New Music Concerts presents Architek Percussion in a program that puts a spotlight on the works of composer Julius Eastman. The evening includes a pre-concert talk with writer/performer charles c. Smith, and a reception after the show.
New Music Concerts has been bringing adventurous music programming to Toronto audiences for decades. Just before the main concert, multi-instrumentalist Rashaan Allwood performs Eastman’s Joy Boy (1974), in a version for Piano, Synthesizer and Vocal Processing.
Gay Guerrilla launches NMC’s 54th season.
Performers & Pieces
Architek Percussion are: Noam Bierstone, Ben Duinker, Alexander Haupt, and Alessandro Valiante.
Montréal-based quartet Architek Percussion were founded in 2012 by McGill University grads. The ensemble performs regularly in Montreal, and collaborates with organizations such as Innovations en Concert, Le Vivier, and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. The ensemble has toured across Canada many times, as well as across Northern Europe and Scandinavia.
The percussion quartet are joined for the concert by two pianists, Daniel Añez and Pamela Reimer, and 21st century works by American composer Julia Wolfe and French composer Philippe Leroux fill out the program.
Architek perform Julia Wolfe’s Dark Full Ride:
Program
- Julia Wolfe (USA) Dark Full Ride (2002) for Four Drum Sets
- Philippe Leroux (FR) Les Uns II (2001) for Three Percussionists
- Julius Eastman (USA) Gay Guerrilla (1979) version for Four Percussion and Two Pianos
Julius Eastman (1940-1990)
Born in 1940 in New York City, Julius Eastman was a pianist, vocalist, performance artist, composer and conductor. A prodigy who began singing professionally as a child, he was accepted into The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia at the tender age of 19 after only five years of piano study. After graduating, he went on to teach at the University of Buffalo.
As a composer, he was true pioneer on the cutting edge of taking minimalist processes in new directions. He created what he called ‘organic music’, which incorporated elements and idioms from a range of genres. Julius collaborated with Pierre Boulez and other major figures of the era, and in 1974, earned a 1974 Grammy nomination for his performance of Eight Songs for a Mad King by Peter Maxwell Davies.
In terms of public acceptance, though, his career and work veered wildly from rave reviews to devastating controversy.
Being both Black and gay, and unashamedly so, cost him in the classical music environment of the 1970s. Among the habits that drew public ire was his penchant for using racial epithets in the titles of his works.
He went from career success to homelessness after returning to New York City, where he developed a reputation for unpredictable behaviour. Julius died alone in a hospital room at just 49 in 1990.
Musically, his work is rhythmic, compelling, and technically challenging.
Forgotten quickly in the years immediately following his death, his music was thought to be largely lost. Rediscovered in recent years, his music is being re-examined by a younger generation who can appreciate his bold, unabashed, sometimes playful, and often strikingly beautiful musical sensibility.
Gay Guerrilla is now considered a 20th century classic.
Details
Saturday, October 5, 8 p.m.
George’s Grange Park Church (30 Stephanie St.)
- 7:00 p.m. Doors
- 7:15 p.m. Pre-Concert Talk with charles c. smith
- 7:45 p.m. Young Artist Overture – Julius Eastman (USA) Joy Boy (1974), version for Piano, Synthesizer and Vocal Processing, performed by Rashaan Allwood.
- 8:00 p.m. Main Show
- 9:30 p.m. Reception
Find more information on New Music Concerts, and tickets to the show [HERE].
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