ABOUT THE EVENT The Russian composer Galina Ustvolskaya (1919-2006) created some of the most severe, brutalist classical music of the 20th century. Favoring stark textures and unusual combinations of instruments-- she never formally studied orchestration-- her music unfolds in ruthlessly throbbing rhythms, angular melodic shards, and resonant caverns of silence. Though she mostly avoided programmatic…
Bowerbird is pleased to present the duo of Loren Connors and Chris Forsyth and a performance by Philadelphia's Taiwan Housing Project LOREN CONNORS has improvised and composed original guitar music for over four decades. His music - which embraces the aesthetics of blues, Irish airs, blues-based rock and other genres while letting go of…
ABOUT THE EVENT Arcana joins forces with the Prometheus Chamber Ensemble to perform two politically charged works of modern music. Dutch composer Louis Andriessen's 1975 composition Workers Union is notated as a single part that can be played by any kind of instruments, melodic or percussive. Noisy, hypnotic, and powerfully dramatic, Workers Union is a…
Roll strikes, spares, and even gutter balls, while you support Bowerbird's ARCANA NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE. We've rented the whole PEP Bowl facility - which means admission gets you two hours of unlimited bowling *AND* supports our mission of performing beautiful, unconventional music in beautiful, unconventional spaces. ABOUT PEP BOWL Conveniently located in South Philadelphia…
Bowerbird's Arcana New Music Ensemble joins forces with Variant 6, a vocal sextet specializing in contemporary music, for a program of Steve Reich, Morton Feldman, Salvatore Sciarrino, and more. THE PROGRAM Morton Feldman: Voices and Instruments II for three voices, flute, two cellos, and double bass Steve Reich: Proverb for three sopranos, two…
ABOUT THE EVENT The evening features two sets by Moor Mother, working under the theme of Community Futurism, in collaboration with Black Quantum Futurism and the Community Futures Lab. The first set includes improv collaboration of live instrumentation with drums, saxophone, bass, synth, and text. The second features music from the album Fetish Bones as…
NODAL EXCITEMENT for prepared Double Bass with Piano Wire REPERTOIRE for prepared Double Bass with Piano Wire, Laptop MAGNETOM for laptop THE EVENT Bowerbird is pleased to present a rare performance by composer-performer Arnold Dreyblatt (b. New York City, 1953). Dreyblatt studied music with Pauline Oliveros, La Monte Young, and Alvin Lucier and has been…
ABOUT THE EVENT Bowerbird is excited to launch a new series - Commonwealth Dinner Theater - a night of genre bending performances combined with a delicious meal. Perfect for the curious of mind and palate. The night includes a vegetarian friendly meal served family style and three wonderful acts: Philly favorite Beth Nixon, a beautifully…
ABOUT THE EVENT Three Voices, written in 1982 for Joan La Barbara, was the last solo vocal piece he wrote before his death in 1987 (For Stefan Wolpe, dedicated to his composition teacher and written for chorus and two vibraphones, post-dates it). It sets part of Wind, a poem by his friend Frank O'Hara that…
presented by Bowerbird and Slought, curated by Tiona Nekkia McClodden; part of "Julius Eastman: That Which Is Fundamental" A Recollection. and Predicated. - feature archival traces and work by ten contemporary artists that engages with Julius Eastman and the fragmented nature of his legacy. A Recollection. approaches a historical exploration and remembrance of Eastman as…
ABOUT THE SERIES Julius Eastman: That Which is Fundamental is an interdisciplinary, multi-artist project that examines the life, work, and resurgent influence of Julius Eastman, a gay African American composer and performer who was active internationally in the 1970s and 80s, but who died homeless at the age of 49, leaving an incomplete but compelling…
ABOUT THE SERIES Julius Eastman: That Which is Fundamental is an interdisciplinary, multi-artist project that examines the life, work, and resurgent influence of Julius Eastman, a gay African American composer and performer who was active internationally in the 1970s and 80s, but who died homeless at the age of 49, leaving an incomplete but compelling…
Slought Foundation, 4017 Walnut St Saturday May 13th, 6:00pm Exhibition: Thursday, May 4th - Sunday, May 28th Bowerbird and Slought present a conversation between Tiona Nekkia McClodden and Dustin Hurt, co-curators of That Which is Fundamental, discussing the life and work of Julius Eastman, the exhibition, the concert series, and the three-year-long journey of research…
Slought Foundation, 4017 Walnut St Thursday May 18th, 6:00pm to 7:30pm Join Dustin Hurt, director of Bowerbird, for a presentation on the music of Julius Eastman. Topics include: (1) a brief overview of Julius musical development and (overlapping) compositional styles - graphic scores, minimalism, improvisatory, etc (2) the survey of status of the archival material…
ABOUT THIS EVENT Julius Eastman perfected his multifarious minimalism in three works of the late seventies: "Crazy Nigger", "Evil Nigger", and "Gay Guerrilla". Each work is scored for multiple instruments of the same kind. This concert features two of the works performed as a piano quartet and Gay Guerrilla performed by a large ensemble of…
Bowerbird and Slought present an Artist Talk moderated by Tiona McClodden, curator of Predicated+A Recollection. Gallery hours and more information: https://www.thatwhichisfundamental.com/exhibition/ TIONA NEKKIA MCCLODDEN is a curator, visual artist, and filmmaker whose work explores and critiques issues at the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and social commentary. Themes examined in McClodden’s films and works have been…
For the final concert, Eastman's powerful work for 10 cellos The Holy Presence of Joan D'Arc and its introspective companion vocal piece Prelude to The Holy Presence of Joan d'Arc will be performed. Far ahead of their time, these pieces incorporate a much more atonal language into Eastman's minimalist aesthetic. The concert will open with…
ABOUT THE EVENT Currently over 100 feet in length, LONG/GONE is a single intricately-cut piece of paper which flows freely from image to image. Narratives and scenarios (often drawn from classic works of literature from Homer to Dante) emerge and collapse and spill over and into each other. In performance, Erik scrolls the paper-cut continually…