Yesterday was a blast! Celebrating Christian Wolff at 90 (years young) began with a full day of rehearsals at 10AM, followed by an Open Rehearsal of “What If” (the newly commissioned piece composed for the occasion) for ISSUE members at 8PM, then Strawberry Shortcake sheet cake 🎂 from Audrey’s Bakery in Chinatown before a Q&A Interview with George Lewis moderating at 9PM 😅
Mini-marathon Concert is tonight at 7PM! (Doors at 6:30pm)
Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square S
New York, NY 10012
PROGRAM:
Duo for Violins (1950)
For Piano I (1952)
Bread and Roses (1976) for Solo Violin
Death of Mother Jones (1977) for Solo Violin
Cello Cello Variations, “Hallelujah, I’m A Bum!” (1978) for Solo Cello
Stardust Piece 1 (1984) for Cello and Piano
Piano Trio (1985)
For Morty (1987) for Glockenspiel/Vibraphone and Piano
Duo 8 (2008) for Violin and Cello
Small Duos for Violinists (2021)
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8:45PM Intermission
———
Cold Spring (1981) for 2 Violins and Vibraphone/Glockenspiel by Steven Swartz **
Ghost Swifts (2024) by String Noise Sounds *
What If? (2024) for 2-20 Musicians *
Improvisation by Christian Wolff & Ikue Mori
CW90 (2024) by David Behrman *
BURDOCKS (1970-71)
* World Premiere
** NYC Premiere
Happy Birthday to Christian Wolff who is 90 today! We had an incredible day of preliminary meetings and rehearsals of new works yesterday which ended with a lovely meal in the West Village. The mini-marathon Birthday events begin tonight with an ISSUE Member Event constructed as an Open Rehearsal and INTERVIEW moderated by George Lewis of a new work for String Noise Sounds entitled “What If” for the occasion which will feature Christian Wolff, Jessie Cox, Samuel Fibich Yulsman, Felix Fan, David Cossin, Lucie Vitkova, Laura Cocks, Pauline Kim Harris and myself. Saturday night features solos, duos trios, improvisations, a new work by David Behrman “CW90” and a New York Premiere of Cold Spring by Steven Swartz, a new work “Ghost Swifts” by String Noise Sounds, concluding with his seminal work “BURDOCKS” to include all of the evening’s performers to include David Behrman, John King, Kevin Ramsay, Joseph Kubera, Marilyn Nonken and Ikue Mori.
String Noise Sounds is a recipient of a 2024 grant from Chamber Music America’s Artistic Projects program, funded through the generosity of The Howard Gilman Foundation, for Celebrating 90 Years: Christian Wolff.
Commissioning of “What If” and “Ghost Swifts” was made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
ISSUE Project Room receives support for this engagement from The Audience Building Project, a program of the Lake PlacidCenter for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts with support from the Governor and New York State Legislature.
Rehearsals began this week for the mini-marathon BIRTHDAY concert with Christian Wolff which brings together 15 artists and 16 pieces in works spanning from 1950 to today! Gathering later this afternoon with String Noise Sounds (Jessie Cox, Sam Yulsman, Conrad Harris and Pauline Kim Harris) ++ guests David Cossin, Lucie Vitkova, Laura Cocks and Felix Fan ++ Christian Wolff for a preliminary meeting on how we will perform the newly commissioned work “What If.” Then, off to work on CW90 by David Behrman with John King, David B. Christian Wolff and String Noise! Oh, did we mention this piece Cold Spring by Steven Swartz for two violins, vibraphone and glockenspiel that we will give the NY Premiere of which was inspired by the very first piece Christian Wolff ever wrote “Duo for Violins” in 1950 that he showed to John Cage when he was 16?
Can’t wait for you to hear all of this on Saturday night at Judson Memorial Church 🌼
ISSUE MEMBER EVENT: CONVERSATION WITH CHRISTIAN WOLFF & GEORGE LEWIS / “WHAT IF?” OPEN REHEARSAL
Friday March 8 at 8pm (Free)
Judson Memorial Church
ISSUE invites members, students, and special guests to experience an open rehearsal of the newly commissioned work “What If?” by String Noise Sounds, composed specifically for this occasion by Christian Wolff in advance of his 90th birthday celebration at Judson Memorial Church the following evening. This special Member Event–which also marks the day of Christian’s birthday–will include an exclusive interview between Wolff and visionary scholar and composer, George Lewis.
