Ecstatic Music Festival 2016 Concerts
New Sounds Live and the Ecstatic Music Festival co-present three shows this spring: Bang on a Can's PCF Concert on Saturday, February 6, 2016, Rachel Grimes and Longleash on Wednesday, February 10, 2016, & & live film scores by William Tyler, Quindar, and Nick Hallett to films of Fred Engelberg on Thursday, March 17. The Ecstatic Music Festival is a series of unexpected collaborations between artists with different musical backgrounds, now in its sixth season at the Kaufman Center.
Composer and Ecstatic Music Festival curator Judd Greenstein elaborates: “We’re the only festival built entirely on collaborations between artists from different musical backgrounds, but in a way, the collaborative angle masks a deeper philosophy at work.” It’s about “opening up a space for artists to work in areas that are unexplored or under-explored in their “normal” careers.”
The full Ecstatic Music Festival (Jan. 29-March 19) schedule of events is HERE. New Sounds Live is proud to co-present the following shows:
2/6/2016 – Bang on a Can PCF Concert
World premieres. Bang on a Can All-Stars.
On Saturday February 6, 2016, New Sounds Live and the Ecstatic Music Festival present the Bang on a Can People’s Commissioning Fund Concert with works by Caroline Shaw inspired by quilting, Gabriella Smith and bird songs about the Chilean dawn, Zhang Shouwang of the Beijing band Carsick Cars & composer, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and co-collaborator with the Fred Frith Guitar Quartet René Lussier.
The performance is at 7:30PM and will be streamed live on Q2 Music.
Tickets and more details about 2/6
2/10/2016 - Rachel Grimes and Longleash
Works for solo piano, two pianos, and two pianos, violin, cello
Piano trio Longleash joins pianist/composer Rachel Grimes, a member of the seminal ensemble Rachel’s, for a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the group’s utterly transporting album “Music for Egon Schiele” (Quarterstick / Touch & Go) – originally composed by Grimes for a dance and theater production about the fascinating and tragically brief life of the Austrian painter. Longleash will perform the newly published suite, giving this beautiful music new life for a new ensemble. Grimes will join the trio for arrangements of pieces from her 2015 album “The Clearing” (Temporary Residence) and the world premiere of her two-piano work “And Today Was Her Birthday.” The performance is at 7:30PM and will be streamed live on Q2 Music.
Tickets and more details about 2/10
3/17/2016 - William Tyler, Quindar & Nick Hallett
Live music to documentary and short films by Fred Engelberg
Hear Quindar, featuring art historian James Merle Thomas and Wilco’s Mikael Jorgensen, meld their electronic beats with Tyler’s fusion of rock and lo-fi guitar and Hallett’s eclectic compositions. They will score and perform a series of new compositions to accompany "The Lost Films of Fred Engelberg (1929–2012)." A Los Angeles-based filmmaker, musician and playwright, Engelberg's folk records, experimental films and feature-length documentaries featured Los Angeles visual artists, 1960s counterculture, religious cults and fringe activist groups — all reflecting the political and cultural complexities of the postwar American experience. This culminated with the production of "Hearts and Minds," the academy award-winning 1974 documentary about the Vietnam War. Engelberg’s many unreleased short and documentary films are now being restored and seen for the first time in nearly 40 years. Prompted by their research into these historic archives, Tyler, Jorgensen and Thomas will create and perform a series of electronic and acoustic compositions to accompany a selection of Engelberg’s films. The performance is at 7:30PM and will be streamed live on Q2 Music.
Tickets and more details about 3/17
There’s a natural partnership between the Ecstatic Music Festival and New Sounds, in that there are not immediately obvious genre labels that can be affixed to the music. In fact, most of the commissioned collaborators all gleefully ignore boundaries between musical genres to come away with sounds that might be “chamber jazz,” “indie-classical,” or “experimental pop.”
Our sister station, Q2 Music, is the festival's digital venue for on-demand artist interviews and concert audio.
