Mario Diaz de Leon Premieres "Sacrament" with Talea Ensemble

by Ted Gordon on Feb. 16, 2017, 5:39 p.m.

New York's Talea Ensemble, co-directed by PSNY composer Anthony Cheung, will premiere a new work by fellow PSNY composer Mario Diaz de Leon, entitled Sacrament, at National Sawdust on February 17th. Commissioned by Talea, Sacrament is scored for ensemble and electronics, bringing Diaz de Leon's signature fire and intensity to a concert program that also includes premieres by Jason Eckhardt and Joshua Fineberg. Diaz de Leon and Talea have worked together before: they commissioned his 2013 work The Chapel Abyss, and performed Trembling Time II with the Cairn String Trio. Check out that performance below. 

Ted Hearne's "Coloring Book" On Tour with Roomful of Teeth

by Ted Gordon on Jan. 19, 2017, 3:24 p.m.

Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth is currently touring the country, with stops in Colorado, New Mexico, Washington, DC, Rochester, and many more in between. Their program features Ted Hearne's  Coloring Book, which they commissioned and premiered in 2015. Coloring Book consists of five songs, which set text by Zora Neale Hurston, Claudia Rankine, and James Baldwin.

Hearne's musical and political work is tied deeply to current issues surrounding power, identity, and resistance in contemporary America. After premiering in 2014 at BAM, his ambitious "modern-day oratorio" The Source, which sets texts from Wikileaks and deals with the life of Chelsea Manning, has been performed at the LA Opera, reviewed by Pitchfork, and released as an album on New Amsterdam Records. With Manning's recent presidential pardon by Barack Obama, Hearne's music is more powerful and topical than ever. 

Hearne's music will also be heard at National Sawdust on February 3rd, in an evening of music performed by The Crossing and produced by Beth Morrison Projects. Sound from the Bench collects works by Hearne that set legal and judicial texts to music, directly addressing the affective power that the American justice system has over our everyday lives. Sound from the Bench includes a performance of Hearne's Consent, for 16 voices. An album of Hearne's choral works recorded by The Crossing will be released via Cantaloupe Music on March 24. Check out an excerpt of Consent below. 

New York Festival of Song Features Christopher Cerrone & Friends

by Ted Gordon on Dec. 7, 2016, 11 a.m.

Now in its 29th year, the New York Festival of Song will present an evening of music and poetry curated by PSNY composer Christopher Cerrone. Hosted at National Sawdust on December 8th, 2016, this evening features music by Cerrone, along with works by Timo Andres, Ted Hearne, Erin Gee, and Scott Wollschleger, setting poetry by GC Waldrep, Bill Knott, Dorothea Lasky, and Andrea Cohen. 

Vocalist Theo Bleckmann will perform the New York debut of Cerrone's The Naomi Songs, which he premiered at EMPAC in 2015. Cerrone will also preview a new composition, Apocatastasis, which sets the poem of the same name by G. C. Waldrep. Also previewed this evening will be Three songs based on Lasky poems, by Ted Hearne. 

Timo Andres will join Bleckmann as pianist for his recently-premiered Mirror Songs, and the program also features two of Erin Gee'sMouthpiece works, as well as Scott Wollschleger's Fragment on Fragments.  

Check out an excerpt of Cerrone's The Naomi Songs below.