"This is an exciting time to present music in Greenwich Village. The question needs attention every year: What is new and what is classical? The Mel Powell centenary puts this question into relief. Powell’s career covered so many facets of post-war American music from bobby-soxer fare for the Benny Goodman Orchestra, to psychedelia at the Electric Circus, to his later modernist works. We honor one of America’s most daring and original composers, Scott Johnson, who died earlier this year, with a performance of his “Bowery Haunt” for two electric guitars, written for me and Oren Fader. In his own brilliant, unique way, Johnson was the bridge between the “uptown” and “downtown” factions of New York composers”
William Anderson, Classical/New Music Director for The Village Trip
Satie’s Vexations, 60 years after John Cage
NYU Paulson Center 181 Mercer Street, New York, NY, United StatesCelebrate the 60th anniversary of John Cage’s historic East Village premier of Erik Satie’s Vexations. 840 repetitions of Satie’s piece will be performed by our 30-pianist Relay Team over 15 hours. Composer David Del Tredici, member of the original production, raps it up at 9pm.
Diana Wege: Earth Requiem and Rebirth
St Mark’s in the Bowery 131 East 10th Street, New York, NY, United StatesWorld Premiere Errolyn Wallen
Earth Requiem is a multidisciplinary work conceived in response to climate change, pollution, resource depletion, and nuclear capability. The audience is immersed in a near-future where degradation and extinction of nature is symbolized by a choir of languages from throughout the globe. Original music by Errollyn Wallen and Jeff Beal.
Neighbors, Lovers and Friends: Michael Kelly and Brad Moore at Salmagundi
Salmagundi Club 47 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, United StatesA world premiere packed evening of classical American art song with Michael Kelly and Bradley Moore at the Salmagundi Club, featuring words and music by an array of the Village's iconic residents, past and present.
Killing the Silence: A Concert for Ukraine: Special Guests Chorus Dumka
St Mark’s in the Bowery 131 East 10th Street, New York, NY, United StatesBenefit for Ukraine Children’s Action Project. Chamber music by Ukrainian composers. Special guests Ukrainian Chorus Dumka, Bowers-Fader Duo, Didorenko-Basis Duo. Music by Barvinsky, Bortkiewicz, Silvestrov, Ornstein, Lysenko, Gliere and more.
Simeon ten Holt: Canto Ostinato
St Mark’s in the Bowery 131 East 10th Street, New York, NY, United StatesCanto Ostinato is a ground-breaking minimalist piece by Dutch composer Simeon ten Holt from 1976 which has acquired cult status. This two-hour version for two pianos celebrates the composer’s 100th year, performed by the formidable Dutch new-music specialist Kees Wieringa and The Village Trip’s resident pianist Joan Forsyth.
Piano & Dance: Kees & Winter Wieringa: Dutch Minimalist Simeon ten Holt and Greenwich Village
St John’s in the Village 218 W 11th St, New York, NY, United StatesPianist Kees Wieringa performs music from the Netherlands and Greenwich Village, including Simeon ten Holt, Jacob TV, Alvin Curran and Phillip Glass. Simeon ten Holt's "Solo Devil's Dance 4" was specially written for Winter Wieringa and will have its world premiere, in collaboration with dancers from New York.
The Village Trip GuitarFest I – “Bowery Haunt” In Memory of Scott Johnson
Loft 393 393 Broadway, New York, NY, United StatesThe Village Trip GuitarFest assembles a formidable group of guitarists from all over the tri-state region for a 3-day festival of new and old music for guitars, beginning with a tribute to the late Scott Johnson with a performance of his "Bowery Haunt", a wild ride for two electric guitars.
The Village Trip GuitarFest II – Mel Powell Centenary – My Guy’s Come Back
St John’s in the Village 218 W 11th St, New York, NY, United StatesThe TVT GuitarFest assembles a formidable group of guitarists from all over the Western Hemisphere for a 3-day festival of new and old music for guitars. GuitarFest II focuses on the centenary of jazz legend Mel Powell.
