For Immediate Release

Contact:
Katlyn Morahan
Morahan Arts and Media
katlyn@morahanartsandmedia.com
(610) 914-3152

LOOK LISTEN FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2020 PROGRAMMING

Free Three Day Festival Dedicated to Inspiring Dialogue Between Contemporary Music and Visual Art Features Two World Premieres Commissioned
by Look Listen from Nicole Lizee, Danny Clay, and Jon Fischer, Plus Re-Interpretation of Viola Yip Score by Rhythm-Based Dance Company
The Bang Group

Performances by
Pianists Vicky Chow, Adam Tendler, and Kathleen Supove; Mantra Youth Percussion; Paul Pinto; Ensemble Echappe; and Harpsichordist Tristan McKay

April 23 at 7:30 p.m. at Pioneer Works
April 25 at 4:00 p.m. at Revelation Gallery
May 2 at 7:30 p.m. at The Invisible Dog Art Center

March 2, 2020, New York, NY — The Look Listen Festival—dedicated to sparking dialogue between music and visual art through its annual free programming of contemporary music by today’s musical trailblazers in galleries and cultural centers through New York City—announces its 2020 season of three performances. Reservations for all events, which are highly recommended, open on March 23. Please visit lookandlisten.org to RSVP.

All Festival performances are tied together with three newly-commissioned iterations of an audio-visual Ambient Experience, Turntable Drawings, by composer Danny Clay and San Francisco-based visual artist Jon Fischer. Commissioned Ambient experiences are a hallmark of the Look Listen Festival, enhancing the concert experience by commissioning artists to create an atmosphere inviting dialogue between audience members, performers, and composers for each performance. Turntable Drawings will feature a pre-show experience invoking the Jewish concept of haMakom (the place) using live musicians, physical imprints, video, and loops to explore the connections between replication, music, and beauty.

The Festival kicks off with Piano Pioneers on Thursday, April 23, 2020 at 7:30 p.m. at Pioneer Works in Red Hook, featuring three trailblazing pianists offering their unique perspectives on the possibilities offered by this often overlooked-as-standard instrument. Vicky Chow, pianist for Bang on a Can All-Stars, plays Mammal by Fjola Evans and this machines breathes to the rhythms of its own heartbeat by Adam Basanta; 2019 recipient of the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists Adam Tendler performs the rarely-heard solo piano version of Rzewskii’s Coming Together, in addition to Kagel’s Metronome, and Womanrite by Beth Anderson; and Kathleen Supové, known for her multimedia solo recital series The Exploding Piano, is featured in the world premiere of Look Listen Festival commission Tarantino Etudes by Nicole Lizée, Suspensions by Athau Tanala, and Monad by Rahilia Hasanova. All three pianists additionally will jointly improvise with the Turntable Drawings installation. Piano Pioneers is hosted by noted pianist and composer Phyllis Chen.

Studies in Contrast on Saturday, April 25, 2020 at 4:00 p.m. at Revelation Gallery in Greenwich Village explores the balance between youth and experience. Mantra Youth Percussion — high-school-age performers under the guidance of noted new music ensemble Mantra Percussion — brings the next generation’s perspective to a set of new works commissioned specifically for them by composers such as 2019 Festival Artist Angélica Negrón, Jenny Beck, Deerhoof drummer Greg Saunier, and Allison Loggins-Hull. Ensemble Échappé, a versatile group of soloists dedicated to presenting an eclectic spectrum of 20th and 21st century music, is featured in an eclectic spectrum of 20th and 21st century music including a world premiere by Nina C. Young and works by Nina Shekhar, Lembit Beecher, Philippe Leroux, Tania Leon, and Marcos Balter. Studies in Contrast is hosted by Executive Director of the Kaufman Music Center, Kate Sheeran.

