MATA Announces 2022 Festival at Roulette and National Sawdust

From May 4-7, 2022 in Brooklyn, Music at the Anthology presents the MATA Festival, New York's most cutting-edge showcase for experimental early career composers and sound artists, for the first time in two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This season's programming is curated from MATA's international Call for Submissions by inaugural Artist-In-Residence Darius Jones, with guidance from a panel of eight prominent performers and composers of new music: Ben Gerstein, Cooper-Moore, Marta Sanchez, Mark Thomas Taylor, Sugar Vendil, Fay Victor, Joshua White, and Brandee Younger. The 22 selected composers hail from seven countries around the world and eight different states, and will have their works performed by 2022 Ensemble-in-Residence, the International Contemporary Ensemble.

Each concert is specifically crafted by Jones as a fully immersive visual/auditory experience; the first two nights (May 4-5) will be held at Brooklyn's Roulette and will also be viewable via a free live stream, and the second two will take place at National Sawdust (May 6-7), also in Brooklyn. Overall season programming includes six world premieres, five US premieres, and seven New York premieres. Proof of vaccination will be required for all audience members.

On the much anticipated return of the MATA Festival, newly appointed Executive Director, Amanda Gookin, says: "This Festival will be like none other in our history. I am incredibly proud of this season's programming. Darius Jones' curation will blow your socks off - it is radical, fresh, and purposeful. We are following through on MATA's commitment to present works that defy genre and create a deep sense of belonging in our new music community. Everyone is free to experiment and create at MATA, no matter who you are, where you come from, or what your background is. You won't want to miss a single evening from the opening night to Darius's jaw-dropping headline concert."

The 2022 MATA Festival opens on Wednesday, May 4, 2022 at 8:00pm ET at Roulette, and will feature Nyokabi Kariũki's (USA) The Colour of Home; the U.S. premiere of Nina Fukuoka's (USA) Sugar, Spice, and All Things Nice; and the New York premiere of Chris Ryan Williams' (USA) Of Yours; as well as the world premieres of Michele Cheng's (USA) Doyennes Diaries, Laura Brackney's (USA) Knots, Shara Lunon's (USA) Samples No. 3: Why I Believe Womyn, and a new work by Fernanda Navarro (Brazil/USA). Hakan Ulus's (Austria) Auslöschung II will be presented as a sound installation in the Roulette lobby on May 4 and 5. The International Contemporary Ensemble will be joined by trumpeter Chris Ryan Williams, vocalist Shara Lunon, cellist Lester St. Louis, and bassist Luke Stewart.

On Thursday, May 5, 2022 at 8:00pm ET, MATA presents the International Contemporary Ensemble in Vicente Hansen's (Chile/USA) Beauchamp-Feuillet N.2; the U.S. premiere of Cameron Graham's (UK) Life in Pink; Jess Rowland's (USA) Music for Cell Phone and Piano; the New York premiere of Naftali Schindler's (Israel) Chants, Pastorals, and Antiphons of the New Moon; the world premiere of Mengmeng Wang's (USA) The sounds I can hear when I miss you; and the U.S. premiere of June Young Will Kim's (Germany/USA) Black, Emerald.

The 2022 MATA Festival continues at Brooklyn's National Sawdust on Friday, May 6, 2022 at 7:30pm ET. The Ensemble will perform the world premieres of Francisco del Pino's (Argentina/USA) Un pez dorado and Wajdi Abou Diab's (Lebanon) a tune for Amer's Horn; the U.S. premieres of Christian Dimpker's (Germany) N. 11 (String Quartet 1) and John Aulich's (USA) Green, or Beautiful in Green; and the New York premieres of Shuyu Lin's (USA) In the Station of the Metro, Piyawat Louilarpprasert's (USA) Double Shuttering Sprinters, and Travis Laplante's (USA) The Obvious Place for solo tenor saxophone, performed by LaPlante.

The final concert of the festival on Saturday, May 7, 2022 at 7:30pm ET at National Sawdust is an Artist-In-Residence Headline Concert featuring the world premiere of Darius Jones' Colored School No. 3. The new work centers around a one-of-a-kind Brooklyn building that was originally used as a public school exclusively for the education of Black students during segregation. For a time, the building held the name Colored School No. 3, and Jones' piece will revisit three lessons learned through this abomination in history. Jones, performing on alto saxophone, will be joined by violinists Hajnal Pivnick and Ledah Finck, violist Josh Henderson, cellist Issei Herr, bassist Dezron Douglas, percussionist Gerald Cleaver, and vocalist Aviva Mitchell.

