John Zorn News

Saxophonist and clarinetist Victor Goines joins director Andy Clausen and the New York Youth Symphony Jazz Band for its season finale on Sunday, May 7th at the Appel Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center at 3:30pm.

Cartography, the second solo album by intrepid cellist Mariel Roberts, comes out Friday, May 19 on New Focus Recordings, with a 10 pm release show that evening at National Sawdust. Cartography features first recordings of dauntingly virtuosic pieces written for Roberts by four New York-based composers: Cenk Ergün, Davi? Brynjar Franzson,George Lewis, and Eric Wubbels, who joins her on piano for his gretchen am spinnrade. Inspired by Roberts' technical wizardry and interpretive élan, her collaborators have created music that takes the cello into uncharted realms, requiring intense concentration, razor-sharp precision, and almost superhuman endurance. Yet in Roberts' hands, the works transcend their technical demands to emerge as deeply moving meditations on time – the cartography of subjective human experience. 

ETHEL, the renowned New York City-based string quartet, has announced Circus - Wandering City, an evening-length multimedia performance that explores the phenomenon of circus through the eyes and insights of people who have created its special thrills and illusions. Circus - Wandering City makes its world premiere in January 2018-the 250th anniversary of the modern circus-at The Ringling, a distinct non-profit entity that celebrates the history and the continuing evolution of this thriving art form.

For the first time in the U.S., legendary Japanese composer Akira Ifukube's massively influential monster music comes to life in the chamber pop/rock aural extravaganza, Godzilla Legend-Music of Akira Ifukube. Presented by Japan's popular techno-pop bandHikashu, this 90-minute tour de force performance features favorite themes and sensational musical set pieces from some of the most reveredGodzilla movies of all time. Devised and arranged by Hikashu founding member INOUE Makoto under Ifukube's endorsement, the performance features narration by Inoue, who also plays synthesizers, and appearances by 'extreme vocalist' and multi-instrumentalist MAKIGAMI Koichi, current Hikashu front man, and rising star art-pop duo Charan-Po-Rantan. The one-night-only concert takes place Friday, April 28, 7:30 pm, at Japan Society.

On Monday, April 24, 2017 at 7:30pm, composer Lisa Bielawa's The Trojan Women will be performed by the conductor-less chamber orchestra String Orchestra of New York City (SONYC) as part of Victoria Bond's Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival at Symphony Space in Leonard Nimoy Thalia hall. In addition to Bielawa's piece, the concert will also include SONYC performing Victoria Bond's Frescoes and Ash, plus Taka Kigawa performing works by Richard Carrick, Sean Sheppard, and Zosha Di Castri.

 Pidgin Culture presents the debut of Four Oceans, a trio exploring ritualistic forms of interplay in an improvised context on Thursday, March 30th at 7pm at National Sawdust. A new group, it combines the talents of Old Time Relijun frontman Arrington De Dionyso, Rupert Huber of the famous Viennese trip-hop duo Tosca, and globetrotting drummer/composer Lukas Ligeti. De Dionyso, who is also a painter, performs on bass clarinet and various Indonesian traditional instruments; Huber, on piano and electronics, and Ligeti, on drums. Together, they explore new sonic spaces, evoking distant or nonexistent traditions, references to forgotten or freely invented cultures, and sounds that transport the listener to fantastic worlds the rest of us will never see. It is a music of sparse determination and internal revolution.

Hailed as one of the most innovative and influential guitarists of the past quarter of a century, Bill Frisell will make his Queensland debut at the Concert Hall, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) on Friday 9 June 2017.

Experimental music ensemble Zero Times Everything will be releasing their eagerly anticipated new album “Sonic Cinema” on April 21, 2017!

The Film Society of Lincoln Center announces the Sound + Vision Festival, a three-day showcase celebrating the enduring and mutually enriching relationship between cinema and music, April 7-9.

Tom Gold Dance presents its sixth annual New York City season, Tuesday, March 14 and Wednesday, March 15 at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College of Criminal Justice with a program of three recent and new works-Company Premieres of Oasis and Served; and the World Premiere of Counterpoint-from Tom Gold Dance Founder and Director Tom Gold.

