Whitney Museum of American Art: Blogs: Whitney Live

2 Shows Down, 2 To Go

Whitney Museum of American Art — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:13:00 -0400

Categories: Whitney Live

Whitney Live hosted quite the rocking good time the last two Fridays, down in the Lower Gallery and Sculpture Court. If you missed both shows – July 10 with Real Estate/Titus Andronicus and July 17 with Grooms/Abe Vigoda – you can check out photos here:

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2009/07/titus_andronicu_8.html

http://www.prefixmag.com/photos/titus-andronicus-real-estate-whitney-museum-nyc-pi/

Also, there’s a great video here courtesy of our friends at Fader.TV.

Join us for the third week of our Dan Graham: Beyond the Glass series this Friday, July 24 when we’ll fill your ears with Woods and YellowFever!

A sunny dayin glasgowon soundcheck

Whitney Museum of American Art — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:27:00 -0400

Categories: Whitney Live

Quick, quick! A Sunny Day in Glasgow stopped by the studios at WNYC on their way here from Philly to do a short live set on Soundcheck. Do not delay! Tune in now at 93.9 FM WNYC or listen live online at wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck.

Prefuse is coming

Whitney Museum of American Art — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:27:00 -0400

Categories: Whitney Live

Prefuse is coming. Don’t miss it!

We’re into the 3rd week of Wordless Music at the Whitney and gearing up for an evening full of Scott Herren’s signature sounds alongside ACME Ensemble, with works by Chinese-American composer Chen Yi and South African composer Kevin Volans.

Join us this Friday at 7pm for some good Wordless fun…

Wordlessatthe whitney prefuse73 and acme

Whitney Museum of American Art — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:27:00 -0400

Categories: Whitney Live

Thanks for coming out in droves last Friday for our third installment of the Wordless Music at Whitney Live series. The crowd that showed up for Prefuse 73 and ACME was our biggest yet- the line extended all the way into the lobby gallery!

Patient folks waiting to get in…

Some of the spillover crowd used the lack of indoor space (and the beautiful weather) to their advantage and watched the show from our outdoor sculpture court.

Our host for the night, Ronen of Wordless Music fame, got a snazzy haircut! Don’t think we didn’t notice, Ronen.

ACME performed Chen Yi’s “Sound of Five” and Kevin Volans’s “She Who Sleeps” and generally rocked. As usual.

Then it was time for Prefuse 73. He came equipped with a bunch of scary looking equipment with knobs and cables sticking out every which way.

He was impressively ambidextrous.

And wore awesome shades.

Multi-tasking.

A man of few words, but many beats. He had us all bobbing our heads and left us wanting more.

All in all, a great show!

Be sure to come by this Friday, June 27th, for the last installment of Wordless Music at the Whitney, featuring our pals Times New Viking and ACME.

Also, kudos to Brooklyn Vegan and Kevchino for the shout-outs. If you took pictures or blogged about Friday’s show, or any Whitney Live performance, let us know! Holler at us at whitney.live@gmail.com.

Wordless at the Whitney: A Sunny Day in Glasgow and ACME

Whitney Museum of American Art — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:27:00 -0400

Categories: Whitney Live

We had a lovely crowd join us last Friday for Wordless at Whitney Live: ACME + A Sunny Day in Glasgow. It was a full house of curious music-lovers checking out ACME’s gorgeous take on two post-minimalist masterpieces –Shaker Loops by John Adams and Ingram Marshall’s Entrada. Our new friends, Philadelphia-based band A Sunny Day In Glasgow were up second and boy did they blow us away with raucous versions of songs from their recent albums Scribble Mural Comic Journal and Tout New Age.

Here’s Ronen Givony, Wordless Music mastermind, kicking things off.

It was a full house in the Lower Gallery, and we even had some onlookers from outside

ACME, lightening fast

ACME basks in the glow

Our attentive Whitney Live audience

Jad from WNYC’s Radio Lab chats up the crowd post-ACME

A Sunny Day In Glasgow tear it up

NYC music blogger Feast of Music does a nice write-up about the show here. Hope to see you this coming Friday!

Wordless Under Way

Whitney Museum of American Art — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:40:00 -0400

Categories: Whitney Live

Well, we made it! Wordless at Whitney Live is off to a great start. A string quartet configuration of ACME ensemble with violinists Miranda Cuckson and Keats Dieffenbach, violist Miranda Sielaff, and cellist/artistic director Clarice Jensen, had us all transfixed with selections from John’s Book of Alleged Dances by John Adams and Kevin Volans’s White Man Sleeps. A quick breather before The Berg Sans Nipple and then it was all over too soon.

Another amazing show under founder Ronen Givony’s belt. Stay tuned for this Friday!