Program Information
Festival Information and Tickets:
www.matafestival.org/2022-mata-festival-lineup

DAY 1 // Wednesday, May 4, 2022 at 8:00pm ET
Roulette | 509 Atlantic Ave. | Brooklyn, NY 11217
Link: https://roulette.org/event/2022-mata-festival-1/
Tickets: $20 Online, $25 at the Door. Free Live Stream Available.

Program:
Michele Cheng (USA): Doyennes Diaries [World Premiere]
Fernanda Navarro (Brazil/USA): New Work [World Premiere]
Nyokabi Kariũki (USA): The Colour of Home
Laura Brackney (USA): Knots [New York Premiere]
Shara Lunon (USA): Samples No. 3: Why I Believe Womyn [World Premiere]
Nina Fukuoka (USA): Sugar, Spice, and All Things Nice [U.S. Premiere]
Chris Ryan Williams (USA): Of Yours [New York Premiere]
Hakan Ulus (Austria): Auslöschung II*

*This work will be presented as a sound installation in the Roulette lobby.

Performers:
International Contemporary Ensemble
Chris Ryan Williams, trumpet
Shara Lunon, voice
Lester St. Louis, cello
Luke Stewart, bass

DAY 2 // Thursday, May 5, 2022 at 8:00pm ET
Roulette | 509 Atlantic Ave. | Brooklyn, NY 11217
Link: https://roulette.org/event/2022-mata-festival-2/
Tickets: $20 Online, $25 at the Door. Free Live Stream Available.

Program:
Vicente Hansen (Chile/USA): Beauchamp-Feuillet N.2
Cameron Graham (UK): Life in Pink [U.S. Premiere]
Jess Rowland (USA): Music for Cell Phone and Piano
Naftali Schindler (Israel): Chants, Pastorals, and Antiphons of the New Moon [New York Premiere]
Mengmeng Wang (USA): The sounds I can hear when I miss you [World Premiere]
June Young Will Kim (Germany/USA): Black, Emerald [U.S. Premiere]
Hakan Ulus (Austria): Auslöschung II*

*This work will be presented as a sound installation in the Roulette lobby.

Performers:
International Contemporary Ensemble

DAY 3 // Friday, May 6, 2022 7:30pm ET
National Sawdust | 80 N 6th St. | Brooklyn, NY 11249
Link: https://live.nationalsawdust.org/event/mata-festival-darius-jones-and-international-contemporary-ensemble
Tickets: General Admission $29.50

Program:
Christian Dimpker (Germany): N. 11 (String Quartet 1) [U.S. Premiere]
Francisco del Pino (Argentina/USA): Un pez dorado [World Premiere]
Shuyu Lin (USA): In the Station of the Metro [New York Premiere]
John Aulich (USA): Green, or Beautiful in Green [U.S. Premiere]
Travis Laplante (USA): The Obvious Place [New York Premiere]
Piyawat Louilarpprasert (USA): Double Shuttering Sprinters (2021) for violin and cello [New York Premiere]
Wajdi Abou Diab (Lebanon): a tune for Amer's Horn [World Premiere]

Performers:
International Contemporary Ensemble
Travis LaPlante, saxophone

DAY 4: MATA Artist-In-Residence Headline Concert // Saturday, May 7, 2022 at 7:30pm ET
National Sawdust | 80 N 6th St. | Brooklyn, NY 11249
Link: https://live.nationalsawdust.org/event/mata-festival-darius-jones-and-international-contemporary-ensemble-2
Tickets: General Admission $29.50

Program:
Darius Jones (USA): Colored School No. 3 [World Premiere]

Performers:
Hajnal Pivnick and Ledah Finck, violins
Josh Henderson, viola
Issei Herr, cello
Dezron Douglas, bass
Gerald Cleaver, drums
Darius Jones, alto saxophone
Aviva Mitchell, voice

COVID Safety Policy: Proof of vaccination will be required for all audience members.