Lewis, who wrote the foreword to Occasional Pieces: Writings and Interviews, 1952-2013 (a comprehensive collection of Wolff’s writings published by Oxford University Press), will guide us through what rehearsing and preparing a world premiere entails through the lens of one composer to another.
* Made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
THIS SATURDAY! March 9 at 7PM 🌼
As mentioned in this weekend’s NYT by Steve Smith:
“Beyond his work as a composer, and informing it too, Wolff remained active as a performer, playing in a wide variety of settings over the decades, from a longtime association with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company to a surprising album with Sonic Youth. Unlike Cage, he embraced improvisation, performing as an adjunct member of the English ensemble AMM. Even now, he continues to embrace spontaneous collaborations - and will do so during his birthday concert.
Designated a “mini-marathon,” the concert is being organized by String Noise, the violin duo of Conrad Harris and Pauline Kim Harris. (They are producing it with ISSUE Project Room, the Brooklyn experimental-arts venue, in partnership with the Judson Memorial.) The Harrises have assembled a program spanning the composer’s entire repertoire, from the early “Duo for Violins” to the newly composed “What If.” Wolff will improvise with the composers David Behrman and John King, colleagues from Merce Cunningham’s company; and with Ikue Mori, the MacArthur grant-winning electronic composer.”
Exciting to see it in print! H🔥T off the press, you must read this intrinsic portrait on Christian Wolff by none other than the nonpareil journalist Steve Smith for the New York Times. We celebrate 90 years with Christian Wolff this Saturday night at Judson Memorial Church with a mini-marathon concert in partnership with ISSUE Project Room.
String Noise Sounds is a recipient of a 2024 grant from Chamber Music America’s Artistic Projects program, funded through the generosity of The Howard Gilman Foundation, for Celebrating 90 Years: Christian Wolff.
Commissioning of “What If” and “Ghost Swifts” was made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
ISSUE Project Room receives support for this engagement from The Audience Building Project, a program of the Lake Placid Center for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts with support from the Governor and New York State Legislature.
Join us in CELEBRATING 90 YEARS: Christian Wolff on March 9 at Judson Memorial Church for a mini-marathon concert in partnership with ISSUE Project Room!
The event will feature performances of chamber works spanning from 1950 to present day, plus a new world premiere by Wolff himself.
Ten “compositional ideas’’–specifically referencing his multi-movement piece Burdocks (1970-71)–will be interpreted by the renowned String Noise Sounds quartet with Conrad Harris & Pauline Kim Harris (violin/objects), Jessie Cox (drums/cymbals), and Samuel Yulsman (piano/synths). Centering variant harmonic techniques in a collection of elusive and pervasive forms emblematic of Wolff’s compositional approach, the project brings together a younger generation of performers to synthesize these compositional methodologies, featuring guest musicians David Behrman (electronics/violin), Laura Cocks (flute), David Cossin (percussion), Felix Fan (cello), John King (guitar/electronics), Joseph Kubera (piano), Ikue Mori (electronics), Marilyn Nonken (piano), Kevin Ramsay (daxophone/electronics), and Lucie Vítková (accordion/harmonica).
String Noise Sounds is a recipient of a 2024 grant from Chamber Music America’s Artistic Projects program, funded through the generosity of The Howard Gilman Foundation, for Celebrating 90 Years: Christian Wolff.
Commissioning of “What If” and “Ghost Swifts” was made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
ISSUE Project Room receives support for this engagement from The Audience Building Project, a program of the Lake PlacidCenter for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts with support from the Governor and New York State Legislature.
What a joyous occasion to perform music from ancient to modern Hellenism by Athanasios Zervas to include his violin duo Dialogs III (2005) at Carnegie Hall! Many thanks to The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America for inviting us to take part in this tribute to benefit the Hellenic Education Fund. ✨
@eleftherios_chasanidis
