Composers Concordance: Music & Film @ Westbeth

• Neil Rolnick, computer
• Gene Pritsker (Noizepunk), guitar
• Kathleen Supové, piano
• John Ferrari, percussion

On Saturday, December 21st, 2024 at 7pm Eastern, Composers Concordance presents "Music & Film @ Westbeth," an event combining cutting-edge short films with contemporary music composition.

Performing live to films by Imelda O'Reilly, Joe Foley, Barbara Hammer, Guy Maddin, Salem Krieger, Winsome Brown, and Payton St. John are the renowned Neil Rolnick (computer), Gene Pritsker (guitar), Kathleen Supové (piano), and John Ferrari (percussion).

Featured on the program are Under the Wolf's Cloak with poetry by Imelda O'Reilly, choreography by Tara Lee Burns, film by Joe Foley and music by Gene Pritsker; Anima with choreography-on-film by Payton St. John and music by Dan Cooper; Barbara Hammer's Sanctus with music by Neil Rolnick; and The Unfolding Opium Poppy with music by Dave Soldier to a film by Winsome Brown.

The in-person concert will also be livestreamed on Composers Concordance's Facebook Page.

About Composers Concordance

Staying in rotation for 40 years in NYC is a rare feat. In the case of a new music presenting organization, it requires not only diligence and cognizance of achievements of the past but also an ethic of keeping one's ear to the ground for emerging stylistic and technological developments, as well as talented new composers on the scene.

Composers Concordance, founded in 1984 by Joseph Pehrson and Patrick Hardish, advised by Otto Luening, strives to present contemporary music in innovative ways, with an emphasis on thematic programming. Directors Gene Pritsker and Dan Cooper co-curate the programs and lead the CompCord Ensemble, Chamber Orchestra, String Orchestra, and Big Band. Associate Directors are Milica Paranosic, Peter Jarvis, Debra Kaye, and Seth Boustead.

Composers Concordance has also created a Naxos-distributed record label: Composers Concordance Records, co-directed by Peter Jarvis. Composers Concordance's overriding vision is to promote contemporary music, composers, and new works as a rightful and respected part of society. Good music performed and recorded well, pushing the boundaries of sound and composition.

About Neil Rolnick, computer

http://www.neilrolnick.com/

About Gene Pritsker (Noizepunk), guitar

Composer/musical polymath Gene Pritsker has written over nine hundred compositions, including chamber operas, orchestral and chamber works, electro-acoustic music and songs for hip-hop and rock ensembles. His compositions employ an eclectic spectrum of styles, that are influenced by his studies of various musical cultures.

He is the founder and leader of Sound Liberation, an eclectic hip hop-chamber-jazz-rock-etc. ensemble. He also Co-Directs Composers Concordance. Gene's music is performed all over the world at internationally recognized festivals and by highly respected ensembles and performers.

He co-founded the Grammy-nominated Absolute Ensemble with Kristjan Jarvi and has been a composer in residence and guitarist since its creation in 1993. He worked closely with jazz fusion legend Joe Zawinul and has orchestrated major Hollywood movies, including Cloud Atlas, for which he wrote additional music and composed his Cloud Atlas Symphony. He is also the lead orchestrator for such TV series as Babylon Berlin, Jett, Netflix's Sense8, and Messiah. Gene is the lead orchestrator and has additional music in the 2021 film The Matrix Resurrections.

"My music is extremely eclectic, for me music has no bounds – I view the world of music as one big genre. My motto for my art is ending the segregation of sound vibration."

Gene is also a guitarist/rapper/Di.J./ and producer he incorporates each of these musical attributes to create music that is "not designed for easy listening or to melt into the background. It is insistent. It demands attention and curiosity." (New York Newsday) "Mischief-maker and cultural blender-in-chief, Pritsker is a serious artist, yet much of his work is witty and irreverent. Anyone can draw a mustache on the Mona Lisa, but few musicians draw it as artistically and creatively as Gene Pritsker." (Raymond Tuttle, Fanfare Magazine)

About Kathleen Supové, piano

In May 2012, Kathleen Supové received the John Cage Award from ASCAP for “the artistry and passion with which she performs, commissions, records, and champions the music of our time.” Kathleen Supové is one of America’s most acclaimed and versatile new music pianists, continually redefining the pianist/keyboardist/performance artist in today’s world. Ms. Supové presents solo concerts under the moniker THE EXPLODING PIANO. A striking presence onstage, she has performed with computers, boxing gloves, robots, and laptop orchestra.

Recent projects include two solo CDs: "The Debussy Effect," on New Focus Recordings (La Barbara-Clark-Marks-Felsenfeld-Woolf-Gosfield-Cooper), the result of a multi-composer commissioning project; and "Eye to Ivory" (Childs-Woolf-Barash-Didkovsky-Naphtali), with vocalizing, extended techniques, Yamaha Disklavier, and noise-based effects.

About John Ferrari, percussion

John Ferrari is active in classical, jazz, pop, Broadway, film, television and dance music, the avant-garde, and multi-media. He performs and gives master classes nationally and abroad, and appears on dozens of recordings as percussionist, drummer, and conductor. He is a founding member of the Naumburg Award winning New Millennium Ensemble, a regular guest artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Chamber Music Northwest, and has been a member of Meridian Arts Ensemble since 1993.