The New Music Gathering
Friday, January 8th 2016
CLASSROOM 206—11:15 am -12:15 pm
Composers and artists Whitney George, Sugar Vendil , Federico Liach, Greg Jukes, and Matt Marks hold a discussion about THEATRICALITY IN NEW MUSIC
BYRD HALL—5:15 pm- 6:15 pm
CONCERT II: THEATRICALITY IN NEW MUSIC
The Curiosity Cabinet and Tenth Intervention split a bill for this event. The Curiosity Cabinet will present selections from their work The Strange Library for narrator, projected images, and live music. The Curiosity Cabinet includes: Alice Jones, flute; Adam von Housen, violin; Hugh Ash, trumpet; Joe Tucker, percussion; Whitney George, narrator
for more information on the series of events, please visit: www.newmusicgathering.org
O Mistress, My Mistress
Saturday, February 13th 2016 at 7:30 pm
Sonnets from Shakespeare — Miriam Gideon
for trumpet, violin I, violin II, viola, ‘cello, & soprano
selections from Love Songs — David Morneau
for flute, clarinet, trumpet, violin I, violin II, viola, ‘cello, double bass & soprano
Veiled — Whitney George
for violin I, violin II, viola, ‘cello, & double bass
selections from Shakespeare Songs — Jay Vilnai
for violin, viola, 'cello, & soprano
Three Songs from Shakespeare — Igor Stravinsky
for flute, clarinet, viola, & soprano
Valentine — Jacob Druckman
for solo double bass
[ The Curiosity Cabinet: Martha Cargo, flute; Aleks Karjaka, clarinet; Hugh Ash, trumpet;
Charlotte Munn-Wood, violin; Adam von Housen, violin; Pedro Vizzarro-Vallejos, viola; Caleigh Drane, 'cello;
Emilio Guarino, double bass; Justine Aronson, soprano; Whitney George, conductor]
South Oxford Space
138 S. Oxford Street
Brooklyn, New York
The Parhelion Trio at National Sawdust
Thursday, February 18th at 7:00 pm
Sundog — Sunny Knable
When it Breaks — Whitney George
Tehchno-Parade — Guillaume Connesson
Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune — Claude Debussy (arr. Michael Webster)
From Maldoror — Daniel Felsenfeld
Dash — Jennifer Higdon
Music in Fifths — Philip Glass
[ The Parhelion Trio: Sarah Carrier, flute; Ashlee Miller, clarinet; Andrea Christie, piano ]
National Sawdust
80 North 6th Street
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
ACOUSTIC+ #9 - New York Composers Night
Friday, March 25th 2016—8:00 pm
ENSEMBLE MISE-EN presents a program of four works as part of their ACOUSTIC+ series:
ACOUSTIC+ #9 - New York Composers Night
Paraclete — Tawnie Olson
When it Breaks — Whitney George
Tracing — Frances White
Borroso — Kala Pierson
MISE-EN_PLACE Bushwick
678 Hart St #1B
Brooklyn, New York
[ $10 at the door ]
The Wild Called Maxx
Wednesday, April 6th 2016—9:00 pm
The Wild Called Maxx is the story of Maxx, a young and progressive woman, who is having trouble merging her creative identity with her lifestyle. She leaves her traditional job in the suburbs and journeys to the city. The unknown jungle of the metropolitan New York, full of monsters, is overwhelming to Maxx at first. Over time she finds ardent friends willing to help her find her creative voice.
The story is told through live music written by Whitney George and performed by The Curiosity Cabinet with special bass trombone soloist Russ Zokaites. Original artwork by Sammy Lopez will feature illustrated slides for each scene, creating a monstrous urban jungle fit for the 21st century. Showcasing popular monsters like vampires, werewolves, and zombies in combination with strong and vibrant colors will help create and shape Maxx's revolutionary world of discovery.
