New Thread Quartet: Electric Sax Vol. 1 // National Opera Center
Date: June 21, 2023
Time: 7:00 pm
New Thread Quartet: Electric Sax Vol. 1
Workings and Re-Workings
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| New Thread Quartet performs previous collaborations with new twists by Aron Dahl, Dennis K. Sullivan II, Ebun Oguntola, Becky Brown, and Ben Luca Robertson. |
| New York’s most adventurous saxophone quartet returns to the stage to present an hour of ensemble + electro-acoustic works. A residency at the University of Virginia in 2018 led to collaborations with composers Becky Brown and Ben Luca Robertson, whose works New Thread will revisit for this concert. In addition, New Thread presents re-castings of works by Aron Dahl, Ebun Oguntola, and Dennis Sullivan. In true New Thread fashion, the program features novel sounds and inspirations: from emotions researcher, Brené Brown, to garden snakes, the deeply personal to the abstract. Electric Sax Vol. 1: Workings and Re-Workings is the first offering of what will be an annual multimedia performance concert by New Thread Quartet.
Becky Brown’s some favored gem for saxophone quartet and fixed media (2018) explores the distinction between shame and guilt proposed by Brené Brown, equating phrases from Bréne Brown’s TED Talks to melodic fragments to express challenging emotional states. Ben Luca Robertson’s Opheodrys uses an interactive score to direct the performers through nested microtonal layers. The result is a thickly vibrating web of sound that evokes the chaotic and glacially-shifting environment the green snake inhabits. Aron Dahl wrote Fluid Interference for soprano saxophone, Buchla Music Easel, and video in 2022. A project that has been described as meditative, queer, and beautiful, Dahl’s new adaptation for quartet promises an immersive sonic and visual experience that extends and deepens this expressive work. Ebun Oguntola’s Interim, was composed for a trio of saxophones + electronics featuring the players of New Thread. Oguntola received the Composers Now: First Commission Award in January 2022 to compose this work, and to encourage artistic potential and creative development. This will be the first in-person performance. Dennis K. Sullivan, II’s As Above, So Below (2018/2023) is three movement work for amplified saxophone quartet with fixed media, transducer/object installation, lighting and custom built light reactive circuits. The piece draws on practices from Sullivan’s own output as a percussionist, electronics performer and instrument builder. As well as for their contemporary playing techniques, Sullivan uses the saxophones as a conical amplifier for all sorts of harsh and abrasive noise provided by the electronics. In turn, the electronics function as an extension of the saxophones and sometimes, an ensemble all to themselves. Sullivan wrote the first movement in 2018, and added two additional movements to premiere in this performance. New Thread Quartet is delighted to be joined by saxophonist Eric Troiano on alto saxophone. A guest artist at the Asia Pacific Saxophone Academy, Singapore Saxophone Symposium, Great Plains Saxophone Workshop, among others, Troiano is also a founding member of the Viridian Saxophone Quartet. The VSQ won top prizes in the North American Saxophone Alliance Quartet Competition, Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, Coleman Chamber Music Competition, and the MTNA National Chamber Music Competition. Troiano is Assistant Professor of Saxophone at Ithaca College. New Thread Quartet ensemble members are Jonathan Hulting-Cohen (soprano saxophone), Erin Rogers (tenor saxophone) and Zach Herchen (baritone saxophone). NTQ will be joined by guest artist Eric Troiano (alto saxophone). This concert is presented by New Thread Quartet and is open to the public. Tickets are $10 online and at the door. THIS PROGRAM IS SUPPORTED, IN PART, BY PUBLIC FUNDS FROM THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CITY COUNCIL AND THE NEW YORK STATE COUNCIL ON THE ARTS (NYSCA). |