Ethan Iverson to Curate Scott Wollschleger Portrait Show, Part Of Sono Fest At Soapbox Gallery

On Friday, June 16, 2023 at 7:30pm, a portrait show of works by composer Scott Wollschleger will be performed as part of Sono Fest - a series of programs curated by Ethan Iverson at Soapbox Gallery in Brooklyn. Compositions by Wollschleger - recently described as "a small masterpiece" by The New York Times - will be performed in two sets by pianist Karl Larson, cellist John Popham, percussionist Kevin Sims, and violin/violist Miranda Cuckson, all close collaborators to Wollschleger. The second set will be highlighted by the world premiere of the hyper-virtuosic Secret Machine No. 7, a major new work by Wollschleger. Among the program's other high points will be the New York premieres of Brontal No. 12 "Song-memory," Lost Anthems, and Fish of the Sea.

"Scott Wollschleger possesses an ear for fresh notes, and delivers them in a slow and almost terrifying manner: Morton Feldman meets Thelonious Monk meets H.P. Lovecraft," said Iverson - the noted pianist, composer, and critic best known for his work in the avant-garde jazz trio The Bad Plus - in his curator's note.

The evening's first set will be dominated by solo piano works performed by Larson, beginning with Tiny Oblivion, a composition based on discarded material from Wollschleger's piano concerto Meditation on Dust, composed for Larson and The String Orchestra of Brooklyn in 2015. In both compositions, complex and dramatic crescendos are used to highlight the decaying space between sounds - conjuring an image of deep space, and a darkly humorous reflection on the "tiny oblivion" we all achieve when eventually reduced to stardust after death. The set continues with the meditative nocturne Music Without Metaphor. Next on the program are Brontal No. 2, where a layered series of refrains are used to create a dreamy sensation of nostalgia, and Brontal No. 6, also a fundamentally nostalgic piece built on tiny sparks of resonance reminiscent of Tori Amos. Following that will be Brontal No. 11 "I-80" - composed during COVID-19 lockdown, as Wollschleger imagined cruising down the highway under a clear blue sky - and then the New York premiere of Brontal No. 12 "Song Memory." As Wollschleger recounted: "Brontal No. 12 is based on music that was stuck in my head for 12 years. I thought it was a fleeting memory, but it had staying power and I finally wrote it down." Larson will then perform Secret Machine No. 4 and Secret Machine No. 6, two works from Wollschleger's series of compositions built around short and varied musical flows connected to form "playful sonic machines." Larson will be joined by Cuckson on viola for the first set's final selection, Soft Aberration No. 2, which uses similar but staggered musical motifs to create a "broken echo" between the piano and viola parts.

The second set begins with the New York premiere of Lost Anthems, featuring Larson on piano and Cuckson on viola. Composed of 15 contrasting sections, this piece follows a winding but continuous thread through varied musical "fields" described by Wollschleger as "time-feel bubbles," each with its own vibe and personality. With no transitions between sections, the performers must acrobatically jump from one to the next, highlighting the distinctive elements in each passage as well as the contrasts between them. The set will continue with the New York premiere of Fish of the Sea - a piece written for Kevin Sims, and built around the unique sonic effects of Sims singing a ballad into a tiny amplified lightbulb. The world premiere of Secret Machine No. 7, featuring Cuckson on violin, will follow. The program will conclude with Brontal Symmetry, performed by Cuckson on violin, Larson on piano, and John Popham on cello. In this composition, "discarded scraps" of music from other works have been pieced together, yielding a series of bare sensations - "musical objects" without the context of their original meaning. In this way, the piece explores the "brontal" concept coined by Sims to describe a childlike, sometimes humorous process of discovery derived from the sensation of an object.

Program Information

Sono Fest: Scott Wollschleger
Friday, June 16, 2023 at 7:30pm
Soapbox Gallery | Brooklyn, NY
Tickets: In-House Tickets $28.52, Livestream $17.85
Link: www.eventbrite.com/e/sono-fest-scott-wollschleger-tickets-624436946717

Program:

Set 1:
Tiny Oblivion
Music Without Metaphor
Brontal No. 2
Brontal No. 6
Brontal No. 11
Brontal No. 12 (New York premiere)
Secret Machine No. 4
Secret Machine No. 6
Soft Aberration No. 2

Set 2:
Lost Anthems (New York premiere)
Fish of the sea (New York premiere)
Secret Machine No. 7 (World Premiere)
Brontal Symmetry

Karl Larson, piano
Miranda Cuckson, violin/viola
John Popham, cello
Kevin Sims, percussion

About Scott Wollschleger

Composer Scott Wollschleger (b. 1980) grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. His music has been highly praised for its arresting timbres and conceptual originality. Wollschleger "has become a formidable, individual presence" in the contemporary musical landscape (The Rest Is Noise, Alex Ross), and his most recent piano work was praised as a "small masterpiece" (The New York Times, Seth Colter Walls). His distinct musical language explores themes of art in dystopia, the conceptualization of silence, synesthesia, and creative repetition in form - a musical blend that Ethan Iverson describes as "Morton Feldman meets Thelonious Monk meets H.P. Lovecraft."

Wollschleger's concert works can be heard in the United States and abroad. Notable commissions and premieres include those from Adam Tendler, Miranda Cuckson, Isaac Shieh, Karl Larson, The String Orchestra of Brooklyn, Bearthoven, William Lang, Leileihua Lanzilotti, Du.0, and loadbang. His debut album, Soft Aberration, was released on New Focus Recordings and was named a 2017 Notable Recording in The New Yorker. His second album, American Dream, written for the trio Bearthoven, was released on Cantaloupe Music in 2019. His third album, Dark Days, and his work on The String Orchestra of Brooklyn's most recent album, enfolding, were released on New Focus Recordings in 2021 and 2022.

Following lightly in the footsteps of the New York School, Wollschleger received his Masters of Music in composition from Manhattan School of Music in 2005, where he studied with Morton Feldman's protegé Nils Vigeland. For 10 years Wollschleger was a Co-Artistic Director of Red Light New Music, a 501c(3) non-profit organization dedicated to presenting and crafting contemporary music. In addition to his musical ideas, Mr. Wollschleger frequently delves into the philosophical writings of Deleuze, Nietzsche, and Brecht, and maintains an ongoing collaboration with Deleuzian scholar Corry Shores. Their co-authored thesis, Rhythm Without Time, was presented at the London Graduate School's academic conference, "Rhythm and Event." Wollschleger is published by Project Schott New York. www.scottwollschleger.com

Photo Credit: Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti

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