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Carnegie Hall Presents

American Mavericks

Series Events

Wednesday, Mar 14, 2012 | 10 AM
Michael Clark
Whitney Museum of American Art

Performers

  • Michael Clark, Choreographer and Dancer

Program

Open Rehearsals: Wednesday, March 14 to Sunday, April 8
Performances: Thursday, March 29 to Sunday, April 8 (Various Times)

Michael Clark is known for his integration of classical vocabulary with a more complex, contemporary sensibility. In late 2011, he inaugurated his first US-based venture, Modern Dance Club. Under Clark's artistic direction, Modern Dance Club's first commission will be a four-week residency with associated performances by the Michael Clark Company at this year's Whitney Biennial.

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street
New York, NY 10021

For more information:
212-570-3600
whitney.org
Sunday, Mar 18, 2012 | 3 PM
Neighborhood Concert: Alarm Will Sound
Abrons Arts Center at Henry Street Settlement

Performers

  • Alarm Will Sound
    Alan Pierson, Artistic Director and Conductor

Program

  • CAGE 0'00"
  • CAGE Selections from Song Books
  • CAGE Selections from Indeterminacy
  • CAGE Variations IV
  • CAGE Winter Music
  • CAGE Aria
  • CAGE Selections from Concert for Piano and Orchestra
  • CAGE Selections from Atlas eclipticalis
  • CHARLIE WILMOTH TBD (World Premiere)
  • CONLON NANCARROW Study No. 2 (arr. Gavin Chuck)
  • VARÈSE Poème électronique (arr. Evan Hause)
  • ELLIOTT SHARP Coriolis Effect
More
Sometimes new music is challenging; with Alarm Will Sound, it’s mind-blowing. Playing the most innovative performances of contemporary classical music with fierce talent and enjoyment, this 20-member ensemble is “as close to being a rock band as a chamber orchestra can be” (The New York Times).

This concert is part of American Mavericks, a citywide celebration of the pioneers of the American sound, presented by Carnegie Hall and San Francisco Symphony. Visit carnegiehall.org/mavericks for more information.
David Biedenbender's “Schism” 
Alarm Will Sound
Live at Mizzou
Sunday, Mar 18, 2012 | 4 PM
Neighborhood Concert: Jennifer Koh, Violin and Reiko Uchida, Piano
Brooklyn Public Library, Central Library

Performers

  • Jennifer Koh, Violin
  • Reiko Uchida, Piano

Program

  • JENNIFER HIGDON String Poetic
    ··     Jagged Climb
    ·· Nocturne
    ·· Blue Hills of Mist
    ·· Maze Mechanical
    ·· Climb Jagged
  • JOHN ADAMS Road Movies
    ··     Relaxed Groove
    ·· Meditative
    ·· 40% Swing
  • -intermission-
  • MISSY MAZZOLI Dissolve, O my Heart
  • HARRISON Grand Duo
    ··     Prelude
    ·· Stampede
    ·· A Round (Annabel and April's)
    ·· Air
    ·· Polka
More
Violinist Jennifer Koh can be summed up like this: daring, vivacious, and brilliant. Collaborating with the most ground-breaking contemporary composers on the scene, Koh traces the threads connecting new music to music of the past. As part of Carnegie Hall’s American Mavericks festival, their program features works by American composers Jennifer Higdon, John Adams, Missy Mazzoli, and Lou Harrison, including a piece written expressly for Koh by Higdon. Koh describes her career as a musician: “I always knew I wanted music in my life, but I never thought of this as a career—I got an English degree at Oberlin. I almost feel as though the career is a side note to the act of studying to be a musician. The work process is what I love most, and performance is just a part of that process.”

Performing solo and chamber music concerts internationally, Reiko Uchida is recognized as one of the finest, most versatile pianists on the music scene. A member of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Society Two, Uchida has collaborated with celebrated artists David Shifrin, Jaime Laredo, and Sharon Robinson, and is a member of the Laurel Trio and the Moebius Ensemble.

