#5154, Christopher Rountree on Julius Eastman's Gay Guerrilla

Conductor Christopher Rountree has been on a mission to highlight the works of late American composer Julius Eastman. After founding the expansive music collective Wild Up, he continuously looked for challenges to reinterpret unconventional compositions, which urged him to dive into Eastman’s barely decipherable scores. He’s been under the spell of Eastman’s music long enough to conjure up an anthology in his name, brought to life with strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion instruments.

What was so intriguing about Eastman’s creative mind? According to Rountree, it was his unique brand of “organic music”, which he describes with these words: “…his idea was that the music is cellular, and that each cell contains every bit of information that came before it. So, something grows, and then one element is added, and something social happens, and catalyzes a subtle change. And also, he sometimes doesn’t indicate what that change is. He just adds an F sharp.” He, with the rest of the Wild Up ensemble, co-exist in “one harmonic space that shifts very slowly or seldom,” each time they record a piece by Eastman. As they play on, the harmony expands, the rules change, and each musician finds themselves in a position to make their own choices.

The latest addition to Wild Up’s Julius Eastman Anthology, titled Gay Guerrilla, is made up of cyclical patterns that build and disintegrate over time. But there are also soul-awakening contrapuntal moments which seem to appear out of the blue to interrupt those patterns, taking the listener from one meditative state to another.

On this edition of New Sounds, John Schaefer interviews Christopher Rountree, as he walks us through Wild Up’s rendition of Gay Guerrilla in its entirety, presenting a meaningful opportunity to commemorate Julius Eastman’s critically outspoken brilliance. - Sırma Munyar
 

Program #5154, Christopher Rountree on Julius Eastman's Gay Guerrilla (First aired 6/19/2026)

ARTIST: Wild Up, Christopher Rountree & Julius Eastman 
WORK: No. 4, Melt to and Back Again [1:27]
RECORDING: Julius Eastman, Vol. 5: Gay Guerrilla 
SOURCE: New Amsterdam Records
INFO: https://wildup.bandcamp.com/album/julius-eastman-vol-5-gay-guerrilla

ARTIST: Wild Up, Christopher Rountree & Julius Eastman 
WORK: No. 1, Silence [4:42]
RECORDING: Julius Eastman, Vol. 5: Gay Guerrilla 
SOURCE: New Amsterdam Records
INFO: https://wildup.bandcamp.com/album/julius-eastman-vol-5-gay-guerrilla

ARTIST: Wild Up, Christopher Rountree & Julius Eastman 
WORK: No. 2, All Together [2:59]
RECORDING: Julius Eastman, Vol. 5: Gay Guerrilla 
SOURCE: New Amsterdam Records
INFO: https://wildup.bandcamp.com/album/julius-eastman-vol-5-gay-guerrilla

ARTIST: Wild Up, Christopher Rountree & Julius Eastman 
WORK: No. 3, the Lessing Is Miracle [2:14]
RECORDING: Julius Eastman, Vol. 5: Gay Guerrilla 
SOURCE: New Amsterdam Records
INFO: https://wildup.bandcamp.com/album/julius-eastman-vol-5-gay-guerrilla

ARTIST: Wild Up, Christopher Rountree & Julius Eastman 
WORK: No. 4, Melt to and Back Again [3:11]
RECORDING: Julius Eastman, Vol. 5: Gay Guerrilla 
SOURCE: New Amsterdam Records 
INFO: https://wildup.bandcamp.com/album/julius-eastman-vol-5-gay-guerrilla

ARTIST: Wild Up, Christopher Rountree & Julius Eastman 
WORK: No. 5, Dies Irae [7:12]
RECORDING: Julius Eastman, Vol. 5: Gay Guerrilla  
SOURCE: New Amsterdam Records 
INFO: https://wildup.bandcamp.com/album/julius-eastman-vol-5-gay-guerrilla

ARTIST: Wild Up, Christopher Rountree & Julius Eastman 
WORK: No. 6, A Mighty Fortress [2:45]
RECORDING: Julius Eastman, Vol. 5: Gay Guerrilla 
SOURCE: New Amsterdam Records 
INFO: https://wildup.bandcamp.com/album/julius-eastman-vol-5-gay-guerrilla

ARTIST: Wild Up, Christopher Rountree & Julius Eastman 
WORK: No. 7, C#mb7 [2:19]
RECORDING: Julius Eastman, Vol. 5: Gay Guerrilla 
SOURCE: New Amsterdam Records
INFO: https://wildup.bandcamp.com/album/julius-eastman-vol-5-gay-guerrilla

ARTIST: Wild Up, Christopher Rountree & Julius Eastman 
WORK: No. 8, Always Making New Inversions [3:30] 
RECORDING: Julius Eastman, Vol. 5: Gay Guerrilla 
SOURCE: New Amsterdam Records
INFO: https://wildup.bandcamp.com/album/julius-eastman-vol-5-gay-guerrilla

ARTIST: Wild Up, Christopher Rountree & Julius Eastman, Devonté Hynes, Adam Tendler 
WORK: Evil N– [5:24]
RECORDING: Julius Eastman Vol. 3: If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?
SOURCE: New Amsterdam Records
INFO: https://wildup.bandcamp.com/album/julius-eastman-vol-3-if-youre-so-smart-why-arent-you-rich