S.E.M. Ensemble To Perform Petr Kotik’s MANY MANY WOMEN At Bohemian National Hall

The S.E.M. Ensemble will present a performance of MANY MANY WOMEN by Petr Kotik on Wednesday, April 22 at 7:00 p.m. at Bohemian National Hall in New York City. The concert coincides with the release of Many Many Women on the Sub Rosa label in Brussels.

The performance will be led by Petr Kotik and will feature the S.E.M. Ensemble with a guest appearance by The Glass Clouds Ensemble. The program will include Kotik’s STRING QUARTET NO. 1 “ERINNERUNGEN AN JAN” (2007–2010), performed by members of The Glass Clouds Ensemble: violinists Raina Arnett and Holly Workman, violist Noémie Chemali, and cellist Kelcey Howell.

The concert will also feature Kotik’s MANY MANY WOMEN (1975–1978), a work based on text by Gertrude Stein. The performance will be given by members of the S.E.M. Ensemble including sopranos Zen Wu and Rocky Duval, tenors Padraic Costello and Nathan Fletcher, and basses James Gregory and Nicholas Hay. Instrumentalists will include Petr Kotik and Roberta Michel on flutes, Sam Jones and Cha Changhyun on trumpets, and William Lang and Jennifer Baker on trombones.

MANY MANY WOMEN sets Stein’s 80-page novella of the same name and consists of 173 sections spanning 381 pages. The score divides the material among pairs of singers and instrumentalists who determine the timing of their entrances and pauses, resulting in performances that vary with each realization. While the full work can last approximately six hours, the April 22 performance will present a selection lasting about 90 minutes.

Since its founding in 1970, the S.E.M. Ensemble has presented contemporary music influenced by composers associated with the New York School. Its programs have included works by composers such as John Cage, Iannis Xenakis, Pauline Oliveros, Roscoe Mitchell, Phill Niblock, Petr Kotik, and Christian Wolff, alongside music by emerging composers.

The Glass Clouds Ensemble is a chamber music collective founded in 2022 by violinist Raina Arnett and soprano Marisa Karchin. The group focuses on contemporary music by living composers and interdisciplinary collaborations with artists working across visual art, dance, and environmental themes.

The Sub Rosa label, based in Brussels, specializes in contemporary and experimental music and has released more than 250 titles, including recordings related to artists such as Marcel Duchamp, William S. Burroughs, and James Joyce. Its catalogue also includes works by composers and sound artists including Luc Ferrari, Henri Pousseur, Tod Dockstader, Nam June Paik, and Milan Knížák.