EislerTag: Lecture at the Hanns Eisler Society and “Berlin Verses” with Andrew Munn, bass
EislerTag – Sa. 7.12.2024
16.00 - 17.00 Uhr
Vortrag „Hanns Eisler und die Wien-Film am Rosenhügel“
Prof. Dr. Stefan Schmidl, Wien
Eintritt: 2,- EUR
17.30 – 18.30 Uhr
Konzert „Berlin Verses“
Andrew Munn, Gesang / Jacob Greenberg, Klavier
Lieder von Hanns Eisler: Hollywood Elegies (Adaption von Andrew Munn), An die Nachgeborenen
Arnold Schönberg: Fünf Klavierstücke op. 23
https://www.andrewrobertmunn.com/berlin-verses
Eintritt: 10,- EUR
Kontakt / Kartenreservierung
Internationale Hanns Eisler Gesellschaft e. V.
Petra Hildebrand-Wanner, Tel. 0170 / 930 17 59
Tel. (+49) 030 / 61 28 84 61, E-Mail: IHEG@hanns-eisler.de
ICE at the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, Paris
This event celebrates a new generation of Afrodiasporic composers and their diverse modes of sonic experimentalism. By presenting perspectives that have historically been missing from academic research, concert programs, and journalistic coverage, this program demonstrates the important role that new music from the African diaspora can play as an intercultural and cross-generational incubator for new themes, stories and identities.
International Contemporary Ensemble residency at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
The Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin, Germany (HKW, House of World Cultures) is sponsoring the residency “Always, Already There: An Incubator for Afrodiasporic New Music,” from November 4-10, 2024. The project includes public rehearsals and concerts, workshops, lectures and panel discussions, with the goal of collectively nurturing and developing new modes of expertise on contemporary Afrodiasporic sonic experimentalism, as well as presenting perspectives that have been largely ignored in academic research, concert programs, and journalistic coverage, especially in Europe. The residency offers professionals, students and the interested public an insight into the work of a new generation of Afrodiasporic composers, and is intended to demonstrate the important role that new music from the African diaspora can play as an intercultural and cross-generational incubator for new themes, stories and identities.
George Lewis, Professor of American music at Columbia University and artistic director of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) from New York, will serve as guest curator for this project. Musicians from ICE, guest performers, and twenty composers and sound artists from around the Afrodiasporic world of new music will be participating.
"Soziale Frage" with Andrew Munn at HIDALGO Festival Munich
With the bass Andrew Munn, I play a duo program called “Soziale Frage” (Social Questions) in the abandoned former Galeria Kaufhaus in Munich. Imagining a future utopian space, the music serves to illustrate the injustice of the world which has been overcome. American folk songs by Jean Ritcher and Hazel Dickens is juxtaposed with songs by Hanns Eisler (on texts by Brecht), Schubert, Henry Purcell, Ruth Crawford Seeger. A Sonic Meditation by Pauline Oliveros rounds out the program.
Preview: "Soziale Frage" with Andrew Munn at HIDALGO Festival Munich
With the bass Andrew Munn, I play a preview of the following night’s performance at HIDALGO Festival in Munich. Program, evening time, and location TBA.
Polyaspora Festival at Peabody Institute
With the support of a generous grant from the Nexus Awards, Dr. Felipe Lara, Pulitzer Prize Finalist for 2024 and Associate Professor and Chair of Composition at The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University, will lead Polyaspora, a five-day contemporary music festival, at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C. in fall 2024. Hosted by the Peabody Institute and curated by Professor Lara and George Lewis of Columbia University, Polyaspora centers Black and Brazilian perspectives in contemporary music alongside a showcase of new musical works by Peabody Conservatory students. The globally renowned and New York City-based International Contemporary Ensemble will serve as guest performers and educators for the festival. The festival includes three concerts with pre-concert talks at the Hopkins Bloomberg Center’s state-of-the-art Theatre, and one concert on the Peabody Institute’s Baltimore campus. All four concerts will be free and open to the public. Additional workshops and open rehearsals at Peabody will be open to JHU and Peabody students to attend and participate in.
Programs include:
COMPOSING WHILE BLACK – Afrodiasporic New Music Today
In tandem with the publication of the bilingual English/German edited volume bearing the same name, edited by Harald Kisiedu and George E. Lewis, this program presents sonically audacious new music by Nicole Mitchell, Jeffrey Mumford, Andile Khumalo, Leila Adu-Gilmore, Jalalu-Kalvert Nelson, and Tebogo Monnakgotla.