This concert is part of American Mavericks, a citywide celebration of the pioneers of the American sound, presented by Carnegie Hall and San Francisco Symphony. Visit carnegiehall.org/mavericks for more information.
"Road Movies: I. Relaxed Groove"
Jennifer Koh
Violin Recital: Koh, Jennifer - Higdon, J. / Harrison, L. / Adams, J. / Ruggles, C. (String Poetic)
Tuesday, Mar 20, 2012 | 7:30 PM
Anthology Film Archives
Anthology Film Archives

Program

26’ 1.1499” for a String Player (1973, 42 minutes)
Jud Yalkut

To commemorate John Cage’s centennial, Anthology Film Archives screens Jud Yalkut’s video realization of Charlotte Moorman and Nam June Paik’s concert performance of John Cage’s 26’ 1.1499” for a String Player, plus a rarely seen work that features the composer and a special surprise partner.

For more information:
212-505-5181
anthologyfilmarchives.org
Wednesday, Mar 21, 2012 | 7:30 PM
Lou Harrison: A World of Music
Anthology Film Archives

Program

Lou Harrison: A World of Music (2011, 90 minutes)
Eva Soltes

In this special sneak-preview film, Lou Harrison: A World of Music paints an intimate portrait of an extraordinary American composer who followed his own dreams with unbridled style. Harrison’s artistic curiosity and courage produced one of the great transcultural visions and musical legacies of the 20th century.

Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10003

For more information:
212-505-5181
anthologyfilmarchives.org
Wednesday, Mar 21, 2012 | 7:30 PM
Whitney Museum of American Art
THREE FILMS BY NATHANIEL DORSKY
Whitney Museum of American Art

Program

Wednesday, March 21 - Sunday, March 25, 2012

The Whitney will screen three films by inimitable filmmaker Nathaniel Dorsky - The Return (2011), Compline (2010), and Aubade (2010) - in a rotating film program throughout the week of March 21. One of the most gifted and influential filmmakers to emerge from the San Francisco experimental film scene, Nathaniel Dorsky’s short 16mm films are recognized for their distinctly meditative discoveries of rare beauty in everyday life. Dorsky, who was born in New York, captures the wordless dramas of light, shadow and color through rhythmic montage without the use of sound.

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street
New York, NY 10021

For more information:
212-570-3600
whitney.org
Free with museum admission

Thursday, Mar 22, 2012 | 7:30 PM
Anthology Film Archives
Anthology Film Archives

Program

On Conlon Nancarrow (1983, 12 minutes)
Eva Soltes
Photography by Philip Makanna

Eva Soltes’ short-subject documentary On Conlon Nancarrow highlights the life and work of reclusive expatriate American composer Conlon Nancarrow, who hand-punched player-piano rolls, becoming a visionary of the computer music era. His percussive studies for the player piano feature pieces that were unplayable by human hands, often hitting more than 100 notes per second.

West Coast Story: Frontiers of New Music (1986, 75 minutes)
Michael MacIntyre and Eva Soltes

Filled with rare interview footage and live performances, West Coast Story includes composers Lou Harrison, John Cage, Harry Partch, Henry Cowell, Terry Riley, Frank Zappa, John Adams, Daniel Lentz, and Paul Dresher musing on their work and history as they answer the question: What is the difference between Californian and East Coast musical traditions?

Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10003

For more information:
212-505-5181
anthologyfilmarchives.org
Friday, Mar 23, 2012 | 8 PM
The Kitchen: Instrumentals I
The Kitchen

Performers

  • Daniel Walden, Harpsichord
    William Basinski, Electronics
  • Nick Hallett, Curator

Program

William Basinski’s Vivian & Ondine and Tristan Perich’s Dual Synthesis
William Basinski’s ambient electronic opus identifies the haunting materiality of sound through the physical process of tape-loop manipulation. Tristan Perich—in his Kitchen debut—demonstrates his unique “1-bit universe,” mixing custom-built microchips and acoustic instruments.

