Listening Post
As a columnist (“Listening Post”) and feature writer, Doug DeLoach has been contributing to Creative Loafing since the early 1980s. A regular contributor to Songlines, a world music magazine based in London, his ruminating on arts and culture have appeared in publications such as Georgia Music, ArtsGeorgia, ArtsATL, Stomp & Stammer, High Performance, and Art Papers.
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string(10131) "!!Fri., May 6
Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta at Ackerman Hall, Carlos Museum — The Emory Chamber Music Society’s final Cooke Noontime Concert of the season features the Vega Quartet playing Haydn’s first String Quartet and Mendelssohn’s dramatic Quartet in D Major.
Free admission with registration. 12 noon. Ackerman Hall at the Michael C. Carlos Museum, 571 South Kilgo Cir NE, Atlanta.
!!Sun., May 8
Taylor/Burland, Pas Musique (solo), .document, Meaning of Everything at Eyedrum — An evening of drone/electronic/experimental music with krautrock undertones featuring Pas Musique founder Robert L. Pepper performing solo. Also on the bill are .document, otherwise known as Elliott Brabant, a longstanding contributor to the Atlanta DIY scene; Meaning of Everything featuring solo guitar by Mykel Alder June, formerly of Mice in Cars and co-producer of the WRITE CLUB live literary series; and Taylor/Burland, a duo featuring guitarists Ryan Taylor (Blackfox, Sensitive Chaos) and Scott Burland, the latter formerly with Duet for Theremin & Lap Steel.
$10 adv/$12 dos. 7:30 doors. 515 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd. SW Atlanta. Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/518918823244537
!!Wed., May 11
Rob Lundberg, Atlanta Improvisers Orchestra at Eyedrum — In their first outing since 2019, the Atlanta Improvisers Orchestra presents a program of inimitable large ensemble improvising at Eyedrum. In addition to the AIO’s usual semi-conducted, wholly improvised pieces, the orchestra will perform a long composition by composer/photographer/documentarian/bassist Rob Lundberg, co-founder of New York-Chicago-based edgy jazz band JOBS. Lundberg will also perform with AIO.
$10 door. 8 p.m. 515 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd. SW Atlanta. www.eyedrum.org
!!Fri., May 13
American String Quartet at First Presbyterian Church — Co-presented with the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta, the American String Quartet performs Dvorak's Piano Quintet with William Ransom on piano as part of the Concerts@First music series.
Free admission. 12 noon. 1328 Peachtree St NE, Atlanta, GA 30309-3209. Concerts@First
Georgian Chamber Players, Peachtree Road United Methodist Church — Special guest artist Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Principal Clarinet Laura Ardan joins the Georgian Chamber Players for a program featuring Mozart’s Kegelstatt Trio K 498 in E flat major, Grieg’s Violin & Piano Sonata in C major, Grieg’s Norwegian Dances for Four Piano Hands, and the world premiere of Atlanta composer and music journalist Mark Gresham’s Quintet for Clarinet & Strings.
Tickets $20. Doors 7:30 p.m., music 8 p.m. Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, 3180 Peachtree Road NE Atlanta, GA 30305
Bent Frequency with Pantera Trio, Kopleff Recital Hall — Bent Frequency’s first all-percussion concert features co-artistic director and percussionist Stuart Gerber with special guests the Pantera Trio and marimba master Harvey Warner. Pantera is an Atlanta-based trio who will be participating in the Luxembourg International Percussion Competition in July. Friday’s concert is free and open to the public, but also serves as a fund-raiser to help Pantera defray the cost of traveling to Luxembourg. Don’t miss this wonderful program of percussion music featuring a world premiere by Wenchi Tsai along with works by Anne Lockwood, Wolfgang Rhim, Wenchi Tsai, Steven Snowden, Anna Ignatowicz-Glińska, Carlos Stasi, Karel Goeyvaerts, Alvin Singleton and Iannis Xenakis.
Free, donations encouraged. 8 p.m. Kopleff Recital Hall, 15 Gilmer St SE, Atlanta, Georgia 30303.
!!Fri., May 13-Sat., May 14 and Mon., May 16
The Artificial Island, PushPush Theater — The world premiere production of The Artificial Island, which marks Atlanta musician Jeffrey Butzer’s debut as a playwright, promises to be a wicked hoot. The comedy tells the story of a young woman, Penny, who is doing a terrible job of growing up. In the middle of her 25th birthday party, she escapes from her barhopping friends and encounters a fortune teller, which leads to her incarceration in a women’s correctional facility where she meets The Devil. According to director Tim Habeger, “Butzer’s writing is a fun mix of Being John Malkovich and The Simpsons and the play moves quickly to its other-worldly conclusion in roughly 70 minutes.” Scored with original music by Eric Balint, the castoff The Artificial Island includes Amanda Goldstein Marks, Freddy Boyd, London Balbosa, Zoey Laird, and Laurie Sanii. Tue., May 13 and Wed., May 14 are preview performances at a reduced ticket price. The play’s official run spans three consecutive Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays beginning May 20 through June 4, pay what you can: $10-$25.00
Preview performances $5. 8 p.m. PushPush Theater Annex, 3726 E Main Street, College Park, 30337.
!!Sun., May 15
Jeff Crompton, Viceroy Cyprian at No Tomorrow —Two solo sets by Jeff Crompton and Viceroy Cyprian, respectively, comprise a special matinee program at the No Tomorrow performance space in Underground Atlanta. Saxophonist/composer Crompton leads and participates in a number of groups around Atlanta including the Edgewood Saxophone Trio, Standard Practice and the Sataraš Quartet. At No Tomorrow he will be performing original pieces and obscure classics from the jazz repertoire. For his set, Viceroy Cyprian (the nom du guerre of Atlanta multi-instrumentalist George Kotler-Wallace) will employ steel guitar, banjo and electronics to create hypnotic ambient soundscapes infused by Southern chill.
Donations accepted. 4 p.m. 84 Lower Alabama St. SW Underground Atlanta. No Tomorrow
Waterphonics on the Atlanta BeltLine — As part of the Art on the Atlanta BeltLine project, Waterphonics, a duet with Klimchak and Stuart Gerber, will perform a program of percussion music using wildly creative homemade instruments conceived around the theme of “water” in a matinee concert on Sun., May 15. The instruments include a bass marimba constructed from water cooler jugs, dueling interconnected water-filled bowls and – wait for it — a kitchen sink on wheels. The unusual location of Lebeato Loungue: Water Wonderland, the McDonough Tunnel on the Southside Beltline, promises to impart its own special acoustic vibe to the proceedings.
Free. 3 p.m. 95 Milton Ave SE, Atlanta GA 30315. Art on the Beltline.
!!Tue., May 17
Ravish Momin, Majid Araim, Kenito Murray at No Tomorrow — Working under the moniker Sunken Cages, Indian-born drummer, electronic music producer and educator Ravish (Rah-VEESH) Momin studied with Andrew Cyrille while working as an engineer in New York City in the late 1990s. Since becoming a full-time musician, Momin has worked as a sideman with musicians ranging from Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre (of the AACM) to pop-star Shakira. Sharing the bill are two avant-improv groups, one led by Majid Araim and the other by Kenito Murray.
Donations accepted. 8 p.m. doors, 8:30 music. 84 Lower Alabama St. SW, Underground Atlanta. No Tomorrow
!!Thu., May 19
Standard Practice, Joyce Brookshire Amphitheater —This mid-May installment of the Cabbagetown Concert Series features saxophonist-composer Jeff Crompton’s latest project, Standard Practice, in performance at the coolest little amphitheater ITP. As a trio, bassist Chris Riggenbach and drummer/percussionist Kenito Murray accompany Crompton on an edgy and adventurous journey through the jazz standards catalog.
Free. Donations accepted. 8 p.m. Cabbagetown Concert Series, 701 Kirkwood Ave, SE, 30316.
!!Thu., May 19 and Fri., May 20
Voices of Verdi with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center — The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra supports a cast of world-class singers in a program of excerpts from two signature works by opera legend Giuseppe Verdi. First up is Act III from Rigoletto, a wrenching tale of a hunchback father’s curse, which bears a brutally unintended consequence. The second part of the ASO program is Act III from Aida, a timeless story of love and betrayal set against the backdrop of war, which was originally composed to commemorate the opening of the Suez Canal. Voices of Verdi features Denyce Graves, Michelle Bradley, Jasmine Habersham, Clay Hilley, Santiago Ballerini, Burak Bilgili, and Reginald Smith, Jr.
Ticket prices vary; check the ASO box office. Thu., May 19, 8 p.m., Fri., May 20, 8 p.m. Atlanta Symphony Hall, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E., 404-733-4900.
!!Fri., May 20-Sat., May 21, and Mon., May 23
The Artificial Island, PushPush Theater — See entry above.
!!Thu., May 26 and Sat., May 28
Elizabeth Koch Tiscione with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center — This program puts Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Principal Oboe Elizabeth Koch Tiscione in the spotlight playing an 18th-century concerto by Alessandro Marcello followed by Brahms' magnificently dramatic Fourth Symphony. The program opens with contemporary composer Elisabetta Brusa’s powerfully brooding Adagio for Strings.
Ticket prices vary; check the ASO box office. Thu., May 19, 8 p.m., Fri., May 20, 8 p.m. Atlanta Symphony Hall, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E., 404-733-4900.
!!Fri., May 27-Sat., May 28, and Mon., May 30
The Artificial Island, PushPush Theater — See entry above.
!!Tue., May 31
Mike Baggetta/Jeff Crompton, No Tomorrow — New York-based guitar wizard Mike Beggetta can swing, groove, boogie, punk-thrash, math-rock and free improvise with the very best of them. Whatever he and saxophonist Jeff Crompton cook up at No Tomorrow on Tuesday is going to be worth tasting. Same goes for opener Helton/Bragg, also known as Blake Helton (keyboards, slider controls, knobs) and Colin Bragg (guitar, mystery pedals, black boxes), as they strive for post-psychedelic harmony in an aurally dissonant world.
$10 suggested donation. 8 p.m. No Tomorrow, 84 Lower Alabama Street, 30303, Underground Atlanta.
!!Fri., June 3-Sat., June 4, and Mon., June 6
The Artificial Island, PushPush Theater — See entry above."
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Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta at Ackerman Hall, Carlos Museum — The Emory Chamber Music Society’s final Cooke Noontime Concert of the season features the Vega Quartet playing Haydn’s first String Quartet and Mendelssohn’s dramatic Quartet in D Major.
''Free admission with registration. 12 noon. Ackerman Hall at the Michael C. Carlos Museum, 571 South Kilgo Cir NE, Atlanta.''
!!~~#0000ff:Sun., May 8~~
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__Taylor/Burland, Pas Musique (solo), .document, Meaning of Everything at Eyedrum —__ An evening of drone/electronic/experimental music with krautrock undertones featuring Pas Musique founder Robert L. Pepper performing solo. Also on the bill are .document, otherwise known as Elliott Brabant, a longstanding contributor to the Atlanta DIY scene; Meaning of Everything featuring solo guitar by Mykel Alder June, formerly of Mice in Cars and co-producer of the WRITE CLUB live literary series; and Taylor/Burland, a duo featuring guitarists Ryan Taylor (Blackfox, Sensitive Chaos) and Scott Burland, the latter formerly with Duet for Theremin & Lap Steel.
''$10 adv/$12 dos. 7:30 doors. 515 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd. SW Atlanta. Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/518918823244537 ''
!!~~#0000ff:Wed., May 11~~
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__Rob Lundberg, Atlanta Improvisers Orchestra at Eyedrum —__ In their first outing since 2019, the Atlanta Improvisers Orchestra presents a program of inimitable large ensemble improvising at Eyedrum. In addition to the AIO’s usual semi-conducted, wholly improvised pieces, the orchestra will perform a long composition by composer/photographer/documentarian/bassist Rob Lundberg, co-founder of New York-Chicago-based edgy jazz band JOBS. Lundberg will also perform with AIO.
''$10 door. 8 p.m. 515 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd. SW Atlanta. www.eyedrum.org''
!!~~#0000ff:Fri., May 13~~
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__American String Quartet at First Presbyterian Church —__ Co-presented with the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta, the American String Quartet performs Dvorak's Piano Quintet with William Ransom on piano as part of the Concerts@First music series.
