Contemporary Musical Arts: The Music of David Bowie

NEC: Jordan Hall | Directions

290 Huntington Ave.
Boston, MA
United States

NEC's CMA department presents an evening dedicated to the music of David Bowie.  A leading figure in the music industry, he was regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, particularly for his innovative work during the 1970s. His career was marked by reinvention and visual presentation, and his music and stagecraft had a significant impact on popular music. This program is curated by Lautaro Mantilla in collaboration with Eden MacAdam-Somer and Anthony Coleman. 

Kimmy Lola Cunningham, David Bowie
M Berry, lighting design
Grace Wilson, set design/video
 

“I always had a repulsive need to be something more than a human. I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.”  - David Bowie

For 50 years, David Bowie created a body of work that expanded the boundaries of pop culture, musical styles, gender, sexuality, social justice, protest, and fashion. In a unique way, Bowie’s music is shocking and yet very familiar, glamorous, and yet tasteless, peaceful, and yet dynamic and violent, joyful and yet horrific and confusing. In his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction speech, David Byrne described David Bowie as “a shrink and a priest who welcomes us to a brave new world.”
         Working on this music and introducing the students to David Bowie’s language has shown us the continuous state of flux and movement in his work, some sort of “perpetual frontier” of his artistic search, creativity, and curiosity. As soon as something felt like an arrival, Bowie found his way out of comfort and transgressed his own norms to find a new way out.
        We filtered this music in our own way, took risks, got lost, found some answers, got lost again. Like in a labyrinth, we will continue looking for new doors, new sounds, new answers during tonight’s concert. We hope you find Bowie’s spirit in our search and respectfully apologize to you (and to Bowie) if you were here to hear “the classics” the way they were written.
        This concert would not be possible without the financial support of the CMA Department and the Lowell Mosaic Grant. Also we would like to recognize the work of Lisa Nigris (and her team), Bob Winters (and his team), M Berry, Grace Wilson, Kimmy Lola Cunningham, Ginny Cummings, Ted Reichman, Eden MacAdam-Somer, Anthony Coleman, John Mallia, Alexis Boucugnani, Grant Beale and especially all the CMA students that with commitment, hard work, and love have prepared this night of music for you and have believed in this project.
– Lautaro Mantilla

This is an in-person event only.

  1. Berlin Trilogy

    arranged by Lautaro Mantilla and the CMA Orchestra

    Low (1977)
    Heroes (1977)
    Lodger (1979)
     

    Program note

    This piece is a collection of excerpts from 15 different tracks of the three albums recorded in Berlin between 1977-1979. It highlights the collaboration of David Bowie with producer and composer Brian Eno and artist Iggy Pop. For this arrangement we are also including isolated Bowie vocal tracks.

    CMA Orchestra

    Pitiki Aliakai , Morgan Brookman, Rosario Rivas, Maggie Zang, voice
    Yoona Kim, ajaeng
    Itay Dayan, Jake Wise, clarinet
    Michele Zimmerman, Bella Navarro, violin
    Sofia Beiran, viola 
    Karl Henry, cello
    Andy Meisser, Stella Sokolwski, guitar
    Beth Ann Jones, Jamie Eliot, bass
    Michael Yang-Wierenga, piano
    Elfi Shi, vibrophone
    Skyler Lim, congas
    Paul Joseph, drums

    Lautaro Mantilla, director

     
    Ensembles
    • CMA Orchestra

  2. The Man Who Sold the World

    from the album The Man Who Sold the World
    arranged by Roman Barten-Sherman

    Artists
    • Roman Barten-Sherman, guitar, voice
    • Philip Rawlinson, viola
    • Noah Mark, drums

  3. Fame

    from the album Young Americans (1975)
    arranged by Jamie Eliot

    Program note

    Fame (co-written by Carlos Alomar and John Lennon) is a reaction to Bowie's newfound stardom after the release of his album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. It articulates his dissatisfaction with the exploitative practices of the music industry, and he later admitted that he wrote it with "a degree of malice." He also called it his least favorite track on his album, Young Americans, and in a 1990 interview with Q Magazine, stated, "I'd had very upsetting management problems, and a lot of that was built into the song. I've left all that behind me, now... I think fame itself is not a rewarding thing. The most you can say is that it gets you a seat in restaurants."
    - Jamie Eliot 

     
    Artists
    • Pitiki Aliakai, voice
    • Sofia Beiran, viola
    • Michael Yang-Wierenga, piano
    • Jamie Eliot, bass

  4. Moonage Daydream

    from the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust (1972)
    arranged by Joyce

    Ensembles
    • Joyce
    Artists
    • Yifei Zhou, voice
    • Kai Burns and Evan Haskin, guitar
    • Noah Mark, drums

  5. Duo with Bowie I

    arranged by Jake Wise

    Collaboration project to interact with a track (or a series of tracks) of Bowie’s catalog, modifying it, altering it, or recomposing it. The performer is invited to play along with the material by using traditional instruments or electronics. Student Edition

    Program note

    When Lau showed us Please Mr. Gravedigger and described his project, I took inspiration from the environmental soundscape at the beginning of the piece and thought I could recreate or adapt it using some electronic tools I had been working with. That is not what I ended up doing, however; as my piece is a "Play-With" Bowie, I created a playback score from several of the tracks on Lau's Duo-With-Bowie playlist and developed a clarinet solo to go with it. In this way, my clarinet solo and the playback piece added to Lau's video form a trio.
    - Jake Wise

     
    Artists
    • Jake Wise, clarinet, electronics

  6. Changes

    from the album Hunky Dory (1971)
    arranged by Anthony Coleman and Survivors Breakfast