ANTROPOFAGIA – Brazilian Perspectives
This program features today’s leading musical voices of the Brazilian diaspora and explores the complexities and intersections of identity, race, history and cultural ethos from within a Brazilian framing. Includes works by Felipe Lara, Jocy de Oliveira, Igor Santos, Marcos Balter, Arthur Kampela, and Michelle Agnes. Pre-Concert Talk with Dr. Alejandro L. Madrid from Harvard University.
THE FUTURE IS NOW I & II
Each of these programs features seven newly composed premieres by Peabody Conservatory students, scored for solo instruments and chamber ensembles.
Additional activities include two workshops on open scores led by ICE members and open rehearsals for Peabody students.
Journey to the Center of the Earth with Meike Rötzer
I join the master storyteller Meike Rötzer for another exciting reading of Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth, auf Deutsch. Kulturhaus Karlhorst generous hosts me again for incidental music played on clavichord and harmonium. It’s always interesting to hang around the Lichtenberg neighborhood.
Art Opening for painter Jens Hanke: Visuelle Osmose im Nachtbetrieb
I play for another wonderful art opening of the painter Jens Hanke at the historic Kulturhaus Karlshorst in Berlin, Visuelle Osmosis im Nachbetrieb (Visual Osmosis in Post-Operation). Selections on harmonium and clavichord to be announced.
Souvenirs de Voyage at Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival
I play the premiere of a new chamber piece by Xinyang Wang with colleagues at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.
Program includes:
Xinyang Wang: New Work for flute, harp, percussion, violin, cello, and piano (world premiere)
Das Lied von der Erde at Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival
I play in a second performance of the brilliant Schönberg/Riehm chamber arrangement of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, with distinguished soloists and conductor Donald Runnicles.
Das Lied von der Erde at Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival
I play in the brilliant Schönberg/Riehm chamber arrangement of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, with distinguished soloists and conductor Donald Runnicles.
Russian Odyssey at Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival
I play Galina Ustvolskaya's remarkable Trio for Clarinet, Violin, and Piano with colleagues at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.
Program includes:
Galina Ustvolskaya: Trio for Clarinet, Violin, and Piano
Tanglewood Music Center faculty residency
Teaching at the Tanglewood Music Center is a highlight of my year. I work with the extremely talented Fellows on chamber music with instruments and voices, and I lecture on diverse keyboard instruments.
Meike Rötzer and Journey to the Center of the Earth at Schloss Britz
I continue my collaboration with the amazing actress and storyteller Meike Rötzer for a performance at the idyllic Schloss Britz in southern Neukölln. Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth, which is the subject of a dual historical and art exhibit at the Schloss, is the occasion for this event. Meike reads an abridged version of the epic proto-science fiction novel (auf Deutsch), with live semi-improvised accompaniment on clavichord and harmonium.
Concert with Andrew Munn at Kühlhaus
The extraordinary bass Andrew Munn and I will give an event at the vast Kühlhaus space in Kreuzberg, Berlin. Time TBA and ticket information coming soon.
Program includes:
Eisler: Hollywood Liederbuch (selections)
Schönberg: Fünf Klavierstücke, op. 23
Busoni: Zwei Lieder aus Goethes Faust
Brahms: Vier Ernste Gesänge, op. 121
Five Days in May with Elaine MItchener
I join my wonderful colleague, the English vocalist Elaine Mitchener, at the DAAD Program’s daadgalerie with the best contemporary music players in Berlin. I play harmonium for this event of improvised sets with old and new friends.
Civic Orchestra of Chicago at Epiphany Center for the Arts
Be delighted and inspired by this contemporary chamber music concert curated and performed by the Civic Fellows, members of the International Contemporary Ensemble and special guest Douglas Ewart. Fellows are selected through a competitive process that seeks artistically excellent, civically engaged, collaborative and entrepreneurial musicians.
Lecture-recital at Hochschule for Music and Theater, Munich
I give a lecture-recital on Ives songs and solo pieces at the famed Hochschule für Musik und Theater München.
Program includes:
Charles Ives: Studies #6, #20 and #23
Hear and Now: Concert Two
The International Contemporary Ensemble plays on the second of two concerts for the Hear and Now festival, celebrating young Los Angeles-based composers.
Program includes:
Cory Dundee: Triboluminescence
Michael Lee: Danse Macabre
Andrew Moses: UNTITLED
J. M. Gerraughty: Fougere
Jeffrey Holmes: Hagall
Hear and Now: Concert One
The International Contemporary Ensemble plays on the first of two concerts for the Hear and Now festival, celebrating young Los Angeles-based composers.
