Grand Band
PEAK Debut
Grand Band is a unique musical ensemble that includes six pianos arranged in a circle and played by “the finest, busiest pianists active in New York’s contemporary-classical scene” (The New York Times). The sextet engulfs the audience in the sonic intensity of four landmark contemporary works: the iconic and massive Gay Guerilla by cult underground figure Julius Eastman; the pulsating Sensitive Spot by Australian sound artist Kate Moore; and my lips from speaking, a riff on Aretha Franklin’s Think by Pulitzer-winning composer Julia Wolfe. In a thrilling combination of sight and sound, Missy Mazzoli’s Three Fragile Systems is enhanced by the debut of an animated film by Joshua Frankel. In this film, commissioned by PEAK Performances, Frankel builds a world of geometry, color, and looping patterns of human bodies created collaboratively with choreographer Faye Driscoll, heightening the experience of the music.
Performed by Erika Dohi, David Friend, Paul Kerekes, Blair McMillen, Lisa Moore, and Isabelle O’Connell
Kate Moore
Sensitive Spot
Julia Wolfe
my lips from speaking
Missy Mazzoli
Three Fragile Systems
with Joshua Frankel’s Emergent System, an animated film
Julius Eastman
Gay Guerrilla
In conjunction with performances, an exhibition of drawings made by Joshua Frankel for EMERGENT SYSTEM organized by the Office of Arts + Cultural Programming at Montclair State University, in collaboration with the George Segal Gallery, will be on view in the Alexander Kasser Theater Lobby.
Engage
First Impressions
Alexander Kasser Theater
Isabelle O’Connell, Joshua Frankel, Missy Mazzoli
For more information, please visit peakperfs.org/engage
Program
Credits
The commission of Three Fragile Systems by Missy Mazzoli has been made possible by the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program, with general funding provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Emergent System by Joshua Frankel was commissioned by PEAK Performances @ Montclair State University.
Programs in PEAK Performances’ 2019-20 season are made possible in part by funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