    Program note

    Turn and face the strange.
    - Anthony Coleman

     
    Ensembles
    • Survivors Breakfast
    Artists
    • Alexis Boucugnani, voice
    • Jake Wise, clarinet
    • Gabriel Boyarin, guitar
    • Michael Yang-Wierenga, piano
    • Beth Ann Jones, bass
    • Anthony Coleman, director

  7. Starman

    from the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust (1972)
    arranged by Almost Olive

    Ensembles
    • Almost Olive
    Artists
    • Jacqueline Armbruster, guitar, voice
    • Karl Henry, cello, voice

  8. I'm Afraid of Americans

    from the album Earthling (1997)
    arranged by Lautaro Mantilla and the Contemporary Rock Ensemble I

    Program note

    Bowie collaborated with numerous artists including Queen, Lou Reed, Tom Waits, Rolling Stones, John Lennon among many others. This piece highlights his collaboration with Trent Reznor from NIN and presents his social and political views of American culture in the late 90s. 

     
    Ensembles
    • Contemporary Rock Ensemble I
    Artists
    • Morgan Brookman, voice
    • Yifei Zhou, voice, electronics
    • Kai Burns, guitar
    • Philip Rawlinson, viola
    • Noah Mark, drums
    • Lautaro Mantilla, director

  9. Rebel Rebel

    from the album Diamond Dogs (1974)
    arranged by Finn Lippard, Bella Navarro, and Andy Meisser

    Artists
    • Finn Lippard, voice, guitar, toy piano
    • Bella Navarro, violin, voice
    • Andy Meisser, guitar, voice

  10. Duo with Bowie II

    arranged by Ted Reichman

    Collaboration project to interact with a track (or a series of tracks) of Bowie’s catalog, modifying it, altering it, or recomposing it. The performer is invited to play along with the material by using traditional instruments or electronics. Faculty Edition 

    Artists

  11. Even a Fool Learns to Love (1968) | Jacques Revaux (Lyrics by David Bowie)

     

    Program note

    These are the original lyrics that David Bowie wrote after being commissioned by Frank Sinatra in 1968. These lyrics were rejected by Sinatra who went to Paul Anka’s version entitled My Way.  Later, in several interviews, Bowie expressed his frustration for the rejection. 

     
    Artists
    • Pitiki Aliakai, voice
    • Tara Hagle and Maxwell Fairman, violin
    • Philip Rawlinson, viola

  12. David Bowie (1967) / Blackstar (2016)

    arranged by Lautaro Mantilla and the Contemporary Rock Ensemble II

    Program note

    David Bowie recorded 26 studio albums over an almost 50 year musical career. By collecting and reorganizing 9 different tracks from his first and last album we wanted to highlight his musical journey and the evolution of his language over the years.

     
    Ensembles
    • Contemporary Rock Ensemble II
    Artists
    • Itay Dayan, clarinet, voice
    • Jacqueline Armbruster, guitar, voice
    • Michele Zimmerman, violin, voice
    • Sofia Beiran, viola, voice
    • Karl Henry, cello, voice
    • Maiyu Zhang, piano
    • Paul Joseph, drums
    • Lautaro Mantilla, director

  13. Lazarus

    from the album Blackstar (2016)
    arranged by Stella Sokolowski

    Program note

    Lazarus is a beautiful song from Bowie's final album, Blackstar, which was released just a few days before his death in 2016. In this album, Bowie meditates on his impending death and looks back on his life, career, and experience of fame. Beyond that, Lazarus evokes a state somewhere between life and death. It is the narrative of a man looking down at himself from outside of his body, remembering his past and contemplating his future after death. In his life, Bowie discussed the idea of "future nostalgia": memories of future events that could have been and that might still be, even if in another life or universe. I believe that the narrator of this song is situated outside of time. He is observing the life he has lived; the life he might have lived; and his life after death with both fear and longing.. 
    - Stella Sokolowski 

     
    Artists
    • Stella Sokolowski, voice, guitar

  14. Life on Mars

    from the album Hunky Dory (1971)
    arranged by Aurora, Adrian Chabla, Lautaro Mantilla, and the CMA Orchestra

    Program note

    This final piece of our concert includes 2 movements. The first one is an interpretation of the iconic song Life on Mars but as it was filtered first by the artist Aurora and then by our own lenses. The second movement is an abstract representation of what this concert has been and what will be left after it is over.

    “All art is unstable. Its meaning is not necessarily that implied by the author. There is no authoritative voice. There are only multiple readings. The only art I’ll ever study is stuff I can steal from.”
    - David Bowie 

    i believe we have been given a power that is like glass / and it is like sugar when u hold somebody to tell them that they belong. It is hard and has edges and keeps things in and keeps things out. When we crack, we can use our bodies to bleed people dry. This song has taught me there is always a choice, to splinter or to hold. Stung or Sweet . Will you use your skin to catch the glass, or will you watch from inside as blood drips onto you?
    - Adrian Chabla

    CMA Orchestra

    Pitiki Aliakai , Morgan Brookman, Rosario Rivas, Maggie Zang, voice
    Yoona Kim, ajaeng
    Itay Dayan, Jake Wise, clarinet
    Michele Zimmerman, Bella Navarro, violin
    Sofia Beiran, viola 
    Karl Henry, cello
    Andy Meisser, Stella Sokolwski, guitar
    Beth Ann Jones, Jamie Eliot, bass
    Michael Yang-Wierenga, piano
    Elfi Shi, vibrophone
    Skyler Lim, congas
    Paul Joseph, drums

     

     

    Ensembles
    • CMA Orchestra
    Artists
    • Adrian Chabla, voice, keyboard
Tags
CollegeContemporary Musical Arts