Anthony Braxton, the Chicago-born composer and multi-instrumentalist, is recognized as one of the most important musicians, educators, and creative thinkers of the past 50 years. He is highly esteemed in the experimental music community for the revolutionary quality of his work and for the mentorship and inspiration he has provided to generations of younger musicians. Join us for an innovative, live, physically distanced digital exploration of Braxton’s pathbreaking music that celebrates global creativity and our shared humanity. Presented in partnership with the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and Tri-Centric Foundation.
Moderated by Steve Smith, our exploration and discussion will be led by a panel of artists who are master-interpreters of Braxton’s work – Ingrid Laubrock, Josh Modney, Tomeka Reid, and Cory Smythe. We will also hear from the trio Thumbscrew (Tomas Fujiwara, Mary Halvorson, Michael Formanek) with Tri-Centric executive director Kyoko Kitamura in a special video interview celebrating the release of their new album The Anthony Braxton Project. There will also be never-before-seen videos from the Tri-Centric archive.
The event will take place via youtube livestream at https://www.youtube.com/internationalcontemporaryensemble followed by an interactive Q/A session with the artists via zoom (call-in info will be shared during the livestream).
Performances and commissioning activities during the 2019-20 concert season are made possible by the generous support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, A.N. and Pearl G. Barnett Family Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Aaron Copland Fund for Music Inc., Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, Amphion Foundation, Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Pacific Harmony Foundation, Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, mediaThe foundation inc., The Casement Fund, BMI Foundation, as well as public funds from the 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 Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and the Illinois Arts Council Agency. The International Contemporary Ensemble is the Ensemble in Residence of the Nokia Bell Labs Experiments in Art and Technology. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for ICE.