Avant Music News

Joseph Kubera & Marilyn Nonken
2 World Premieres: Larry Polansky &
Michael Byron, plus Christian Wolff

Thursday, March 17, 2011
8PM at Roulette

20 Greene Street (between Canal and Grand)

Premieres of major works for two pianos, including works by Larry Polansky, Michael Byron, & Christian Wolff. Hailed by Village Voice critic Kyle Gann as one of “new music’s most valued performers,” Joseph Kubera is joined by pianist Marilyn Nonken, one of the most celebrated champions of the modern repertoire of her generation. Together, these two innovative proponents of contemporary music for piano will premiere Larry Polansky’s epic work “THREE PIECES FOR TWO PIANOS”. Kubera will premiere Michael Byron’s “BOOK OF HORIZONS”, and the duo will also play “EXERCISE 20 (ACRES OF CLAMS)” by Christian Wolff.

Fieldwork (Thursday) This collaborative threesome is rightly revered for its way with discursive melody and asymmetrical rhythmic forms; the heart of its sound is an ever-shifting rapport between the pianist Vijay Iyer, the saxophonist Steve Lehman and the drummer Tyshawn Sorey, all of whom compose material for the group. At 9 and 10:30 p.m., Jazz Gallery, 290 Hudson Street, at Spring Street, South Village , (212) 242-1063, jazzgallery.org; $20, members $10. (Chinen)

Mark Helias’s Open Loose (Friday) Mark Helias is a bassist equally committed to the causes of momentum and texture, and in that sense he has a good thing in Open Loose, a working band with Ellery Eskelin on tenor saxophone and Tom Rainey on drums. At 9 and 10:30 p.m., Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, West Village , (212) 989-9319, corneliastreetcafe.com; $15 cover, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen)

Ethan Iverson, Larry Grenadier, Paul Motian (Friday through Sunday) Mr. Iverson, an acutely contemporary pianist best known for his role in the Bad Plus, has some history with Mr. Motian, a drummer of deep melody and shadowy mastery. Their anchor for this engagement is Mr. Grenadier, a bassist who has recorded fruitfully under Mr. Motian’s employ. At 9 and 11 p.m., Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street, West Village , (212) 255-4037, villagevanguard.com; $25 cover, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen)

Ingrid Laubrock’s Anti-House (Thursday) Ms. Laubrock is a tenor and soprano saxophonist of experimental temperament — the name of this band, with its flat negation of shelter, feels appropriate — and she knows how to rally other musicians to her cause. As on an eponymous album released on the Intakt label last year, the group includes the guitarist Mary Halvorson, the bassist John Hébert and the drummer Tom Rainey. At 8:30 p.m., Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, West Village , (212) 989-9319, corneliastreetcafe.com; $10 cover, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen)

Paul Motian Trio 2000 +2 (Tuesday through Thursday) The drummer Paul Motian recently hit on a new lineup for this nonstandard-standards ensemble: Masabumi Kikuchi on piano, Loren Stillman on alto saxophone and both Ben Street and Thomas Morgan on bass. Expect a weightless and luminous sort of music, with an equal commitment to mystery and melody. (Through March 13.) At 9 and 11 p.m., Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street, West Village , (212) 255-4037, villagevanguard.com; $25 cover, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen)

Matthew Shipp Trio / Weasel Walter-Mary Halvorson-Peter Evans Trio (Monday) This double bill, presented by Thirsty Ear Records, features two adventurous trios with new albums on the label. One is “Art of the Improviser,” featuring Matthew Shipp, a probingly percussive pianist. The other is “Electric Fruit,” a more raucous affair that involves Mr. Walter, an impetuous drummer, Ms. Halvorson, a sly guitarist, and Mr. Evans, a razor-sharp trumpeter. At 10:30 p.m., Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker Street, near Thompson Street, Greenwich Village , (212) 505-3474, lepoissonrouge.com; $10 in advance, $12 on day of show. (Chinen)

Ches Smith and These Arches (Wednesday) Avant-garde jazz and experimental rock are essentially intertwined in the music of These Arches, led by Mr. Smith, a drummer, and featuring the tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby, the guitarist Mary Halvorson and the accordionist Andrea Parkins. The group has a bracing new album, “Finally Out of My Hands” (Skirl). At 8:30 p.m., Roulette at Location One, 20 Greene Street, at Grand Street, SoHo , (212) 219-8242, roulette.org; $15, students $10. (Chinen)