Poster boy

Whitney Museum of American Art — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:27:00 -0400

Categories: Whitney Live

Between producing this June’s concert series and starting the blog I forgot to introduce our poster boy, Tristan Perich. It’s the side of his face there at the top of this page; he’s the guy with the Whitney sticker on his neck. Our photographer, Amani Willett, just happened to snap a picture of him watching a show here last summer, not knowing that we were already talking to Tristan about doing a Composers’ Showcase performance. Anyway, folks here liked the shot so much that we started using it on the Whitney Live web page and now it’s at the top of the blog as well.

Tristan was here for a leap year concert on February 29, as part of the Composers’ Showcase series (others on that roster this year included John Hollenbeck, J.G. Thirlwell, Nick Didkovsky, and Andy Biskin). Tristan brought us Active Field for 10 violins and 10-channel 1-bit electronics and the world premiere of This Resonant Room for three trumpets, two sets of crotales and 4-channel 1-bit music. (More about 1-bit music here.)

Here’s to Tristan, an incredible young composer who always has lots going on. Check his website at tristanperich.com to see what he’s been up to and where he’s headed.

Behind the Scenes

Whitney Museum of American Art — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:35:00 -0400

Categories: Whitney Live

Putting the final touches on everything for tomorrow, the first of the Wordless Music concerts here at the Whitney. Printing up programs, checking in with Ronen from Wordless Music, letting the Berg Sans Nipple guys know where the loading dock is, making the lists and checking them twice! We’ve been getting some pretty nice listings here and there and we are super-psyched to have finally made it to these shows. By this time tomorrow we’ll be gearing up to clear out the restaurant, bring in the sound equipment, and do our crazy whirlwind dance of setting up and sound checking the artists in almost no time at all. Come on by – we should be ready to let people into the performance area around 6:30 or so.

Wordless at Whitney Live

Whitney Museum of American Art — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 19:55:00 -0400

Categories: Whitney Live

Did I mention how excited we are to be collaborating with Wordless Music? These shows are going to be seriously fun and seriously crowded. Be sure to get here early!

Founder/producer Ronen Givony brought ACME ensemble on board for all four performances. Artistic Director Clarice Jensen listened to the indie/electronic acts on each double bill and carefully chose pieces that in some way echo the various sonic and musical influences. For instance, the Berg Sans Nipple (June 6) are a little bit dance-y (among other things), so ACME will perform two contemporary composers’ takes on dance music. Whether or not you hear the connections immediately, it should be really fun to see what they’ve come up with for each night.

Here’s the full schedule:

June 6
The Berg Sans Nipple & ACME
Franco-American duo The Berg Sans Nipple are Lori Sean Berg and Shane Aspegren. Weaving electronica, layers of feedback, and pop melodies, they create a cohesive, beautifully bizarre collage. ACME performs selections from Kevin Volans’s White Man Sleeps and John Adams’s Book of Alleged Dances.

June 13
A Sunny Day in Glasgow & ACME
Philadelphia brother/sisters combo A Sunny Day in Glasgow adds lush female vocals to dance-worthy rhythms, making surreal, dreamy pop music. ACME performs Ingram Marshall’s Entrada and John Adams’s Shaker Loops.

June 20
Prefuse 73 & ACME
Legendary glitch-hop maven Scott Herren, best known as Prefuse 73, boasts a beat-centric, genre-splicing style. ACME performs Chen Yi’s Sound of Five and Kevin Volans’s She Who Sleeps.

June 27
Times New Viking & ACME
Times New Viking is a Columbus, Ohio-based trio who play punk-infused indie-rock with messy boy-girl vocals and a lo-fi sound. ACME performs Jefferson Friedman’s third string quartet which juxtaposes aggressive post-punk influences with delicate harmonic and melodic textures.

These shows all start at 7pm. ACME goes on first. For directions, and other info about the Whitney see whitney.org.

Whitney Live and WNYC

Whitney Museum of American Art — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:32:00 -0400

Categories: Whitney Live

We are so happy to be teaming up with WNYC during Wordless at Whitney Live. WNYC has been recording performances from the Wordless Music series for a while now, and has them archived and ready for streaming at wnyc.org/wordless. Starting Monday, June 2 WNYC began broadcasting four 1-hour specials culled from the highlights of its recordings of the first season of Wordless Music concerts. Radio Lab’s Jad Abumrad hosts performances by artists including Jonny Greenwood, Beirut, Hauschka, John Adams, Sigur Rós, and Do Make Say Think, illuminating each piece with surprising background information and lively conversation. The programs will air evenings at 10pm on WNYC, 93.9 FM, from Monday, June 2 through Thursday, June 5.

It’s always fun to see radio personalities in person, and Jad will be on hand at the Whitney each Friday this month. Here’s a little taste of just how psyched Jad is about Wordless Music (you should be too!):

“Beyond just presenting amazing music (which oh my god it does!), Wordless Music actually says something about music that’s important to us and our audience,” said WNYC’s Jad Abumrad. “It strikes a certain attitude: that if you’re curious, generous, discerning…maybe a little idealistic…you shouldn’t care about the borders between musical genres because they don’t really matter.”