''Free admission. 12 noon. 1328 Peachtree St NE, Atlanta, GA 30309-3209. Concerts@First''
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__Georgian Chamber Players, Peachtree Road United Methodist Church__ — Special guest artist Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Principal Clarinet Laura Ardan joins the Georgian Chamber Players for a program featuring Mozart’s Kegelstatt Trio K 498 in E flat major, Grieg’s Violin & Piano Sonata in C major, Grieg’s Norwegian Dances for Four Piano Hands, and the world premiere of Atlanta composer and music journalist Mark Gresham’s Quintet for Clarinet & Strings.
''Tickets $20. Doors 7:30 p.m., music 8 p.m. Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, 3180 Peachtree Road NE Atlanta, GA 30305''
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__Bent Frequency with Pantera Trio, Kopleff Recital Hall —__ Bent Frequency’s first all-percussion concert features co-artistic director and percussionist Stuart Gerber with special guests the Pantera Trio and marimba master Harvey Warner. Pantera is an Atlanta-based trio who will be participating in the Luxembourg International Percussion Competition in July. Friday’s concert is free and open to the public, but also serves as a fund-raiser to help Pantera defray the cost of traveling to Luxembourg. Don’t miss this wonderful program of percussion music featuring a world premiere by Wenchi Tsai along with works by Anne Lockwood, Wolfgang Rhim, Wenchi Tsai, Steven Snowden, Anna Ignatowicz-Glińska, Carlos Stasi, Karel Goeyvaerts, Alvin Singleton and Iannis Xenakis.
''Free, donations encouraged. 8 p.m. Kopleff Recital Hall, 15 Gilmer St SE, Atlanta, Georgia 30303.''
!!~~#0000ff:Fri., May 13-Sat., May 14 and Mon., May 16~~
__''The Artificial Island'', PushPush Theater__ — The world premiere production of ''The Artificial Island,'' which marks Atlanta musician Jeffrey Butzer’s debut as a playwright, promises to be a wicked hoot. The comedy tells the story of a young woman, Penny, who is doing a terrible job of growing up. In the middle of her 25th birthday party, she escapes from her barhopping friends and encounters a fortune teller, which leads to her incarceration in a women’s correctional facility where she meets The Devil. According to director Tim Habeger, “Butzer’s writing is a fun mix of ''Being John Malkovich'' and ''The Simpsons'' and the play moves quickly to its other-worldly conclusion in roughly 70 minutes.” Scored with original music by Eric Balint, the castoff ''The Artificial Island'' includes Amanda Goldstein Marks, Freddy Boyd, London Balbosa, Zoey Laird, and Laurie Sanii. Tue., May 13 and Wed., May 14 are preview performances at a reduced ticket price. The play’s official run spans three consecutive Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays beginning May 20 through June 4, pay what you can: $10-$25.00
''Preview performances $5. 8 p.m. [https://pushpusharts.com/pushpush-home/|PushPush Theater Annex], 3726 E Main Street, College Park, 30337.''
!!~~#0000ff:Sun., May 15~~
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__Jeff Crompton, Viceroy Cyprian at No Tomorrow —__Two solo sets by Jeff Crompton and Viceroy Cyprian, respectively, comprise a special matinee program at the No Tomorrow performance space in Underground Atlanta. Saxophonist/composer Crompton leads and participates in a number of groups around Atlanta including the Edgewood Saxophone Trio, Standard Practice and the Sataraš Quartet. At No Tomorrow he will be performing original pieces and obscure classics from the jazz repertoire. For his set, Viceroy Cyprian (the nom du guerre of Atlanta multi-instrumentalist George Kotler-Wallace) will employ steel guitar, banjo and electronics to create hypnotic ambient soundscapes infused by Southern chill.
''Donations accepted. 4 p.m. 84 Lower Alabama St. SW Underground Atlanta. No Tomorrow''
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__Waterphonics on the Atlanta BeltLine —__ As part of the Art on the Atlanta BeltLine project, Waterphonics, a duet with Klimchak and Stuart Gerber, will perform a program of percussion music using wildly creative homemade instruments conceived around the theme of “water” in a matinee concert on Sun., May 15. The instruments include a bass marimba constructed from water cooler jugs, dueling interconnected water-filled bowls and – wait for it — a kitchen sink on wheels. The unusual location of ''Lebeato Loungue: Water Wonderland,'' the McDonough Tunnel on the Southside Beltline, promises to impart its own special acoustic vibe to the proceedings.
''Free. 3 p.m. 95 Milton Ave SE, Atlanta GA 30315. Art on the Beltline.''
!!~~#0000ff:Tue., May 17~~
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__Ravish Momin, Majid Araim, Kenito Murray at No Tomorrow —__ Working under the moniker Sunken Cages, Indian-born drummer, electronic music producer and educator Ravish (Rah-VEESH) Momin studied with Andrew Cyrille while working as an engineer in New York City in the late 1990s. Since becoming a full-time musician, Momin has worked as a sideman with musicians ranging from Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre (of the AACM) to pop-star Shakira. Sharing the bill are two avant-improv groups, one led by Majid Araim and the other by Kenito Murray.
''Donations accepted. 8 p.m. doors, 8:30 music. 84 Lower Alabama St. SW, Underground Atlanta. No Tomorrow''
!!~~#0000ff:Thu., May 19~~
__Standard Practice, Joyce Brookshire Amphitheater —__This mid-May installment of the Cabbagetown Concert Series features saxophonist-composer Jeff Crompton’s latest project, Standard Practice, in performance at the coolest little amphitheater ITP. As a trio, bassist Chris Riggenbach and drummer/percussionist Kenito Murray accompany Crompton on an edgy and adventurous journey through the jazz standards catalog.
Free. Donations accepted. 8 p.m. [https://www.facebook.com/ctownpark/|Cabbagetown Concert Series], 701 Kirkwood Ave, SE, 30316.
!!~~#0000ff:Thu., May 19 and Fri., May 20~~
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__''Voices of Verdi'' with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center —__ The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra supports a cast of world-class singers in a program of excerpts from two signature works by opera legend Giuseppe Verdi. First up is Act III from ''Rigoletto,'' a wrenching tale of a hunchback father’s curse, which bears a brutally unintended consequence. The second part of the ASO program is Act III from ''Aida,'' a timeless story of love and betrayal set against the backdrop of war, which was originally composed to commemorate the opening of the Suez Canal. ''Voices of Verdi'' features Denyce Graves, Michelle Bradley, Jasmine Habersham, Clay Hilley, Santiago Ballerini, Burak Bilgili, and Reginald Smith, Jr.
''Ticket prices vary; check the ASO box office. Thu., May 19, 8 p.m., Fri., May 20, 8 p.m. Atlanta Symphony Hall, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E., 404-733-4900.''
!!~~#0000ff:Fri., May 20-Sat., May 21, and Mon., May 23~~
__''The Artificial Island'', PushPush Theater__ — See entry above.
!!~~#0000ff:Thu., May 26 and Sat., May 28~~
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__Elizabeth Koch Tiscione with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center —__ This program puts Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Principal Oboe Elizabeth Koch Tiscione in the spotlight playing an 18th-century concerto by Alessandro Marcello followed by Brahms' magnificently dramatic Fourth Symphony. The program opens with contemporary composer Elisabetta Brusa’s powerfully brooding ''Adagio for Strings.''
''Ticket prices vary; check the ASO box office. Thu., May 19, 8 p.m., Fri., May 20, 8 p.m. Atlanta Symphony Hall, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E., 404-733-4900.''
!!~~#0000ff:Fri., May 27-Sat., May 28, and Mon., May 30~~
__''The Artificial Island'', PushPush Theater__ — See entry above.
!!~~#0000ff:Tue., May 31~~
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__Mike Baggetta/Jeff Crompton, No Tomorrow — __New York-based guitar wizard [https://mikebaggetta.com/|Mike Beggetta] can swing, groove, boogie, punk-thrash, math-rock and free improvise with the very best of them. Whatever he and saxophonist Jeff Crompton cook up at No Tomorrow on Tuesday is going to be worth tasting. Same goes for opener Helton/Bragg, also known as Blake Helton (keyboards, slider controls, knobs) and Colin Bragg (guitar, mystery pedals, black boxes), as they strive for post-psychedelic harmony in an aurally dissonant world.
$10 suggested donation. 8 p.m. [https://www.facebook.com/NoTomorrowUnderground|No Tomorrow], 84 Lower Alabama Street, 30303, Underground Atlanta.
!!~~#0000ff:Fri., June 3-Sat., June 4, and Mon., June 6~~
__''The Artificial Island'', PushPush Theater —__ See entry above."
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string(10917) " The Artificial Island Credit Tim Habeger 2022-05-13T12:38:33+00:00 The Artificial Island_credit Tim Habeger.jpg No Tomorrow heats up Underground; Butzer premieres new play The Artificial Island Credit Tim Habeger 2022-05-13T12:40:00+00:00 LISTENING POST: Musical improvisation, something more composed, and a 'world premiere' jim.harris Jim Harris DOUG DELOACH douglassdeloach (Doug DeLoach) 2022-05-13T12:40:00+00:00 !!Fri., May 6
Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta at Ackerman Hall, Carlos Museum — The Emory Chamber Music Society’s final Cooke Noontime Concert of the season features the Vega Quartet playing Haydn’s first String Quartet and Mendelssohn’s dramatic Quartet in D Major.
Free admission with registration. 12 noon. Ackerman Hall at the Michael C. Carlos Museum, 571 South Kilgo Cir NE, Atlanta.
!!Sun., May 8
Taylor/Burland, Pas Musique (solo), .document, Meaning of Everything at Eyedrum — An evening of drone/electronic/experimental music with krautrock undertones featuring Pas Musique founder Robert L. Pepper performing solo. Also on the bill are .document, otherwise known as Elliott Brabant, a longstanding contributor to the Atlanta DIY scene; Meaning of Everything featuring solo guitar by Mykel Alder June, formerly of Mice in Cars and co-producer of the WRITE CLUB live literary series; and Taylor/Burland, a duo featuring guitarists Ryan Taylor (Blackfox, Sensitive Chaos) and Scott Burland, the latter formerly with Duet for Theremin & Lap Steel.
$10 adv/$12 dos. 7:30 doors. 515 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd. SW Atlanta. Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/518918823244537
!!Wed., May 11
Rob Lundberg, Atlanta Improvisers Orchestra at Eyedrum — In their first outing since 2019, the Atlanta Improvisers Orchestra presents a program of inimitable large ensemble improvising at Eyedrum. In addition to the AIO’s usual semi-conducted, wholly improvised pieces, the orchestra will perform a long composition by composer/photographer/documentarian/bassist Rob Lundberg, co-founder of New York-Chicago-based edgy jazz band JOBS. Lundberg will also perform with AIO.
$10 door. 8 p.m. 515 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd. SW Atlanta. www.eyedrum.org
!!Fri., May 13
American String Quartet at First Presbyterian Church — Co-presented with the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta, the American String Quartet performs Dvorak's Piano Quintet with William Ransom on piano as part of the Concerts@First music series.
Free admission. 12 noon. 1328 Peachtree St NE, Atlanta, GA 30309-3209. Concerts@First
Georgian Chamber Players, Peachtree Road United Methodist Church — Special guest artist Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Principal Clarinet Laura Ardan joins the Georgian Chamber Players for a program featuring Mozart’s Kegelstatt Trio K 498 in E flat major, Grieg’s Violin & Piano Sonata in C major, Grieg’s Norwegian Dances for Four Piano Hands, and the world premiere of Atlanta composer and music journalist Mark Gresham’s Quintet for Clarinet & Strings.
Tickets $20. Doors 7:30 p.m., music 8 p.m. Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, 3180 Peachtree Road NE Atlanta, GA 30305
Bent Frequency with Pantera Trio, Kopleff Recital Hall — Bent Frequency’s first all-percussion concert features co-artistic director and percussionist Stuart Gerber with special guests the Pantera Trio and marimba master Harvey Warner. Pantera is an Atlanta-based trio who will be participating in the Luxembourg International Percussion Competition in July. Friday’s concert is free and open to the public, but also serves as a fund-raiser to help Pantera defray the cost of traveling to Luxembourg. Don’t miss this wonderful program of percussion music featuring a world premiere by Wenchi Tsai along with works by Anne Lockwood, Wolfgang Rhim, Wenchi Tsai, Steven Snowden, Anna Ignatowicz-Glińska, Carlos Stasi, Karel Goeyvaerts, Alvin Singleton and Iannis Xenakis.
