10th Annual CompCord Festival – Sound Surround: Found in Space
$20 in advance, $30 at the door
- Gene Pritsker, DJ
- Mark Kostabi, piano
- Jay Rozen, tuba
- Benjamin Louis Brody, French horn
- Rachel Drehmann, French horn
- Lynn Bechtold, violin
- Max Pollak, percussion
- Sharon Harns, soprano
Benjamin Louis Brody — Selected works
Svjetlana Bukvich — Selected works
Dan Cooper — Selected works
Velizar Iordanov — Selected works
Mark Kostabi — Selected works
Alex Nadzharov — Selected works
Rushaniya Nizamutdinova — Selected works
Craig Pallett — Selected works
Gene Pritsker — Selected works
Alice Shields — Selected works
Marina Vesić — Selected works
Sound Surround: Found in Space, the second concert of the festival, features new electronic compositions in 5.1 surround sound, on Thursday, May 12th at Kostabi World. Exploring the possibilities of a sonically immersive environment, composers and performers apply technology, sharing what can be gained musically and experientially when one chooses to forego the fourth wall.
About the Festival: From May 1st to June 4th, Composers Concordance presents its 10th annual festival, entitled ‘Science.’ Five concert programs feature new music compositions inspired by science's method, modes of inquiry, and breakthrough discoveries in various fields, as well as its celebrated researchers and objects of study. At an array of NYC venues, numerous fun premieres, virtuoso performances, and an eclectic range of styles, presented in quick tandem, remain empirically observable phenomena within the universe of the Composers Concordance series.
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 Gene Pritsker, DJ
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 Mark Kostabi, piano
About Jay Rozen, tuba
About Benjamin Louis Brody, French horn
Benjamin Louis Brody is a New York-based musician and media composer who creates sublime walls of sound through ambient textures generating a dynamic resonance for his listeners. Most recently, in 2021 he released the music from his 2017 ballet, Floating Into Infinity, on New Amsterdam Records with virtuoso drummer Ian Chang (Son Lux). AnEarful described the album as "...consistently gorgeous and full of invention and adventure." His work, Oscillations for solo trombone and synthesizer, was most recently performed (2020) by the bass trombonist of the New York Philharmonic, George Curran. Brody has also premiered numerous orchestral works with the Chelsea Symphony including the 2019 premiere of his Double Bass Concerto, Forever Melodies. In addition to live performances his work has also been featured on media outlets such as HBO, SHOWTIME, BBC Radio3, WNYC's New Sounds, and VICE News.
https://www.benbrodymusic.com/listenAbout Rachel Drehmann, French horn
Rachel Drehmann is a NYC-based French horn player. She can most often be found playing Frozen on Broadway, as a member of Banda de Los Muertos, and as founding member of infamous horn quartet Genghis Barbie. Rachel has recorded and/or shared the stage with Adele, Lorde, Arcade Fire, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Father John Misty, Frank Ocean, Kanye West, and Shakira. She also regularly performs with the American Symphony Orchestra, American Ballet Theater, International Contemporary Ensemble, Metropolis Ensemble, and Argento Chamber Ensemble.
https://www.racheldrehmann.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/