Past Events

Matthew Shipp and Michael Bisio Duo

Presented by New Music Circle and KDHX

Saturday, March 28, 2015
Concert 7:30 PM
Doors 7:00 PM		 The Stage at KDHX – welcomed by KDHX
3524 Washington Ave. 63103 (map)
  • Matthew Shipp — piano
  • Michael Bisio — bass
In his unique and recognizable style, NYC pianist Matthew Shipp has recorded and performed vigorously from the late 1980s onward, creating music in which free jazz and modern classical intertwine. His approach to the piano reflects a concentrated blend of Thelonious Monk’s phrasing and the improvised explorations of Cecil Taylor.Shipp first became well known in the early 1990s as the pianist in the David S. Ware Quartet and Roscoe Mitchell’s Note Factory group. Soon he began leading his own dates, most often including Ware and bassist William Parker. Through his range of live and recorded performances and persistent individual development, Shipp has come to be regarded as a prolific and respected voice in avant-garde music and progressive jazz.

Michael Bisio has been the defacto bassist for the Matthew Shipp Trio since 2009. Renowned for the quality of his bass tone and the intensity of his very personal musical language, he has received continuous accolades from Downbeat, Jazz Times, and The New York Times.
Get tickets for Matthew Shipp and Michael Bisio here.
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Lotte Anker / Okkyung Lee (solo sets and collaborative duo)

Get tickets for Okkyung Lee and Lotte Anker

Saturday, February 21, 2015
Concert 7:30 PM
Doors 7:00 PM		 Joe’s Cafe
6014 Kingsbury Ave., 63122 (map)
  • Okkyung Lee — cello
  • Lotte Anker — saxophones
Okkyung Lee has been developing her own approach to cello performance for over a decade. Unbound by any specific genre or style, her visceral yet communicative sound draws from her background in extended instrumental techniques, Korean traditional musics and contemporary “noise” aesthetics. Born in Korea but based in New York City since 2000, she has released several albums on labels such as Tzadik, Ideologic Organ, and Ecstatic Peace. A list of her musical partnerships is long and diverse and include such maverick sound-experimentalists as Christian Marclay, Thurston Moore, Laurie Anderson, Ikue Mori, Jim O’Rourke and C. Spencer Yeh, as well as master instrumentalists like John Zorn, Chris Corsano, Leo Wadada Smith, Vijay Iyer and John Edwards. Okkyung’s forays include collaborations with visual artists and choreographers to develop multi-disciplinary performances, many of these ultimately presented at Dance Theater Workshop, Issue Project Room and The Kitchen.In an unforgettable 2011 performance in St. Louis, Danish saxophonist, Lotte Anker, left a lasting impression on all those who witnessed and an eager anticipation for a return visit. Informed by the rich improvised music scene of Copenhagen during the late ‘80’s, Anker has honed a dramatic sense of pacing and tone, juxtaposing brisk sounds against long stretches of extended melody, creating an effect that is both moody and responsive…. and occasionally sounding as if Evan Parker were to sit in with Sun Ship-era Coltrane. Anker has maintained her long-running engagement with the trio of Gerald Cleaver and Craig Taborn, as well as a trio with Ikue Mori and Sylvie Courvosier. Other regular collaborators include Fred Frith, Paal-Nilsen Love, and Fred Lonberg-Holm.
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Johanna Ballou

Saturday January 17th, 2015
Concert 7:30PM		 560 Music Center
560 Trinity Ave, 63130 (map)
Co-sponsored by the Department of Music at Washington University
  • Johanna Ballou — piano
  • Stella Markou — soprano
 Johanna Ballou
Johanna Ballou is a young American pianist who has been enthralling American and European audiences with her magnetic stage presence and dynamic interpretations.She completed her studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in the UK and has studied with Daniel Martyn Lewis, Rolf Hind, Seth Carlin, William Phemister, Vera Parkin, and members of Grammy Award-winning ensemble Eighth Blackbird. After her acclaimed Welsh premier of Gyorgy Ligeti’s Piano Concerto, she toured alongside members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and London Sinfonietta for the contemporary chamber opera company Music Theatre Wales.