Free, donations encouraged. 8 p.m. Kopleff Recital Hall, 15 Gilmer St SE, Atlanta, Georgia 30303.
!!Fri., May 13-Sat., May 14 and Mon., May 16
The Artificial Island, PushPush Theater — The world premiere production of The Artificial Island, which marks Atlanta musician Jeffrey Butzer’s debut as a playwright, promises to be a wicked hoot. The comedy tells the story of a young woman, Penny, who is doing a terrible job of growing up. In the middle of her 25th birthday party, she escapes from her barhopping friends and encounters a fortune teller, which leads to her incarceration in a women’s correctional facility where she meets The Devil. According to director Tim Habeger, “Butzer’s writing is a fun mix of Being John Malkovich and The Simpsons and the play moves quickly to its other-worldly conclusion in roughly 70 minutes.” Scored with original music by Eric Balint, the castoff The Artificial Island includes Amanda Goldstein Marks, Freddy Boyd, London Balbosa, Zoey Laird, and Laurie Sanii. Tue., May 13 and Wed., May 14 are preview performances at a reduced ticket price. The play’s official run spans three consecutive Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays beginning May 20 through June 4, pay what you can: $10-$25.00
Preview performances $5. 8 p.m. PushPush Theater Annex, 3726 E Main Street, College Park, 30337.
!!Sun., May 15
Jeff Crompton, Viceroy Cyprian at No Tomorrow —Two solo sets by Jeff Crompton and Viceroy Cyprian, respectively, comprise a special matinee program at the No Tomorrow performance space in Underground Atlanta. Saxophonist/composer Crompton leads and participates in a number of groups around Atlanta including the Edgewood Saxophone Trio, Standard Practice and the Sataraš Quartet. At No Tomorrow he will be performing original pieces and obscure classics from the jazz repertoire. For his set, Viceroy Cyprian (the nom du guerre of Atlanta multi-instrumentalist George Kotler-Wallace) will employ steel guitar, banjo and electronics to create hypnotic ambient soundscapes infused by Southern chill.
Donations accepted. 4 p.m. 84 Lower Alabama St. SW Underground Atlanta. No Tomorrow
Waterphonics on the Atlanta BeltLine — As part of the Art on the Atlanta BeltLine project, Waterphonics, a duet with Klimchak and Stuart Gerber, will perform a program of percussion music using wildly creative homemade instruments conceived around the theme of “water” in a matinee concert on Sun., May 15. The instruments include a bass marimba constructed from water cooler jugs, dueling interconnected water-filled bowls and – wait for it — a kitchen sink on wheels. The unusual location of Lebeato Loungue: Water Wonderland, the McDonough Tunnel on the Southside Beltline, promises to impart its own special acoustic vibe to the proceedings.
Free. 3 p.m. 95 Milton Ave SE, Atlanta GA 30315. Art on the Beltline.
!!Tue., May 17
Ravish Momin, Majid Araim, Kenito Murray at No Tomorrow — Working under the moniker Sunken Cages, Indian-born drummer, electronic music producer and educator Ravish (Rah-VEESH) Momin studied with Andrew Cyrille while working as an engineer in New York City in the late 1990s. Since becoming a full-time musician, Momin has worked as a sideman with musicians ranging from Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre (of the AACM) to pop-star Shakira. Sharing the bill are two avant-improv groups, one led by Majid Araim and the other by Kenito Murray.
Donations accepted. 8 p.m. doors, 8:30 music. 84 Lower Alabama St. SW, Underground Atlanta. No Tomorrow
!!Thu., May 19
Standard Practice, Joyce Brookshire Amphitheater —This mid-May installment of the Cabbagetown Concert Series features saxophonist-composer Jeff Crompton’s latest project, Standard Practice, in performance at the coolest little amphitheater ITP. As a trio, bassist Chris Riggenbach and drummer/percussionist Kenito Murray accompany Crompton on an edgy and adventurous journey through the jazz standards catalog.
Free. Donations accepted. 8 p.m. Cabbagetown Concert Series, 701 Kirkwood Ave, SE, 30316.
!!Thu., May 19 and Fri., May 20
Voices of Verdi with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center — The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra supports a cast of world-class singers in a program of excerpts from two signature works by opera legend Giuseppe Verdi. First up is Act III from Rigoletto, a wrenching tale of a hunchback father’s curse, which bears a brutally unintended consequence. The second part of the ASO program is Act III from Aida, a timeless story of love and betrayal set against the backdrop of war, which was originally composed to commemorate the opening of the Suez Canal. Voices of Verdi features Denyce Graves, Michelle Bradley, Jasmine Habersham, Clay Hilley, Santiago Ballerini, Burak Bilgili, and Reginald Smith, Jr.
Ticket prices vary; check the ASO box office. Thu., May 19, 8 p.m., Fri., May 20, 8 p.m. Atlanta Symphony Hall, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E., 404-733-4900.
!!Fri., May 20-Sat., May 21, and Mon., May 23
The Artificial Island, PushPush Theater — See entry above.
!!Thu., May 26 and Sat., May 28
Elizabeth Koch Tiscione with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center — This program puts Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Principal Oboe Elizabeth Koch Tiscione in the spotlight playing an 18th-century concerto by Alessandro Marcello followed by Brahms' magnificently dramatic Fourth Symphony. The program opens with contemporary composer Elisabetta Brusa’s powerfully brooding Adagio for Strings.
Ticket prices vary; check the ASO box office. Thu., May 19, 8 p.m., Fri., May 20, 8 p.m. Atlanta Symphony Hall, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E., 404-733-4900.
!!Fri., May 27-Sat., May 28, and Mon., May 30
The Artificial Island, PushPush Theater — See entry above.
!!Tue., May 31
Mike Baggetta/Jeff Crompton, No Tomorrow — New York-based guitar wizard Mike Beggetta can swing, groove, boogie, punk-thrash, math-rock and free improvise with the very best of them. Whatever he and saxophonist Jeff Crompton cook up at No Tomorrow on Tuesday is going to be worth tasting. Same goes for opener Helton/Bragg, also known as Blake Helton (keyboards, slider controls, knobs) and Colin Bragg (guitar, mystery pedals, black boxes), as they strive for post-psychedelic harmony in an aurally dissonant world.
$10 suggested donation. 8 p.m. No Tomorrow, 84 Lower Alabama Street, 30303, Underground Atlanta.
!!Fri., June 3-Sat., June 4, and Mon., June 6
The Artificial Island, PushPush Theater — See entry above. Tim Habeger WORLD PREMIERE: Musician/playwright Jeffrey Butzer’s comedy, ‘The Artificial Island,’ is slated for PushPush Theater in College Park. From left: Butzer with cast members London Balbosa, Zoey Laird, and Laurie Sanii. LISTENING POST: Musical improvisation, something more composed, and a 'world premiere' "
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LISTENING POST: Musical improvisation, something more composed, and a 'world premiere' Article
Friday May 13, 2022 08:40 AM EDT
No Tomorrow heats up Underground; Butzer premieres new play
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string(11525) "Given opera’s origins as a 16th century movement spawned by the desire to revive Greek drama, it seems inevitable that Steve Jobs, the tyrannical visionary who, as founder of Apple Computer, changed the world of modern communication (for better and worse), would become the subject of a 21st century opera production.
The Atlanta Opera’s production of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs with a score by DJ and composer Mason Bates and libretto by Mark Campbell runs from Saturday, April 30 through Sunday, May 8. Directed by Tomer Zvulun, General and Artistic Director of The Atlanta Opera, this new production was developed from the original Grammy-winning version, which premiered in 2017 as a co-production of the Santa Fe Opera, San Francisco Opera, Seattle Opera and the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.
The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is now sleeker, and more portable than the original edition, which means it can be more easily and economically presented in venues of varying size. A co-production with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Austin Opera, Utah Opera and Calgary Opera, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is an appropriately scaled grand opera for the year 2022.
“We have been utilizing the concept of co-productions throughout my tenure here in productions such as The Flying Dutchman, Eugene Onegin and Silent Night,” said Zvulun in an email to Listening Post. “This concept allows us to create new productions with high artistic values while sharing the expenses with other opera companies. The added benefits are PR, social media and travel opportunities for our patrons.”
With The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, the practice of shared responsibilities across multiple cities and venues extends to cast members including baritone John Moore (Steve Jobs), mezzo-soprano Sarah Larsen (Laurene Powell Jobs), tenor Bille Bruley (Steve Wozniak) and bass Adam Lau (Kōbun Chino Otogawa). Likewise, creative team members including set and costume designer Jacob Climer and projection designer S. Katy Tucker have previously mounted the production in Austin, Texas, and Kansas City, Missouri.
“This idea allows us to shorten the rehearsal period and cut down on costs relating to rehearsal, costumes, staging and other elements,” Zvulun said.
Much interest in The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, has been focused on the score by Mason Bates whose work, according to the composer’s website, revolves around “the magical intersection between music and technology.” Indeed, the music for The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is an engagingly propulsive mix of techno dance and familiar orchestral elements. Listening Post recently interviewed Bates by phone from Miami about his operatic work.
__Listening Post: New operas about recently deceased contemporary figures are a rare breed. John Adams’ Nixon in China comes to mind, but not much else. How did you approach writing the score for The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs?
Mason Bates: It’s almost as if you're dealing with an opera about Jesus or Satan or anybody else with whom everybody has some sort of relationship. Steve Jobs is both a protagonist and antagonist. Love him or hate him, across the board, everybody has a relationship with him because they carry around these innovations in their pockets and they all communicate through his devices.
Listening Post: The subject is certainly rich with angles to explore.
Mason Bates: It's got betrayal, obsession, sex and death. It's got massive human emotions played out on a big scale. John Adam's once said he felt “pregnant with royal air” when he was working on Nixon in China because everybody was so curious about what he was doing. I understand that feeling. For the three years I was working on this piece, everybody was checking in with me as we were writing.
Listening Post: Speaking of John Adams, I hear certain parallels between his music in your score.
Mason Bates: John is a friend and a mentor. He has conducted my music and I often take him my latest work and we go over it together. So, absolutely John Adams is informing my music in some way. One place where we're a little different is that I'm really interested in exploring the depth of each person. John’s operas and orchestral works tend to deal with these incredible texts and monumental topics, such as the atom bomb [Doctor Atomic – LP] and Mary Magdalene [The Gospel According to the Other Mary — LP], which require creating a certain type of memorable music, whether it be in the form of leitmotif or specific themes.
Listening Post: In interviews you talk about being a true fan of opera, not just coming to the form because you received a commission. How does this appreciation for grand opera weigh on the music of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs?
Mason Bates: While there is an electroacoustic circuit running through the piece and the storyline is nonlinear, there are also elements that the audience will immediately recognize as being within the bounds of the operatic tradition. I love having a beginning, middle and end to an aria, and a title, which sounds almost like something out of a musical theater production. Only in the past 50 years or so have composers started moving away from showcasing singers the way they previously did. And this business of character, which I mentioned before, is so important. You have to really believe in the characters and fall in love with them, even if eventually you end up despising them or feel betrayed by them.
Listening Post: One of the unusual aspects of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is the use of amplified voices. Explain why the decision was made to mic the singers?
Mason Bates: You need to confront the issue that electronic sounds behave differently than acoustic sounds, requiring a balance between the two. Sound reinforcement is not the same as it was ten or even 20 years ago, when the difference would be pretty obvious. Nobody wants to hear a singer mediated by bad micing, but having a little support opens up a lot of doors. It's part of the arsenal of the 20th century composer. If you go to a Broadway show, you will hear an extreme version of amplification. We use a pretty subtle approach. In early productions, a lot of people weren't sure whether the voices were, in fact, amplified.
Listening Post: One of the distinguishing elements within the score of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is the use of the guitar and particularly what you have referred to as the “fingerstyle tradition.”
Mason Bates: I was trying to find an instrument to represent Jobs’ busy inner soul and the nervous energy he radiated. The great thing about the guitar is that, when you use the intricate finger-picking, which you hear in blues or bluegrass, a simple chord generates all this energy. You get a kind of creative nervousness buzzing around. The other thing is that, in the history of opera and the voice, plectrum instruments were not uncommon as accompaniment. Monteverdi uses a harp and lute in L’Orfeo. In Mozart’s Don Giovanni, the title character serenades a woman while playing a mandolin. I can't believe it hasn't happened more often.
