Tectonics Festival NY 2015 closes at Abrons Art Center. Members of TILT Brass perform the works of emerging American composer William Dougherty for trombone quintet. Glasgow-based Fritz Welch, a drummer, percussionist, and vocalist who became a cult figure as part of Peeesseye, performs solo. Israeli sound artist Maya Dunietz presents the U.S. premiere of her solo work Boom (2014), for vocals, electronics, piano, and video. The festival closes with the premiere performance of Seven Storey Mountain V, by innovative trumpeter and composer Nate Wooley. The fifth installment of Wooley's cycle attempts to create a purely musical ecstatic space through composition and improvisation. The work has expanded from its previous iterations in scale and complexity, and features a 19-piece ensemble of powerful performers including Colin Stetson, TILT Brass Octet, Ben Vida, and more, to create a slow accretion of sound and energy.
Tectonics Festival includes performances May 7th at First Unitarian Congregational Society, Brooklyn, and May 8th and 9th at Abrons Art Center. Founded in 2012 by conductor Ilan Volkov, Tectonics provides a rare forum for the critical consideration of new developments in contemporary composition, with explorations of improvisation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and experimental performance practice from an international array of emerging and established composers.
Program
William Dougherty: Three Formants (2014)
U.S. Premiere. Performed by TILT Brass: Jen Baker, Will Lang, Chris McIntyre, Matt Melore (trombones); James Rogers (bass trombone).
Fritz Welch solo performance
Maya Dunietz: Boom (2014)
U.S. Premiere. Performed by Maya Dunietz, (vocals, electronics, piano, video).
Nate Wooley: Seven Storey Mountain V (2015)
World Premiere. Performed by Nate Wooley (amplified trumpet & tape), Samara Lubelski and C. Spencer Yeh (electric violin), Ryan Sawyer and Ben Hall (drums), Ben Vida (electronics), Matt Moran and Chris Dingman (vibraphone), Colin Stetson (amplified bass sax), Dan Peck (amplified tuba), Josh Sinton (amplified contrabass clarinet), and TILT Brass Octet: Gareth Flowers, Tim Leopold, Mike Gurfield (trumpet); Will Lang, Matt Melore (alto trombone), Chris McIntyre, Jen Baker (tenor trombone), James Rogers (bass trombone).
William Dougherty (b. 1988) is an American composer whose works have been performed by ensembles including the Orchestre National de Lorraine, the Nemascae Lemanic Modern Ensemble, the Lontano Ensemble, the London Chorus, and the Ligeti String Quartet in venues such as the Southbank Centre in London, the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, the Trinity Chapel in Fontainebleau, and at the 47th Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Darmstadt. Dougherty has received recognitions and awards from BMI, the PRS for Music Society, Sound and Music, the American Composers Forum, the Philadelphia Orchestra Association, Le Conservatoire Americain de Fontainebleau, the Institute for European Studies, and the UK Foreign Aid and Commonwealth Office. He is currently pursuing a Doctorate of the Musical Arts at Columbia University under Georg Friedrich Haas.
Led by trombonist and composer Chris McIntyre, TILT Brass is a Brooklyn-based organization dedicated to creating new content and contexts for contemporary brass music. Founded in 2003, TILT has premiered over 40 compositions in ensemble configurations ranging from solo and chamber groupings to experimental brass orchestra. TILT’s work is heard on releases by Tzadik, New World, Non-Site, and POTTR.
Fritz Welch (b. 1967) determined to stretch the escalator of possibilities into the bloodshot eye of results. In solo situations he is likely to employ drums, garbage, microphones, objects, texts and recycled chunks from past pieces. Welch is currently working on large scale projects with Asparagus Piss Raindrop and Ultimate Dancer and has recently played with Daniel Carter, Tripping Landlocked Infidels, Olivier Diplacido and Yoke of Blood. A longtime Brooklynite of Texas origins, he is now based in Glasgow, Scotland.
Maya Dunietz (b. 1981) is an Israeli pianist, singer, composer, choir conductor, and sound artist, recording and performing worldwide in a wide range of musical genres. Dunietz also performs regularly around the world playing free improvisation. Founder and leader of Giv'ol Choir, an experimental vocal ensemble and laboratory consisting of 20 professional musicians from various musical fields, she has also created sound installations for the HAU Theater in Berlin, and “Open Mic Knight,” commissioned by the Tectonics Festival, Iceland. She has received numerous commissions in Israel and Europe. During Spring 2015, Dunietz is teaching at CalArts as part of the Schusterman Family Foundation artists in residence program.
New York-based American trumpeter Nate Wooley (b. 1974) has performed on over 100 recordings. Increasingly acknowledged internationally, Wooley’s specific style is part of a burgeoning revolution in experimental trumpet technique. His own compositions expand conceptions of linguistic based embouchure manipulation and utilize the trumpet to control amplified feedback. He has performed regularly with such icons as John Zorn, Anthony Braxton, Eliane Radigue, Ken Vandermark, Fred Frith, Evan Parker, and Yoshi Wada, as well as being a collaborator with some of the brightest lights of his generation like Chris Corsano, C. Spencer Yeh, Peter Evans, and Mary Halvorson.