She has collaborated with Diversions, the National Dance Company of Wales, and worked in music for Welsh independent film, television, theater, and art installation projects.

Since returning to the states in 2009, she has continued her performance career in both solo and collaborative piano. She works closely with composers in the performance of new music, and performs educational programs for children throughout Missouri and Illinois. Ballou’s January concert will include selections that employ a variety of modern classical approaches.

The program will include
  • Diclavis Enorma by David M. Gordon for keyboards and electronics
  • Takeover by Tristan Evans for piano and electronics
  • Two-Handed Storytelling by Christopher Stark for piano and electronics
  • Five Eliot Landscapes I. New Hampshire III. Usk by Thomas Adès, words by T.S. Eliot for piano and voice
  • Terma by Craig Walsh for soprano and electronics
  • Les Mountons de Panurge by Frederic Rzewski for audience participation/workshop ensemble

PLUS! Special Audience Participation Project:

Johanna Ballou will lead a special performance of Frederic Rzewski’s Les Moutons de Panurge (1969). The audience may join this piece in two ways:

1) All audience members are encouraged to bring ANY small instrument to the performance. No rehearsal necessary. Some small percussion instruments will be available on a first come, first served basis.

2) You may also play along with the main melody of the composition, in which case there will be one required rehearsal on Saturday, January 17th, from 12pm-2pm at the Tavern of Fine Arts (313 Belt Ave.). The rehearsal will be led by Tracy Andreotti (musician, composer, and NMC board member). The score may be obtained from imslp.org for free. Anyone involved in the melody portion of the composition will receive a free admission to the evening concert at the 560 Music Center. For further information about this participation please contact our Program Coordinator at nmc.jeremy@gmail.com.
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New Music Circle and KDHX present ROSCOE MITCHELL and CRAIG TABORN (duo)

Friday, December 5th, 2014
concert 7:30 PM, doors 7:00PM		 The Stage at KDHX
3524 Washington Ave. 63103 (map)
  • Roscoe Mitchell — saxophones
  • Craig Taborn — piano
An internationally renowned musician, composer and innovator, Roscoe Mitchell began his distinguished career in the spirited 1960s of Chicago. In Mitchell’s own opinion, his work is a product of his heritage in the fertile art communities of the AACM (Association for Advancement of Creative Musicians) and The Art Ensemble of Chicago. Both organizations spawned large networks of musicians and inspired radical approaches to performance and musical thought, thus informing his own practice for over five decades. Primarily known for his saxophone playing, Mitchell’s multi-instrumental palette also includes various flutes, woodwinds and a broad range of percussion.Mitchell’s monumental 1966 album, Sound, introduced new ways of freely improvising and composing and has long been cited as an essential building block of the “free-jazz” vernacular. Now at the age 73, Mitchell has recorded works on over 83 albums and has written over 250 compositions. Throughout his composed works Mitchell expresses ideas that embrace a broad span of musics from energetic free jazz to traditional music methodologies to complex compositions for chamber groups. Longstanding collaborations have continued with a coterie of diverse musicians: Muhal Richard Abrams, Anthony Braxton, Lester Bowie and Pauline Oliveros. Mitchell has been named Darius Milhaud Chair of Composition at Mills College in Oakland, California, where he currently lives and works.NYC pianist and ECM recording artist, Craig Taborn, has remained a ubiquitous presence on the jazz scene for the past two decades, performing with young jazz musicians and seasoned veterans as well as experimental rock and techno artists. His pianistic approach alludes to the explorations of Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, and Cecil Taylor and expands further upon these models through his alternate use of Spartan subtlety and dense, hypnotic chord structuring. With regard to his performance sensibilities, Taborn explains that this takes shape by “listening to the really subtle details of instrumental sound, because you don’t just have to rest on notes and rhythms. You can rest on overtones and undertones and other nuances of sound to draw from. When you listen to silence, it’s really rich with possibility, and we start from that place.” At any given time his ongoing band/collaboration-list is over twenty names, which now include Tim Berne, Lotte Anker, Gerald Cleaver, William Parker and Vijay Iyer.