The Festival concludes with Heard to be Seen—melding the visual and the audible through a set featuring dance, movement, and sound-inspired prints—on Saturday, May 2, 2020 at 7:30 p.m. at The Invisible Dog Art Center, housed in a three-story former factory building in Brooklyn’s Boerum Hill. Pianist Tristan McKay performs Tristan Perrich’s Dual Synthesis for harpsichord and electronics, and alongside, McKay debuts 21 prints derived from the play-by-color system from Schoenhut toy pianos, which visualize Perrich’s meditative, colorful work. Reprising their dynamic 2019 Look Listen collaboration, rhythm-driven, New York-based dance company The Bang Group returns with a new set of experimental tap performances inspired by musical scores including a reimagining of Dean Rosenthal’s Perfect For…. The company will present a world premiere reinterpretation of bulbble by composer Viola Yip, winner of the 2020 Look Listen Call for Collaboration. Composer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist Paul Pinto closes the Festival with a solo set 15 Photos fusing voice, video, and movement.

“This season invites three distinct opportunities for observation, conversation, and empathy in a myriad of visual and sonic environments crafted by remarkable, curious, and brilliant artists,” said Artistic Director John Glover. “We invite you to join us!”

Festival Information

Piano Pioneers
Thursday, April 23, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.

Pioneer Works
159 Pioneer Street
Brooklyn, NY 11231

Fjola Evans - Mammal for prepared piano
Adam Basanta - this machines breathes to the rhythms of its own heartbeat for piano, transducers, and electronics
          Vicky Chow, piano

Mauricio Kagel - MM51
Frederick Rzewskii - Coming Together (solo piano version)
Beth Anderson - Womanrite
          Adam Tendler, piano

Atau Tanaka - Suspensions
Rahilia Hasanova - Monad
Nicole Lizée - Tarantino Etudes (World Premiere, Look Listen Commission)
          Kathleen Supove, piano

Studies in Contrast
Saturday, April 25, 2020 at 4:00 p.m.

Revelation Gallery
224 Waverly Place
New York, NY 10014

Allison Loggins-Hull - Hammers
Angelica Negron - Count to Five
Greg Saunier - Where’s My Free Will, If You Please?
Jenny Beck - By The Time We Look For It
          Mantra Youth Percussion

A set that is highly virtuosic and weaves between improvisation and highly notated
     Nina Shekhar - Glitch for clarinet, violin, cello and piano (New York Premiere)
     Lembit Beecher - Song in Mistranslation for flute, clarinet and cello
     Nina Young - New Work for soprano, clarinet, cello and piano (World Premiere)
     Philippe Leroux - Postlude A L'Épais for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano (US Premiere)
     Tania Leon - One Mo' Time for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano
     Marcos Balter - Ear Skin and Bone Riddles for soprano, violin, cello, electronics
               Ensemble Échappé

Heard to be Seen
Saturday, May 2, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.

Invisible Dog Arts Center
51 Bergen Street
Brooklyn, New York 11021

Tristan Perrich - Dual Synthesis
          Tristan McKay, harpsichord

Set to be announced, including a reinterpretation of:
Viola Yip - bulbble
          The Bang Group

Paul Pinto - 15 Photos for voice, video and electronics
          Paul Pinto, composer and performer

All Look Listen Festival programming is free and open to the public.

About the Look Listen Festival
Called “a winning formula” by The New York Times, the Look Listen Festival features music and art created and performed by the finest established and emerging artists. Look Listen was founded in 2002 by David Gordon, who was inspired by a concert of music by Joan Tower at the DIA Center. Since then, the Festival has presented such extraordinary musicians such as the Bang on a Can All Stars, eighth blackbird, JACK Quartet, Brooklyn Rider, Phyllis Chen, Claire Chase, So Percussion, Meredith Monk, the Tyshawn Sorey Trio, and Angélica Negrón. Look Listen takes place at partner venues throughout the city, which in recent years have included BRIC House, Chelsea Art Museum, Pratt Manhattan Gallery, Robert Miller Gallery, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and The Invisible Dog Art Center. Each Festival features an Ambient Experience, a signature Look Listen element that creates an atmosphere conducive to dialogue and helps draw audience members into connection with the artists and works presented. The Look Listen Composers Collective provides programming guidance, creates ambient music for Festival concerts, and adjudicates the annual Call for Collaboration.

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