Event Description

Ranging from ethereal to epic, this experiential concert by Eighth Blackbird’s Matthew Duvall is an exploration of sound and volume. In the spirit of Merce Cunningham and his collaborating partner, composer John Cage, Duvall crafts a program that finds form and meaning in dynamic extremes—from a focused scream to the expansive edge of silence.

The program begins in the theater with solo percussion works by Erik Satie, Morton Feldman, John Luther Adams, Matthew Burtner, and Yu-Hui Chang; it then moves to the upper floors of the museum, where Duvall is joined by 99 percussionists for the US premiere of Voice of the Winds, a new ambient work by composer/percussionist Marta Ptaszynska. Influenced by John Cage’s fascination with the presence of silence, this work makes an indelible soundscape by using 100 of the loudest instruments at their most ethereal.

Presented in conjunction with Merce Cunningham: Common Time

Program:

Matthew Burtner: Broken Drum
John Luther Adams: Wail
Yu-Hui Chang: Binge Delirium
David Lang: Wed
Morton Feldman: King of Denmark
John Cage: Inlets
Marta Ptaszyńska: Voice of the Winds (for 100 percussionists playing softly, 2016) US Premiere