The Kitchen
512 West 19th Street
New York, NY 10011

For more information:
212-255-5793 ext. 11
thekitchen.org
Friday, Mar 23, 2012 | 8 PM
Neighborhood Concert: Lisa Moore, Solo Piano
American Beserk
LaGuardia Performing Arts Center

Performers

  • Lisa Moore, Piano

Program

  • PHILIP GLASS Mad Rush
  • DON BYRON Piano Etude No. 4
  • DON BYRON Piano Etude No. 5
  • DON BYRON Piano Etude No. 6
  • MARTIN BRESNICK Willie's Way
  • COWELL Aeolian Harp
  • JOHN ADAMS American Berserk
  • MISSY MAZZOLI Orizzonte
  • JEROME KITZKE Bringing Roses With Her Words
  • FREDERIC RZEWSKI Piano Piece No. 4
More
To see Lisa Moore perform is to be ushered into a world of mesmerizing theatricality and compelling emotional power. “New York’s queen of avant-garde piano” (The New Yorker), Moore is an Australian long based in and around New York, carving a niche for herself in the city’s vibrant new music scene. She was the founding pianist for the revolutionary and wildly entertaining ensemble Bang on a Can All-Stars, and has collaborated with the world’s most famous composers, including Iannis Xenakis, Elliott Carter, Ornette Coleman, and Meredith Monk.

This concert is part of American Mavericks, a citywide celebration of the pioneers of the American sound, presented by Carnegie Hall and San Francisco Symphony. Visit carnegiehall.org/mavericks for more information.
Rzewski's "Piano Piece No. 4"
Lisa Moore
CheaTING, LyING, sTEaling
Saturday, Mar 24, 2012 | 8 PM
The Kitchen: Instrumentals II
The Kitchen

Performers

  • Mary Halvorson Septet
    ·· Kirk Knuffke, Cornet
    ·· Greg Ward, Alto Saxophone
    ·· Ingrid Laubrock, Tenor Saxophone
    ·· Jacob Garchik, Trombone
    ·· Mary Halvorson, Guitar
    ·· John Hebert, Bass
    ·· Tom Rainey, Drums
  • Instrumentals Ensemble
    ·· Ernie Brooks, Bass Guitar
    ·· Peter Gordon, Saxophones and Organ
    ·· Katie Porter, Bass Clarinet
    ·· Bill Ruyle, Mallets and Percussion
    ·· Elio Villafranca, Piano
    ·· Alex Waterman, Cello
    ·· Peter Zummo, Trombone
  • Peter Gordon, Musical Director
  • Nick Hallett, Curator

Program

Arthur Russell's Instrumentals and Mary Halvorson’s Septet Nos. 30–33
This double-bill begins with a new septet by Brooklyn-based guitarist Mary Halvorson, who effortlessly connects jazz, pop, and experimental strategies. Concluding the concert is a performance of Instrumentals by the late Arthur Russell, former music director of The Kitchen and protean composer who moved freely between avant-garde composition, traditional songwriting, and commercial disco. Originally performed at The Kitchen in 1975, Instrumentals is given a new reading, directed by composer Peter Gordon, who was a friend and collaborator of Russell’s.

The Kitchen
512 West 19th Street
New York, NY 10011

For more information:
212-255-5793 ext. 11
thekitchen.org
Sunday, Mar 25, 2012 | 3 PM
Neighborhood Concert: JACK Quartet
Abrons Arts Center at Henry Street Settlement

Performers

  • JACK Quartet
    with Special Guest Steven Mackey, Electric Guitar

Program

  • IVES String Quartet No. 2
  • CRAWFORD SEEGER String Quartet
  • STEVEN MACKEY Physical Property
More
Four wicked players creating an explosion of sound: The JACK Quartet is the new definition of the modern-day string quartet. Presented as part Carnegie Hall’s American Mavericks series, these electrifying young musicians are dedicated to commissioning and performing new works by the most ground-breaking composers, while delivering vibrant performances with overflowing energy. They tackle music by modernist composers Charles Ives and Ruth Crawford Seeger, and then team up onstage with composer-guitarist Steven Mackey on his own composition Physical Property.