Listening Post: Jobs has been famously quoted as saying doing LSD was one of the most important events in his life. How does The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs treat this aspect of the man’s life?
Mason Bates: It's an important scene in the opera. Jobs is in an apple orchard with his longtime girlfriend, Chrissan, who would eventually become the mother of his daughter. He has a vision about hearing instruments. Later in the opera, he has a revelation about computers being the smooth, sleek devices that we know today. He remembers the earlier vision, imagining the instruments of the orchestra as perfect examples of the interface between humans and machines. Jobs’ experience with LSD, like his immersion in Zen Buddhism, demonstrates his curiosity about the world beyond selling products.
Listening Post: In particular, how does that experience manifest in the opera’s score?
Mason Bates: When Jobs is in the apple orchard, he starts hearing different sections of the orchestra. In the score, there are psychedelic swells of brass, winds and strings. Then there's an electronic component in which you hear a quote from J.S. Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier played on a kind of guitar. Think of Pink Floyd soundscapes during the Roger Waters era or something like that. In a sense, orchestras have turned out to be great synthesizers.
Listening Post: Toward the end of Jobs’ life, there's this whole tragic episode involving missed opportunities to treat his illness and, instead, opting for alternative therapies. How did that experience influence the narrative of the opera and the score?
Mason Bates: Jobs wanted to control everything. He wanted to control everybody. Everybody to him was like one button on an iPhone. That’s exactly what was going on with his cancer. He was trying to combat his cancer with health foods, you know, carrot diets. There is speculation that, had he immediately undergone chemotherapy, he could have beaten it. Right there is the central fascinating, tragic crux of Jobs’ fatal fall.
Listening Post: How did that set of circumstances influence the music?
Mason Bates: The opera moves from a tech world in the beginning to, by the end, this giant bear hug by a grounded, soulful element. Things get very lyrical, the harmonies get much richer. By the time you get to the last quarter of the opera, it, it becomes a much different piece, much more poignant.
Listening Post: Talk about the working relationship between you and Mark Campbell, the librettist.
Mason Bates: We met many times early on before a word or note was written to talk in broad terms about the opera. Once Mark started writing, I would send back some of his lines as arias with requests along the lines of: Can this little passage be more structured? Could we have a catch-phrase that encapsulates this or that aria? Mark is an incredible wordsmith, and has a background in marketing. He was great at coming up with pithy lines, such as “an interface only a motherboard could love.”
There was some productive friction. Sometimes, I would be pushing for something that Mark felt wasn't appropriate. For example, I wanted more rhyming and he would respond in a brilliantly creative way, for example, by creating internal rhymes. It wasn’t always easy, but it was a great collaboration.
Listening Post: What about the collaboration with Tomer Zvulun, which produced this new version of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs?
Mason Bates: A couple years ago, Mark and I met with Tomer and Nathan DePoint, Senior Director of Artistic Operations at the Austin Opera, in San Francisco. Tomer had this vision of a new production that could be done almost anywhere in any size theater. The production has many incredible components including six moving monoliths, which are like giant iPads moving around the stage and have projections on them, within and without. The other thing Tomer brought to the production, beyond the design elements, was that he really wanted to tell this story in a way that made you both love and hate Jobs. Dealing with Jobs in that way has been really important for this production. It's incredibly moving and John Moore is phenomenal as Steve Jobs.
Tickets $45-$150. Show times vary. Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway, 30039.
"
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string(12432) "Given opera’s origins as a 16th century movement spawned by the desire to revive Greek drama, it seems inevitable that Steve Jobs, the tyrannical visionary who, as founder of Apple Computer, changed the world of modern communication (for better and worse), would become the subject of a 21st century opera production.
The Atlanta Opera’s production of ''[https://www.atlantaopera.org/performance/the-revolution-of-steve-jobs/|The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs]'' with a score by DJ and composer Mason Bates and libretto by Mark Campbell runs from Saturday, April 30 through Sunday, May 8. Directed by Tomer Zvulun, General and Artistic Director of The Atlanta Opera, this new production was developed from the original Grammy-winning version, which premiered in 2017 as a co-production of the Santa Fe Opera, San Francisco Opera, Seattle Opera and the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.
''[https://www.atlantaopera.org/performance/the-revolution-of-steve-jobs/|The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs]'' is now sleeker, and more portable than the original edition, which means it can be more easily and economically presented in venues of varying size. A co-production with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Austin Opera, Utah Opera and Calgary Opera, ''[https://www.atlantaopera.org/performance/the-revolution-of-steve-jobs/|The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs]'' is an appropriately scaled grand opera for the year 2022.
“We have been utilizing the concept of co-productions throughout my tenure here in productions such as ''The Flying Dutchman, Eugene Onegin'' and ''Silent Night,”'' said Zvulun in an email to Listening Post. “This concept allows us to create new productions with high artistic values while sharing the expenses with other opera companies. The added benefits are PR, social media and travel opportunities for our patrons.”
With ''The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs,'' the practice of shared responsibilities across multiple cities and venues extends to cast members including baritone John Moore (Steve Jobs), mezzo-soprano Sarah Larsen (Laurene Powell Jobs), tenor Bille Bruley (Steve Wozniak) and bass Adam Lau (Kōbun Chino Otogawa). Likewise, creative team members including set and costume designer Jacob Climer and projection designer S. Katy Tucker have previously mounted the production in Austin, Texas, and Kansas City, Missouri.
“This idea allows us to shorten the rehearsal period and cut down on costs relating to rehearsal, costumes, staging and other elements,” Zvulun said.
Much interest in ''The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs,'' has been focused on the score by Mason Bates whose work, according to the composer’s website, revolves around “the magical intersection between music and technology.” Indeed, the music for ''[https://www.atlantaopera.org/performance/the-revolution-of-steve-jobs/|The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs]'' is an engagingly propulsive mix of techno dance and familiar orchestral elements. Listening Post recently interviewed Bates by phone from Miami about his operatic work.
__Listening Post: New operas about recently deceased contemporary figures are a rare breed. John Adams’ ''Nixon in China'' comes to mind, but not much else. How did you approach writing the score for ''[https://www.atlantaopera.org/performance/the-revolution-of-steve-jobs/|The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs]''?
__Mason Bates:__ It’s almost as if you're dealing with an opera about Jesus or Satan or anybody else with whom everybody has some sort of relationship. Steve Jobs is both a protagonist and antagonist. Love him or hate him, across the board, everybody has a relationship with him because they carry around these innovations in their pockets and they all communicate through his devices.
__Listening Post: The subject is certainly rich with angles to explore.__
__Mason Bates:__ It's got betrayal, obsession, sex and death. It's got massive human emotions played out on a big scale. John Adam's once said he felt “pregnant with royal air” when he was working on ''Nixon in China'' because everybody was so curious about what he was doing. I understand that feeling. For the three years I was working on this piece, everybody was checking in with me as we were writing.
__Listening Post: Speaking of John Adams, I hear certain parallels between his music in your score.__
__Mason Bates:__ John is a friend and a mentor. He has conducted my music and I often take him my latest work and we go over it together. So, absolutely John Adams is informing my music in some way. One place where we're a little different is that I'm really interested in exploring the depth of each person. John’s operas and orchestral works tend to deal with these incredible texts and monumental topics, such as the atom bomb [[''Doctor Atomic'' – LP] and Mary Magdalene [[''The Gospel According to the Other Mary'' -- LP], which require creating a certain type of memorable music, whether it be in the form of leitmotif or specific themes.
__Listening Post: In interviews you talk about being a true fan of opera, not just coming to the form because you received a commission. How does this appreciation for grand opera weigh on the music of ''[https://www.atlantaopera.org/performance/the-revolution-of-steve-jobs/|The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs]''?__
__Mason Bates:__ While there is an electroacoustic circuit running through the piece and the storyline is nonlinear, there are also elements that the audience will immediately recognize as being within the bounds of the operatic tradition. I love having a beginning, middle and end to an aria, and a title, which sounds almost like something out of a musical theater production. Only in the past 50 years or so have composers started moving away from showcasing singers the way they previously did. And this business of character, which I mentioned before, is so important. You have to really believe in the characters and fall in love with them, even if eventually you end up despising them or feel betrayed by them.
__Listening Post: One of the unusual aspects of ''[https://www.atlantaopera.org/performance/the-revolution-of-steve-jobs/|The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs]'' is the use of amplified voices. Explain why the decision was made to mic the singers?__
__Mason Bates:__ You need to confront the issue that electronic sounds behave differently than acoustic sounds, requiring a balance between the two. Sound reinforcement is not the same as it was ten or even 20 years ago, when the difference would be pretty obvious. Nobody wants to hear a singer mediated by bad micing, but having a little support opens up a lot of doors. It's part of the arsenal of the 20th century composer. If you go to a Broadway show, you will hear an extreme version of amplification. We use a pretty subtle approach. In early productions, a lot of people weren't sure whether the voices were, in fact, amplified.
__Listening Post: One of the distinguishing elements within the score of ''[https://www.atlantaopera.org/performance/the-revolution-of-steve-jobs/|The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs]'' is the use of the guitar and particularly what you have referred to as the “fingerstyle tradition.”__
__Mason Bates:__ I was trying to find an instrument to represent Jobs’ busy inner soul and the nervous energy he radiated. The great thing about the guitar is that, when you use the intricate finger-picking, which you hear in blues or bluegrass, a simple chord generates all this energy. You get a kind of creative nervousness buzzing around. The other thing is that, in the history of opera and the voice, plectrum instruments were not uncommon as accompaniment. Monteverdi uses a harp and lute in ''L’Orfeo.'' In Mozart’s ''Don Giovanni,'' the title character serenades a woman while playing a mandolin. I can't believe it hasn't happened more often.
__Listening Post: Jobs has been famously quoted as saying doing LSD was one of the most important events in his life. How does ''[https://www.atlantaopera.org/performance/the-revolution-of-steve-jobs/|The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs]'' treat this aspect of the man’s life?__
__Mason Bates:__ It's an important scene in the opera. Jobs is in an apple orchard with his longtime girlfriend, Chrissan, who would eventually become the mother of his daughter. He has a vision about hearing instruments. Later in the opera, he has a revelation about computers being the smooth, sleek devices that we know today. He remembers the earlier vision, imagining the instruments of the orchestra as perfect examples of the interface between humans and machines. Jobs’ experience with LSD, like his immersion in Zen Buddhism, demonstrates his curiosity about the world beyond selling products.
__Listening Post: In particular, how does that experience manifest in the opera’s score?__
__Mason Bates:__ When Jobs is in the apple orchard, he starts hearing different sections of the orchestra. In the score, there are psychedelic swells of brass, winds and strings. Then there's an electronic component in which you hear a quote from J.S. Bach’s ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'' played on a kind of guitar. Think of Pink Floyd soundscapes during the Roger Waters era or something like that. In a sense, orchestras have turned out to be great synthesizers.
__Listening Post: Toward the end of Jobs’ life, there's this whole tragic episode involving missed opportunities to treat his illness and, instead, opting for alternative therapies. How did that experience influence the narrative of the opera and the score?__
__Mason Bates:__ Jobs wanted to control everything. He wanted to control everybody. Everybody to him was like one button on an iPhone. That’s exactly what was going on with his cancer. He was trying to combat his cancer with health foods, you know, carrot diets. There is speculation that, had he immediately undergone chemotherapy, he could have beaten it. Right there is the central fascinating, tragic crux of Jobs’ fatal fall.
__Listening Post: How did that set of circumstances influence the music?__
__Mason Bates:__ The opera moves from a tech world in the beginning to, by the end, this giant bear hug by a grounded, soulful element. Things get very lyrical, the harmonies get much richer. By the time you get to the last quarter of the opera, it, it becomes a much different piece, much more poignant.
__Listening Post: Talk about the working relationship between you and Mark Campbell, the librettist.__
__Mason Bates:__ We met many times early on before a word or note was written to talk in broad terms about the opera. Once Mark started writing, I would send back some of his lines as arias with requests along the lines of: Can this little passage be more structured? Could we have a catch-phrase that encapsulates this or that aria? Mark is an incredible wordsmith, and has a background in marketing. He was great at coming up with pithy lines, such as “an interface only a motherboard could love.”
