November 2019 at National Sawdust

National Sawdust presents its inaugural sound bath, performed by Sara Auster,
utilizing the newly installed Meyer Sound Constellation® and Spacemap® acoustic systems 

National Sawdust celebrates the 50th birthday of composer Julian Wachner

Artist-in-Residence Lucy Dhegrae presents the first concert in her The Processing Series

No Shadows
Sye Spence with Ava Raiin
November 2, 2019 7:00 pm
Songwriter, composer, and multimedia artist Sye Elaine Spence presents ON SHADOWS, a light and sound installation based on her debut LP MORE. Music, ambient sound, narration, light, and movement — and a 20 by 30 foot translucent screen — form an ethereal audiovisual landscape that Spence thinks of as “a meditation piece, an invocation, and a call to openness.”

AdHoc Presents: Hayden Thorpe
Hayden Thorpe
November 5, 2019 8:00 pm
Diviner is a deeply emotional album: lyrically generous in its candid tone and self-awareness, the melodies resonant with sense memory. Weaving piano, ambient guitar drifts, rainbow chords, propulsive bass lines and cosmic synth washes are some of the brushstrokes while the songs often twist and turn, confounding sonic expectations. It feels like a startling departure from Hayden Thorpe’s previous work and also unlike anything else being made at the moment. Throughout the record, his voice is a beacon, sounding even more powerfully unfettered than before, as if he’d found a new inner voice, a new way to use his instrument. Hear Thorpe play music from Diviner at this concert.

Isterica
Emily Marie Pope, Muriel Loveau, and Angélica Negrón
November 6, 2019 7:30 pm
Composer/multi-instrumentalist Angélica Negrón, one of Paste Magazine’s “20 most innovative musicians working today”, joins forces with singer/composer Muriel Louveau and dancer/choreographer Emily Marie Pope for a collaborative work that explores the historical and sociocultural dynamics of hysteria. Isterica delves deep into the history and stories around hysteria. From the Hippocratic notion that hysteria was caused by the uterus wandering around the woman’s body, to the Freudian notion that it was the result of repressed memories of sexual trauma, Isterica is a compelling exploration of perceptions around gender, the transgressive nature of the female form, and the emancipation of female sexuality. The performance will be followed by a talk with psychoanalyst Paola Mieli and the artists.

Square Peg Round Hole Album Release
Square Peg Round Hole
November 8, 2019 7:00 pm
Caught somewhere between the post-rock and contemporary classical worlds, Square Peg Round Hole bring their minimalist, ambient music to National Sawdust for their first headlining show, which also celebrates their new album release on National Sawdust Tracks. Debuting a new batch of music that simmers with irresistible electroacoustic textures, Square Peg Round Hole show off their eclectic combination of technical precision and indie rock groove. Through drums, vibraphone, samples, analog synths, metal pipes, glass bottles, and even children’s toys, Square Peg Round Hole will create a sonic landscape that surprises and delights at every turn.

Powerful Sounds: Sara Auster
Sara Auster
November 9, 2019 5:00 pm & 8:00 pm
Powerful Sounds is a new series presenting world-class artists in one-of-a-kind performances that harness the restorative powers of sound through guided meditations, sound baths, ambient concerts, participatory movement and singing events, and more. With the pristine Meyer Sound Constellation® acoustic system and an acoustically sealed hall, National Sawdust is uniquely positioned to provide audiences an unparalleled immersive sonic experience. This installment of Powerful Sounds will feature sound therapist, meditation teacher, and artist Sara Auster and her unique, site-specific sound bath experience exploring communication and interconnectivity.

Julian Wachner @50
Julian Wachner, Jeffrey Zeigler, The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, NOVUS NY, and Anthony Roth Costanzo as emcee
November 10, 2019, 7:00 pm
From “gritty, fearless” presentations of early music (New York Times) to Pulitzer-winning premieres, conductor and composer Julian Wachner’s tireless musical output has left a lasting imprint on the musical life of New York City. In honor of his 50th birthday, Julian returns to National Sawdust with friends and collaborators for Julian Wachner @50. MC’d by countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, this concert features performances of works by Wachner — including his epic Epistle Mass — from The Choir of Trinity Wall Street and cellist Jeffrey Zeigler.
Anthony Roth Costanzo appears courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera.

Miho Hazama and m_unit
Miho Hazama, m_unit
November 13, 2019, 7:00 pm
Regarded as a modern-day pillar of the burgeoning big band scene, Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Prize winner Miho Hazama and her 13-piece jazz chamber orchestra m_unit come to National Sawdust to present work from their new album Dancer in Nowhere. With pieces like “Today, Not Today”, which slowly unfurls a sweeping cinematic vision, and an interpretation of John Williams’ “Olympic Fanfare and Theme”, Dancer in Nowhere “veers through frenzied jolts, twists and turns” (Time Out New York). Catch the composer and big band leader jazz critic Dan Ouellette calls “a vital young artist who is delivering a singular style of music” (Downbeat Magazine) for a night of lush, inviting, large-ensemble jazz.

The Revolution, VOL. 44
Jill Peacock, Wayne Tucker, and RINI
November 14, 2019 8:00pm
The Revolution is a performance series highlighting Brooklyn- and Harlem-based artists and musicians that not only represent the core of independent pop culture but also stand in the breeding ground of evolution within their genre.

BluePrint Fellowship Concert
National Sawdust Ensemble and Juilliard performance students
November 17, 2019 7:00 pm
The BluePrint Fellowship, a new National Sawdust initiative in collaboration with Juilliard, is a dual-track career, project mentoring, and commissioning course developed to support student composers. For the fellowship’s inaugural season, Juilliard composition students will present their commissioned BluePrint projects, for an exciting mix of voice, dance, electronics, and chamber ensemble, performed by both Juilliard students and the National Sawdust Ensemble. Project mentors for the fellowship, spearheaded by Composer, Co-Founder, and Artistic Director of National Sawdust Paola Prestini, include leading women composers such as Prestini, Claire Chase, Reena Esmail, Nathalie Joachim, Laura Kaminsky, and Alex Temple.
The BluePrint Fellowship is generously supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.

