Baryshnikov Arts Center presents Beginner's Ear combining Meditation and Music - with Johnny Gandelsman, Thomas Droge, Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim

Baryshnikov Arts Center Presents

Beginner’s Ear 

Violinist Johnny Gandelsman & Meditation Coach Thomas Droge
Moderated by Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim

 
Thursday, November 21, 2019 at 7pm

Baryshnikov Arts Center | John Cage & Merce Cunningham Studio | 450 W. 37^th St. | NYC

Tickets: $15 at www.bacnyc.org or 866.811.4111

New York, NY – Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC) presents Beginner’s Ear on Thursday, November 21, 2019 at 7pm in the John Cage & Merce Cunningham Studio (450 W. 37^th St.). Beginner’s Ear offers an immersive, one-hour listening experience that opens the ear to both silence and sound. Through a meditation guided by Thomas Droge, participants reach a deep state of communal stillness out of which a live musical performance unfolds, visceral and immediate.

Violinist Johnny Gandelsman will perform following the meditation, weaving together music spanning four centuries by Biber, Bach, and Stravinsky. A conversation reflecting on the intersection of mindfulness and music moderated by the event’s curator, Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, closes the evening.

As a critic writing for The New York Times I have sat through a lot of concerts – sometimes 100 a year,” says da Fonseca-Wollheim. “But I find that the most profound listening experiences have been those anchored in silence. I'm now inviting listeners to discover the unique sense of peace and clarity that results from a deeper and mindful listen. I'm calling my series Beginner’s Ear, after the Zen ideal of the Beginner’s Mind free from preconceptions.”

Leadership support for music programming provided by the Thompson Family Foundation. 

Grammy award-winning violinist and producer Johnny Gandelsman's musical voice reflects the artistic collaborations he has been a part of since moving to the United States in 1995. As a founding member of Brooklyn Rider and a member of the Silkroad Ensemble, Gandelsman has worked with such luminaries as Bela Fleck, Martin Hayes, Kayhan Kalhor, Yo-Yo Ma, Mark Morris, Anne Sofie Van Otter, Alim Qasimov & Fargana Qasimova, Joshua Redman, Suzanne Vega, Abigail Washburn, and Damian Woetzel. He has appeared with Bono, David Byrne, Renee Fleming, Rhiannon Giddens, I'm With Her, Christian McBride, and many others. A passionate advocate for new music, Gandelsman has premiered dozens of new works, including music by Lisa Bielawa, Tyondai Braxton, Daniel Cords, Christina Courtin, Reena Esmail, Bela Fleck, Gabriela Lena Frank, Bill Frisell, Osvaldo Golijov, Gonzalo Grau, Ethan Iverson, Vijay Iyer, Colin Jacobsen, Gabriel Kahane, Rubin Kodheli, Angel Lam, Ljova, Dana Lyn, Nico Muhly, Padma Newsome, Shara Nova, Edward Perez, Matana Roberts, Kyle Sanna, Gregory Saunier, Caroline Shaw, Kojiro Umezaki, Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky, Du Yun, Evan Ziporyn, and John Zorn. Gandelsman has been producing records since starting his label, In a Circle Records, in 2008. Recent credits include two albums by Brooklyn Rider: a collaborative album with Magos Herrera, Dreamers (Sony, 2018), and Spontaneous Symbols (In a Circle Records, 2017), Johnny's own recording of the complete Sonatas and Partitas for violin by Bach (In a Circle Records, 2018), two albums with Silkroad Ensemble and Yo-Yo Ma, Music for The Vietnam War, a film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick (In a Circle, 2017), and Sing Me Home, winner of the Grammy Award for Best World Music album (Sony, 2016).

Thomas Droge is a classically trained acupuncturist, herbalist, teacher, author, and the founder of the Pathfinder Institute. For three decades he has worked on distilling the practices of qigong, tai chi, and meditation to their essential qualities and integrating them into Western culture. Droge holds a Masters degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine and a degree in massage therapy. He trained at Harvard University’s Mind Body Medicine program, and is a sought-after instructor at workshops and retreats where he teaches Taoist traditions including Zhao Bao, Er Mei, and Dragon Gate.

Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim is a music critic, a long-time contributor to the New York Times, and the founder of Beginner’s Ear. She approaches the art of listening with humor, poetic sensibility, and the keen palate of a sommelier. Her writing has appeared in publications including the Wall Street Journal, Tablet, the Strad, Symphony Magazine, The Classical Review, The Jerusalem Post, and The New York Sun. She is the recipient of the 2015 Cremona Mondomusica Prize in Communication and was the 2018 Rea S. Hederman Critic in Residence at the American Academy in Rome.

ABOUT BARYSHNIKOV ARTS CENTER (BAC)

BAC is the realization of a long-held vision by artistic director Mikhail Baryshnikov to build an arts center in Manhattan that would serve as a gathering place for artists from all disciplines. BAC’s opening in 2005 heralded the launch of this mission, establishing a thriving creative laboratory and performance space for artists from around the world. BAC’s activities encompass a robust residency program augmented by a range of professional services, including commissions of new work, as well as the presentation of performances by artists at varying stages of their careers. In tandem with its commitment to supporting artists, BAC is dedicated to building audiences for the arts by presenting contemporary, innovative work at affordable ticket prices. For more information, please visit www.bacnyc.org.