TUES@7 featuring Jennifer Curtis, Pauchi Sasaki, Rebekah Heller, and Clifton Joey Guidry III.
About this Event
Creation, collaboration, and process are the core of our Ensemble’s history and mission. International Contemporary Ensemble’s violinist Jennifer Curtis and interdisciplinary artist Pauchi Sasaki have a long history of collaborating together. Join us for an evening focused on their work including interviews, descriptions of process, and past performances. Rebekah Heller and Clifton Joey Guidry III will take us through their process in collaboration with the world premiere of Guidry’s How hot is the sand at 6pm?
RSVP above to receive YouTube link shortly before the stream starts.
“Tues@7” are regular opportunities to engage with members and collaborators of the International Contemporary Ensemble. Artists will reflect on past world premieres, pull back the curtain on upcoming works-in-process, and dig deeply into the DigitICE archive to see how collaborations, new works, and sound creations have blossomed over the past 19 years. We look forward to staying engaged in the virtual space through COVID-19 so that our audience and collaborators have a weekly destination for extraordinary new music.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Jennifer Curtis, violin
Recently described as a “multi genre loving maverick,” (San Diego Union Tribune) Jennifer’s second solo recital in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall was described by the NY Times as “the gutsiest” and Pitchfork wrote that “Curtis’s range as a soloist is a revelation.“ She travels the globe to study manuscripts of George Enescu and premiere his unknown works at his houses in Romania, investigates the North African roots of the sarabande through folklore and political history, has trained under shaman and performed in 43 countries. After spending three years at Juilliard completing her masters and studying Robert Mann, Jennifer joined the International Contemporary Ensemble in 2007 and continues to be their featured violinist and touring with them throughout the world. Jennifer is a composer, a multi instrumentalist, educator and an improviser. She spent a month as composer/performer in residence with Nrityagram dance ensemble in India composing for their classical dance. Other residences as composer/performer have included Cornell University, Paperhand Puppet intervention, Verbier Festival de musique and coming up this fall at Antenna Cloud Farm. Last January she released a fully improvised CD with MacArthur genius grant recipient Tyshawn Sorey on percussion and piano titled INVISIBLE RITUAL.
https://www.jennifercurtisviolin.com/
Pauchi Sasaki, Composer, Interdisciplinary Artist, and Instrument Builder
Her interdisciplinary approach integrates musical composition with the design of multimedia performances, the application of new technologies, and the development of self-designed instruments. She has received four "Best Original Score" international awards and the Ibermúsicas grant for sound composition with new technologies at CMMAS. She was selected for The Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative by composer Philip Glass, the Goethe-Institute’s artist residency in Brazil and Berlin, Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship, Columbia University’s Institute for Ideas and Imagination Fellowship, and the Prince Claus Fund. Her work has been presented at the Tokyo Experimental Festival, Venice Biennale, Carnegie Hall, Cannes Film Festival, Walt Disney Hall, MET, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, among others.
Rebekah Heller, bassoon
Former Ensemble Artistic Director, Rebekah Heller's work aims to expand the sonic possibilities of her instrument — both in her solo work and through a deep collaborative practice. Called "an impressive solo bassoonist" by The New Yorker, she is dedicated to exploration, experimentation, and the democratization of sound. A member of The Ensemble since 2008, Rebekah has premiered hundreds of groundbreaking new works worldwide. She has two solo albums of music written for and with her, and in 2018, Rebekah made her solo debut with the New York Philharmonic, playing the music of longtime collaborator Ash Fure.
Clifton Joey Guidry III
Radical self-love, compassion, laughter, and the drive to amplify Black art-makers and noise-makers comprise the core of Clifton Joey Guidry III’s work. The NYC bassoonist, composer, and activist excels in many spheres; the San Diego Tribune hails their performances as “lyrical and haunting…hair-raising and unsettling.” Clifton is not simply an acclaimed bassoonist, rather they are also a versatile improviser and a composer of experimental and daring new works that embody a deep love of storytelling. Clifton’s compositions channel their inner child, in honor of their ancestors and predecessors. In every aspect of their practice, Clifton seeks to support, hire, and promote Black artists. In support of this mandate, Clifton has spearheaded Sounds of the African Diaspora, a competition and commissioning platform for composers from the African diaspora. This new initiative ensures that composers from the diaspora have access to the space, resources, and time necessary to foster new, innovative music.
Clifton holds a bachelor’s degree in Bassoon Performance from the Peabody Conservatory and a Graduate Performance Diploma from the Mannes School of Music. They have attended and been featured by such prestigious festivals as the Spoleto Festival USA and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.