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Press Releases
Other Minds Presents Rhys Chatham's 'A Secret Rose'
SAN FRANCISCO, May 22, 2013 – Other Minds will present the West Coast Premiere of Rhys Chatham’s awe-inspiring work for 100 electric guitars, A Secret Rose, at 7 p.m. on Sunday, November 17 at Richmond’s Craneway Pavilion. Led by composer/guitarist Rhys Chatham, credited with creating a new type of urban music by fusing early 1960s minimalism with the relentless, elemental fury of punk rock, this large-scale performance features an international team of section leaders working in concert with amateur and professional guitarist s from all over the Bay Area and beyond. With an almost cult-like following akin to those who travel to hear The Grateful Dead, Rhys Chatham is a formally trained composer whose music combines “the drone-based minimalism of La Monte Young and Tony Conrad with the raw energy and amplified instrumentation of punk bands like the Ramones.” (Steve Smith, The New York Times) A Secret Rose is sponsored by a lead grant from the Exploring Engagement Fund of the James Irvine Foundation.
To build excitement for the November 17 performance of A Secret Rose, Other Minds presents two preview events June 7 and 8 in San Francisco. Rhys Chatham joins an all-star cast of local Bay Area musicians on June 7 at The Lab in a performance of his groundbreaking 1977 Guitar Trio (G3). The participating performers will be guitarists Ava Mendoza, John Schott, George Chen and John Krausbauer, along with Lisa Mezzacappa (bass) and Jordan Glenn (drums). On June 8, Charles Amirkhanian will join Rhys Chatham for the “G100 Roundup,” an exclusive event in a private Mission District art studio. This intimate evening event will feature an in-depth interview covering his early days as the first music director at The Kitchen in New York to his recent large-scale guitar works and will be accompanied by rare films and audio footage from Rhys’ extensive career, including footage from his compositions for electric guitar orchestras. The G100 Roundup event will also be an opportunity for fans to find out how they can get involved in A Secret Rose.
Tickets for the June kick-off events are now on sale at www.thelab.org for June 7 and g100.eventbrite.com for June 8. Those interested in participating as one of the 100 guitarists in November should visit otherminds.org to apply online. Applications and specific information on instrument requirements will be open June 15.
To extend the reach of A Secret Rose deeply into the Bay Area community, Other Minds is working in partnership with the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts, an organization located in the “Iron Triangle,” a location distinguished primarily for its chronic poverty and violence. For nearly 45 years, this institution has seen nearly 50,000 student artists come to know the world’s great performance traditions through the breadth, depth and passion of experiencing classical masterworks and cutting-edge forms from around the world. Mr. Chatham and his musical production team will hold the first rehearsal at the Winters Building, the newly renovated home of the historic East Bay Center for the Performing Arts.
The depth and breadth of Rhys Chatham’s monumental guitar work is equally matched by the stunning architectural beauty of the Craneway Pavilion, a renovated 1932 Ford Assembly Plant located in the heart of the East Bay. Behind the stage of 100 musicians is one of the most extraordinary views in the entire region – an unsurpassed 180-degree waterfront view of San Francisco, the Bay Bridge, Oakland, Berkeley and the Bay with breathtaking western sunsets over Angel Island and Mt. Tamalpais as well as stunning views of the San Francisco skylights. The venue is convenient to the 580 freeway, 10 minutes from Berkeley, 5 minutes from the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge, and 15 minutes from the San Francisco Bay Bridge and has ample parking availability.
“I’ve known and respected Rhys and his music for more than 30 years, but we reconnected in Moscow at the Appositsia Festival in 2008,” said Executive and Artistic Director Charles Amirkhanian. “I was doing a sound check for my performance later that night at a raw and abandoned industrial building on a hard-to-find side street in the center of Moscow and noticed Rhys’ familiar face among the musicians. He was rehearsing an amazing piece for six guitarists which I later heard performed in concert that night. I was taken with the energy and resonance of the music, played by the composer and some local Muscovites he'd recruited for the gig and resolved to make this a reality for Other Minds in the Bay Area. The idea of introducing this amazing contemporary music to people who would never really have a chance to experience something like this was of interest to The Irvine Foundation, and we are grateful that they are providing the lead grant to make this possible.”
Described by the Los Angeles Times as “the premiere new music festival on the West Coast,” Other Minds was co-founded by Jim Newman and Charles Amirkhanian in 1993 and recently completed its 18th annual festival of new music in association with the Djerassi Resident Artists Program. Other Minds invites innovative artists from around the world and is known for presenting illustrious guest performers, world premieres and productions that incorporate new technologies and multidisciplinary collaborations. Acclaimed throughout the United States for its dedication to new music, Alex Ross of The New Yorker stated that “no other city has an organization quite like Other Minds, catching all the things that would otherwise fall between the cracks.”
