Past Events

Saturday January 30, 2010, 7:30 pm
Kranzberg Arts Center Black Box Theatre
Grand Center 501 N. Grand

Featuring
Jim Hegarty, Fred Tompkins, Deb Summers (representing the NMC)
Bobo Shaw, drums and George Sams, trumpet
Dave Cheli’s “Tribal Chicken”
HaZMaT (Tom Zirkle and Matt Henry)
Baba Mike Nelson, trumpet
Poets Curtis Lyle and Michael Castro

Zimbabwe Nkenya is a St. Louis native and a highly regarded and creative bass player.  Zimbabwe has appeared on several New Music Circle events recently and is one of our beloved performers.

Sadly, he experienced a stroke earlier this past fall that has prevented him from playing.  Because the NMC greatly supports our musicians and has especially enjoyed his wonderful spirit and creativity, our board of directors decided to try to help him in a tangible way.  Rather than charge for tickets, admission to this concert will be by contribution, with all proceeds going to Zimbabwe and his wife Deborah.  All the musicians are volunteering their services.

Since moving back to St. Louis in 2007, Zimbabwe has performed at the Ivory Perry Park Festival, St. Louis African Arts Festival, the Art Outside Festival at Shlafly Bottleworks, at the Gramophone, Legacy Books, Open Lot, Scott Joplin House State Historic Site, the St. Louis County Library, St. Louis Art Museum, Jazz at the Holmes Series, Kemper Art Museum (Birth of the Cool Tribute to Miles Davis and a spring 2008 solo Mbira performance), at the Third Degree Glass Factory, with original member of The Last Poets Dahveed Nelson at Central Reform Congregation, at KDHX’s Midwest Mayhem Festival, Performance/Workshop with Tatsuya Nakatani & a BAG II Workshop Series at the Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center, with Douglas Ewart at the Velvet Lounge in Chicago and with Cooper-Moore at Joe’s Cafe.

In addition to his active playing career, Nkenya has also been an educator, playing concerts, workshops and residencies for school children. For some 20 years, he hosted one of New Mexico’s most respected radio shows, KUNM’s Sunday night special, “The House that Jazz Built.”

Zimbabwe has performed with some of the finest internationally known musicians on the creative music scene including Cooper-Moore, Ajule Sonny Rutlin, Warren Smith, Ku-umba Frank Lacy, Jerome ‘Scrooge’ Harris, Julius Hemphill, Rob Brown, Douglas Ewart, Abdul Wadud, William Parker, Fred Ho’s Afro-Asian Music Ensemble, Anthony Braxton, Oliver Lake, Daniel Carter, Frank Morgan, Eddie Gale, J A Deane, Floyd LeFlore, Chris Jonas, Mary Redhouse, Bill Cole’s Yoruba Proverbs, Jim Marshall, Tom Hamilton, and Maurice ‘Malik’ King. Zimbabwe has also collaborated with poets Quincy Troupe, Eugene B. Redmond, Linda Piper, Mike ‘360’ Ipiotes, Joy Harjo, Virginia Hampton, Michael Castro, Shirley LeFlore, K. Curtis Lyle and Arthur Ray Brown.

Zimbabwe has performed at Brooklyn Academy of Music, Lincoln Center, Knitting Factory, NYU, Hunter College, PS 122, and Riverside Church as well as The BRIDE in Philadelphia and One World Festival, Detroit. In New York he was featured in the two-year run of Izulu Dance Theater’s Off-Broadway musical production HALALA, at the Douglas Fairbanks Theater.

The Douglas R. Ewart performance originally scheduled for this date (1/30/10) has been rescheduled to Saturday, February 13.  Please see our website for more information on Mr. Ewart’s performance.

ATNAS – An Experimental Video Story
Written and directed by Kelsey LaPoint (in collaboration with the Cast)
December 2, 3, and 4, 2009 – 7:30 pm
Regional Arts Commission
6128 Delmar Blvd.

Unless otherwise noted, tickets to all shows are $15 regular admission, $7 for students/artists with a valid ID.