The Village Trip GuitarFest III – Finding Beauty in Small Things – Mel Powell to Chester Biscardi
St John’s in the Village 218 W 11th St, New York, NY, United StatesAmong the finest guitarists of all time” (American Record Guide), David Leisner will perform three solos written for him by Chester Biscardi, Laura Kaminsky and Bun-Ching Lam. Guitarist Xingxing Yao, from Hangzhou performs Mel Powell; Chilean guitarist Sebastian Molina, Bowers Fader Duo, and more…
Seeking Refuge: Sounding loss and displacement
St John’s in the Village 218 W 11th St, New York, NY, United StatesPoet Mascha Kaléko is your guide to an afternoon of song and chamber music that explores the themes of loss, isolation and displacement common to so many refugees. Soprano Sharon Harms is joined by pianist Joan Forsyth and guitarist William Anderson to perform music by Dawe, Hailstork, Pollock and more.
So Surreal – Anarchy Under the Arch! Innovators, Radicals, Mavericks and Game-changers
Salmagundi Club 47 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, United StatesThe Village has long been home to artistic and social mavericks; young Bohemians, innovators and free-thinkers. This concert explores the connections between the French surrealist movement and American musicians, Dadaism, theosophy and spiritualism. Music by Satie, Cage, Ives, Seeger, Wolpe, more.
Simic Colors at Salmagundi: baritone Joseph Keckler, soprano Sharon Harms
Salmagundi Club 47 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, United StatesBaritone Joseph Keckler & soprano Sharon Harms perform new settings of Pulitzer-Prize winning poet Charles Simic by Aleksandra Vrebalov and Gene Pritsker; Carman Moore’s “A Village Triptych” treats of a group of Greenwich Village poets including his dear friend Lennox Raphael; Jospeh Keckler’s biting dramatic works.
Uncommon Women: Celebrating Joan Tower
Greenwich House Music School 46 Barrow Street, New York, NY, United StatesA piano salute to women composers, dedicated to Joan Tower, who originally founded the Greenwich House Series of New Music. Six new music pianists perform music by women associated with the Village, including works by Meredith Monk, Faye-Ellen Silverman, guest Errollyn Wallen and of course Tower herself.
Loisaida, My Love
Third Street Music School Third Street Music School, New York, NY, United StatesA celebration of the vibrant culture of the Lower East Side and the musical talents the area has nurtured — virtuoso pianist Teresa Carreño, tango master Astor Piazzolo and salsa star Celia Cruz. Soprano Adriana Valdes, George Lopez, piano, Ceylon Mitchell, flute, and more…
Lafcadio Hearn Project: Four ghost stories for speaker and pianist
Tenri Cultural Institute 43A West 13th Street, NY, United StatesTenri Cultural Institute has a 30-year history of celebrating Japanese and Western culture. The Irish poet Lafcadio Hearn became an important bridge between Japan and the West. Four composers created musical works for narrator with piano based on Hearn’s much loved, “Kwaidan”, a chilling collection of Japanese ghost stories.
Horszowski Trio: Chamber music by Village composers
Tenri Cultural Institute 43A West 13th Street, NY, United StatesThe celebrated Horszowski Trio presents music by composers who have lived in Greenwich Village - Elliott Carter, Paul Chihara, Louis Karchin and Wang Jie, performed alongside Shostakovich's landmark Second Trio. The Horszowski Trio (Jesse Mills, Ole Akahoshi and Rieko Aizawa) has been described as "eloquent and enthralling" by the Boston Globe.
Electric Circus: presented by Composers Concordance & Marsyas Productions
St Mark’s in the Bowery 131 East 10th Street, New York, NY, United StatesComposers Concordance brings together two e-guitar quartets – Bodies Electric and My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama – celebrating the Mel Powell centenary and offering new works by William Anderson, Bruce Arnold, Dan Cooper, Jane Getter, Patrick Grant, Kyle Miller, Gene Pritsker, Dave Soldier.