Sparse “Haiku” pieces showcase strings, clarinet, and listeners’ own “Music Mind”
Greenwich House Music School
Saturday, May 13, 2017, 8:00 PM
An oasis of “haiku contemplation” in our busy modern lives. Subconscious audience participation. And new music based on works commissioned by composer/reedman John Zorn. All this and more will be on display when the revamped Creative Music Studio™ presents its artistic director Karl Berger in concert Saturday, May 13 at Greenwich House Music School, 46 Barrow Street (off Bleecker Street) in New York City’s Greenwich Village at 8:00 PM. Tickets, available at the door, are $20 ($15 students).
This CMS™ concert will also provide a rare chance to hear Berger on piano rather than on his customary vibraphone, and renowned master-flautist Steve Gorn on clarinet rather than bamboo bansuri flute. Gorn is one of a stellar cast of improvisers joining Berger in premiering pieces which Berger says employ sparseness and silence to create “a sense of haiku contemplation, allowing the listener to subconsciously fill in the spaces.” Also performing with Berger, in various duo, trio and quartet combinations, will be Jason Hwang (viola), Tomas Ulrich (cello), Ken Filiano (bass), and Sana Nagano (violin). Like Gorn, all are members of the CMS Improvisers Orchestra which Berger conducts.
Jason Hwang
Thomas Ulrich
Ken Filiano
Sana Nagano
Steve Gorn
The works to be premiered May 13 are inspired by and based on recordings John Zorn commissioned from Berger for his Tzadik label: Strangely Familiar (2010), Gently Unfamiliar (2013), and the upcoming More Strangely Familiar, due September 2017. The New York City Jazz Record called Strangely Familiar “a masterful performance” that “quietly demands an engaged listener, but also richly rewards it in a way that only the best creative music can.”
Underwriting support for this performance, and two others at Greenwich House (In the Spirit of Don Cherry; An Evening with Richard Teitelbaum), provided by the Robert D. Bielecki Foundation.
Greenwich House Music School (GHMS) has been providing high-quality music education to the people of New York City since 1905. The school has occupied its current location since 1914 and has played an important part in the careers and lives of tens of thousands of students. The distinguished faculty works to ensure students of all ages have the opportunity to experience music through classes and performances, and being at the center of New York’s downtown arts scene allows for an array of renowned artists to become active at the school. Past guests have included John Cage, Jorma Kaukonen, Henry Cowell, Edgar Varèse, Morton Subotnick, Joan La Barbara and Meredith Monk. The school continues to serve the musical needs of students of all ages with private lessons, group classes, ensembles and regular student and faculty recitals. In addition to educating its students, GHMS serves the community with a wide spectrum of concerts and readings in its Renee Weiler Concert Hall, hosts education workshops and meetings for local civic and cultural organizations, and provides rehearsal and performance space for local musicians.