There was some productive friction. Sometimes, I would be pushing for something that Mark felt wasn't appropriate. For example, I wanted more rhyming and he would respond in a brilliantly creative way, for example, by creating internal rhymes. It wasn’t always easy, but it was a great collaboration.
__Listening Post: What about the collaboration with Tomer Zvulun, which produced this new version of ''[https://www.atlantaopera.org/performance/the-revolution-of-steve-jobs/|The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs]''?__
__Mason Bates:__ A couple years ago, Mark and I met with Tomer and Nathan DePoint, Senior Director of Artistic Operations at the Austin Opera, in San Francisco. Tomer had this vision of a new production that could be done almost anywhere in any size theater. The production has many incredible components including six moving monoliths, which are like giant iPads moving around the stage and have projections on them, within and without. The other thing Tomer brought to the production, beyond the design elements, was that he really wanted to tell this story in a way that made you both love and hate Jobs. Dealing with Jobs in that way has been really important for this production. It's incredibly moving and John Moore is phenomenal as Steve Jobs.
''Tickets $45-$150. Show times vary. Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway, 30039.''
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string(12282) " MAY LP John Moore As Steve Jobs Eric Schlegel 2022-04-19T20:06:50+00:00 MAY_LP_John_Moore_as_Steve_Jobs_Eric_Schlegel_.jpeg An interview with composer Mason Bates MAY LP John Moore As Steve Jobs Eric Schlegel 2022-04-19T19:59:25+00:00 LISTENING POST: The Atlanta Opera — ‘The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs’ jim.harris Jim Harris Doug Deloach douglassdeloach (Doug DeLoach) 2022-04-19T19:59:25+00:00 Given opera’s origins as a 16th century movement spawned by the desire to revive Greek drama, it seems inevitable that Steve Jobs, the tyrannical visionary who, as founder of Apple Computer, changed the world of modern communication (for better and worse), would become the subject of a 21st century opera production.
The Atlanta Opera’s production of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs with a score by DJ and composer Mason Bates and libretto by Mark Campbell runs from Saturday, April 30 through Sunday, May 8. Directed by Tomer Zvulun, General and Artistic Director of The Atlanta Opera, this new production was developed from the original Grammy-winning version, which premiered in 2017 as a co-production of the Santa Fe Opera, San Francisco Opera, Seattle Opera and the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.
The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is now sleeker, and more portable than the original edition, which means it can be more easily and economically presented in venues of varying size. A co-production with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Austin Opera, Utah Opera and Calgary Opera, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is an appropriately scaled grand opera for the year 2022.
“We have been utilizing the concept of co-productions throughout my tenure here in productions such as The Flying Dutchman, Eugene Onegin and Silent Night,” said Zvulun in an email to Listening Post. “This concept allows us to create new productions with high artistic values while sharing the expenses with other opera companies. The added benefits are PR, social media and travel opportunities for our patrons.”
With The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, the practice of shared responsibilities across multiple cities and venues extends to cast members including baritone John Moore (Steve Jobs), mezzo-soprano Sarah Larsen (Laurene Powell Jobs), tenor Bille Bruley (Steve Wozniak) and bass Adam Lau (Kōbun Chino Otogawa). Likewise, creative team members including set and costume designer Jacob Climer and projection designer S. Katy Tucker have previously mounted the production in Austin, Texas, and Kansas City, Missouri.
“This idea allows us to shorten the rehearsal period and cut down on costs relating to rehearsal, costumes, staging and other elements,” Zvulun said.
Much interest in The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, has been focused on the score by Mason Bates whose work, according to the composer’s website, revolves around “the magical intersection between music and technology.” Indeed, the music for The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is an engagingly propulsive mix of techno dance and familiar orchestral elements. Listening Post recently interviewed Bates by phone from Miami about his operatic work.
__Listening Post: New operas about recently deceased contemporary figures are a rare breed. John Adams’ Nixon in China comes to mind, but not much else. How did you approach writing the score for The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs?
Mason Bates: It’s almost as if you're dealing with an opera about Jesus or Satan or anybody else with whom everybody has some sort of relationship. Steve Jobs is both a protagonist and antagonist. Love him or hate him, across the board, everybody has a relationship with him because they carry around these innovations in their pockets and they all communicate through his devices.
Listening Post: The subject is certainly rich with angles to explore.
Mason Bates: It's got betrayal, obsession, sex and death. It's got massive human emotions played out on a big scale. John Adam's once said he felt “pregnant with royal air” when he was working on Nixon in China because everybody was so curious about what he was doing. I understand that feeling. For the three years I was working on this piece, everybody was checking in with me as we were writing.
Listening Post: Speaking of John Adams, I hear certain parallels between his music in your score.
Mason Bates: John is a friend and a mentor. He has conducted my music and I often take him my latest work and we go over it together. So, absolutely John Adams is informing my music in some way. One place where we're a little different is that I'm really interested in exploring the depth of each person. John’s operas and orchestral works tend to deal with these incredible texts and monumental topics, such as the atom bomb [Doctor Atomic – LP] and Mary Magdalene [The Gospel According to the Other Mary — LP], which require creating a certain type of memorable music, whether it be in the form of leitmotif or specific themes.
Listening Post: In interviews you talk about being a true fan of opera, not just coming to the form because you received a commission. How does this appreciation for grand opera weigh on the music of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs?
Mason Bates: While there is an electroacoustic circuit running through the piece and the storyline is nonlinear, there are also elements that the audience will immediately recognize as being within the bounds of the operatic tradition. I love having a beginning, middle and end to an aria, and a title, which sounds almost like something out of a musical theater production. Only in the past 50 years or so have composers started moving away from showcasing singers the way they previously did. And this business of character, which I mentioned before, is so important. You have to really believe in the characters and fall in love with them, even if eventually you end up despising them or feel betrayed by them.
Listening Post: One of the unusual aspects of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is the use of amplified voices. Explain why the decision was made to mic the singers?
Mason Bates: You need to confront the issue that electronic sounds behave differently than acoustic sounds, requiring a balance between the two. Sound reinforcement is not the same as it was ten or even 20 years ago, when the difference would be pretty obvious. Nobody wants to hear a singer mediated by bad micing, but having a little support opens up a lot of doors. It's part of the arsenal of the 20th century composer. If you go to a Broadway show, you will hear an extreme version of amplification. We use a pretty subtle approach. In early productions, a lot of people weren't sure whether the voices were, in fact, amplified.
Listening Post: One of the distinguishing elements within the score of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is the use of the guitar and particularly what you have referred to as the “fingerstyle tradition.”
Mason Bates: I was trying to find an instrument to represent Jobs’ busy inner soul and the nervous energy he radiated. The great thing about the guitar is that, when you use the intricate finger-picking, which you hear in blues or bluegrass, a simple chord generates all this energy. You get a kind of creative nervousness buzzing around. The other thing is that, in the history of opera and the voice, plectrum instruments were not uncommon as accompaniment. Monteverdi uses a harp and lute in L’Orfeo. In Mozart’s Don Giovanni, the title character serenades a woman while playing a mandolin. I can't believe it hasn't happened more often.
Listening Post: Jobs has been famously quoted as saying doing LSD was one of the most important events in his life. How does The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs treat this aspect of the man’s life?
Mason Bates: It's an important scene in the opera. Jobs is in an apple orchard with his longtime girlfriend, Chrissan, who would eventually become the mother of his daughter. He has a vision about hearing instruments. Later in the opera, he has a revelation about computers being the smooth, sleek devices that we know today. He remembers the earlier vision, imagining the instruments of the orchestra as perfect examples of the interface between humans and machines. Jobs’ experience with LSD, like his immersion in Zen Buddhism, demonstrates his curiosity about the world beyond selling products.
Listening Post: In particular, how does that experience manifest in the opera’s score?
Mason Bates: When Jobs is in the apple orchard, he starts hearing different sections of the orchestra. In the score, there are psychedelic swells of brass, winds and strings. Then there's an electronic component in which you hear a quote from J.S. Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier played on a kind of guitar. Think of Pink Floyd soundscapes during the Roger Waters era or something like that. In a sense, orchestras have turned out to be great synthesizers.
Listening Post: Toward the end of Jobs’ life, there's this whole tragic episode involving missed opportunities to treat his illness and, instead, opting for alternative therapies. How did that experience influence the narrative of the opera and the score?
Mason Bates: Jobs wanted to control everything. He wanted to control everybody. Everybody to him was like one button on an iPhone. That’s exactly what was going on with his cancer. He was trying to combat his cancer with health foods, you know, carrot diets. There is speculation that, had he immediately undergone chemotherapy, he could have beaten it. Right there is the central fascinating, tragic crux of Jobs’ fatal fall.
Listening Post: How did that set of circumstances influence the music?
Mason Bates: The opera moves from a tech world in the beginning to, by the end, this giant bear hug by a grounded, soulful element. Things get very lyrical, the harmonies get much richer. By the time you get to the last quarter of the opera, it, it becomes a much different piece, much more poignant.
Listening Post: Talk about the working relationship between you and Mark Campbell, the librettist.
Mason Bates: We met many times early on before a word or note was written to talk in broad terms about the opera. Once Mark started writing, I would send back some of his lines as arias with requests along the lines of: Can this little passage be more structured? Could we have a catch-phrase that encapsulates this or that aria? Mark is an incredible wordsmith, and has a background in marketing. He was great at coming up with pithy lines, such as “an interface only a motherboard could love.”
There was some productive friction. Sometimes, I would be pushing for something that Mark felt wasn't appropriate. For example, I wanted more rhyming and he would respond in a brilliantly creative way, for example, by creating internal rhymes. It wasn’t always easy, but it was a great collaboration.
Listening Post: What about the collaboration with Tomer Zvulun, which produced this new version of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs?
Mason Bates: A couple years ago, Mark and I met with Tomer and Nathan DePoint, Senior Director of Artistic Operations at the Austin Opera, in San Francisco. Tomer had this vision of a new production that could be done almost anywhere in any size theater. The production has many incredible components including six moving monoliths, which are like giant iPads moving around the stage and have projections on them, within and without. The other thing Tomer brought to the production, beyond the design elements, was that he really wanted to tell this story in a way that made you both love and hate Jobs. Dealing with Jobs in that way has been really important for this production. It's incredibly moving and John Moore is phenomenal as Steve Jobs.
Tickets $45-$150. Show times vary. Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway, 30039.
Eric Schlegel A PROTAGONIST AND ANTAGONIST: : John Moore sings the title role in The Atlanta Opera production of 'The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs,' which runs Sat., Apr. 30, through Sun., May 8, at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. LISTENING POST: The Atlanta Opera — ‘The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs’ "
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LISTENING POST: The Atlanta Opera — ‘The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs’ Article
Tuesday April 19, 2022 03:59 PM EDT
An interview with composer Mason Bates
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string(11385) "Now in its fifth year, the SoundNOW festival celebrates the rich, diverse experimental/contemporary/post-classical chamber music scene in Atlanta. This year’s week-long festival includes a series of eight concerts by ten of the city’s fines ensembles, including Terminus Ensemble, Perimeter Flutes, Bent Frequency Duo Project, Duet for Theramin & Lap Steel, NeoPhonia New Music Ensemble, Pantera Percussion Trio, Chamber Cartel, Whispers of Night, Artifactual String Unit, Smol Ensemble and Atlanta Contemporary Ensemble. New to this year’s event lineup are a panel discussion on the Atlanta New Music Scene - Past, Present and Future moderated by yours truly, which takes place at Kopleff Recital Hall on the Georgia State University campus on Sunday, Mar. 27, at 5 p.m., and an after-party at Orpheus Brewing on Saturday, Apr. 2, following the Smol Ensemble concert. All SoundNOW concerts and events are free.
!!Sun., Mar. 27
SoundNOW Festival, Kopleff Recital Hall — This year’s all-free fifth edition of the SoundNOW festival kicks off with a Sunday matinee concert by Terminus Ensemble and Perimeter Flutes performing compositions from the Georgia State University School of Music 2021/22 Signature Series. The program includes works by Hanna Lisa Stefansson, Brent Milam, David Warin Solomon, Paul Osterfield and Joshua Nunez. Immediately following the concert, at 5 p.m., Creative Loafing music columnist Doug DeLoach will moderate a panel discussion, “Atlanta New Music Scene Past: Present and Future,” with prominent figures from local contemporary classical community.
