PRESS RELEASE: New 'Mixed Music' from Joseph C. Phillips
Experience "The Sunken Place" from Joseph C. Phillips' forthcoming mono-opera The Grey Land
Watch the Xuan Zhang directed video for "The Sunken Place" off of The Grey Land a mono-opera from Joseph C. Phillips out Nov. 20 on New Amsterdam Records.
“The sunken place is this metaphor for the system that is suppressing the freedom of Black people.”- Jordan Peele
Composer Joseph C. Phillips Jr. releases The Grey Land, his dynamic exploration of race in 21st century America, November 20.
"As I was developing my monoopera, that tells a 'story that reflects today's truth: the unrelenting systemic injustice Black and brown communities endure' I came across Jordon Peele’s quote above, and I just knew I needed to find a place for his “sunken place” concept in The Grey Land," Phillips explains.
"The visuals in Jordon Peele’s film Get Out so beautifully depict the unmoored and unsettled feelings of one’s constant metaphorical swimming in an atmosphere of oppression, and was something I wanted to capture in composing the music. I knew I wanted my own visuals to accompany the music, so once I had finished composing “The Sunken Place” I contacted video artist Xuan Zhang and we had a few FaceTime meetings to discuss all the meanings behind the sunken place phrase; and she came up with images that are both evocative and poignant with meaning, perfectly setting up the mood for this penultimate scene from the opera."
Tristan Perich's Drift Multiply for 50 violins & 50 speakers is nearly here!
An exceprt from Tristan Perich's Drift Multiply - written for 50 violins and 50 1-bit speakers. The album is out Nov. 13 on New Amsterdam & Nonesuch Records.
Journey to sax player Travis Laplante's Inner Garden, an exuberant collaboration with Yarn/Wire
“head-spinning flights of circular breathing share space with sparse, prayerful lyricism”
-Rolling Stone on Travis Laplante
Sax player Travis Laplante is back with Inner Garden, a nirvana-inducing three-movement work that showcases his passion for seamlessly merging improvisation and composition that was inspired by a dreamlike state he experienced when he received the commission from percussion/piano ensemble Yarn/Wire and Roulette. Buy your copy today to journey to Laplante's Inner Garden.
Dynamic new works for solo violin from Michi Wiancko
Violinist and composer Michi Wiancko's Planetary Candidate features new work for four or five string acoustic + electro-acoustic violin by Wiancko herself - "an alluring soloist with heightened expressive and violinistic gifts” (Gramophone Magazine) - plus composers Christopher Adler, Paula Matthusen, Mark Dancigers, Jessie Montgomery and William Brittelle. This project documents her journey as a violinist allowing her to “manifest and passionately inhabit a multitude of musical worlds.”