New York City-based composer collective ICEBERG New Music will be in residence at Crosstown Arts for two weeks of concerts, workshops, and lectures. Memphis-based contemporary chamber group Blueshift Ensemble will collaborate with ICEBERG and perform the collective’s original compositions.
ICEBERG new music is a collective of ten young composers based in New York City with a mission to promote the idea that substance – not surface – is the heart of music creation and perception.
Blueshift is a Memphis-based contemporary chamber music ensemble dedicated to bringing artists and audiences together through artistic collaboration.
Sponsored by Amro Music
Concerts
Concert I
Thursday, June 15th
Doors at 6:30 p.m. | Performance at 7 p.m.
Crosstown Concourse, Central Atrium
Free (donations accepted)
Facebook invite
Alyssa Weinberg – Parallels for string quartet
Max Grafe – An Effulgence Fills the Southern Boughs for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and percussion
Victor Baez – A Doe Leaps into the Rising Sun for solo cello
Will Healy – Mixed Feelings for clarinet, violin, and piano
Derek Cooper – Guernica for string quartet
Pop-up Performance
Thursday, June 15th
1 p.m.
Crosstown Concourse, Central Atrium
Concert II
Tuesday, June 20th
Doors at 6:30 p.m. | Performance at 7 p.m.
Crosstown Concourse, Central Atrium
Free (donations accepted)
Facebook invite
Alex Burtzos – OMAHA (all the things you could be you are you were) for string quartet
Drake Andersen – Photons for flute and clarinet
Yu-Chun Chien – Co-Composition for a cellist
Jonathan Russ – Eat Your Vegetables for solo clarinet
Harry Stafylakis – Unrelent for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and percussion
Presentations/Workshops
** Saturday, June 17
Because Your Brain Wants It: A Psychological Case for the Need for Contemporary Music (And Why You Think You Don’t)
Talk by Victor Baez
2-3:30 p.m., 430 N. Cleveland, free
Hidden Mechanisms of Composition
Talk by Derek Cooper
4-5:30 p.m., 430 N. Cleveland, free
** Saturday, June 24
Contemporary Classical and “Indie Rock”: Beyond the Quotation Marks
Talk by Jonathan Russ
10-11 a.m., Crosstown Concourse, Central Atrium, free
Mindful Listening Workshop
Led by Drake Andersen
11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., meet at the reception desk in Crosstown Concourse’s Central Atrium
Free (register on Eventbrite)
A workshop in which participants move through a series of Pauline Oliveros-inspired sound/meditation exercises designed to attune participants to the sounds around them and develop a richer vocabulary for describing them.
The Crossroads of a Century: Popular and Classical Music In 1960s America
Talk by Alex Burtzos
1-3 p.m., Crosstown Concourse, Central Atrium, free
Sound Scavenger Hunt
Led by Drake Andersen
3-5 p.m., meet at the reception desk in Crosstown Concourse’s Central Atrium
Free (register on Eventbrite)
In two sessions, participants search for sounds that meet certain criteria (i.e. “high, short, loud” or “low, short, soft”) and record them with portable recorders. The sounds will then be used to create an online “sound” map that lists the sounds’ qualities, source, and location, allowing anyone to download the sounds to use in a creative project.
Beauty Starts Where Habit Ends
Talk by Yu-Chun Chien
5-6 p.m., Crosstown Concourse, Central Atrium, free
About ICEBERG New Music:
Founded by composer Alex Burtzos in 2016, ICEBERG new music is a collective of ten young composers based in New York City. The mission of the organization is to promote the idea that substance – not surface – is the heart of music creation and perception. We live in an era where dogma is out of place; composers can, and should, draw from an unprecedentedly broad array of influences in their work – including popular music, avant-garde techniques, and everything in between. The ten ICEBERG composers hail from different schools and cultivate radically different sounds, but their contrasting musical languages belie shared emphasis on structure and depth of meaning. When these artists compose for the same ensemble and present their works during a joint concert, the result is a glimpse into the ever-widening possibilities of art music in the twenty-first century. ICEBERG is committed to radical stylistic inclusiveness, excellence of craft, dialogue with the audience, and a modernization of the concert-going experience.
About Blueshift Ensemble:
Blueshift is a Memphis-based contemporary chamber music ensemble dedicated to bringing artists and audiences together through artistic collaboration. By programming both new and existing classical repertoire alongside multi-genre collaborations, Blueshift aims to connect a wider audience to today’s classical music. The ensemble draws upon Memphis’s uniquely diverse musical heritage by combining classical music with popular music genres such as rock, blues, and soul and featuring local musicians, visual artists, and composers.