[ The Curiosity Cabinet: Aleks Karjaka, clarinet;
Maya Bennardo, violin; Caleigh Drane, 'cello; Emilio Guarino, double bass;
TBD, piano, Joe Tucker, percussion; Whitney George, narrator/conductor
with special guest artist Russ Zokaites, bass trombone]
National Sawdust
80 North 6th Street
Brooklyn, New York
[ PURCHASE TICKETS HERE ]
The Sphere of Influence: In the Wake of Pierrot
Friday, April 15th 2016—7:30 pm
The Curiosity Cabinet, with the support of the New York Women Composers Organization and the Earle Brown Foundation present the second concert in their Sphere of Influence series, influenced by the seminal work Pierrot Lunaire by Arnold Schoenberg. The evening will incorporate theater and staging between works for a seamless and dramatic presentation. The program includes:
Chasing Light — Whitney George
for flute, clarinet, violin, ‘cello, piano, and percussion
as like a raging fire—Chen Yi
for flute, clarinet, violin, ‘cello, and piano
Apart/ment—Rebekah Driscoll
for 4 singers, alto flute, bass clarinet, 'cello, & piano
The Viola in My Life (1)—Morton Feldman
for viola, flute, clarinet, violin, 'cello, piano, & percussion
Tracing Pierrot—Earle Brown
for flute, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, 'cello, percussion, & piano
These Broken Wings—David Lang
for flute, clarinet, violin, 'cello, percussion, & piano
[ The Curiosity Cabinet: Alice Jones, flute, Aleks Karjaka, clarinet; Charlotte Munn-Wood, violin;
Pedro Vizzarro-Vallejos, viola; TBD, 'cello; Isabelle O'Connell, piano, Joe Tucker, percussion;
Whitney George, narrator/conductor ]
Firehouse Space
246 Frost Street
Brooklyn, NY
[ PURCHASE TICKETS HERE ]
AME Awards Night
Friday, April 29th 2016—7:30 pm
An evening of works by composers who won AME's Ninth Annual composition competitions, as well as a recent work by Robert Paterson, AME's Artistic Director and Whitney George, AME's Managing Director. The program includes:
speckled the green and blue—Katherine Balch
A Stiffening Wound & the Pit of Red—Whitney George
Brook’s Release—Vincent Gover
push/pull—Nicholas Omiccioli
Hell’s Kitchen—Robert Paterson
Fixed Mediums—Hillary Purrington
Sehnen—John Fitz Rogers
Brandenberg Interstices—Gabriella Smith
[ American Modern Ensemble: Robert Paterson, conductor; Amy Justman, soprano; Sato Moughalian, flute; Keve Wilson, oboe; Benjamin Fingland, clarinet; Charles McCracken, bassoon; Blair McMillen, piano; Matt Ward, percussion; Esther Noh, violin; Victoria Paterson, violin; Jessica Meyer, viola; Arash Amini, cello ]
National Sawdust
80 N. 6th Street
Brooklyn, NY
[ PURCHASE TICKETS HERE ]
Night, like velvet: in twelve letters
Monday, May 23rd 2016 — 8:00 pm
Still & Brimming—Mirror
for flute, clarinet, violin, 'cello, & percussion
Cracked Looking Glass
for violin & 'cello
A Compass as My Planchette
for chamber ensemble & voice
Her Secret Drawer
for clarinet, trombone, viola, 'cello, double bass, percussion, & piano
As the Crow Flies
for flute, violin, 'cello, percussion, piano, & voice
Burning a Name with Black Edges
for violin, 'cello, & piano
In Green Water
for flute, clarinet, violin, 'cello, percussion, & piano
The Flickering of a Four-Cornered Eye
for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, 'cello, double bass, percussion, piano, & voice
Watching the Dark Slowly Unfold
for clarinet, violin, viola, 'cello, & piano
A Stiffening Wound & the Pit of Red
for flute, clarinet, violin, 'cello, piano, & percussion
Open me or Readdress me
for solo percussion
Rope at the Throat
for flute, violin, 'cello, & percussion
[ The Curiosity Cabinet: Lindsey Eckenroth, flute; Aleks Karjaka, clarinet; Alix Tocou, trombone; Adam von Housen, violin; Pedro Vizzarro-Vallejos, viola; Liz Kovalchuk, 'cello, Evan Runyon, double bass; Isabell O'Connell, piano; Joe Tucker, percussion; Sharon Harms, soprano; Whitney George, conductor]
Dixon Place
161 Chrystie Street
New York, New York
The Yellow Wallpaper
Friday, June 10th 2016 & Saturday, June 11th—7:30 pm
Fresh Squeezed Opera and The Curiosity Cabinet present for the latest production of The Yellow Wallpaper:
Based on the proto-feminist short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper tells the story of a woman’s descent into madness through her obsession with a wallpaper. Told through a series of thirteen personal diary entries, the narrator uses a journal to escape the pains of her from postpartum depression. After being separated from her newborn, John, her husband and physician, confines her to the top floor of a summer estate in an effort to remedy her troubles. Cruel and unbending, John refuses to let her leave this room, covered with peeling yellow wallpaper. She writes in a diary to spite him, and finds strange solace, security, and strength in a woman that appears in the wallpaper.