Meredith Monk’s Birthday Dance Party
Rayna Russom, DJ Rekha, Neon Calypso, José Rivera Jr., and more
November 20, 2019 8:00 pm
Come dance with Meredith Monk and celebrate her 77th birthday with DJs — Rayna Russom, the “Synth Wizard” known for her work with LCD Soundsystem, and DJ Rekha, a pioneer in bringing Bhangra music to the United States — and live performances by Neon Calypso, a staple of Sasha Velour’s “eclectic, wild, and highly personal” drag showcase Nightgowns, and José Rivera Jr., whose “glam-glitch” electro-pop and athletic, post-modern choreography “[orient] us towards Queer Future — queering narratives of love, power, and vulnerability.” With sweet treats by Milk Bar.

NationalSawdust presents: Paul Muldoon’s Against the Grain
Carolyn Forché, Andrey Kurkov, and The Knights
November 21, 2019 7:30 pm
Paul Muldoon‘s Against the Grain, presented by NationalSawdust with London Review of Books, returns with the bold voices of American poet, teacher, and activist Carolyn Forché and Ukrainian novelist Andrey Kurkov, joined by the pioneering collective, The Knights. Wedding the personal and the political, Forché has witnessed and put into poetry some of the most devastating events of twentieth-century world history. “At their best, Forché’s poems have the immediacy of war correspondence, postcards from the volcano of twentieth-century barbarism,” observed Katha Pollitt. Forché is joined by Kurkov, the writer of screenplays and critically acclaimed and popular novels, including Death and the Penguin, which have been translated into more than 30 languages. Now based in Kiev, he worked for some time as a journalist, did military service as a prison warden at Odessa, then became a film cameraman – experiences that fuel his darkly satirical, insightful work. The Knights is dedicated to transforming the orchestral experience and eliminating barriers between audiences and music. Driven by an open-minded spirit of camaraderie and exploration, the collective inspires listeners with programs that encompass their roots in the classical tradition and passion for artistic discovery.

Dessa
Dessa with MONAKR and the Argus Quartet
November 22, 2019 7:30 pm
Dessa is an internationally touring musician and writer who has built a career by bucking genre conventions and industry trends. As a recording artist, she’s appeared on the Billboard Top 200 charts, contributed to The Hamilton Mixtape, and co-written for a 100-voice choir. As an author, she’s been published by the New York Times and National Geographic Traveler and has served as a guest writer for the Welcome to Night Vale podcast. In 2018, Dutton Books (Penguin Random House) published her first hardcover book, a non-fiction essay collection titled, My Own Devices: True Stores from the Road on Music, Science, and Senseless Love.

The Processing Series Part I: More Beautiful Than Words Can Tell
Lucy Dhegrae, Pala Garcia, Amy Garapic, Nathaniel LaNasa, and more
November 23, 2019 7:00 pm
The Processing Series, from vocalist and 2019–2020 Artist-in-Residence Lucy Dhegrae, was sprung from a prompt to four composers: write a piece for voice with electronics, violin, and/or percussion that deals with an aspect of trauma recovery. The first concert in the Processing Series, More Beautiful Than Words Can Tell, explores the struggle to articulate an experience after trauma. Featuring the world premiere of Osnat Netzer’s Philomelos, Dhegrae explores the “unspeakable” residual effects of trauma through Shakespeare’s character Lavinia, from Titus Andronicus. The evening continues with works by Peter Kramer, Jason Eckardt, Chaya Czernowin, Georges Aperghis, Philippe Leroux, Maria Stankova, and Vinko Globokar.

PHYSICALITY Rev 3: One Woman Show (Club Mix)
Gavin Rayna Russom
November 24, 2019 7:30 pm
The electrifying final show of Gavin Rayna Russom’s 2018-19 residency will be a dazzling fusion of the first two events. Moving from the raw and messy sketches of the opening show through the seamless energy of the second, this evening of music, light, and movement will synthesize all the elements Russom has been working with and will highlight a breathtaking new direction in her work.

John Zorn Presents: The Stone Commissioning Series
Ben Goldberg
November 27, 2019 7:00 pm
Ben Goldberg presents a new work for clarinet, two vibraphones, electric guitar, and bass, featuring Ches Smith, Kenny Wollesen, Ryan Ferreira, and Thomas Morgan.

Powerful Sounds: Ecstatic Dance
Ecstatic Dance
November 30, 2019 7:00 pm
Powerful Sounds is a new series presenting world-class artists in one-of-a-kind performances that harness the restorative powers of sound through guided meditations, sound baths, ambient concerts, participatory movement and singing events, and more. With the pristine Meyer Sound Constellation® acoustic system and an acoustically sealed hall, National Sawdust is uniquely positioned to provide audiences an unparalleled immersive sonic experience. This installment of Powerful Sounds will feature Ecstatic Dance — a community gathering for people who want to express themselves freely, connect, and expand together through the inspiration of music and dance.

For more information, please visit https://nationalsawdust.org/calendar/.

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About National Sawdust

National Sawdust’s mission is rooted in music discovery that is open, inclusive, and based in active mentorship of emerging artists, while building new audiences and communities of music devotees. By supporting emerging artists, programming groundbreaking new music in our state-of-the-art Williamsburg venue, and developing and touring new, collaborative music-driven projects, National Sawdust is reshaping the landscape of contemporary music.

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