We hope that your summer has / is continuing to be an excellent one. Now that I am back in the US and we have an excellent piano in place (Steinway B [7’ studio grand], by courtesy of Steinway Pianos and Park Avenue Pianos), Spectrum is ramping up its first full, post-pandemic season.
We are kicking off with a stunning pair of sets on Sunday 27 August at 4 PM, with Augustus Arnone and Jacob Rhodebeck. The program, as suits these two artists, is ambitious. We also have high-level details for September / October events below; details pending.
As usual, tickets are $15 general / $10 students / seniors.
Beverages and other refreshments will be available via donation.
This largest-yet Spectrum is at the site of our generous partner, the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition (BWAC), in a pre-Civil War warehouse with views of the Statue of Liberty and (from inside the venue) excellent, over-water sunsets.
481 Van Brunt, Door 7A, Red Hook, Brooklyn, 11231
We hope that you can make one or more of these events. Details are given below.
Please note that our Spectrum Sunday Salon concerts run from 4 to 6 PM and are designed to allow people to get drinks &/or dinner afterwards (or lunch beforehand) at one of the notable restaurants in the area (Red Hook, Gowanus, Carroll Gardens), getting home at a comfortable hour.
Our Friday Evening Events (usually 7 – 10 PM) are of course designed to provide the classic into-the-evening NYC experience.
Warm regards,
Glenn Cornett, MD, PhD / Managing Director
Spectrum / New York City
[email protected]
(We note that our website has been acting up while our web guru Gabriel is in Europe. Apologies; hoping to repair this near term).
Sunday Salon Concert
27 August at 4 PM
Augustus Arnone
JS Bach: Prelude And Fugue in C Minor (from WTC II)
Bach: Prelude And Fugue In C# Minor (from WTC II)
Michael Finnissy: Le réveil de l'intraitable réalité (from The History
Of Photography In Sound)
Jacob Rhodebeck
Fragments du journal intime 1980-1982 - Luc Ferrari
Préface
Chronique érotique
Vue sur la désolation
Je fais souvent un rêve
Boum Boum
Clair-obscur
Ce mystérieux moment
Hommage à John Cage
<<Regarde mon corps>> dit-elle
Preludios de Luz (US Premiere) - Alex Nante
1. La luz de la tierra
2. La luz del agua
3. La luz del fuego
4. La luz del aire
5. La luz del sonido
6. La luz del Bardo
7. La luz del silencio
Augustus Arnone is an adventurous pianist who has made a home at the edge of transcendental extremes in the modern repertory. His repertoire includes the complete works for solo piano by Milton Babbitt, Michael Finnissy's complete monumental eleven movement piano cycle, "The History Of Photography In Sound," as well as works by Cage, Xenakis, Stockhausen, Rzewski, Carter, Nono, Lucier, Feldman, Martino, Rakowski, Sierra, Campion and Eckardt. Composers who have written for him include Michael Finnissy, Robert Morris, Christopher Bailey, Yotam Haber, Elizabeth Hoffman, Jeff Snyder, Michael Klingbeil, Elizabeth Adams, Lou Bunk, Spencer Topel, and more. A stalwart champion of the ever controversial Babbitt, Mr. Arnone performed the composer's complete solo piano music on two occasions, first in 2008 at Merkin Concert Hall, New York City, and again in 2016, in honor of the centenary of Babbitt's birth year. He is currently recording the cycle for commercial release. Mr. Arnone has been presented at venues throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn including Merkin Concert Hall, the Issue Project Room, Roulette Concert Space, the cell, the Firehouse Space, Spectrum, and the Greenwich House.
Jacob Rhodebeck is a pianist known for his tremendous command of the instrument and his enthusiasm for performing new and little-known music. Recently, Mr. Rhodebeck's performances have been described as "astounding" (David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer) and “searing” (New York Times). In November 2019, Jacob premiered Michael Hersch’s 6-hour piano work, one day may become menace, at the Wien Modern Festival in Vienna, Austria.
Jacob is highly active in the world of new music, garnering New York Times reviews with the Lost Dog New Music Ensemble in performances of music by John Luther Adams and Per Nørgård and a New York Times review and Critics' Pick for his performances of Michael Hersch's 3-hour piano work, The Vanishing Pavilions. Jacob has also collaborated with and premiered works by Mason Bates, Christopher Bailey, and Lukas Ligeti, among many others. He was a Fellow at the Tanglewood Summer Music Festival for two seasons. Jacob was a member of the contemporary piano/percussion ensemble, Yarn/Wire, and has worked with many other contemporary music ensembles including Wet Ink, Composers Concordance, and counter)induction. He can also be heard on numerous CDs including Lost Dog New Music Ensemble's “Chamber Music of Philippe Bodin”, Yarn/Wire's debut recording Tonebuilders, Stony Brook Soundings Vol. 1 with the Escher String Quartet, and Christopher Bailey's album of piano works, "Glimmering Webs". In addition to performing as a solo and collaborative pianist, Mr. Rhodebeck is in demand as a lecturer having presented lectures and masterclasses at many universities, including Hamilton College, Vanderbilt University, Bates College and the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University.
Other, upcoming concerts; details with next email.
Friday Evening Event
8 September, 7 PM
Spectrum Bass Night, curated by Jair-Rohm Parker Wells
Sunday Salon Concert
24 September, 4 PM
Teodora Stepancic re-launches Spectrum’s hosting of the Piano+ series. We are understandably thrilled to being this back.
Friday Evening Event:
Amplified Ambitions (new series)
29 September, 7 PM
This kicks off a new series at Spectrum, where traditionally amplified instruments (e.g., electric guitar, electric organ, synthesizer) feature prominently. Performances can vary widely, from psychedelic / progressive rock-influenced sets to forms and formats perhaps never seen before (we encourage that). The principal requirements (as one might infer) are that the music should involve amplified instruments (for at least part of each set) and be unmistakably ambitious.
Confirmed (other acts TBD): Gordon Beeferman’s ORGAN TRIO features guitarist Anders Nilsson and drummer/percussionist Kate Gentile. Beeferman’s compositions riff on the classic jazz organ trio through a 21st-century lens. Weaving in strands from avant-garde jazz and concert music, blues, prog-rock, and more, the result is an eclectic ride, by turns dramatic, elegiac, groovy, and wry, through unusual forms, moods, and sound-worlds.
This music is an intricately structured mix of written and free-improvised aesthetics, turning on a dime between precise ensemble passages and freewheeling solos that highlight each musician's unique voice in counterpoint with the others’. The trio’s second album, “Second Being,” will be released in September 2023 on zOaR Records.
About the trio’s 2019 debut album with drummer Ches Smith: “Gordon Beeferman is a wide-eyed polymath who masterfully toes the lines of myriad genres ... Alongside guitarist Anders Nilsson and drummer/percussionist Ches Smith, Beeferman splatters and smashes his way through a cosmic and complex set of psychedelic jazz and rock fusion-minded freak-outs, invoking Sun Ra and electric Miles.” —Brooklyn Rail
"Inspiring— perfect balance between rigor and abandon... It's criminal your music isn't more widely known, if only so young players can start stealing from you. It's time they did.” —Carla Bley and Steve Swallow
