The Music of Julia Wolfe
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Julia Wolfe has written a major body of work for strings, with pieces commissioned by the Lark, Ethel, Kronos, and Cassatt quartets. Three of her quartets - Dig Deep, Four Marys, and Early That Summer - can be heard on the disc Julia Wolfe: The String Quartets. As described by the New Yorker, these one-movement works "combine the violent forward drive of rock music with an aura of minimalist serenity [and] use the four instruments as a big guitar, whipping psychedelic states of mind into frenzied and ecstatic climaxes." My Beautiful Scream, a string quartet concerto, was written for Kronos Quartet and the Orchestre National de France and was premiered in the US at the Cabrillo Festival under the direction of Marin Alsop. The work was inspired by the idea of a slow motion scream and was written shortly after September 11, 2001.
The influence of pop culture can be heard in many of Wolfe's works, including Lick and Believing for the Bang on a Can All-Stars. Lick, based on fragments of funk, has become a manifesto for the new generation of pop-influenced composers. The raucous My Lips From Speaking for six pianos was inspired by the opening riff of the Aretha Franklin tune Think. Wolfe's Dark Full Ride is an obsessive and relentless exploration of the drum set, beginning with an extended hi-hat spotlight. In LAD, Wolfe creates a kaleidoscopic landscape for nine bagpipes. Wolfe has also composed for Anna Deveare Smith's House Arrest and won an Obie award for her score to Ridge Theater's Jennie Richie. Wolfe recently created the city-wide spectacle Travel Music with architects DillerScofidio+Renfro in Bordeaux, France, filling the streets of the old city with 100 musicians walking and riding in pedi-cabs.
Julia Wolfe's music has been heard at BAM, the Sydney Olympic Arts Festival, Settembre Musica (Italy), Theatre de la Ville (Paris), Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, and has been recorded on Cantaloupe, Teldec, Point/Universal, Sony Classical, and Argo/Decca. Recent projects include Steel Hammer - an evening length art ballad for Trio Mediaeval and the Bang on a Can All-Stars that premiered at Zankel Hall this past season. Upcoming projects include the New York premieres of Wolfe's string orchestra works Cruel Sister and FUEL performed by Signal at the Miller Theater on February 3, 2011. New works coming up are for Monica Germino, Evelyn Glennie, the Asko Ensemble, Ethel, and a percussion concerto for Collin Currie. Her CD Dark Full Ride, with works for 9 bagpipes, 4 drumsets, 6 pianos, and 8 double basses, was released on the Cantaloupe label in November 2009. Wolfe joined the NYU Steinhardt School’s composition faculty in the fall of 2009. She is co-founder of New York's music collective Bang on a Can.
juliawolfemusic.com
juliawolfemusic.com
Calendar
Sun., October 03, 2010 at 6:30 PM
![Robert Black and the Hartt Bass Band]( "Robert Black and the Hartt Bass Band")
Description
Program:
Stronghold, for 8 double basses (performed by Robert Black and the Hartt Bass Band)
LAD, for 9 bagpipes (performed solo with accompanying pre-recorded bagpipes by Matthew Welch)
Dig Deep, for string quartet (performed by the JACK Quartet)
Description:
The Music of Julia Wolfe
with Jack Quartet, Hartt Bass Band, and Matthew Welch (bagpipes)
Julia Wolfe, cofounder of Bang on a Can, comes to LPR with three passionate works for 8 double basses, string quartet, and bagpipes. Wolfe's music is distinguished by an intense physicality and a relentless power that pushes performers to extremes and demands attention from the audience. In the words of the Wall Street Journal, Wolfe has "long inhabited a terrain of [her] own, a place where classical forms are recharged by the repetitive patterns of minimalism and the driving energy of rock."
With Stronghold, for 8 double basses, Bang on a Can All-Star Robert Black and the Hartt Bass Band become a mega bass with wild harmonic rolls, soaring tunes, and an earthquake of low strings. In the relentless and breathless Dig Deep the ferocious JACK Quartet whip all 16 strings up to a frenzy, and in LAD, for multiple bagpipes, piper Matthew Welch builds dense walls of reedy sound that turn to a cacophony of gigs and reels.
This is a first-come, fully seated event. Seating is limited and not guaranteed; please arrive early.
Stronghold, for 8 double basses (performed by Robert Black and the Hartt Bass Band)
LAD, for 9 bagpipes (performed solo with accompanying pre-recorded bagpipes by Matthew Welch)
Dig Deep, for string quartet (performed by the JACK Quartet)
Description:
The Music of Julia Wolfe
with Jack Quartet, Hartt Bass Band, and Matthew Welch (bagpipes)
Julia Wolfe, cofounder of Bang on a Can, comes to LPR with three passionate works for 8 double basses, string quartet, and bagpipes. Wolfe's music is distinguished by an intense physicality and a relentless power that pushes performers to extremes and demands attention from the audience. In the words of the Wall Street Journal, Wolfe has "long inhabited a terrain of [her] own, a place where classical forms are recharged by the repetitive patterns of minimalism and the driving energy of rock."
With Stronghold, for 8 double basses, Bang on a Can All-Star Robert Black and the Hartt Bass Band become a mega bass with wild harmonic rolls, soaring tunes, and an earthquake of low strings. In the relentless and breathless Dig Deep the ferocious JACK Quartet whip all 16 strings up to a frenzy, and in LAD, for multiple bagpipes, piper Matthew Welch builds dense walls of reedy sound that turn to a cacophony of gigs and reels.
This is a first-come, fully seated event. Seating is limited and not guaranteed; please arrive early.
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