For more information, please visit www.otherminds.org.
CALENDAR EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:
What: Preview Event for Rhys Chatham’s A Secret Rose (100 guitars) Other Minds teams up with The Lab for a special preview event including a performance of Rhys Chatham’s groundbreaking work Guitar Trio (G3), a discussion with Chatham on the history of his large-scale works for electric guitars and a chance to meet and greet the artists.
When: 8 p.m. Friday, June 7
Where: The Lab, 2948 16th Street, between Mission and S. Van Ness
Tickets: Sliding scale $7-$15
What: G100 Roundup: Interview with Rhys Chatham
Executive and Artistic Director Charles Amirkhanian will join composer/guitarist Rhys Chatham in an exclusive, in-depth interview accompanied by rare films and audio footage from Chatham’s extensive career.
When: 7 p.m. Saturday, June 8
Where: Private Art Studio in the Mission District, San Francisco
As this is a reservation only event in a private location, details on location provided upon purchase of ticket.
Tickets: $75 and available at www.g100.eventbrite.com
What: Rhys Chatham’s A Secret Rose (100 Guitars)
Other Minds presents the West Coast Premiere of Rhys Chatham’s A Secret Rose for 100 electric guitars, drums and bass bringing together amateur and professional guitarists from all over the Bay Area and beyond.
When: 7 p.m. Sunday, November 17
Where: Craneway Pavilion, 1414 Harbour Way South, Richmond, CA 94804
Tickets: TBA
ABOUT RHYS CHATHAM
Starting with Guitar Trio in the 1970s and culminating with A Crimson Grail for 200 electric guitars in 2009, composer/guitarist Rhys Chatham has been working for over 30 years to make use of armies of electric guitars in special tunings to merge the extended-time music of the 1960s and 1970s with serious hard rock.
Parallel with his rock-influenced pieces, Chatham has been working with various brass configurations since 1982, and recently has developed a completely new approach to collaborations, improvised and compositional pieces involving trumpet through performances and recordings that started in 2009. Chatham’s trumpet work deploys extended playing techniques inherited from the glory days of the early New York minimalist and 1970s loft jazz period.
Rhys was introduced to electronic music and composition by Morton Subotnick in the late 1960s, and in the early seventies he studied composition with La Monte Young and played in Tony Conrad’s early group. These composers are, along with Terry Riley, the founders of American minimalism and were a profound influence on Chatham's work.
Chatham’s instrumentation ranges from the seminal composition composed in 1977, entitled Guitar Trio for 3 electric guitars, electric bass and drums, to the epoch evening-length work for 100 electric guitars, An Angel Moves Too Fast to See, composed in 1989... all the way to Chatham’s recent composition for 200 electric guitars, Crimson Grail, which was commissioned by the City of Paris for La Nuit Blanche Festival in 2005. A completely new version of the piece was commissioned by the Lincoln Center Outdoor Summer Festival in 2009.
ABOUT OTHER MINDS
Described by the Los Angeles Times as “the premiere new music festival west of the Rockies,” Other Minds is dedicated to the encouragement and propagation of contemporary music in all its forms through concerts, workshops and conferences that bring together artists and audiences of diverse traditions, generations and cultural backgrounds. Over the past 17 years, Other Minds has featured over 170 composers and 447 guest performers from more than 44 countries. Previous artists include: Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, Tan Dun, Don Byron and the Kronos String Quartet.
Other Minds’ dedication to avant-garde music and performance is exemplified by its astounding breadth of public programs. In addition to its annual festival, the organization manages a New Music Preservation program which houses digitized versions of priceless KPFA Music Department Archives with precious historical interviews and live performances. These are available for free through Other Minds’ archive site, radiOM.org which serves 227,000 unique online visitors. The organization also airs its own weekly radio program, “Music from Other Minds,” on KALW 91.7-FM, and disseminates rare or neglected works by diverse composers under the Other Minds Recording Label, which has garnered rave reviews from The New York Times to Gramophone.
