Composers Concordance: Interpretations of Art @ Ki Smith Gallery feat. CompCord Ensemble
$25
- Alicia "Lish" Lindsey, flutes
- Gene Pritsker (Noizepunk), fretless guitar
- Steve Sandberg, piano
- Moppa Elliott, double bass
- John Ferrari, drums
- James Nyoraku Schlefer, shakuhachi
Carlos José Castro Mora — Selected works
Dan Cooper — Selected works
Moppa Elliott — Selected works
Carman Moore — Selected works
Machiko Ozawa — H. Tunnel / Entrance
Gene Pritsker — Mugshot
Steve Sandberg — Running Through the Dark
David Shohl — Selected works
James Nyoraku Schlefer — Selected works
On Sunday, October 20th, 2024 at 7:30pm Eastern, Composers Concordance presents "Interpretations of Art @ Ki Smith Gallery" featuring the CompCord Ensemble. New music and poetry will be premiered that are inspired by art from the Lower East Side gallery. Featured compositions and poems include Mugshot, with music by Gene Pritsker, poem by Jim Kempner; H. Tunnel / Entrance: music by Machiko Ozawa, poem by Robert C. Ford; and Running Through the Dark: music by Steve Sandberg, poem by Imelda O'Reilly.
The CompCord Ensemble will consist of Lish Lindsey (flutes), Gene Pritsker (fretless guitar), Steve Sandberg (piano), Moppa Elliot (double bass), John Ferrari (drums), with special guest James Nyoraku Schlefer on shakuhachi. Composers for the event will be Kate Borthwick, Carlos Castro, Dan Cooper, Moppa Elliott, Carman Moore, Machiko Ozawa, Gene Pritsker, Steve Sandberg, David Shohl, James Nyoraku Schlefer. The event will showcase the CompCord Murderers' Row of Poets: Ruthie Adamson AKA Wonky Wordsmith, Roger Aplon, Erik T. Johnson, Robert C. Ford, Kat Georges, Peter Carlaftes, Jim Kempner, Imelda O'Reilly, John Pietaro.
The in-person event 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 Alicia "Lish" Lindsey, flutes
About Gene Pritsker (Noizepunk), fretless 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 Steve Sandberg, piano
Three-time Emmy-nominated pianist/composer/raconteur Steve Sandberg plays classical masterpieces as well as original music that masterfully blends classical, global music traditions, and jazz with the excitement of virtuosic improvisation.
Mr. Sandberg began playing the piano at the age of four and has studied with the legendary pianist/teacher Seymour Bernstein. While getting his classical music degree at Yale University, he fell under the spell of Latin rhythms and it changed his life. Deeply drawn to these rhythms, he moved back to New York after graduating to immerse himself in the world of jazz and Afro-Caribbean music. His mentor was multi-instrumentalist Mario Rivera, a member of the Dizzie Gillespie, Tito Puente, and George Coleman ensembles. Mr. Sandberg was pianist, composer and arranger for Rivera's Salsa Refugee group, and also performed with Celia Cruz, Tito Puente, and Ruben Blades. A highlight of this period was an appearance in Rio and São Paolo in a duo with vocalist Bebel Gilberto.
Steve has toured with David Byrne ("Rei Momo") as keyboardist and vocalist, and was musical director for Lincoln Center's summer Brazilfest series. He has conducted and arranged for Broadway (Chronicle of a Death Foretold) and for many regional and off-Broadway theatres, including the New York Shakespeare Festival. He was lead composer and musical director for Nickelodeon's landmark children's programs Dora the Explorer and Go, Diego, Go!
In 2017, Mr. Sandberg founded the Steve Sandberg Quartet, featuring the violinist Zach Brock (critically acclaimed as "the pre-eminent improvising violinist of his generation"), bassist Michael O’Brien, and drummer Mauricio Zottarelli. Their first CD, Alaya, was released on ArtistShare. Dan Bilawsky of All About Jazz called this CD "... a breathtaking composite of world music, jazz, and classical expressions ... personal and precise in its direction, yet universal in its language and ability to connect." The quartet has performed at Birdland, the DiMenna Center, Sidedoor Jazz, the Allentown Symphony Jazz Upstairs series and many other venues.
In August of 2021, Mr. Sandberg and Mr. Brock performed a duo concert at New York’s Bargemusic series and in October, 2022, gave a series of concerts and taught several masterclasses in Egypt, sponsored by the American University of Cairo and the U.S. Embassy.
In 2019, Mr. Sandberg was commissioned by Kelly Hall-Tompkins' Music Kitchen project, which presents classical music at New York City homeless shelters, to write an original song for tenor and string quartet. The song, setting lyrics by former Music Kitchen clients to music, was presented at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall in April, 2022.
About Moppa Elliott, double bass
About John Ferrari, drums
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.
https://www.msmnyc.edu/faculty/john-ferrari/