Free. 3 p.m. Florence Kopleff Recital Hall, 15 Gilmer St SE, Atlanta 30303. For details about concert performances, see the SoundNOW Facebook page and website.
!!Mon., Mar. 28
SoundNOW Festival, Day 2, Bent Frequency Duo Project and Duet for Theremin & Lap Steel, Kopleff Recital Hall — Part of the Georgia State University School of Music 2021/22 Signature Series, Bent Frequency Duo Project — Jan Berry Baker (saxophone), Stuart Gerber ( percussion) – perform From the Air by Laurie Anderson (arranged by Jan Berry Baker & Stuart Gerber), I Stood on the Shore and Looked Up at the Birds by Jeff Herriott and Hazy Moonlight by Elainie Lillios. Following an intermission, Duet for Theremin and Lap Steel — Scott Burland (theremin), Frank Schultz (lap steel) – will perform an entirely improvised set of ambient electronic music augmented by Robbie Land’s film projections.
Free. 8 p.m. Florence Kopleff Recital Hall, 15 Gilmer St SE, Atlanta 30303. For details about concert performances, see the SoundNOW Facebook page and website.
!!Wed., Mar. 30
SoundNOW Festival, Day 4, Chamber Cartel, Kopleff Recial Hall — The fifth SoundNOW Festival celebrating post-classical chamber music continue with a free concert at GSU’s Kopleff Recital Hall by Chamber Cartel. Led by founder and artistic director Caleb Herron, Chamber Cartel will present a program that includes Riding with Death by Drew Baker, The Toy Robot’s Mechanical Heart by Christopher Adler, Night of Pan by Aaron Jay Myers, Three Canticles of the Birds by John Luther Adams, Cold Mountains, One belt, heart-break green by Carolyn Chen and Domination of Black by Drew Baker.
Free. 8 p.m. Florence Kopleff Recital Hall, 15 Gilmer St SE 30303. For details about concert performances, see the SoundNOW Facebook page and website.
!!Thu., Mar. 31
SoundNOW Festival, Day 5, Whispers of Night, Orpheus Brewing — Day 5 of the week-long SoundNOW Festival features Whispers of Night, a duet comprising Majid Araim on mandolin and Benjamin Shirley (Artifactual String Unit) on cello, performing their unique style of improvisational acoustic music at Orpheus Brewing. Like all SoundNOW events, the concert at the craft brewery adjacent to Piedmont Park is free. – Doug DeLoach
Free. 8 p.m. Orpheus Brewing. For details about concert performances, see the SoundNOW Facebook page and website
!!Fri., Apr. 1
SoundNOW Festival, Day 6, Artifactual String Unit, Orpheus Brewing — Day 6 of the 2022 SoundNOW Festival features Artifactual String Unit: Chip Epsten (violin), Benjamin Shirley (cello) and Gabriel Monticello (bass) at Orpheus Brewing. A string trio with a difference, ARU draws from folk, jazz and classical repertoire to deliver a deliciously distinctive brew of acoustic music. – Doug DeLoach
Free. 8 p.m. Orpheus Brewing. For details about concert performances, see the SoundNOW Facebook page and website.
!!Fri., Apr. 8
Dale Watson, Smith’s Olde Bar — Dale Watson brings his “Ameripolitan” brand to Smith’s for an evening of 21st century honky-tonk revelry. The appellation was chosen by Watson to differentiate his music from the current crop of Nashville-based pop country. One of the legacy-bearers of true country music, the Alabama-born, Texas-raised Watson is a maverick who stands alongside Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and George Strait as one of the finest country singers and songwriters hailing from the Lone Star State.
$25, VIP Table (for 4) $150. Doors 7, Music 8 p.m. Smith’s Olde Bar, 1578 Piedmont Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30324. www.sobatl.com
!!Tue., Apr. 12
Brett Newski & the No Tomorrow, Smith’s Olde Bar — Singer/songwriter/podcaster Brett Newski has played alongside the Pixies, Violent Femmes, Courtney Barnett, Manchester Orchestra and Better Than Ezra. He also suffers from anxiety and depression. Newski recently released an illustrated book, It’s Hard to Be a Person: Defeating Anxiety Surviving the World, and Having More Fun,” which the author hopes will help break the stigma around his malady through humor and light sketch comedy. A CD ‘soundtrack’ to the book features eight original songs and guest appearances by Steven Page (ex-Barenaked Ladies) and Pat MacDonald (Timbuk3).
$15 advance, $18 day of show. 7 p.m. Smith’s Olde Bar, Atlanta Room, 1578 Piedmont Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30324. www.sobatl.com
!!Wed., Apr. 13
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Sifly Piazza, Woodruff Arts Center — The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) is offering two new ways to enjoy upcoming concerts on April 13 and June 11. The concerts will be projected on the wall of the Bunzl building in the Woodruff Arts Center’s Sifly Piazza, a wonderful setting when the weather cooperates. The concerts will begin promptly at 8 p.m. as a complimentary, non-ticketed event. Seating is first-come, first-served. BYO chair or blanket. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. Outside food and beverages will not be permitted. The performances will also be livestreamed online at aso.org/livestreams and the ASO’s Facebook and YouTube channels. The April 13 concert features Robert Spano conducting the ASO and renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma in a performance of Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World,” followed by the Czeck composer’s monumental Cello Concerto in B minor. The June 11 concert features Spano conducting the ASO in Mahler’s Third Symphony joined by mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor, the Gwinnett Young Singers and the ASO Chorus.
Free. 8 p.m. Sifly Piazza, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, GA 30309. www.woodruffcenter.org
!!Wed., Apr. 16
Pasafest! at Pasaquan, Buena Vista, Georgia — Following a COVID-induced hiatus, Pasafest returns to Pasaquan, the phantasmagorical 7-acre art compound constructed over three decades by Eddie Owens Martin, otherwise known as St. EOM (pronounced ohm), who died in 1986. Organized by the Pasaquan Preservation Society, the one-day festival showcases adventurous cultural endeavors from across the Southeast. An artists’ market specializing in folk and self-taught styles includes work by Bond Anderson, Elyse Mixon, Fountain City Mystic (Candice Crooke), Lee Laney, Meg Anderson, Smiley Creations and Tex Crawford, among many others. The musical lineup features Pylon Reenactment Society, Zeta, The Pink Stones, Chickasaw Mudd Puppies, Chew, Terror Pigeon, Alia Torres and Exotic Bird Hunter. New to Pasafest 2022 is a posse of poets and authors including Maconites Kevin Cantwell, John Charles Griffin and Hinda Jonathan; Kodac Harrison and Rupert Fike from Atlanta; recently published memoirist Tom Patterson from Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Columbus-based author Mamie Pound and Nick Norwood, who is a professor at nearby Columbus State University and director of the Carson McCullers Center for Writers and Musicians in Columbus, Georgia, and Nyack, New York. Handpicked food vendors, fortune tellers and St. EOM-knows-what-else will be part of the Pasafest fandango.
$20 advance, $30 at gate. Gates open 11 a.m. Pasaquan, 238 Eddie Martin Rd, Buena Vista, GA 31803. No pets allowed. www.pasaquan.columbusstate.edu.
::::
!!Sun., Apr. 17
Tiffany Uzoije, Mimosa Hall & Gardens — Roswell Arts Fund in partnership with The Roswell Music Club and Friends of Mimosa Hall and Gardens recently announced a new monthly classical music series. On Sunday, April 23, the series kicks off with a recital by Atlanta-based soprano Tiffany Uzoije. A veteran of productions by The Atlanta Opera, Uzoije has sung Mrs. Charlton in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking,’‘ a handmaiden in Puccini’s Turandot’‘ and Annie in Gershwin’s ''Porgy and Bess.’‘ Uzoije has performed two solo concerts with the Rome Symphony Orchestra.
!!Wed., Apr. 20
Gordon Vernick Quartet, Rialto Center (livestreamed concert) — Trumpeter Gordon Vernick, director of the GSU Faculty Jazztet, leads his swinging quartet, which features Kevin Bales (piano), Delbert Felix (bass) and Robert Boone (drums), in a virtual noontime concert as part of the Rialto’s ''Feed Your Senses’‘ lunch-and-learn series. All Feed Your Senses programming is livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube @RialtoCenter.
Free. 12 noon. Livestreamed concert from the Rialto Center.
!!Sat., Apr. 23
The Vega Quartet, Cannon Chapel at Emory University — The inaugural concert in a new series endowed by Dr. James Waits, former Dean of the Candler School of Theology, features the Vega Quartet — violinists Jessica Shuang Wu, Yinzi Kong and Emily Daggett Smith and cellist Guang Wang – performing Joseph Haydn, The Seven Last Words of Christ’‘ in the acoustically sublime confines of Cannon Chapel. Between each movement of the composition, seven Atlanta faith leaders of seven different faiths — Jan Love, David Blumenthal, Gregory McGonigle, Dwight Andrews, Don Saliers, Shweta Chaitanya and Priya Sraman — will give a short reflection on each of the seven statements.Free with registration. 8 p.m. Cannon Chapel, 515 South Kilgo Circle NE, Atlanta, GA 30322.''
!!Sat., Apr. 30
The Manhattan Transfer, Rialto Center for the Arts — Arguably the best known jazz vocal group in all the land, The Manhattan Transfer was founded by Tim Hauser in New York City in 1972. The 10-time Grammy Award winning, four-part harmony troupe now consists of Janis Siegel (alto), Alan Paul (tenor), Cheryl Bentyne (soprano) and Trist Cureless (bass) who replaced Hauser following his passing in 2014.
''$50-$120. 8 p.m. Rialto Center for the Arts, 80 Forsyth Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30303. 404-413-9849. www.rialto.gsu.edu’’"
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string(13978) "Now in its fifth year, the SoundNOW festival celebrates the rich, diverse experimental/contemporary/post-classical chamber music scene in Atlanta. This year’s week-long festival includes a series of eight concerts by ten of the city’s fines ensembles, including Terminus Ensemble, Perimeter Flutes, Bent Frequency Duo Project, Duet for Theramin & Lap Steel, NeoPhonia New Music Ensemble, Pantera Percussion Trio, Chamber Cartel, Whispers of Night, Artifactual String Unit, Smol Ensemble and Atlanta Contemporary Ensemble. New to this year’s event lineup are a panel discussion on the ''Atlanta New Music Scene - Past, Present and Future'' moderated by yours truly, which takes place at [https://map.concept3d.com/?id=1108#!m/295210?ce/27053?ct/0,27090,22381,27051,27053,27054,27056,27057,27062,27064,27065,27066,27067,27068,27070,27071,27072,27073,27074,27076,27077,27078,27079,27080,27082,27083,27084,27085,29601,29869,30802,40718,40719,40720,40721,40722,40723,27091,27092,27093,27094,30783,36263,51232,51758|Kopleff Recital Hall] on the Georgia State University campus on Sunday, Mar. 27, at 5 p.m., and an after-party at [https://www.orpheusbrewing.com|Orpheus Brewing] on Saturday, Apr. 2, following the Smol Ensemble concert. All SoundNOW concerts and events are free.
!!~~#0000ff:Sun., Mar. 27~~
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__SoundNOW Festival, Kopleff Recital Hall — __ This year’s all-free fifth edition of the SoundNOW festival kicks off with a Sunday matinee concert by [https://www.facebook.com/terminus.ensemble/|Terminus Ensemble] and [https://www.facebook.com/PerimeterFlutes/|Perimeter Flutes] performing compositions from the Georgia State University School of Music 2021/22 Signature Series. The program includes works by Hanna Lisa Stefansson, Brent Milam, David Warin Solomon, Paul Osterfield and Joshua Nunez. Immediately following the concert, at 5 p.m., ''Creative Loafing'' music columnist Doug DeLoach will moderate a panel discussion, “Atlanta New Music Scene Past: Present and Future,” with prominent figures from local contemporary classical community.