On Thursday, April 6, 2017 at 7pm, National Sawdust (80 N 6th St.) will present a concert of the music of composer-vocalist Lisa Bielawa, performed by the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) with Bielawa as vocal soloist.

John Zorn and Executive Dean Richard Kessler announced today that The Stone, the landmark non-profit performance space founded in 2005 by John Zorn and dedicated to the experimental and avant-garde, will move to The Glass Box Theater at Arnhold Hall on 55 West 13th Street, in the heart of New York's Greenwich Village.

Robert Dick's residency at The Stone this March is a powerful representation of his extensive creative versatility. Running from March 21st  through 26th, this will be the first time that an array of his projects will be presented in New York. Ranging from completely improvised (We Are the Walrus, a duo with baritone Thomas Buckner; Dissonant Geranium, a trio with Miya Masaoka, koto and Ken Filiano, bass; Raise the River, a duo with drummer Tiffany Chang; Our Cells Know, contrabass flute solo), to a project based on Robert Dick's works that embrace improvisation within a strong compositional framework (The Time Between Us, a quartet with Stephanie Griffin, viola; Ned Rothenberg, alto sax, bass clarinet and shakuhachi; Satoshi Takeishi, drums), to efforts based on collaboration (Bermuda Rectangle, a quartet with singer/spoken word artist Vince Bell, voice and guitar; David Mansfield, guitars; Ratzo B. Harris, bass). These performances all come together to put Robert's expressive range front and center.

Award-winning Argentine vocalist, songwriter and producer Sofia Rei is considered one of the most passionate and inventive vocalists on the current New York music scene. Her music explores connections between the various traditions of South American folklore, jazz, flamenco and electronic sounds.

Tom Gold Dance presents its sixth annual New York City season, Tuesday, March 14 and Wednesday, March 15 at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College of Criminal Justice with a program of three works from Tom Gold Dance Founder and Director Tom Gold, including the Company premieres of Gold's Oasis and Served.

Composer Robert Sirota is curating a new season-long series at National Sawdust (80 N 6th St). Titled Bridging the Gap, the series features concerts of chamber, choral, and solo works which Sirota has crafted to explore the student/teacher, mentor/mentee relationships between generations of composers. The concerts, all held on Sundays, include performances of works by both younger composers and the teachers who have influenced their development. Each concert is preceded by a discussion with composer mentors, mentees, and performers, led by a distinguished thought leader.

(Le) Poisson Rouge is proud to announce the Buke and Gase residency live at Union Pool. Every Tuesday of March 2017, indie rock outfit Buke and Gase will be hosting an evening of experimental music alongside a new set of guests every week. Tickets are $10-$12 and can be purchased via TicketFly.com

The CUNY Dance Initiative (CDI), a university-wide residency program, announces its spring 2017 performances and public events.

Composer Robert Sirota is curating a new season-long series at National Sawdust (80 N 6th St). Titled Bridging the Gap, the series features concerts of chamber, choral, and solo works which Sirota has crafted to explore the student/teacher, mentor/mentee relationships between generations of composers.

In celebration of his 80th birthday year, esteemed American composer Philip Glass has been appointed to hold the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair at Carnegie Hall for the 2017-2018 season. The yearlong residency will present performances that feature both Glass classics and premieres: American Composers Orchestra dedicates a program to composers inspired by Glass; the Philip Glass Ensemble and the San Francisco Girls Chorus perform his groundbreaking but rarely performed masterpiece, Music with Changing Parts, as part of the citywide festival The '60s: The Years that Changed America; notable premieres include a string quartet for the JACK Quartet and arrangements by composer Nico Muhly of lesser-known Glass songs-both Carnegie Hall commissions; additionally, the Louisiana Philharmonic andPacific Symphony both make their Carnegie Hall debuts in programs selected, in part, by Glass in response to invitations extended to U.S. orchestras to submit programs that place important works by the composer in illuminating contexts. Full details on the residency may be found athttp://www.carnegiehall.org/glass/.