Program includes:
Joe Pereira: GLIMPSE 2.0
Kay Rhie: In the dreams of another
Jeremy Davalos: A Prayer Amidst the Chaos
Mu-Xuan Lin: Double Jeopardy
Oscar Pan: Le Train
Hugh Levick: Petrified Unrest
Ives Songs at Cliff Dwellers in Chicago
Sharon Harms, one of my regular Ives partners, joins me for a FREE recital of the composer’s songs at the idyllic Cliff Dwellers in downtown Chicago. A panoramic view of the harbor doesn’t hurt. Reservation link is reservations@cliff-dwellers.org. Dinner/cocktails before the performance require an extra reservation.
Program includes:
Ives: Selected Songs
Ives: Studies #6, #20 and #23 for piano
Märzmusik in Berlin
The International Contemporary Ensemble makes its debut at the esteemed Märzmusik festival in Berlin, in collaboration with the great local Zafraan Ensemble.
Program includes:
Aida Shirazi: Crystalline Trees
Jessie Cox: Existence Lies In-Between
Charles Uzor: Go. Ballet Imaginaire
Jens Hanke opening at Schloss Britz
I assist in the opening of an exhibition by the exceptional artist Jens Hanke at the beautiful Schloss Britz in Neukölln, Berlin. To complement the accompanying exhibit about Jules Verne, I play clavichord, harmonium, and MIDI keyboard to show the development of keyboard instruments over three centuries.
Dai Fujikura: Tangent
Wang Lu: Treetop Call
David Byrd-Marrow: Memory Horizon
Carola Bauckholt Composer Portrait at Miller Theatre with International Contemporary Ensemble
Miller Theatre’s legendary Composer Portraits series presents the Berlin-based Carola Bauckholt.
Program includes works by Carola Bauckholt (b. 1959):
Oh, I See (2015-16)
Schlammflocke II (2012)
Treibstoff (1995)
Ives Songs with Andrew Munn, bass
I give a presentation of my Ives project-in-progress with my wonderful Berlin colleague Andrew Munn. Location in Berlin Neukölln TBA.
Program includes:
Ives: Selected Songs
Solo event at KM28, Berlin
I play my solo debut at KM28, the excellent American-owned venue on Neukölln’s Karl-Marx-Straße. The program features a number of my recent commissions for different keyboards, and classic pieces by Charles Ives. House opens at 20:00, set starts at 20:30.
Program includes:
Charles Ives: Study #20
Dai Fujikura: Bright Codes
Dai Fujikura: White Rainbow
Wang Lu: Constellations Apart
Wang Lu: New Work for harmonium
New work for clavichord TBA
Charles Ives: Study #23
Composing While Black, Volume One: Two World Premieres by Courtney Bryan and Adegoke Steve Colson
The Ensemble is thrilled to present a program of chamber music featuring world premieres by Rome Prize-winning Courtney Bryan, commissioned by Arlene and Larry Dunn, and Adegoke Steve Colson, a longtime member of the famed Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, a Fromm Music Foundation commission. Conducted by Vimbayi Kaziboni, one of the foremost interpreters of contemporary classical music of his generation, this program reveals the new Afromodernism as an intercultural, multigenerational space of innovation.
Brittany J. Green: Thread and Pull (2022)
Adegoke Steve Colson: MIRRORS (2023, World Premiere)
Wendell Logan: Runagate, Runagate (1989)
Courtney Bryan: Dreaming (Freedom Sounds) (2023, World Premiere)
International Contemporary Ensemble at Fridman Gallery, NYC
With my longtime ICE colleague Cory Smythe, I give the world premiere of a new commission: David Byrd-Marrow’s duo for harmonium and MIDI keyboard. More works by ensemble members complete the program.
Program includes:
David Byrd-Marrow: New Work for harmonium and MIDI Keyboard
TIME:SPANS 2023
The TIME:SPANS festival in 2023 is a summer home for the International Contemporary Ensemble’s innovative programming. This year I play a concertante piece by the South African composer Andile Khumalo, whom I first met at Columbia University.
Program includes:
Andile Khumalo: Invisible Self for piano and ensemble
Program with Nicholas Phan at the Linde Center, Tanglewood
I perform a short set of songs with tenor Nicholas Phan which explore the experience of immigrants. The Linde Center’s Studio E is an ideal setting for a thoughtful song recital.
Program includes:
Schubert: Pilgerweise, D. 789
Ruth Crawford Seeger: Chinaman, Laundryman