New York Debut

So…I meant to write about this earlier, but tomorrow I’ll be one of 200 guitarists and 16 bassists playing in contemporary composer Rhys Chatham’s piece, “A Crimson Grail.” It’s free.

It’s kind of crazy that–being a composition major and one of those guys who was always starting bands–I haven’t actually performed any music publicly or, for that matter, played with any other musicians since moving to New York almost two years ago. (Did I write those very words in an earlier post?)  More on that at some other point, or just as it happens.

Anyway, are the deets:

800 Years of Minimalism
Friday, August 15, 2008, 7:00pm – 10:00pm
Damrosch Park Bandshell, W 62nd St between Amsterdam and Colombus Aves

Here’s their blurb on from http://www.lincolncenter.org/show_events_list.asp?eventcode=-62531:

“This special co-production highlights minimalist music spanning eight centuries of human experience, in a program exploring the transcendental and ecstatic dimension of music-making.

“Beata Viscera, an early-music vocal group, opens with a selection of works by the 13th-century French composer Pérotin.

“Next, composer Rhys Chatham and section leaders John King, Ned Sublette, David Daniell, and Seth Olinsky (Akron/Family) lead an oversized orchestra of 200 volunteer guitarists and electric bassists in the world premiere of A Crimson Grail for 200 Electric Guitars (Outdoor Version) performed not on the Bandshell stage but along the sides of the audience at Damrosch Park, to heighten the work’s polyphonic effect. The work, originally composed for Paris’ famed Sacré-Coeur, has been extensively revised to suit the dynamics of the Park’s outdoor acoustic.

“Concluding the show will be the U.S. premiere of composer and guitarist Manuel Göttsching’s hour-long masterpiece E2-E4, one of the most important, influential electronic records ever released. Collaborating with Göttsching for the first-ever U.S. live performance of E2-E4 will be the Joshua Light Show, led by multimedia artist Joshua White, which will fill the surface of the Damrosch Bandshell with its signature display of psychedelic visual effects.”