Tuesday, December 5th at 8pm at the organization’s 22 Boerum Pl. theater, ISSUE is pleased to invite Members and special guests to a reception featuring a performance from Loren Connors and a conversation with Suzanne Langille. The event precedes ISSUE’s celebratory year-end concert: An Improvisational Symphony: coordinated by Suzanne Langille taking place on the evening of Saturday, December 16th at First Unitarian Congregational Society in Downtown Brooklyn.
Coordinated by vocalist and longtime ISSUE friend, Suzanne Langille, An Improvisational Symphony will involve a diverse array of twenty artists who will come together to close ISSUE's 20th Anniversary Season. In collaboration with the ISSUE team, Langille has invited a wide range of musicians - many with deep ties to ISSUE’s history - involving numerous master and emerging practitioners. The program is split into four movements, each representing a traditional element that will inspire each group of five musicians to present 20-minutes of improvised sounds.
During the Member event, Langille will discuss her approach to coordinating the Symphony and her own artistic practice. The evening will also feature a short performance from legendary guitarist, Loren Connors, who is part of the Symphony’s first movement (Earth): Allegro.
A lyricist and vocalist, Suzanne Langille is as devoted to the spoken word as to song. She is known for her work with guitarist Loren Connors and the band Haunted House, as well as overtones singer and percussionist Neel Murgai, multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter and poet Yuko Otomo.
Loren Connors has improvised and composed original guitar music for over four decades. His music embraces the underlying aesthetics of blues, Irish airs, blues-based rock and other genres while letting go of rigid forms. He names abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko as his most important influence. Connors has worked with other inventive musicians such as Kim Gordon, Alessandra Novaga, Jandek, Keiji Haino, and Alan Licht, as well as in duet and band settings with vocalist Suzanne Langille. Since the late 70s, Connors has pushed at the very edges of his chosen instrument, reinventing himself time and time again, to create a body of work that exists as truly singular.
