Image from the William A. Brown Collection, courtesy of the Archives & Special Collections at Columbia College Chicago
The International Contemporary Ensemble and Ensemble Either/Or, both at the forefront of contemporary and experimental music over the past twenty years, co-present a program of works by legendary Society of Black Composers co-founder Tālib-Rāsúl Hākím.
Following the performance, a panel discussion of the history and ongoing impact of Hākím’s work will take place, featuring three MacArthur Fellows, composers Courtney Bryan, Tyshawn Sorey, and George Lewis, Either/Or’s Richard Carrick and Chris McIntyre, and musicologist and author Harald Kisiedu.
The May 18 program builds on Either/Or’s November 21, 2021 portrait concert of Hākím’s music, curated by Chris McIntyre, which brought Tālib-Rāsúl Hākím’s music back into the limelight.
Before his untimely passing, Tālib-Rāsúl Hākím (1940-88) was already becoming a widely influential composer, one who suffused his music for chamber and orchestral forces with intense deliberation, considered improvisations, dynamic rhythmic profiles, and purposeful silences. Hākím saw his compositions as more than just music: he saw music performance as the equivalent to an almost religious awakening. In the 1978 book The Black Composer Speaks, Hākím maintained, “It is hoped that whenever [my] music is performed, both performer and listener will experience some degree of inner stirring, that they will experience some philosophical, religious, political, emotional, intellectual experience.”
In this program, ICE and Either/Or present five diverse aspects of Hākím’s artistry that consider music as an encounter with the divine. The program includes performances of Psalm of Akhnaten; ca. 1365-1348 B.C. (1978), an imposing trio work that features a searching articulation of faith, mysticism, and spirituality; Currents (1967), his masterful entry to the string quartet canon; Scope-Seven (1965), an enigmatic solo piano work recently discovered within the vast holdings of the Library for the Performing Arts; Four (1965) for quartet; and Music for Nine Players and Soprano Voice (1977), which features the combined forces of ICE and Either/Or performers.
PROGRAM
Tālib-Rāsúl Hākím: Scope-Seven (1965)
Tālib-Rāsúl Hākím: Four (1965)
Tālib-Rāsúl Hākím: Psalm of Akhnaten; ca. 1365-1348 B.C. (1978)
Tālib-Rāsúl Hākím: Currents (1967)
Tālib-Rāsúl Hākím: Music for Nine Players and Soprano Voice (1977)
Post-Concert Talk featuring: Courtney Bryan, Tyshawn Sorey, George Lewis, Richard Carrick, Christopher McIntyre, Harald Kisiedu (via Zoom)
PERFORMERS
Richard Carrick, conductor
Fay Victor, voice
Jasmine Wilson, voice
Jonathan Finlayson, trumpet
Nicolee Kuester, horn
Andrés Ayola, english horn
Christopher McIntyre, trombone
Isabel Lepanto Gleicher, flute
Madison Greenstone, clarinet
Jennifer Choi, violin
Pala Garcia, violin
Kal Sugatski, viola
John Popham, cello
Kebra-Seyoun Charles, bass
Cory Smythe, piano
Clara Warnaar, percussion
INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE
Now in its third decade, the International Contemporary Ensemble is a multidisciplinary collective of musicians, digital media artists, producers, and educators committed to building and innovating collaborative environments in order to inspire audiences to reimagine how they experience contemporary music and sound. The Ensemble creates a mosaic musical ecosystem as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), honoring the diversity of human experience and expression by commissioning, developing, recording, and performing the works of living artists in “a mission worth following” (I Care If You Listen).
CREDITS
Supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. More information at macfound.org.
Made possible in part through lead support from Arlene and Larry Dunn Fund for Afrodiasporic Music and Cheswatyr Foundation.
The International Contemporary Ensemble’s performances and commissioning activities during the 2023-24 concert season are made possible by the generous support of our board of directors, many individuals, as well as the Mellon Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Aaron Copland Fund for Music Inc., Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, Cheswatyr Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Siemens Musikstiftung, New Music USA, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the International Contemporary Ensemble.