A new heroine is here to revamp the habits of the x-mess-stress holiday. Whoosh!!! “Release” is the buzzword of her business.

Yes, Santa’s daughter was at one time a spoiled princess, but now her mission involves flying around the world on a vacuum cleaner and helping get rid of the gunk we wish to see go.

To some, Atnas may appear as a cleaning lady, humbling hauling away your trash. To others, she can be a life coach, walking you through the deep process of releasing unhelpful habits and beliefs. Or she may tote her whole toolbox down the chimney to bring in the vast sweep of change. It is all up to you, and what you ask for. Arriving at such a role, and standing firm in the realm of service is a journey that Atnas continues to navigate.

The video leads us through Atnas’ life via experimental animation and filming techniques. Writers and artists Kelsey LaPoint and Lyndsey Scott (Atnas) team up with filmmaker and choreographer Rebecca Rivas to bring you a video that will rock your holiday spirit.

Sunday, November 8, 2009 – 7:30 pm
MadArt Gallery
2727 S. 12th Street

In collaboration with St. Louis contemporary dancers and choreographers, New Music Circle is excited to present Rob Voisey’s multimedia project, 60×60 Dance. The work combines 60 live dance pieces with 60, 60-second musical compositions, each by a different composer. Voisey is a New York-based composer and impresario of electroacoustic and chamber music.

As a presenter and producer of new music, he is the Director of the 60×60 project, Co-Director of the Composer’s Voice Concert series, Vice President of Programs for the Living Music Foundation, and Founder of Vox Novus. Having produced over 150 concerts in more than 10 countries around the world, Voisey seeks innovative and creative approaches to promote the music of today’s composers.

Begun in 2003, the 60×60 project is an annual event of worldwide concerts. 60×60 Dance, is an off-shoot of the original concept, which brings opportunities for exposure to many working composers, dancers, and choreographers.

… 60×60 Dance … is a masterpiece of organization. The idea … is quite mad. But it’s this kind of madness that makes the cultural world go round. –Roslyn Sulcas, New York Times

Friday, Oct. 9, 2009 – 8 pm
Sheldon Concert Hall
3648 Washington Blvd.

Larry Ochs has been performing with Rova Saxophone Quartet since 1978, and with them has traveled throughout the world. He also has served as the acting executive director of the non-profit umbrella “Rova:Arts” since its inception in 1986, and in that capacity has produced many large collaborations in San Francisco. All of Ochs’ compositions employ specific strategies for improvisation in addition to – or sometimes in place of – standard musical notation. He has received composition commissions from Meet the Composer, Chamber Music America, and various festivals.

Founded in 2000, the Larry Ochs Sax & Drumming Core features Ochs on saxophone, drummers Donald Robinson and Scott Amendola, Natsuki Tamura (trumpet), and Satoko Fujii (synthesizer/piano).

Don’t miss this special evening in the perfect acoustics of the Sheldon Concert Hall!

Larry Ochs Sax and Drumming Core pieces utilize four special compositional forms developed by Ochs, but ebb and flow through air with juxtaposed collective improvisation.

For me, form precedes function. If I can’t see the big picture, that universe of sound within which a given piece will come to life, it is hard to organize the internal details. –Larry Ochs

CAMA Event!

Saturday, October 3, 2009 – 7:30 pm
Mildred E. Bastian Theatre (Forest Park C.C.)
5600 Oakland Ave.
Co-sponsored by Forest Park Community College

Composer James Hegarty collaborates with his artist daughter, Anna, to present a concert inspired by their recent trip to Japan. Against this backdrop of cultural identity and vernacular expectation, this new production rebounds against the need to both interact and escape.

eXscapement features original works for piano, interactive robotic sound objects, and live video projections.

Hegarty’s compositions have been performed throughout the US and in several countries abroad. His works have been presented on festivals such as the Bonk Festival of New Music in Tampa, the Electronic Music Midwest Festival (Kansas City), several conferences of the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the US, the Sonic Odyssey Series in Los Angeles, and the 60×60 series in New York. His works have received support from state arts agencies and the National Endowment for the Arts.

For more information, visit Jim Hegarty’s website or MySpace page.