Please note that tickets for this show are $25 (regular) and $15 (student/struggling music supporter).

Special Free Artist Talks!On Thursday DEC 4 at 7:30PM, NMC will sponsor a free talk and Q&A with Roscoe Mitchell at the Tavern of Fine Arts. The talk will be hosted by Dennis Owsley (host of KWMU’s Jazz Unlimited) and Paul Steinbeck of Washington University. More details here.

On Friday DEC 5 at 2:00 PM, Roscoe Mitchell will present a guest lecture at Washington University to discuss the evolution of one of his best-known compositions. Mitchell’s talk “NONAAH: From Solo to Full Orchestra” will take place in Wash U’s Music Classroom Building, Room 102, 6500 Forsyth Blvd at Wallace Dr. The event is free and open to the public.

Special thanks to Piano Distributors and Jackson Pianos
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ELI KESZLER / RASHAD BECKER (solo performances)

Presented by New Music Circle and The Luminary

Saturday, November 8, 2014
concert 7:30 PM, doors 7:00PM		 The Luminary
2701 Cherokee St. 63118 (map)
  • Eli Keszler — drums
  • Rashad Becker — electronics
NYC based drummer and sound artist, Eli Keszler, engages in a frictional push-and-pull of percussive sound through instrumental means which are both traditional and experimental. His oeuvre is multi-faceted, consisting of musical scores informed by his print making/drawing practices as well as his construction of resonating piano wire installations (most recently an installation on the Manhattan Bridge commissioned by NPR Radio). His hyper-percussive improvisations are ripe with detailed and pointillistic attacks that build momentum to form frenzied sonic clusters, drawing inspiration from the spontaneity of Han Bennik’s percussion work as well as the harmonic density of Colin Nancorrow’s compositions. With full length albums on the vinyl-art label PAN and the legendary avant-garde jazz label ESP-Disk, Keszler’s releases have received “album of the year” awards from the Boston Globe and Wire Magazine. After studying composition with Anthony Coleman and Ran Blake, Eli Keslzer toured extensively, performing both solo as well as in collaboration with such diverse artists as Christian Wolff, Phill Niblock, Tony Conrad, Joe McPhee, Jandek, Roscoe Mitchell and Keith Fullerton Whitman.Berlin electronic musician, Rashad Becker, utilizes real-time synthesis and sampling techniques that set into motion intricate sonic worlds that recall the complexities of human speech and various exotic aural phenomena, and warrant comparisons to the detailed sonics of pioneers like Tod Dockstader, and the GRM school of electronic music. Oscillating pitches conjoin, multiply and dissolve in unlikely configurations, creating a complex ecosystem of sound. Also, Becker’s work as a vinyl cutting and mastering engineer at Berlin’s Dubplates Mastering Studio (where he has overseen thousands of mastering jobs) has endowed him with a unique insider’s perspective on the practice and aesthetics of modern day electronic music and production.

After years of performing, Becker’s sole release came out on PAN in 2013, aptly titled Traditional Musics of Notional Species. Pitchfork described Becker’s LP as an album that “breathes in pointed, often hilarious detail. [Becker’s] sounds actually sound like things.”

Artist Residency (Nov 6th – 8th)
Eli Keszler and Rashad Becker will participate in a series of artist talks and workshops from November 6th to 8th in St. Louis. In these visits Eli and Rashad will discuss their art practices, techniques, and approaches to sound design, composition, and performance.

If you are interested in attending any of these talks please contact nmc.jeremy@gmail.com.

Thursday, November 6th:
1:00pm-1:45pm: Rashad Becker at Washington University’s Methods of Distribution class.
2:30pm – 7:00pm: Eli Keszler and Rashad Becker visit and workshop at Lindenwood University, Belleville.

Friday, November 7th:
10am – 11:00am: Eli Keszler at Washington University’s Art Theory class.

Saturday, November 8th:
10:30am – 12:00pm: Eli Keszler and Rashad Becker at St. Louis Art Museum’s Teen Arts Council class.

Buy tickets for Eli Keszler / Rashad Becker
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