(Elliot Mandel Photography)
Tomeka Reid
2nd Annual
The Black Composer Speaks Celebrates Must-Hear African American
Composers, Featuring a New Work by Composer Tomeka Reid and Performance
from Jazz Innovator Kahil El’Zabar & his Ethnic Heritage Ensemble
Tickets on Sale Now for Chicago and Champaign, IL
CHICAGO (January 11, 2016) –
Fulcrum Point New Music Project, Chicago’s leader in new art music led by Founder and Artistic Director
Stephen Burns, presents its 2nd annual The Black Composer Speaks concert and discussion series
Thursday-Friday, February 9-10, 2017. The Black Composer Speaks
champions the unique and complex voices of African American composers,
featuring music by three generations of artists whose works range from
impressionistic to pop-inspired minimalism
culminating in free jazz improv with Kahil El’Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble. Bridging these diverse musical stylings is a
World Premiere by the widely acclaimed Tomeka Reid (2016 3Arts Awardee).
A roundtable discussion on inclusion and access in new art music precedes the February 10 concert.
Fulcrum
Point New Music Project’s The Black Composer Speaks: Exhortation! opens at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (500 S Goodwin Ave., Urbana) on
Thursday, February 9 at 7:30 p.m. Single tickets at Krannert Center range from $10-$34 and are now available at
http://bit.do/bcs-krannert.
On Friday, February 10
at The Promontory (5311 S Lake Park Ave., Chicago) a roundtable
discussion will start at 5:45 p.m. followed by the performance at 7:30
p.m. Single tickets for The Promontory
are priced at $25-$35 and are now available at http://bit.do/bcs-promontory.
The
“fulcrum point” of each evening is a new work Fulcrum Point New Music
Project commissioned from Chicago-based Tomeka Reid, whose music is
influenced by both classical and jazz music while including her love of
groove and free concepts. She composes for a wide
range of instrumentation, from big band to chamber ensemble, while
typically finding herself performing in experimental and improvisatory
settings.
Reid was Chicago Tribune’s 2015 Chicagoan of the Year in Jazz and
is currently an ABD doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
The
dynamics of Reid’s World Premiere compliments the concert program’s
more traditionally-structured works by Guggenheim Fellows
Alvin Singleton and Jeffrey Mumford; a funk-inspired piece by violinist/composer
Jessie Montgomery (PUBLIQuartet Co-Founder); and an abstract, expressionist piano trio by jazz and orchestral musician (and Guggenheim Fellow)
Olly Wilson. Each evening will conclude with an improvisational
set in the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM)
style by Kahil El’Zabar and the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble.
Preceding the February 10 concert at The Promontory,
Steve Bynum, producer of WBEZ’s “Worldview” will lead a panel discussion:
The Convergence of Experimental Musical Mediums: A Roundtable
Discussion on inclusion, access, and aesthetics in music from the Black
Diaspora. The conversation will address inclusion, convergence of avant-garde and contemporary musical expression and
the artistic diaspora within the context of new music and art with panelists
Stephen Burns, Fulcrum Point's Artistic Director; Seth Parker Woods, Fulcrum Point’s Curator of Inclusion and Discoveries;
Nathalie Joachim, flutist with Eighth Blackbird; Tomeka Reid, composer/cellist/scholar; and
Sadie Woods, curator, DJ, Entrepreneur.
Concert Program:
Tomeka Reid’s “Present Awareness” –
World Premiere
Jessie Montgomery’s “Strum”
Jeffrey Mumford’s “still air”
Alvin Singleton’s “In Our Own House”
(2/9) & “Greed Machine” (2/10)
Olly Wilson’s “Piano Trio”
Kahil El' Zabar and the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble:
·
Kahil El'Zabar, percussion/composition/vocals
·
Corey Wilkes, trumpet
·
Alex Harding, baritone saxophone
ABOUT TOMEKA REID
As
a composer, Tomeka Reid has been commissioned by the Association for
the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), the Chicago
Jazz Festival and the Chicago Jazz Ensemble and has had several
opportunities to showcase her work abroad at festivals such as Umbria
Jazz, An Insolent Noise and Vignola Jazz. She has been nominated and
awarded residencies for composition with the Ragdale
Foundation and the 2nd Annual Make Jazz Fellowship hosted by the 18th
Street Arts Organization. Reid was selected as a 2012 participant in the
Jazz Composers Orchestra Institute held at UCLA, was featured as
Chicago Tribune’s 2015 Chicagoan of the Year in Jazz and is a 2016 3Arts Award recipient.
More information on Tomeka Reid may be found at
http://www.tomekareid.net.
ABOUT KAHIL EL’ZABAR
Kahil
El’Zabar is an international percussion master who has collaborated
with Jazz legends Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, Dizzy Gillespie, Lester
Bowie, Cannonball Adderley, and
recipients of this year’s NEA Jazz Masters award, Pharoah Sanders and
Archie Shepp. His illustrious career has included film scores for the
movies “Mo’ Money” and “How U Like Me Now,” as well as early
arrangements for Broadway show “The Lion King.” In 2014
El’Zabar was a recipient of the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et
Lettres from the French government.
More information on Kahil El’Zabar may be found at
http://www.kahilelzabar.net.
ABOUT FULCRUM POINT NEW MUSIC PROJECT
Created
in 1998 by conductor, composer and trumpet virtuoso Stephen Burns, the
mission of Fulcrum Point New Music Project is to be a Chicago leader of
diverse new music by presenting
multi-media performances, generating educational programs, as well as
commissioning and recording innovative works. Its programs are inspired
and influenced by popular culture, including literature, film, dance,
folk, rock, jazz, blues, Latin and world music.
Through multi-disciplinary concert performances and educational
programs, Fulcrum Point seeks to encourage audiences to make
cross-cultural connections between new music, art, technology and
literature, gaining greater insight into today’s diverse world.
For more information on Fulcrum Point New Music Project and its programs, visit
http://fulcrumpoint.org.
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