in performance: Mark Your Calendars for Andriessen 75!

From April 6 to 13, Washington D.C. area audiences will get to hear a cross-section of Louis Andriessen’s most important recent work in a festival celebrating his upcoming 75th birthday. Developed and curated by Armando Bayolo, founder of Great Noise Ensemble and new music curator at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, Andriessen 75  features a host of premieres and defining works by the honored composer, alongside pieces and performances by some of his most noted collaborators, students and friends.

Of greatest interest to the Sybaritic Faithful will likely be the concert performance of Andriessen’s 2008 work “La Commedia.” Based on Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” the composition is a treasure trove of vocal colors, musical references from jazz to chant to off-kilter Bernstein, and dramatic flair. This particular performance Sunday, April 6, 2014, 6:30 p.m. at the National Gallery of Art West Garden Court does not include the accompanying film by director Hal Hartley but it will feature one of the original performers, Cristina Zavalloni as Dante. “The journey is not clear-cut,” writes Mark Swed in his review for the LA Times, “but Dante — in the form of the extraordinarily versatile mezzo-soprano, jazz singer and new music specialist Cristina Zavalloni — descends into the horrible city of Dis and also enters a purgatory fashioned after Hieronymus Bosch’s “The Garden of Earthly Delights.” Zavalloni will be joined on stage by soprano Lindsey Kesselman as  Beatrice and Andrew Sauvageau as Lucifer/Cacciaguida. The intrepid new music folks at Shenandoah Conservatory are also participating in this exciting festival offering two performances featuring the EDGE Ensemble, Aeolus Quartet, and Shenandoah Conservatory Wind Ensemble. Check out their schedule here.

“It’s amazing how much American culture has influenced my music. If not for the music of jazz and American avant-garde composers, such as John Cage and Robert Graettinger, I would have been a different composer. My connection to American music is perhaps one of the reasons why Armando Bayolo and other Washington area organizations are able to organize this festival today. I am honored that my music will be celebrated in Washington, D.C.” – Louis Andriessen

You will not want to miss the events at the Atlas Performing Arts Center either! Get tickets to any of the Atlas Performing Arts Center performances here.

• Monday, April 7, 2014, 8:00 p.m.
  Atlas Performing Arts Center
  Roadmaps and Diaries II
  Monica Germino, violin and voice
  Frank van der Weij, sound design

  Louis Andriessen: Xenia
  Julia Wolfe: with a blue dress on
  Michael Gordon: INDUSTRY
  Donnacha Dennehy: Overstrung

• Wednesday, April 9, 2014, 8:00p.m.
  Atlas Performing Arts Center
  Andriessen’s Piano/Andriessen’s Jazz
  Molly Orlando, piano
  Francesca Hurst, piano
  Brad Linde Jazz Ensemble

  Louis Andriessen:

  Image de Moreau (U.S. première of the complete collection)
  Louis Andriessen: On Jimmy Yancey
  Monument to Graettinger (U.S. Premiere)
  That Happens in Vietnam
  The Family Revisited (U.S. Premiere)

• Friday, April 11, 2014, 8:00 p.m.
  Atlas Performing Arts Center
  Andriessen and Friends
  Bang on a Can All Stars

  Louis Andriessen: Life
  Workers Union
  David Lang: Cheating, Lying, Stealing
  Michael Gordon: I Buried Paul
  Julia Wolfe: Believing
  Steve Martland: Horses of Instruction

“Louis Andriessen’s influence on American composers and musicians of the post-Baby Boom generations is well-documented, as is the influence of American music on him. His music and aesthetics have had an enormous impact upon my own work, both as composer and as an advocate for the music of our time. The current mood in contemporary concert music—optimistic, energetic, informal, irreverent, fun—can be directly attributed to Louis. It is for this reason that, as the Washington new music scene continues to grow and its national presence expands, we wish to honor Andriessen’s work on the occasion of his 75th birthday.” – Armando Bayolo, curator of Andriessen 75

In case you’re in the mood to get started right away. Here’s a playlist from Boosey & Hawkes to light your fire.
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