Steven Mackey’s compositions bridge the divide between his first love—playing electric guitar in California rock bands—and his later passion for experimental concert music. Mackey has received commissions from the most renowned orchestras, ensembles, and venues; he often performs his own work, including two electric guitar concertos and numerous solo and chamber works. Currently a Professor of Music at Princeton University, Mackey is also an active improviser and performer with his band Big Farm.

This concert is part of American Mavericks, a citywide celebration of the pioneers of the American sound, presented by Carnegie Hall and San Francisco Symphony. Visit carnegiehall.org/mavericks for more information.
Monday, Mar 26, 2012 | 7:30 PM
So Percussion
"We Are All Going In Different Directions"—A John Cage Celebration
Zankel Hall

Performers

  • So Percussion
    ·· Eric Beach
    ·· Josh Quillen
    ·· Adam Sliwinski
    ·· Jason Treuting
  • Dan Deacon, Composer
  • Matmos
    ·· Drew Daniel, Electronics
    ·· M.C. Schmidt, Electronics
  • Cenk Ergün, Composer
  • Beth Meyers, Viola

Program

  • CAGE Credo in US
  • SO PERCUSSION / MATMOS Needles
  • CAGE Imaginary Landscape #1
  • CAGE Quartet for Percussion from She is Asleep
  • CENK ERGÜN Use
  • DAN DEACON "Bottles" from Ghostbuster Cook: The Origin of the Riddler
  • CAGE 18' 12", A Simultaneous Performance of Cage Works
    ·· Inlets (Improvisation II)
    ·· 0' 00" (4' 32" No. 2)
    ·· Duet for Cymbal
    ·· 45' for a Speaker
  • JASON TREUTING / SO PERCUSSION 24 x 24 (NY Premiere)
  • CAGE Third Construction
More
Pre-concert talk starts at 6:30 PM in Zankel Hall with members of So Percussion in conversation with Ara Guzelimian, Provost and Dean, The Juilliard School.

No one did more to change how we think about music—how we listen to it, make it, perform it—than John Cage. As part of American Mavericks at Carnegie Hall, Brooklyn-based ensemble So Percussion fetes this challenging composer, who was born 100 years ago in Los Angeles, and whose influence is felt today almost everywhere in American music.
Cage Third Construction
So Percussion
Audio Clips and Excerpts - Carnegie Hall's 2011-2012 Season
Monday, Mar 26, 2012 | 7 PM
Music and Conversation with Michael Tilson Thomas
Greene Space

Program

In a live video webcast from WQXR’s performance venue, The Greene Space, WQXR’s David Garland and Q2 Music's Nadia Sirota will host an evening with Michael Tilson Thomas, with featured guests John Adams and the St. Lawrence String Quartet. The event will be webcast live on Q2 Music, broadcast live on 105.9 FM in New York and with live video streaming on wqxr.org/q2music/.


For more information:
http://www.thegreenespace.org/events/thegreenespace/2012/mar/26/american-mavericks-music-and-conversation-michael-tilson-thomas/


Related Activities:
Q2 Music’s month-long programming will also include pieces by American Maverick composers, with introductions to their works by composers David Del Tredici, Michael Gordon, Phil Kline, David Lang, Angelica Negron, Ingram Marshall, Missy Mazzoli, and Steve Reich; interviews from the WQXR and WNYC archives with iconic Maverick composers such as John Cage, Lukas Foss, Meredith Monk, and Terry Riley; insights about the music from MTT; and curated playlists from prominent composers and musicians outside the standard Western Classical tradition. Programming will be hosted by guest hosts including Mary Rowell, former ETHEL String Quartet violinist, and Joel Sachs, conductor of The New Juilliard Ensemble; Professor of Music History, Chamber Music, and New Music Performance at The Juilliard School; and biographer of Henry Cowell. Specialty shows with American Mavericks guests, American Mavericks videos, and videos from MTT will be hosted on the WQXR/Q2 Music site as well.
Tuesday, Mar 27, 2012 | 8 PM
San Francisco Symphony
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage

