the lineage of synthesizer operation to vintage telephone equipment, her curious studio discipline of manipulating repurposed switchboards was fueled by the desire to breathe new life into long-silenced machines, transforming signal paths through which voices once travelled.

Vienna/Berlin-based artist E. Indigo reps an intelligent and distinguished interpretation of techno and electronic music. As a composer and musician, she creates music for concert spaces, clubs, and sound installations, emphasizing the spatial-temporal placement of subtly elaborated sounds and structures, often generated from speech recordings.

  • Suzanne Ciani – Buchla Synthesizer
  • Antenes – Handmade Synthesizer
  • E. Indigo – Granulator, Laptop

Damon Smith, Alvin Fielder, Joe McPhee Trio

What: The world premiere of the trio celebrates the meeting of free jazz masters, Joe McPhee and Alvin Fielder, joined by bassist Damon Smith.
When: Tuesday, September 13, 2016, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $20/15 Online $25/20 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY – Master musicians Joe McPhee and Alvin Fielder, joined by bassist Damon Smith, will play together for the first time following Fielder’s illness. The evening will offer a rare opportunity to witness two free jazz greats reflect on their storied careers. With strong ties to American jazz traditions as well as European-style free improvisation, all three musicians will push the boundaries of jazz, swing, and blues in unlikely and inspiring ways.

Mississippi-born jazz drummer Alvin Fielder began his career in Chicago, where he co-founded the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) in 1965. Over the next several decades, Fielder has played with Sun Ra, Muhal Richard Abrams, Eddie Harris, Kalaparusha, Fred Anderson, Lester Lashley and Roscoe Mitchell, among others. Fielder is featured on Roscoe Mitchell’s seminal 1966 Sound recording. He is the 2012 recipient of the Resounding Vision Award from Nameless Sound in Houston.

Joe McPhee is a jazz multi-instrumentalist and composer hailing from Miami, Florida. Active since the late 1960s, McPhee plays tenor, alto, and soprano saxophone, trumpet, flugelhorn and valve trombone. Inspired by Pauline Oliveros, whose theories of “deep listening” strengthened his interests in extended instrumental and electronic techniques, and Albert Ayler, who inspired McPhee to pick up the saxophone, McPhee has produced over 100 recordings throughout his 50+ year career.

Damon Smith’s explorations into the sonic palette of the double bass have resulted in a personal, flexible improvisational language based in the American jazz avant-garde movement and European non-idiomatic free improvisation. Born and raised in the fertile Bay Area music scene of the 1990s, Smith is heavily influenced by visual art, film, and dance, and counts Werner Herzog and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company among his collaborators.

Resonant Bodies Festival

What: Roulette’s fall season kicks off with three nights of the acclaimed contemporary vocal performance festival Resonant Bodies.
When: Tuesday-Thursday, September 6-8 2016, 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: $20/15 Online $25/20 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY – Acclaimed Resonant Bodies Festival returns to Roulette in its fourth annual incarnation as New York’s most innovative and wide-ranging presenter of contemporary vocal artists. Featuring an international roster of virtuosic singers, world premieres, and an exhilarating mix of genres, the nine vocalists performing over three days will provide an immersive musical experience unlike any other.

Opening night (September 6) features soprano Julia Bullock, winner of the 2014 Naumburg International Vocal Competition, singing David Hertzberg, Lukas Foss, and John Cage; flutist, lyric soprano, and curator of a vibrant repertoire of lesser-known contemporary masterpieces, Alice Teyssier, will perform with her multi-media experimental ensemble, The Atelier (Bradley Scott Rosen, Michael Weyandt); and award-winning Ethiopian-born, Swedish composer/vocalist/improviser Sofia Jernberg, will make her New York debut with her own compositions for solo voice as well as new works showcasing her virtuosic vocal talents.

The second night (September 7) features the “open-hearted” (Wall Street Journal) performing style of mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer, performing Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, and Florent Ghys; along with the fearless, boundary-pushing tenor Peter Tantsits, giving the US premiere of several works by Karlheinz Stockhausen; and bass-baritone Dashon Burton, founding member of the Grammy-winning Roomful of Teeth, performing works by Georges Aperghis, Stockhausen, Jake Endris, David Heard, and a world premiere of an original work for voice and electronics.

The final night (September 8) will feature “Hamburg’s queen of avant-garde” (Hamburger Abendblatt) Frauke Aulbert, who boasts a vocal range of four octaves, sharing her explorations of extended vocal techniques from around the world, on the same program as Sophia Burgos, a rising star of contemporary vocal music, presenting a collage of virtuosic vocal music by Philippe Leroux, Lucian Berio, and Zesses Seglias; and “preternaturally focused” (The New York Times) Canadian soprano Charlotte Mundy, who will be joined by her ensemble, TAK, to perform premieres by Natacha Diels, Doug Balliett, and Erin Gee in settings of Anne Carson’s poem, “The Albertine Workout.”