Present Music Opens 36th Season with STAY ON IT

Event time: 7:30pm

Present Music Opens 36^th Season with STAY ON IT

Friday, September 29, 2017

6:30 pm pre-concert reception; 7:30 pm concert

Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD)

273 E. Erie Street - River Level 

Present Music, Milwaukee’s award-winning new music ensemble, invites you to engage with the simplicity and complications of repetition at its September 29 season opener, Stay On It.   The concert puts into music how repeating rain drops become floods, how sameness become difference, and how the math of exponential growth can become almost too many cows.

The concert kicks off Present Music’ 36^th Season under Artistic Director Kevin Stalheim, who notes, “We’re starting off the season bringing back dynamic guest conductor David Bloom, founding co-artistic director and conductor of Contemporaneous, a New York-based ensemble of musicians dedicated to performing the most exciting music of the present moment. David is notable for his energy and passion which will be evident as he conducts mezzo-soprano Lucy Dhegrae, noted for her “vocal versatility and omnivorous curiosity” (New York Times).  Dehgrae is “everywhere new music is being sung” (New York Classical Review)”.

The Stay On It Program:

The Present Music Ensemble and joined by guest artists including Colin Dabin, will perform:

, for voice, dulcimer, stroh violin, and Turkish fretless banjo, pours out a story of loss from devastating flooding.  As the storms sweep through these pieces, hear the influence from the blues.      

A 14^th century Indian genius’ mathematical equation of an expanding cow population resulted in composer .  Hear how “delayed morphisms” translate into fun, logical, musical sequences.

, by Andrew Norman, is a static-electricity storm with “spitting” bow rock-skipping harmonies, complemented by clarinets and flutes that dance in and out of percussive noise and harmonic information. 

An improvisational but minimalist work by composer Julius Eastman, arr. by David Bloom, Stay On It uses repetition as a structure built with rhythms and harmonies borrowed from pop music.   Recently re-discovered, Eastman is a “deserving reinsertion of a black, gay figure” into the canon of minimalist composers.   

The ensemble (and surprise performers!) stomp, clap, sing and hoot through Meredith Monk’s Panda Chant II, an excerpt from the composer’s science fiction opera. 

David Moore’s wistfully elegiac work lets the listener create their own story that ends “…And Then It Rained

Price: Single tickets are available for $15/$25/$35 and are on sale now. Students get half-price tickets with a valid student id. To purchase tickets go to presentmusic.org or call 414-271-0711.