Performers

  • San Francisco Symphony
    Michael Tilson Thomas, Music Director and Conductor
  • St. Lawrence String Quartet
    ·· Geoff Nuttall, Violin
    ·· Scott St. John, Violin
    ·· Lesley Robertson, Viola
    ·· Christopher Costanza, Cello
  • Joan La Barbara, Vocalist
  • Meredith Monk, Vocalist
  • Jessye Norman, Soprano
  • Jesse Stiles, Electronics
  • Yuval Sharon, Stage Director

Program

  • CAGE Selections from Song Books
  • COWELL Synchrony
  • JOHN ADAMS Absolute Jest for String Quartet and Orchestra (NY Premiere, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall and the San Francisco Symphony)
  • VARÈSE Amériques
More
The San Francisco Symphony begins its American Mavericks residency at Carnegie Hall with a spectacular, ground-shaking ode to our country from the 1920s by a Frenchman who found creative sustenance right here in the Big Apple. Also on the program is music from John Cage’s enigmatic Song Books with Jessye Norman, Meredith Monk, and Joan La Barbara, and the New York premiere of John Adams’s Absolute Jest.
Ruggles Sun-Treader
Boston Symphony Orchestra; Michael Tilson Thomas, Conductor 
Deutsche Grammophon
Wednesday, Mar 28, 2012 | 8 PM
San Francisco Symphony
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage

Performers

  • San Francisco Symphony
    Michael Tilson Thomas, Music Director and Conductor
  • Emanuel Ax, Piano

Program

  • RUGGLES Sun-Treader
  • FELDMAN Piano and Orchestra
  • IVES A Concord Symphony (orch. Brant)
More
On its second concert at Carnegie Hall as part of American Mavericks, the San Francisco Symphony presents Carl Ruggles’s Sun-Treader, whose title comes from a Robert Browning poem, and an orchestration of Charles Ives’s “Concord” Sonata, inspired by New England’s transcendentalists. Ruggedly nonconformist, these works are matched with the no-less-individualistic music of iconoclast Morton Feldman.

Varèse Amériques
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; Riccardo Chailly, Conductor
Deutsche Grammophon
Thursday, Mar 29, 2012 | 8:30 PM
American Mavericks
with Members of the San Francisco Symphony
Zankel Hall

Performers

  • Michael Tilson Thomas, Conductor and Host
  • Kiera Duffy, Soprano
  • Paul Jacobs, Organ
  • Mason Bates, Electronica
  • Newband
    Dean Drummond and Stefani Starin, Directors
  • Young People's Chorus of New York City
    Francisco J. Núñez, Artistic Director
  • Members of the San Francisco Symphony

Program

  • PARTCH Daphne of the Dunes
  • MASON BATES Mass Transmission (NY Premiere)
  • HARRISON Concerto for Organ with Percussion Orchestra
  • DEL TREDICI Syzygy
More
Music by two West Coast composers with a penchant for melding seemingly disparate sounds frames this American Mavericks event, starting with a piece for electronica and chorus by Oakland-based Mason Bates. Organist Paul Jacobs joins an unorthodox ensemble that includes plumbers’ pipes and oxygen-tank bells in Lou Harrison’s Concerto for Organ with Percussion Orchestra.
David Del Tredici Syzygy
ASKO Ensemble; Oliver Knussen, Conductor; Jan Harshagen, French Horn; Peppie Wiersma, Tubular Bells; Wim Vos, Tubular Bells; Lucy Shelton, Soprano  
Deutsche Grammophon
American Mavericks
As Artistic Director of "American Mavericks," Michael Tilson Thomas offers a thrilling chance to experience the music of Charles Ives, Carl Ruggles, John Cage, John Adams, and other maverick composers in a series of concerts in March 2012, celebrating what he calls the "iconoclasts, moldbreakers, voyagers, pioneers of the American sound."
Friday, Mar 30, 2012 | 8:30 PM
American Mavericks
with Members of the San Francisco Symphony
Zankel Hall

