TANIA LEÓN, JULIAN LAGE, ALAN BRAUFMAN, SAE HASHIMOTO And More – Volume 12 Of National Sawdust's Streaming Digital Discovery Festival

For Week 12 of National Sawdust's Digital Discovery Festival focused on Virtuosity, we present short concerts with genuine virtuosi, including an exceptional percussionist early in her career and a guitarist in the prime of his creative years.

The rare example of a child prodigy whose talent has burnished with age, Julian Lage is known for his delicate wizardry on the guitar, whether as a contemporary classical soloist, as part of a jazz ensemble or playing folk-pop. For his July 28 Discovery Concert, Lage will perform a solo program of self-composed originals.

Sae Hashimoto is a versatile percussionist and a rising star on the avant-garde scene. Having premiered new work by John Zorn and played with the New York Philharmonic as well as the Met Opera, this Juilliard graduate will present a program of classical and contemporary work on July 30.

On July 27, we also look back through the National Sawdust archives at Alan Braufman's live performance from August 2018 of his album Valley of Search, with pianist Cooper-Moore, saxophonist James Brandon Lewis and jazz-hip hop-fusion collective Standing on the Corner.

Few artists have led as stellar and multifarious a life as Tania León. Renowned for her skill as a composer, conductor, social activist, cultural innovator and educator, the septuagenarian León is only now receiving her full due as a modern master. For our very special July 31 masterclass with León, co-hosts vocalist Helga Davis and composer and National Sawdust co-founder Paola Prestini will explore the maestro's array of influencing traditions and learn more about how she has incorporated her varied personal and political experiences into her work. This event will include a listening session of Leóns seminal 1999 work "Horizons".

Please note that, due to technical issues, our Masterclass with Meredith Monk (previously scheduled for July 31) is canceled.

National Sawdust's physical doors are still closed but, thanks to a generous grant from the Alphadyne Foundation, the mission of providing artists the resources and support they need to create and present new work continues with the Digital Discovery Festival, featuring over 100 artists from May through August. All past and present Digital Discovery Festival events are accessible on the newly-constructed Live@NationalSawdust website, as well as on Facebook Live, entirely free of charge.