Alarm Will Sound (Thursday) The rumor of a planned meeting and a proposed joint concert between Stockhausen and the Beatles, mentioned in passing in a Stockhausen biography, gave rise to “1969,” Alarm Will Sound’s latest adventure. A freewheeling fantasy in which John Lennon, Stockhausen, Luciano Berio, Leonard Bernstein and others discuss their ideas (the script, by Andrew Kupfer, is drawn from their writings and interviews) about music and politics, the piece, staged by Nigel Maister, evokes time when Utopian ideas and musical experimentation were in the air. The program is a mashup of works from the time, including orchestrations of the Beatles’ “Revolution 9” and “Tomorrow Never Knows,” and movements from Bernstein’s “Mass.” At 9 p.m., Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall , (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org; $30 and $42. (Allan Kozinn)

American Composers Orchestra (Friday) The American Composers Orchestra presents the latest products of its musical laboratory: the premieres of four works that push the boundaries of what is possible with an orchestra. The composers — Laura Schwendinger, Henry Threadgill, Joan La Barbara, Sean Friar — were chosen from a nationwide search. George Manahan conducts. At 7:30 p.m., Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall , (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org; $40 and $50. (Tommasini)

Mario Davidovsky (Friday) A pioneer in the melding of electronic and acoustic music, Mario Davidovsky is the subject of an installment in the Miller Theater’s Composer Portraits series. The program, performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble, includes two of his Synchronisms pieces — Nos. 9 and 12 — as well as his Festino No. 1, Festino Notturno (Festino No. 2), Chacona, Quartetto No. 2 and Romancero. At 8 p.m., Miller Theater, Broadway at 116th Street, Morningside Heights , (212) 854-7799, millertheatre.com; $25. (Kozinn)

? Ecstatic Music Festival (Saturday and Wednesday) This vital new series illuminates the growing bonds between musicians active in contemporary classical music and progressive pop. On Saturday, two bright young performing composers, Timothy Andres and Gabriel Kahane, pay homage to Ives, a maverick forebear. And on Wednesday, Nadia Sirota, a violist near the center of this upstart movement, collaborates with Thomas Bartlett, a singer and keyboardist who works under the name Doveman, and Owen Pallett, a singer and violinist formerly known as Final Fantasy. At 7:30 p.m., Merkin Concert Hall, 129 West 67th Street, Manhattan , (212) 501-3330, kaufman-center.org; $25, $15 for students. (Smith)

Annie Gosfield (Friday and Saturday) In her latest project, “Daughters of the Industrial Revolution,” Annie Gosfield draws both on her family roots as a sort of compositional strategy. Her grandfather, a junk dealer on the Lower East side, sold scrap metal, among other things. Ms. Gosfield has, in recent years, built her work of sounds she recorded in factories and industrial sites, and in this work she functions as a high-tech, updated, musical version of her grandfather. She performs the work on a sampling keyboard with her band, which includes the guitarist Roger Kleier and the drummer Ches Smith, along with a few guests, the cellist Felix Fan, the percussionist Alex Lipowski and the pianist Stephen Gosling. At 8 p.m., the Kitchen, 512 West 19th Street, Chelsea , (212) 255-5793, Ext. 11, thekitchen.org; $10. (Kozinn)

Tully Scope Festival (Friday, Saturday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday) Les Percussions de Strasbourg ranges throughout Alice Tully Hall in works by Gérard Grisey on Friday and Xenakis on Saturday. On Monday, Tyondai Braxton, a composer and multi-instrumentalist formerly active in the art-rock band Battles, works with the Wordless Music Orchestra. The vibrant string quartet Brooklyn Rider renews its partnership with the Iranian spike-fiddle player Kayhan Kalhor on Wednesday. On Thursday the Canadian pianist Louis Lortie plays Lizst’s complete “Années de Pèlerinage.” Friday, Saturday, Monday and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., Thursday at 7 p.m.; Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center , (212) 721-6500, tullyscope.org; $35 to $45 on Friday and Saturday, $25 to $50 on Monday, $35 to $50 on Wednesday, $45 to $75 on Thursday. (Smith)