Since 2002, New York’s superb Ne(x)tworks ensemble has collaboratively created and interpreted works with a dynamic relationship between composition and improvisation. Tonight they return to ISSUE for an early evening concert with a program of new works by composers Paul Pinto, Gelsey Bell, and ensemble-member Miguel Frasconi. Paul Pinto’s Unintelligible Response, features renowned contemporary vocalist Joan La Barbara as the posthumous spirit of Thomas Paine, in a scene from his forthcoming opera Thomas Paine in Violence. Gelsey Bell’s Weight, written for Ne(x)tworks and for ISSUE Project Room’s theater, receives its world premiere this evening. Miguel Frasconi’s Sun Studies, featuring vocalists Bell and La Barbara with instrumental ensemble, interprets Ruth Krauss and Antonio Frasconi’s poetic text The Cantilever Rainbow (1965) in auditory events.

Program

Unintelligible Response by Paul Pinto

Operatic scene for vocalists with piano, harp, violin and cello, part of a new opera Thomas Paine in Violence. Libretto by Paul Pinto and Rick Burkhardt.
With Joan La Barbara as Thomas Paine, voice; Shelley Burgeon, harp; Yves Dharamraj, cello; Stephen Gosling, piano; Ariana Kim, violin.

Weight by Gelsey Bell (World Premiere)

Sun Studies by Miguel Frasconi

Formed in 2002, Ne(x)tworks is a New York-based collaborative ensemble of musicians creating and interpreting work that features a dynamic relationship between composition and improvisation. In performance and recordings, the group locates pathways into various types of notation systems and interfaces, striving for a meaningful dialogue with the past, present, and future of creative music. Ne(x)tworks first performed at legendary American composer Earle Brown's memorial concert. After this auspicious beginning, the group chose to form around the tradition of the 'performing composer'. It often presents full programs of works created by its members including those of Joan La Barbara, Kenji Bunch, Cornelius Dufallo, and Chris McIntyre. Ne(x)tworks' repertoire also expands outward from its ranks to encompass the "open" scores of Brown and his New York School colleagues and work by the their European counterparts.

Shelley Burgon, harp & electronics; Yves Dharamraj, cello; Miguel Frasconi, glass & electronics; Stephen Gosling, piano; Ariana Kim, violin; Joan La Barbara, voice; Christopher McIntyre, trombone & electronics.

Paul Pinto’s Unintelligible Response envisions the posthumous spirit of Thomas Paine is in the broadcasting room of a cosmic radio station endlessly travelling through space and time. Surrounding "her" are four other talking heads in the control room. They keep "her" on point. They keep "her" from becoming too radical. They keep "her" from exploding. They have done this forever. This is a work-in-progress performance of a scene from Paul's upcoming opera Thomas Paine in Violence, which will premiere at the HERE Arts Center in 2017.

Paul Pinto creates and produces experimental music and theatrical works, and is the founder and co-director of ensembles thingNY and Varispeed. His recent work has focused on new experimental opera. With thingNY, Paul co-wrote and performed the operas ADDDDDDDDD, TIME: A Complete Explanation in Three Parts, and Patriots, Run for Public Office on a Platform of Swift and Righteous Immigration Reform, Lots of Jobs, and a Healthy Environment with Jeffrey Young. With Varispeed, he created the acclaimed site-specific version of Robert Ashley's Perfect Lives, and has performed in the Kitchen's remounting of Ashley's 1967 opera That Morning Thing, in thingNY's New York premiere of Vinko Globokar's Un Jour Comme Un Autre, and in new works presented by Dave Malloy, Rachel Chavkin, BRIC Arts, Experiments in Opera, and Performa.

In Gelsey Bell’s Weight, the homonyms “weight” and “wait” share an onomatopoetic story in their pronunciation– a one-second song. The [w] entails a reaching, the [e] a jumping and flying, the [i] a flying and falling, and the [t] a hard hit back to the ground with its alveolar plosive. The story is held within the vocal movement of articulation that is further reflected sonically in the sound. Hear it as music and it becomes a song. The idea of “weight” reminds us of our earthly binding to gravity. The appeal of “Wait!” is answered in the story of our articulation. The mythic load of humanity’s “fall” is reflected with each everyday utterance of [w-e-i-t]. This piece elongates this concise, one-word song across various instruments and physical movements. It uses graphic scores to explore the choreographic in sonic gestures and to allow full-bodied movements to interact with the meaningful shapes of sound.

Gelsey Bell is a singer, songwriter, and scholar. Her work has been presented internationally in Performa 11 & 13, the Vital Vox festival, the BEAT festival, the LUMEN festival, the SITE festival, and Les Rencontres Chorégraphiques in France, and most recently Voice – Creature of Transition in Amsterdam. Gelsey is a core member of thingNY and Varispeed. In addition, she has worked with numerous composers, choreographers, and performance creators including Robert Ashley, Matthew Barney and Jonathan Bepler, Kimberly Bartosik, Yasuko Yokoshi, Dave Malloy, Rachel Chavkin, John King, Kate Soper, Miguel Frasconi, and Paul Pinto, among others. She is a Doctoral Candidate in Performance Studies at NYU.

Miguel Frasconi’s Sun Studies is the first step toward a performed interpretation of the book The Cantilever Rainbow (1965) by author Ruth Krauss and artist Antonio Frasconi. These series of extremely short plays and poems, plus visual elements from the book, will inspire activities and auditory events designed specifically for IPR, the individual performers, and the unique vocal abilities of Joan La Barbara and Gelsey Bell.

Miguel Frasconi uses electronics and an instrumentarium of glass objects to create music from a uniquely imagined tradition. His glass instruments are struck, blown, stroked, smashed, and otherwise coaxed into vibration. Miguel has worked closely with composers John Cage, Jon Hassell, James Tenney, Morton Subotnick, and has collaborated with many choreographers, including Alonzo King and modern dance pioneer Anna Halprin. He was a founding member of The Glass Orchestra, the internationally renowned new music ensemble featuring all glass instruments. Frasconi is a member of Ne(x)tworks, one of NYC’s leading new music ensemble, and teaches at Bard College where he directs the Bard Laptop Orchestra (BLOrk).