''Free. 3 p.m. [https://map.concept3d.com/?id=1108#!m/295210?ce/27053?ct/0,27090,22381,27051,27053,27054,27056,27057,27062,27064,27065,27066,27067,27068,27070,27071,27072,27073,27074,27076,27077,27078,27079,27080,27082,27083,27084,27085,29601,29869,30802,40718,40719,40720,40721,40722,40723,27091,27092|Florence Kopleff Recital Hall], 15 Gilmer St SE, Atlanta 30303. For details about concert performances, see the SoundNOW [https://www.facebook.com/SoundNOWFest/|Facebook page] and [https://www.atlantasoundnowfestival.com/?fbclid=IwAR2QP_pVI5DFEOyCH1h-UEPTNMfEus0WEGcqEY8LzJGVbxsNnCuJ3t1bEKQ|website].''
!!~~#0000ff:Mon., Mar. 28~~
__SoundNOW Festival, Day 2, Bent Frequency Duo Project and Duet for Theremin & Lap Steel, Kopleff Recital Hall — __ Part of the Georgia State University School of Music 2021/22 Signature Series, Bent Frequency Duo Project — Jan Berry Baker (saxophone), Stuart Gerber ( percussion) – perform ''From the Air'' by Laurie Anderson (arranged by Jan Berry Baker & Stuart Gerber), ''I Stood on the Shore and Looked Up at the Birds'' by Jeff Herriott and ''Hazy Moonlight'' by Elainie Lillios. Following an intermission, Duet for Theremin and Lap Steel — Scott Burland (theremin), Frank Schultz (lap steel) – will perform an entirely improvised set of ambient electronic music augmented by Robbie Land’s film projections.
''Free. 8 p.m. [https://map.concept3d.com/?id=1108#!m/295210?ce/27053?ct/0,27090,22381,27051,27053,27054,27056,27057,27062,27064,27065,27066,27067,27068,27070,27071,27072,27073,27074,27076,27077,27078,27079,27080,27082,27083,27084,27085,29601,29869,30802,40718,40719,40720,40721,40722,40723,27091,27092|Florence Kopleff Recital Hall], 15 Gilmer St SE, Atlanta 30303. For details about concert performances, see the SoundNOW [https://www.facebook.com/SoundNOWFest/|Facebook page] and [https://www.atlantasoundnowfestival.com/?fbclid=IwAR2QP_pVI5DFEOyCH1h-UEPTNMfEus0WEGcqEY8LzJGVbxsNnCuJ3t1bEKQ|website].''
!!~~#0000ff:Wed., Mar. 30~~
__SoundNOW Festival, Day 4, Chamber Cartel, Kopleff Recial Hall — __ The fifth SoundNOW Festival celebrating post-classical chamber music continue with a free concert at GSU’s Kopleff Recital Hall by Chamber Cartel. Led by founder and artistic director Caleb Herron, Chamber Cartel will present a program that includes ''Riding with Death'' by Drew Baker, ''The Toy Robot’s Mechanical Heart'' by Christopher Adler, ''Night of Pan'' by Aaron Jay Myers, ''Three Canticles of the Birds'' by John Luther Adams, ''Cold Mountains, One belt, heart-break green'' by Carolyn Chen and ''Domination of Black'' by Drew Baker.
''Free. 8 p.m. Florence Kopleff Recital Hall, 15 Gilmer St SE 30303. For details about concert performances, see the SoundNOW Facebook page and website.''
!!~~#0000ff:Thu., Mar. 31~~
{DIV()}{img fileId="50035" stylebox="float: left; margin-right:25px;" link="" desc="desc" width="300px" responsive="y"}{DIV}
__SoundNOW Festival, Day 5, Whispers of Night, Orpheus Brewing — __ Day 5 of the week-long SoundNOW Festival features Whispers of Night, a duet comprising Majid Araim on mandolin and Benjamin Shirley (Artifactual String Unit) on cello, performing their unique style of improvisational acoustic music at Orpheus Brewing. Like all SoundNOW events, the concert at the craft brewery adjacent to Piedmont Park is free. – Doug DeLoach
''Free. 8 p.m. Orpheus Brewing. For details about concert performances, see the SoundNOW Facebook page and website''
!!~~#0000ff:Fri., Apr. 1~~
{DIV()}{img fileId="50034" stylebox="float: left; margin-right:25px;" link="" desc="desc" width="300px" responsive="y"}{DIV}
__SoundNOW Festival, Day 6, Artifactual String Unit, Orpheus Brewing — __ Day 6 of the 2022 SoundNOW Festival features Artifactual String Unit: Chip Epsten (violin), Benjamin Shirley (cello) and Gabriel Monticello (bass) at Orpheus Brewing. A string trio with a difference, ARU draws from folk, jazz and classical repertoire to deliver a deliciously distinctive brew of acoustic music. – Doug DeLoach
''Free. 8 p.m. Orpheus Brewing. For details about concert performances, see the SoundNOW Facebook page and website.''
!!~~#0000ff:Fri., Apr. 8~~
{DIV()}{img fileId="49604" stylebox="float: left; margin-right:25px;" link="" desc="desc" width="500px" responsive="y"}{DIV}
__Dale Watson, Smith’s Olde Bar — __ Dale Watson brings his “Ameripolitan” brand to Smith’s for an evening of 21st century honky-tonk revelry. The appellation was chosen by Watson to differentiate his music from the current crop of Nashville-based pop country. One of the legacy-bearers of true country music, the Alabama-born, Texas-raised Watson is a maverick who stands alongside Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and George Strait as one of the finest country singers and songwriters hailing from the Lone Star State.
''$25, VIP Table (for 4) $150. Doors 7, Music 8 p.m. Smith’s Olde Bar, 1578 Piedmont Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30324. www.sobatl.com''
!!~~#0000ff:Tue., Apr. 12~~
__Brett Newski & the No Tomorrow, Smith’s Olde Bar — __ Singer/songwriter/podcaster Brett Newski has played alongside the Pixies, Violent Femmes, Courtney Barnett, Manchester Orchestra and Better Than Ezra. He also suffers from anxiety and depression. Newski recently released an illustrated book, ''It’s Hard to Be a Person: Defeating Anxiety Surviving the World, and Having More Fun,”'' which the author hopes will help break the stigma around his malady through humor and light sketch comedy. A CD ‘soundtrack’ to the book features eight original songs and guest appearances by Steven Page (ex-Barenaked Ladies) and Pat MacDonald (Timbuk3).
''$15 advance, $18 day of show. 7 p.m. Smith’s Olde Bar, Atlanta Room, 1578 Piedmont Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30324. www.sobatl.com''
!!~~#0000ff:Wed., Apr. 13~~
__Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Sifly Piazza, Woodruff Arts Center — __ The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) is offering two new ways to enjoy upcoming concerts on April 13 and June 11. The concerts will be projected on the wall of the Bunzl building in the Woodruff Arts Center’s Sifly Piazza, a wonderful setting when the weather cooperates. The concerts will begin promptly at 8 p.m. as a complimentary, non-ticketed event. Seating is first-come, first-served. BYO chair or blanket. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. Outside food and beverages will not be permitted. The performances will also be livestreamed online at aso.org/livestreams and the ASO’s Facebook and YouTube channels. The April 13 concert features Robert Spano conducting the ASO and renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma in a performance of Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World,” followed by the Czeck composer’s monumental Cello Concerto in B minor. The June 11 concert features Spano conducting the ASO in Mahler’s Third Symphony joined by mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor, the Gwinnett Young Singers and the ASO Chorus.
''Free. 8 p.m. Sifly Piazza, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, GA 30309. www.woodruffcenter.org''
!!~~#0000ff:Wed., Apr. 16~~
{DIV()}{img fileId="49608" stylebox="float: left; margin-right:25px;" link="" desc="desc" width="500px" responsive="y"}{DIV}
__Pasafest! at Pasaquan, Buena Vista, Georgia — __ Following a COVID-induced hiatus, Pasafest returns to Pasaquan, the phantasmagorical 7-acre art compound constructed over three decades by Eddie Owens Martin, otherwise known as St. EOM (pronounced ohm), who died in 1986. Organized by the Pasaquan Preservation Society, the one-day festival showcases adventurous cultural endeavors from across the Southeast. An artists’ market specializing in folk and self-taught styles includes work by Bond Anderson, Elyse Mixon, Fountain City Mystic (Candice Crooke), Lee Laney, Meg Anderson, Smiley Creations and Tex Crawford, among many others. The musical lineup features Pylon Reenactment Society, Zeta, The Pink Stones, Chickasaw Mudd Puppies, Chew, Terror Pigeon, Alia Torres and Exotic Bird Hunter. New to Pasafest 2022 is a posse of poets and authors including Maconites Kevin Cantwell, John Charles Griffin and Hinda Jonathan; Kodac Harrison and Rupert Fike from Atlanta; recently published memoirist Tom Patterson from Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Columbus-based author Mamie Pound and Nick Norwood, who is a professor at nearby Columbus State University and director of the Carson McCullers Center for Writers and Musicians in Columbus, Georgia, and Nyack, New York. Handpicked food vendors, fortune tellers and St. EOM-knows-what-else will be part of the Pasafest fandango.
''$20 advance, $30 at gate. Gates open 11 a.m. Pasaquan, 238 Eddie Martin Rd, Buena Vista, GA 31803. No pets allowed. www.pasaquan.columbusstate.edu.''
::{img fileId="49609" link="" desc="desc" styledesc="text-align: left;" responsive="y"}::
!!~~#0000ff:Sun., Apr. 17~~
{DIV()}{img fileId="49606" stylebox="float: right; margin-left:25px;" link="" desc="desc" width="350px" responsive="y"}{DIV}
__Tiffany Uzoije, Mimosa Hall & Gardens — __ Roswell Arts Fund in partnership with The Roswell Music Club and Friends of Mimosa Hall and Gardens recently announced a new monthly classical music series. On Sunday, April 23, the series kicks off with a recital by Atlanta-based soprano Tiffany Uzoije. A veteran of productions by The Atlanta Opera, Uzoije has sung Mrs. Charlton in Jake Heggie’s ''Dead Man Walking,’‘ a handmaiden in Puccini’s ''Turandot’‘ and Annie in Gershwin’s ''Porgy and Bess.’‘ Uzoije has performed two solo concerts with the Rome Symphony Orchestra.
%%%
!!~~#0000ff:Wed., Apr. 20~~
__Gordon Vernick Quartet, Rialto Center (livestreamed concert) —__ Trumpeter Gordon Vernick, director of the GSU Faculty Jazztet, leads his swinging quartet, which features Kevin Bales (piano), Delbert Felix (bass) and Robert Boone (drums), in a virtual noontime concert as part of the Rialto’s ''Feed Your Senses’‘ lunch-and-learn series. All Feed Your Senses programming is livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube @RialtoCenter.
''Free. 12 noon. Livestreamed concert from the Rialto Center.''
!!~~#0000ff:Sat., Apr. 23~~
{DIV()}{img fileId="49607" stylebox="float: left; margin-right:25px;" link="" desc="desc" width="500px" responsive="y"}{DIV}
__The Vega Quartet, Cannon Chapel at Emory University — __ The inaugural concert in a new series endowed by Dr. James Waits, former Dean of the Candler School of Theology, features the Vega Quartet — violinists Jessica Shuang Wu, Yinzi Kong and Emily Daggett Smith and cellist Guang Wang – performing Joseph Haydn, ''The Seven Last Words of Christ’‘ in the acoustically sublime confines of Cannon Chapel. Between each movement of the composition, seven Atlanta faith leaders of seven different faiths — Jan Love, David Blumenthal, Gregory McGonigle, Dwight Andrews, Don Saliers, Shweta Chaitanya and Priya Sraman — will give a short reflection on each of the seven statements.''Free with registration. 8 p.m. Cannon Chapel, 515 South Kilgo Circle NE, Atlanta, GA 30322.''
!!~~#0000ff:Sat., Apr. 30~~
__The Manhattan Transfer, Rialto Center for the Arts — __ Arguably the best known jazz vocal group in all the land, The Manhattan Transfer was founded by Tim Hauser in New York City in 1972. The 10-time Grammy Award winning, four-part harmony troupe now consists of Janis Siegel (alto), Alan Paul (tenor), Cheryl Bentyne (soprano) and Trist Cureless (bass) who replaced Hauser following his passing in 2014.