Each year, outside of the annual Festival, Other Minds undertakes unique concert and event opportunities. In September 2012, the organization held a film festival, “John Cage and Friends,” in honor of the composer’s 100th birthday. In November 2012, Other Minds collaborated with UC Berkeley Cal Performances, the Berkeley Art Musuem and the Pacific Film Archives in an ambitious three-day festival, “Nancarrow at 100: A Centennial Celebration,” to commemorate the birthday of American maverick composer Conlon Nancarrow. Past special presentations include: Commission and world premiere of Pulitzer prize-winning Henry Brant’s Ice Fields in conjunction with the San Francisco Symphony, Dane Rudhyar in Restrospect and the Alan Hovhaness Centennial Celebration. The performance of Rhys Chatham’s A Secret Rose for 100 electric guit ars is Other Minds’ special presentation for this year.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Karen Ames Communications
Brenden Guy: brenden@karenames.com
Karen Ames: karen@karenames.com
(415) 641-7474
To build excitement for the November 17 performance of A Secret Rose, Other Minds presents two preview events June 7 and 8 in San Francisco. Rhys Chatham joins an all-star cast of local Bay Area musicians on June 7 at The Lab in a performance of his groundbreaking 1977 Guitar Trio (G3). The participating performers will be guitarists Ava Mendoza, John Schott, George Chen and John Krausbauer, along with Lisa Mezzacappa (bass) and Jordan Glenn (drums). On June 8, Charles Amirkhanian will join Rhys Chatham for the “G100 Roundup,” an exclusive event in a private Mission District art studio. This intimate evening event will feature an in-depth interview covering his early days as the first music director at The Kitchen in New York to his recent large-scale guitar works and will be accompanied by rare films and audio footage from Rhys’ extensive career, including footage from his compositions for electric guitar orchestras. The G100 Roundup event will also be an opportunity for fans to find out how they can get involved in A Secret Rose.
Tickets for the June kick-off events are now on sale at www.thelab.org for June 7 and g100.eventbrite.com for June 8. Those interested in participating as one of the 100 guitarists in November should visit otherminds.org to apply online. Applications and specific information on instrument requirements will be open June 15.
To extend the reach of A Secret Rose deeply into the Bay Area community, Other Minds is working in partnership with the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts, an organization located in the “Iron Triangle,” a location distinguished primarily for its chronic poverty and violence. For nearly 45 years, this institution has seen nearly 50,000 student artists come to know the world’s great performance traditions through the breadth, depth and passion of experiencing classical masterworks and cutting-edge forms from around the world. Mr. Chatham and his musical production team will hold the first rehearsal at the Winters Building, the newly renovated home of the historic East Bay Center for the Performing Arts.
The depth and breadth of Rhys Chatham’s monumental guitar work is equally matched by the stunning architectural beauty of the Craneway Pavilion, a renovated 1932 Ford Assembly Plant located in the heart of the East Bay. Behind the stage of 100 musicians is one of the most extraordinary views in the entire region – an unsurpassed 180-degree waterfront view of San Francisco, the Bay Bridge, Oakland, Berkeley and the Bay with breathtaking western sunsets over Angel Island and Mt. Tamalpais as well as stunning views of the San Francisco skylights. The venue is convenient to the 580 freeway, 10 minutes from Berkeley, 5 minutes from the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge, and 15 minutes from the San Francisco Bay Bridge and has ample parking availability.
“I’ve known and respected Rhys and his music for more than 30 years, but we reconnected in Moscow at the Appositsia Festival in 2008,” said Executive and Artistic Director Charles Amirkhanian. “I was doing a sound check for my performance later that night at a raw and abandoned industrial building on a hard-to-find side street in the center of Moscow and noticed Rhys’ familiar face among the musicians. He was rehearsing an amazing piece for six guitarists which I later heard performed in concert that night. I was taken with the energy and resonance of the music, played by the composer and some local Muscovites he'd recruited for the gig and resolved to make this a reality for Other Minds in the Bay Area. The idea of introducing this amazing contemporary music to people who would never really have a chance to experience something like this was of interest to The Irvine Foundation, and we are grateful that they are providing the lead grant to make this possible.”
Described by the Los Angeles Times as “the premiere new music festival on the West Coast,” Other Minds was co-founded by Jim Newman and Charles Amirkhanian in 1993 and recently completed its 18th annual festival of new music in association with the Djerassi Resident Artists Program. Other Minds invites innovative artists from around the world and is known for presenting illustrious guest performers, world premieres and productions that incorporate new technologies and multidisciplinary collaborations. Acclaimed throughout the United States for its dedication to new music, Alex Ross of The New Yorker stated that “no other city has an organization quite like Other Minds, catching all the things that would otherwise fall between the cracks.”
For more information, please visit www.otherminds.org.
CALENDAR EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:
What: Preview Event for Rhys Chatham’s A Secret Rose (100 guitars) Other Minds teams up with The Lab for a special preview event including a performance of Rhys Chatham’s groundbreaking work Guitar Trio (G3), a discussion with Chatham on the history of his large-scale works for electric guitars and a chance to meet and greet the artists.