The Curiosity Cabinet:
Denise Crawfort, soprano
Ryan Hill, baritone
Lindsey Eckenroth, flute
Lee Braun, oboe
Mara Mayer, bass clarinet
Charlotte Munn-Wood, violin
Pat Muchmore, 'cello
Justin Lee, double bass
Joe Tucker, mallet percussion
Michael Lupo, aux. percussion
Isabelle (Izzy) O'Connell, harpsichord
Melinda Faylor, celeste
Whitney George, conductor
DiMenna Center
450 West 37th Street
New York, New York
The Strange Library
Friday, July 22nd 2016—8:00 pm
Designed and illustrated by Murakami’s frequent collaborator Chip Kidd, the novella is packaged like a graphic novel. The collage technique of Kidd’s work gives the images a moody, mysterious, and all-together surreal quality, depicting the darkest dreams of a child, our protagonist.
The plot of the novella is as eerie as the images accompanying the text: a young boy enters a strange library, described as “even more hushed than usual”, and he is sent to Room 107. An odd librarian leads him though an illogical maze beneath the library. It is in Room 107 that we discover the librarian’s devious plot. The boy encounters a small man dressed as a sheep and a young girl who delivers food, their worlds strangely entangled due to our protagonist’s unfortunate situation. The boy’s predicament as the prisoner of the librarian grows stranger and stranger by the page.
The Curiosity Cabinet:
Alice Jone, flutes
Aleks Karjaka, clarinets
Pedro Vizzarro-Vallejos, viola
Joe Tucker, percussion
Whitney George, narrator
Mise-en Place
678 Hart Street
Brooklyn, New York
Sinners & Saints
Friday, October 28th 2016 & Saturday, October 29th—8:00 pm
Join The Curiosity Cabinet for a costumed, Halloween-themed collaboration between co-director and composer Whitney George and puppeteer-designer Daniel Patrick Fay, featuring The Curious Tale of Ed Leedskainin, the story of a small unassuming Latvian immigrant who is responsible for singlehandedly constructing the monument Coral Castle in Florida. This was an impossible feat for one man to create, but he claimed that he had discovered the secret of the Egyptians and constructed this monolithic coral city using nothing but a small mysterious box set on a tripod that he claimed could reverse the magnetic forces on Earth and levitate these huge structures. To this day no one can explain how these coral formations could have been moved from the sea miles away to the location where he built this and he did it for a woman he loved who never came to see his creation. Ed's tale is reimagined with original music, film, and puppetry in a feature-long theatrical presentation. Our evening will also include a thrilling burlesque performance of The Masochist's Tango, for solo violin, performed by Adam von Housen, and a setting of E.A. Poe's classic poem The Raven.
The Curiosity Cabinet:
Alice Jones, flute
Mara Mayer, bass clarinet
Adam von Housen, violin
Joe Tucker, percussion
Whitney George, music | theater
Daniel Fay, puppeteer | design
Evie Morell Samuels, puppeteer
Justin Perkins, puppeteer
Melanie Patterson, puppeteer
The Standard Toykraft
722 Metropolitan Ave
Brooklyn, New York