''$50-$120. 8 p.m. Rialto Center for the Arts, 80 Forsyth Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30303. 404-413-9849. www.rialto.gsu.edu’’"
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string(12136) " #1 Terminus Courtesy Artist 2022-03-25T16:00:16+00:00 #1 Terminus_courtesy artist.jpeg A celebration of the experimental, contemporary, post-classical and chamber music scene in Atlanta #1 Terminus Courtesy Artist 2022-03-25T15:58:12+00:00 LISTENING POST: SoundNOW Festival starts this weekend jim.harris Jim Harris DOUG DELOACH douglassdeloach (Doug DeLoach) 2022-03-25T15:58:12+00:00 Now in its fifth year, the SoundNOW festival celebrates the rich, diverse experimental/contemporary/post-classical chamber music scene in Atlanta. This year’s week-long festival includes a series of eight concerts by ten of the city’s fines ensembles, including Terminus Ensemble, Perimeter Flutes, Bent Frequency Duo Project, Duet for Theramin & Lap Steel, NeoPhonia New Music Ensemble, Pantera Percussion Trio, Chamber Cartel, Whispers of Night, Artifactual String Unit, Smol Ensemble and Atlanta Contemporary Ensemble. New to this year’s event lineup are a panel discussion on the Atlanta New Music Scene - Past, Present and Future moderated by yours truly, which takes place at Kopleff Recital Hall on the Georgia State University campus on Sunday, Mar. 27, at 5 p.m., and an after-party at Orpheus Brewing on Saturday, Apr. 2, following the Smol Ensemble concert. All SoundNOW concerts and events are free.
!!Sun., Mar. 27
SoundNOW Festival, Kopleff Recital Hall — This year’s all-free fifth edition of the SoundNOW festival kicks off with a Sunday matinee concert by Terminus Ensemble and Perimeter Flutes performing compositions from the Georgia State University School of Music 2021/22 Signature Series. The program includes works by Hanna Lisa Stefansson, Brent Milam, David Warin Solomon, Paul Osterfield and Joshua Nunez. Immediately following the concert, at 5 p.m., Creative Loafing music columnist Doug DeLoach will moderate a panel discussion, “Atlanta New Music Scene Past: Present and Future,” with prominent figures from local contemporary classical community.
Free. 3 p.m. Florence Kopleff Recital Hall, 15 Gilmer St SE, Atlanta 30303. For details about concert performances, see the SoundNOW Facebook page and website.
!!Mon., Mar. 28
SoundNOW Festival, Day 2, Bent Frequency Duo Project and Duet for Theremin & Lap Steel, Kopleff Recital Hall — Part of the Georgia State University School of Music 2021/22 Signature Series, Bent Frequency Duo Project — Jan Berry Baker (saxophone), Stuart Gerber ( percussion) – perform From the Air by Laurie Anderson (arranged by Jan Berry Baker & Stuart Gerber), I Stood on the Shore and Looked Up at the Birds by Jeff Herriott and Hazy Moonlight by Elainie Lillios. Following an intermission, Duet for Theremin and Lap Steel — Scott Burland (theremin), Frank Schultz (lap steel) – will perform an entirely improvised set of ambient electronic music augmented by Robbie Land’s film projections.
Free. 8 p.m. Florence Kopleff Recital Hall, 15 Gilmer St SE, Atlanta 30303. For details about concert performances, see the SoundNOW Facebook page and website.
!!Wed., Mar. 30
SoundNOW Festival, Day 4, Chamber Cartel, Kopleff Recial Hall — The fifth SoundNOW Festival celebrating post-classical chamber music continue with a free concert at GSU’s Kopleff Recital Hall by Chamber Cartel. Led by founder and artistic director Caleb Herron, Chamber Cartel will present a program that includes Riding with Death by Drew Baker, The Toy Robot’s Mechanical Heart by Christopher Adler, Night of Pan by Aaron Jay Myers, Three Canticles of the Birds by John Luther Adams, Cold Mountains, One belt, heart-break green by Carolyn Chen and Domination of Black by Drew Baker.
Free. 8 p.m. Florence Kopleff Recital Hall, 15 Gilmer St SE 30303. For details about concert performances, see the SoundNOW Facebook page and website.
!!Thu., Mar. 31
SoundNOW Festival, Day 5, Whispers of Night, Orpheus Brewing — Day 5 of the week-long SoundNOW Festival features Whispers of Night, a duet comprising Majid Araim on mandolin and Benjamin Shirley (Artifactual String Unit) on cello, performing their unique style of improvisational acoustic music at Orpheus Brewing. Like all SoundNOW events, the concert at the craft brewery adjacent to Piedmont Park is free. – Doug DeLoach
Free. 8 p.m. Orpheus Brewing. For details about concert performances, see the SoundNOW Facebook page and website
!!Fri., Apr. 1
SoundNOW Festival, Day 6, Artifactual String Unit, Orpheus Brewing — Day 6 of the 2022 SoundNOW Festival features Artifactual String Unit: Chip Epsten (violin), Benjamin Shirley (cello) and Gabriel Monticello (bass) at Orpheus Brewing. A string trio with a difference, ARU draws from folk, jazz and classical repertoire to deliver a deliciously distinctive brew of acoustic music. – Doug DeLoach
Free. 8 p.m. Orpheus Brewing. For details about concert performances, see the SoundNOW Facebook page and website.
!!Fri., Apr. 8
Dale Watson, Smith’s Olde Bar — Dale Watson brings his “Ameripolitan” brand to Smith’s for an evening of 21st century honky-tonk revelry. The appellation was chosen by Watson to differentiate his music from the current crop of Nashville-based pop country. One of the legacy-bearers of true country music, the Alabama-born, Texas-raised Watson is a maverick who stands alongside Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and George Strait as one of the finest country singers and songwriters hailing from the Lone Star State.
$25, VIP Table (for 4) $150. Doors 7, Music 8 p.m. Smith’s Olde Bar, 1578 Piedmont Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30324. www.sobatl.com
!!Tue., Apr. 12
Brett Newski & the No Tomorrow, Smith’s Olde Bar — Singer/songwriter/podcaster Brett Newski has played alongside the Pixies, Violent Femmes, Courtney Barnett, Manchester Orchestra and Better Than Ezra. He also suffers from anxiety and depression. Newski recently released an illustrated book, It’s Hard to Be a Person: Defeating Anxiety Surviving the World, and Having More Fun,” which the author hopes will help break the stigma around his malady through humor and light sketch comedy. A CD ‘soundtrack’ to the book features eight original songs and guest appearances by Steven Page (ex-Barenaked Ladies) and Pat MacDonald (Timbuk3).
$15 advance, $18 day of show. 7 p.m. Smith’s Olde Bar, Atlanta Room, 1578 Piedmont Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30324. www.sobatl.com
!!Wed., Apr. 13
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Sifly Piazza, Woodruff Arts Center — The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) is offering two new ways to enjoy upcoming concerts on April 13 and June 11. The concerts will be projected on the wall of the Bunzl building in the Woodruff Arts Center’s Sifly Piazza, a wonderful setting when the weather cooperates. The concerts will begin promptly at 8 p.m. as a complimentary, non-ticketed event. Seating is first-come, first-served. BYO chair or blanket. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. Outside food and beverages will not be permitted. The performances will also be livestreamed online at aso.org/livestreams and the ASO’s Facebook and YouTube channels. The April 13 concert features Robert Spano conducting the ASO and renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma in a performance of Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World,” followed by the Czeck composer’s monumental Cello Concerto in B minor. The June 11 concert features Spano conducting the ASO in Mahler’s Third Symphony joined by mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor, the Gwinnett Young Singers and the ASO Chorus.
Free. 8 p.m. Sifly Piazza, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, GA 30309. www.woodruffcenter.org
!!Wed., Apr. 16
Pasafest! at Pasaquan, Buena Vista, Georgia — Following a COVID-induced hiatus, Pasafest returns to Pasaquan, the phantasmagorical 7-acre art compound constructed over three decades by Eddie Owens Martin, otherwise known as St. EOM (pronounced ohm), who died in 1986. Organized by the Pasaquan Preservation Society, the one-day festival showcases adventurous cultural endeavors from across the Southeast. An artists’ market specializing in folk and self-taught styles includes work by Bond Anderson, Elyse Mixon, Fountain City Mystic (Candice Crooke), Lee Laney, Meg Anderson, Smiley Creations and Tex Crawford, among many others. The musical lineup features Pylon Reenactment Society, Zeta, The Pink Stones, Chickasaw Mudd Puppies, Chew, Terror Pigeon, Alia Torres and Exotic Bird Hunter. New to Pasafest 2022 is a posse of poets and authors including Maconites Kevin Cantwell, John Charles Griffin and Hinda Jonathan; Kodac Harrison and Rupert Fike from Atlanta; recently published memoirist Tom Patterson from Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Columbus-based author Mamie Pound and Nick Norwood, who is a professor at nearby Columbus State University and director of the Carson McCullers Center for Writers and Musicians in Columbus, Georgia, and Nyack, New York. Handpicked food vendors, fortune tellers and St. EOM-knows-what-else will be part of the Pasafest fandango.
$20 advance, $30 at gate. Gates open 11 a.m. Pasaquan, 238 Eddie Martin Rd, Buena Vista, GA 31803. No pets allowed. www.pasaquan.columbusstate.edu.
::::
!!Sun., Apr. 17
Tiffany Uzoije, Mimosa Hall & Gardens — Roswell Arts Fund in partnership with The Roswell Music Club and Friends of Mimosa Hall and Gardens recently announced a new monthly classical music series. On Sunday, April 23, the series kicks off with a recital by Atlanta-based soprano Tiffany Uzoije. A veteran of productions by The Atlanta Opera, Uzoije has sung Mrs. Charlton in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking,’‘ a handmaiden in Puccini’s Turandot’‘ and Annie in Gershwin’s ''Porgy and Bess.’‘ Uzoije has performed two solo concerts with the Rome Symphony Orchestra.
!!Wed., Apr. 20
Gordon Vernick Quartet, Rialto Center (livestreamed concert) — Trumpeter Gordon Vernick, director of the GSU Faculty Jazztet, leads his swinging quartet, which features Kevin Bales (piano), Delbert Felix (bass) and Robert Boone (drums), in a virtual noontime concert as part of the Rialto’s ''Feed Your Senses’‘ lunch-and-learn series. All Feed Your Senses programming is livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube @RialtoCenter.
Free. 12 noon. Livestreamed concert from the Rialto Center.
!!Sat., Apr. 23
The Vega Quartet, Cannon Chapel at Emory University — The inaugural concert in a new series endowed by Dr. James Waits, former Dean of the Candler School of Theology, features the Vega Quartet — violinists Jessica Shuang Wu, Yinzi Kong and Emily Daggett Smith and cellist Guang Wang – performing Joseph Haydn, The Seven Last Words of Christ’‘ in the acoustically sublime confines of Cannon Chapel. Between each movement of the composition, seven Atlanta faith leaders of seven different faiths — Jan Love, David Blumenthal, Gregory McGonigle, Dwight Andrews, Don Saliers, Shweta Chaitanya and Priya Sraman — will give a short reflection on each of the seven statements.Free with registration. 8 p.m. Cannon Chapel, 515 South Kilgo Circle NE, Atlanta, GA 30322.''
!!Sat., Apr. 30
The Manhattan Transfer, Rialto Center for the Arts — Arguably the best known jazz vocal group in all the land, The Manhattan Transfer was founded by Tim Hauser in New York City in 1972. The 10-time Grammy Award winning, four-part harmony troupe now consists of Janis Siegel (alto), Alan Paul (tenor), Cheryl Bentyne (soprano) and Trist Cureless (bass) who replaced Hauser following his passing in 2014.
''$50-$120. 8 p.m. Rialto Center for the Arts, 80 Forsyth Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30303. 404-413-9849. www.rialto.gsu.edu’’ Courtesy Terminus Ensemble SOUNDNOW SUNDAY KICKOFF – The 2022 SoundNOW Festival kicks off with a concert by Terminus Ensemble and Perimeter Flutes followed by a panel discussion moderated by CL columnist Doug DeLoach at Kopleff Recital Hall on the GSU campus. LISTENING POST: SoundNOW Festival starts this weekend "
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LISTENING POST: SoundNOW Festival starts this weekend Article
Friday March 25, 2022 11:58 AM EDT
A celebration of the experimental, contemporary, post-classical and chamber music scene in Atlanta
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