Composers Concordance: The Painters
Free
- Machiko Ozawa, violin
- Arthur "Artie" Dibble, viola
- Gene Pritsker (Noizepunk), electric guitar
- Troy Rinker, Jr., double bass
- Lynn Bechtold, violin
- Dan Cooper, alto flute
On Thursday, February 20th, 2025 at 7pm Eastern, Composers Concordance presents "The Painters" at Westbeth. The Painters by Gene Pritsker is a 40-minute composition inspired by eight painters (with ten paintings each) who share a connection with the composer. The piece is performed alongside a video projection of the paintings and is scored for a modified string quartet: violin, viola, electric guitar, and double bass. Each of the eight movements focuses on one aspect of a particular painter and is titled as follows:
1. Sophie Dunér — The Art of Music
4. Kim Pritsker — People & Pets
The event will also feature Infinite Monkey by composer Lynn Bechtold and poet Jim Kempner, inspired by Chuck Connelly's painting Monkey Family (2011); and Ballade & Vocalise by composer Dan Cooper and poet Imelda O'Reilly, inspired by Connelly's painting David Bowie (2016). Both pieces will be performed by the composers and poets.
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.
http://www.composersconcordance.comAbout Machiko Ozawa, violin
About Arthur "Artie" Dibble, viola
Arthur Dibble, Juilliard-trained violist and violinist is enjoying a wonderful free-lance musician's life in New York City. Diverse styles of music have taken him all over the world, from touring with Barbra Streisand, Led Zeppelin, various string quartets and the St. Louis Symphony to right here at home on the major stages of New York with orchestras, chamber groups, and Broadway stars. Arthur enjoys teaching and performing for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Midori Foundation. You can often find him in recording studios during the day and Broadway show pits in the evenings or feeding his espresso obsession in a café.
https://www.newyorkcomposerscircle.org/performers/artie-dibble.htmlAbout Gene Pritsker (Noizepunk), electric 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)
https://www.genepritsker.com/About Lynn Bechtold, violin
Violinist/composer Lynn Bechtold, a native of Pittsburgh, has appeared in recital throughout the U.S., Argentina, Canada, France, Holland, Japan, and Switzerland. An advocate of new music, she has worked with composers such as Derek Bermel, Carter Burwell, Gloria Coates, George Crumb, Beatriz Ferreyra, John Harbison, and Morton Subotnick, and has premiered works on the Tribeca New Music Festival and the Princeton Composers' Series. In 2001, she gave the premiere of Violynn, a work for violin and electronics written for her by Alvin Lucier. All About Jazz noted her for her "virtuosity and technical expertise," I CARE IF YOU LISTEN pointed out her "brilliance of sound, technical mastery, and stunning expressivity," San Diego Story called her "unapologetically dominating," and Strings Magazine labeled her "impressive" and "close to the edge."
https://www.violynn.net/