Performers

  • Michael Tilson Thomas, Host
  • Jeffrey Milarsky, Conductor
  • Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble, Vocalists
  • Joan La Barbara, Vocalist
  • Jeremy Denk, Piano
  • Jesse Stiles, Electronics
  • San Francisco Symphony
    Michael Tilson Thomas, Music Director and Conductor

Program

  • STEVE REICH Music for Pieces of Wood
  • MEREDITH MONK Realm Variations (NY Premiere)
  • FOSS Echoi
  • MORTON SUBOTNICK Jacob’s Room: Monodrama (NY Premiere)
More
American Mavericks concludes with a concert that reflects the range of music that defines the maverick spirit: The human voice stretched to its limit by Meredith Monk; electronic theater music by Morton Subotnik; pulsing music by Steve Reich; and Lukas Foss’s experimentalism grounded in the European tradition.
Morton Subotnick And The Butterflies Begin to Sing, Part IV "Images Will Descend to the Ground: Truth will remain simple, and gigantic wheels will ride the bitter waves"
Amernet String Quartet; Kyoko Kashiwagi, Violin; Marcia Littley De Arias, Violin; Bleda Elibal, Double Bass; Javier Arias-Flores, Cello; Malcolm Johnston, Viola
New World Records
American Mavericks
As Artistic Director of "American Mavericks," Michael Tilson Thomas offers a thrilling chance to experience the music of Charles Ives, Carl Ruggles, John Cage, John Adams, and other maverick composers in a series of concerts in March 2012, celebrating what he calls the "iconoclasts, moldbreakers, voyagers, pioneers of the American sound."
Friday, Mar 16, 2012 | 7:30 PM
Nicole Eisenman
FIGURE DRAWING ATELIER
Whitney Museum of American Art

Performers

  • Nicole Eisenman, Painter

Program

Painter Nicole Eisenman shares her practice of drawing from live models in a figure drawing class in the galleries of the Whitney Museum. Eisenman investigates contemporary issues through the historically charged mediums of drawing and painting. In her work, she utilizes technical skill and art historical influences to address innovative views on social concerns. While Eisenman’s figurative style references a range of academic traditions--from WPA murals to surrealism--her razor sharp wit and intimate subjects reveal a language that is completely her own.

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street
New York, NY 10021

For more information:
212-570-3600
whitney.org
Free with museum admission
Friday, Mar 16, 2012 | 7:30 PM
WHY? with Danielson
Le Poisson Rouge

Program

Courting the surreal, the sublime, and the existential, American indie rock bands WHY? and Danielson are as maverick as they come. Danielson, the creative outlet of Daniel Christopher Smith, is known for an idiosyncratic sound filled with undulating, chromatic chord progressions. WHY? comprises three Midwestern friends who, motivated by the unanswerable question, experiment with common instruments to create uncommonly insightful music.

Presented by (Le) Poisson Rouge.

(Le) Poisson Rouge
158 Bleecker Street
New York, NY 10012

For more information:
212-505-3474
lprnyc.com
Friday, Mar 16, 2012 | 10 AM
John Cage Living Archive
New York Public Library

Program

Ongoing Project:
The New York Public Library’s online multimedia initiative entitled John Cage Unbound—A Living Archive debuts in 2012, and features performance videos narrated by professional musicians, students, and others interested in contributing to the understanding of Cage’s philosophy and the process of interpreting his music.

www.nypl.org