S.E.M. Ensemble To Perform Music By Petr Kotik At Bohemian National Hall

S.E.M. Ensemble will present an evening of music by composer Petr Kotik on April 22 at 7:00 p.m. at Bohemian National Hall in New York City. The concert coincides with the recent Sub Rosa label release of Kotik’s Many Many Women, recorded live in Ostrava and issued as a two-CD set.

Directed by Petr Kotik, the program will include String Quartet No. 1 “Erinnerungen an Jan” (2007–2010), performed by members of The Glass Clouds Ensemble, and Many Many Women (1975–1978), based on the text of the same name by Gertrude Stein and performed by members of S.E.M. Ensemble.

Stein’s text Many Many Women, originally published in Paris in 1910 as part of G.M.P. – Gertrude, Matisse, Picasso, forms the full libretto for Kotik’s composition. The complete work runs approximately six hours, though performances often present selected sections. Since the late 1970s, S.E.M. Ensemble has presented full performances of the work, inviting audiences to move in and out of the performance as desired.

Writing about duration, Stein noted, “A masterpiece does not really have a beginning or ending. It just starts and ends.”

The performance will feature vocalists Zen Wu and Rocky Duval, sopranos; Padraic Costello and Nathan Fletcher, tenors; and James Gregory and Nicholas Hay, basses. Instrumentalists include Petr Kotik and Roberta Michel on flutes, Sam Jones and Cha Changhyun on trumpets, and William Lang and Jennifer Baker on trombones.

Members of The Glass Clouds Ensemble performing the string quartet include violinists Raina Arnett and Holly Workman, violist Noémie Chemali, and cellist Kelcey Howell.

Many Many Women has been performed internationally since its premiere, including at the Ostrava Days Festival, where Kotik discussed the work with composer Philip Glass following performances of Glass’s Music in Twelve Parts and Kotik’s own six-hour composition.

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