Cage, Chihara, Reynolds, Scelsi

[nec]shivaree, the NEC avant-garde ensemble directed by Stephen Drury, is the attack wing of NEC's new music program, performing both at NEC and at such venues as New York's The Stone.

For its first concert of the season, the group presents a rare work by John Cage to close out his centennial year—surrounding it with works that respond to Cage's "tradition" in various ways.

Roger Reynolds (in photo) is Fromm Foundation Visiting Composer at Harvard University this semester. He will coach these performances of his music, which follow an all-Reynolds concert at Harvard's Paine Hall on December 6. Read a review of the Harvard concert.

Submerged Memories draws on visual and literary texts that include Leonardo de Vinci's The Annuciation and Portrait of Ginevra de' Benci, Rembrandt's The Anatomy Lesson, W. G. Sebald's Vertigo and The Rings of Saturn.

Written in 1982 for "from 1 to 20 harps," Cage's Postcard from Heaven is so ambiguously scored and so seldom heard that tonight's performance should be a true adventure. Will the harpists sing? Will they use a specified and reportedly unreliable electronic device to generate sound from their instruments? Paula Chihara's Logs would appear to offer similar dilemmas for a quartet of double bass players.

John Cage Postcard from Heaven
Drew Cryer, Maria Rindenello Parker, Jacqueline McNulty, Yoon-Hee Cho, harp

Paul Chihara Logs
Elizabeth Burns, Andrew Chilcote, Caleb Quillen, Nash Tomey, double bass

Giacinto Scelsi Anahit: Poème lyrique dédié à Vénus pour violon solo et 18 instrumentistes
Diamanda La Berge Dramm, solo violin
Sarah Sullivan, Allison Poh, James Zhang, flute
Amy Advocat, Jay Hutchinson, clarinet
Samuel Waring, english horn
Brandon Valerino, tenor saxophone
Paige McGrath, Sarah Sutherland, horn
Matthew Yasuji Ebisuzaki, trumpet
Johnny Elizondo, Gregory Platt, trombone
Mary Ferrillo, Brendan O’Donnell, viola
Hsiao-Hsuan Sharen Huang, Daniel Mitnitsky, cello
Nash Tomey, Elizabeth Burns, double bass
Stephen Drury, conductor

Roger Reynolds Ariadne's Thread
Amy Galluzzo, violin
Ryan Shannon, violin
DJ Cheek, viola
Yina Tong, cello
John Mallia, electronics

Submerged Memories
Brian Church, narrator
Robert Anemone, violin
Maarten Stragier, electric guitar
John Diodati, bass clarinet
Peter Dodds, percussion