The Interpretations Series is pleased to announce its 31st season, which begins Thursday, September 26th, 2019.

From September 2019 to May 2019, Interpretations will continue its tradition of playing host to composers, interpreters, and improvisers — artists of both local and international scale, with myriads of approaches to music. Held at Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY, tickets are $20 for adults / $15 for students & seniors, and available on Roulette.org and Interpretations.info.

On the heels of last year’s acclaimed 30th anniversary, the Interpretations Series is dedicated to nurturing the relationship of innovative composers with the growing community of new music virtuoso performers.

“When we started, this was a real need, especially for the more experimental new music,” says Founder and Artistic Director Thomas Buckner. “Now we are experiencing a blossoming of new music groups and solo performers, which makes the series necessary in a new way. There are so many exceptional composers and performers who need a great place to perform.”

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The season begins with sets from composer/performer Ben Neill, and composer/pianist Rocco Di Pietro.

Rocco Di Pietro, a composer, pianist, author, and teacher whose music crosses multiple disciplinary boundaries, celebrates his 70th Birthday with a multi-decade curation of his works, including world premieres of Interrupted Dance (2019), and String Quartet (Imaginal Listening) (2012-17). Other works include In Ringings (from Four Preludes, 1974), The Staircase and The Safe Harbor (from Two Pastels for Lukas Foss (In Memoriam), 2009), and Wave (from Acoustic Poems, 1972). The program will also feature a special performance of the late Julius Eastman’s Hail Mary from 1984, with Di Pietro on piano.  (With Mivos Quartet, strings; Joseph Kubera, piano; Kathleen Supové, piano, recitation; Larry Marotta, guitar; and Robert Dick, flute.)

Also featured is the world premiere of Ben Neill’s Fantini Futuro: a new audio-visual performance work with interactive video projections, written for countertenor (Ryland Angel), Baroque keyboards (Gwendolyn Toth), and the mutantrumpet v4.0 (the debut of the newest rendition of Neill’s self-designed electro-acoustic instrument). The piece is based on the music and life of early Baroque trumpeter/composer Girolamo Fantini, who was responsible for bringing the trumpet indoors from the hunt and the battlefield to the realm of art music. The narrative depicts Fantini as a traveler through time and space, from the 17th century to the future, and reflects on the transformative power of current technology using the history of the trumpet as a metaphor.  Fantini Futuro has been supported by the Nokia Bell Labs Experiments in Art and Technology program, and is a joint force with NYC early music ensemble ARTEK.  (With Bob McGrath, director; Rachel Budin, lighting design; Liz Prince, costume design; Carl van Brunt, animation.)

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Other performances slated for the season include:

※ THURSDAY NOVEMBER 7, 2019: JD PARRAN | AMIR BEY
JD Parran’s Harlem Reunion, a music/spoken word quartet, perform original improvisational compositions. With Alexis Marcelo (piano); Larry Roland (poet and bass); Jackson Krall (percussion). / Amir Bey & JD Parran present Elevated Moon: a ‘ritualistic happening’ with a combination of sound, movement, visual vibrance, and light projections.  With Soundrhythium Michael TA Thompson (drums & percussion); Bill Toles (light-magic); Chihiro Cute-Beat Kobayashi (movements and poses).

※ THURSDAY DECEMBER 5, 2019: MOMENTA QUARTET + ELIZABETH BROWN, FRANCES WHITE
The Momenta Quartet joins forces with composers Elizabeth Brown and Frances White in a multimedia evening fusing Western contemporary music with Japanese aesthetics, literary references, and a video/sculpture installation by artist Lothar Osterburg.

※ THURSDAY APRIL 9, 2020: THOMAS BUCKNER
Baritone Thomas Buckner presents his 31st annual concert of newly commissioned pieces with works by Earl Howard, Pauline Kim, JD Parran, and Buckner himself.  With performers Soo Yeon Lyuh (haegeum, a two-stringed Korean bowed instrument); Andrew Drury (percussion); Earl Howard (synthesizer and saxophone); JD Parran (reeds).

※ THURSDAY MAY 7, 2020: MÉLANIE GENIN | ENSEMBLE L’ART POUR L’ART
Mélanie Genin performs new music for harp by Christian Dachez, Michael Greba, Saad Haddad, Pauline Kim Harris, Mantovani, and Ricardo Romaneiro. / Ensemble L’Art Pour L’Art perform works by Matthias Kawl, Stephan Streich, Killian Schwoon and others.  With Matthias Kawl (percussion); Astrid Smelik (flute). Michael Shorder (guitar); plus special guest Thomas Buckner (baritone voice).

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For more information, please visit interpretations.info