When: 8 p.m. Friday, June 7
Where: The Lab, 2948 16th Street, between Mission and S. Van Ness
Tickets: Sliding scale $7-$15
What: G100 Roundup: Interview with Rhys Chatham
Executive and Artistic Director Charles Amirkhanian will join composer/guitarist Rhys Chatham in an exclusive, in-depth interview accompanied by rare films and audio footage from Chatham’s extensive career.
When: 7 p.m. Saturday, June 8
Where: Private Art Studio in the Mission District, San Francisco
As this is a reservation only event in a private location, details on location provided upon purchase of ticket.
Tickets: $75 and available at www.g100.eventbrite.com
What: Rhys Chatham’s A Secret Rose (100 Guitars)
Other Minds presents the West Coast Premiere of Rhys Chatham’s A Secret Rose for 100 electric guitars, drums and bass bringing together amateur and professional guitarists from all over the Bay Area and beyond.
When: 7 p.m. Sunday, November 17
Where: Craneway Pavilion, 1414 Harbour Way South, Richmond, CA 94804
Tickets: TBA
ABOUT RHYS CHATHAM
Starting with Guitar Trio in the 1970s and culminating with A Crimson Grail for 200 electric guitars in 2009, composer/guitarist Rhys Chatham has been working for over 30 years to make use of armies of electric guitars in special tunings to merge the extended-time music of the 1960s and 1970s with serious hard rock.
Parallel with his rock-influenced pieces, Chatham has been working with various brass configurations since 1982, and recently has developed a completely new approach to collaborations, improvised and compositional pieces involving trumpet through performances and recordings that started in 2009. Chatham’s trumpet work deploys extended playing techniques inherited from the glory days of the early New York minimalist and 1970s loft jazz period.
Rhys was introduced to electronic music and composition by Morton Subotnick in the late 1960s, and in the early seventies he studied composition with La Monte Young and played in Tony Conrad’s early group. These composers are, along with Terry Riley, the founders of American minimalism and were a profound influence on Chatham's work.
Chatham’s instrumentation ranges from the seminal composition composed in 1977, entitled Guitar Trio for 3 electric guitars, electric bass and drums, to the epoch evening-length work for 100 electric guitars, An Angel Moves Too Fast to See, composed in 1989... all the way to Chatham’s recent composition for 200 electric guitars, Crimson Grail, which was commissioned by the City of Paris for La Nuit Blanche Festival in 2005. A completely new version of the piece was commissioned by the Lincoln Center Outdoor Summer Festival in 2009.
ABOUT OTHER MINDS
Described by the Los Angeles Times as “the premiere new music festival west of the Rockies,” Other Minds is dedicated to the encouragement and propagation of contemporary music in all its forms through concerts, workshops and conferences that bring together artists and audiences of diverse traditions, generations and cultural backgrounds. Over the past 17 years, Other Minds has featured over 170 composers and 447 guest performers from more than 44 countries. Previous artists include: Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, Tan Dun, Don Byron and the Kronos String Quartet.
Other Minds’ dedication to avant-garde music and performance is exemplified by its astounding breadth of public programs. In addition to its annual festival, the organization manages a New Music Preservation program which houses digitized versions of priceless KPFA Music Department Archives with precious historical interviews and live performances. These are available for free through Other Minds’ archive site, radiOM.org which serves 227,000 unique online visitors. The organization also airs its own weekly radio program, “Music from Other Minds,” on KALW 91.7-FM, and disseminates rare or neglected works by diverse composers under the Other Minds Recording Label, which has garnered rave reviews from The New York Times to Gramophone.
Each year, outside of the annual Festival, Other Minds undertakes unique concert and event opportunities. In September 2012, the organization held a film festival, “John Cage and Friends,” in honor of the composer’s 100th birthday. In November 2012, Other Minds collaborated with UC Berkeley Cal Performances, the Berkeley Art Musuem and the Pacific Film Archives in an ambitious three-day festival, “Nancarrow at 100: A Centennial Celebration,” to commemorate the birthday of American maverick composer Conlon Nancarrow. Past special presentations include: Commission and world premiere of Pulitzer prize-winning Henry Brant’s Ice Fields in conjunction with the San Francisco Symphony, Dane Rudhyar in Restrospect and the Alan Hovhaness Centennial Celebration. The performance of Rhys Chatham’s A Secret Rose for 100 electric guit ars is Other Minds’ special presentation for this year.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Karen Ames Communications
Brenden Guy: brenden@karenames.com
Karen Ames: karen@karenames.com
(415) 641-7474
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