Sounds From A Safe Harbour — Metropolis Ensemble

METROPOLIS ENSEMBLE AT SOUNDS FROM A SAFE HARBOUR FESTIVAL

Spiritual America

A collection of songs exploring secular spirituality, composed by
William Brittelle

Featuring special guests:
Metropolis Ensemble
Arone Dyer (Buke and Gase)
Andy Stack (Wye Oak)
Sam Amidon

Sunday, September 15, 2019
as part of Sounds from a Safe Harbour Festival
CIT Cork School of Music / Union Quay / Cork, Ireland
2:00pm show
Tickets: €12

on the program

William Brittelle: Spiritual America*

*World Premiere Metropolis Ensemble Commission

listen/purchase album

In May 2019, North Carolina-born, Brooklyn-based composer William Brittelle released a stunning genre-fluid electro-acoustic song cycle: Spiritual America, which will see its live European premiere featuring a host of special guests, at CIT Cork School of Music, as part of Sounds from a Safe Harbour festival, this September.

Mary Hickson, Festival Director, first heard Spiritual America in March of this year. “It literally stopped me in my tracks, I have never heard anything like it. It made me feel an energy I haven’t had with music in a while, it felt strangely familiar in so many ways but was drawn in and swallowed up by its completely new sound. This is something altogether different and thrilling, and I just knew then and there I had to share Brittelle’s vision for music with Cork. I connected with it in a deeply powerful and emotional way - being devastated and uplifted in equal measure. I am so excited and grateful to have the opportunity to present it to the Sounds from a Safe Harbour audience.”

Spiritual America, a cycle of seven songs, is the soundtrack to an emotional journey Brittelle undertook to reconcile his youth in a conservative Christian North Carolina household with his adult life as an “agnostic Buddhist” living in Brooklyn, and to address his questions about the nature of faith. David Hajdu of the Nation praised Spiritual America for its “utter fearlessness” and “quirky beauty” and Brittelle himself for producing “silo-bombing music that is at once free-ranging, formally adventurous, unconventionally beautiful, and a joyful thrill to experience.”

Witness Brittelle’s Spiritual America at Sounds from a Safe Harbour alongside the Grammy-nominated New York City–based contemporary chamber orchestra Metropolis Ensemble, drummer-percussionist Andy Stack of American rock duo Wye Oak, Arone Dyer of experimental pop act Buke and Gase, and American Folk artist Sam Amidon. For this performance in Cork Brittelle has created a revised chamber-based reimagining of the record complete with newly developed material.

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

Featured

WILLIAM BRITTELLE / COMPOSER

William Brittelle is a North Carolina-born, Brooklyn-based composer of genre-fluid electroacoustic music. His work has been praised on All Things Considered and in many other major outlets, including The New York Times (Sunday Arts & Leisure), The Nation, the… READ MORE

ARONE DYER / SOLO VOCALS

Arone Dyer is a vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, composer & founding member of duos Buke and Gase & Mistresses, as well as the composer and director of Dronechoir where she examines social dis/comfort through long-durational choral performance, metamorphosing… READ MORE

SAM AMIDON / SOLO VOCALS

Born in 1981 and raised in Vermont by folk-musician parents, Sam Amidon sings and plays fiddle, banjo, and guitar. As a teenager, Amidon rose to acclaim as a fiddler, releasing five albums with his band Popcorn Behavior. A musician who glides through unlikely set… READ MORE

ANDY STACK / SOLO PERCUSSION

Andy Stack is one of the founding members of the indie-rock duo Wye Oak, as well as a remix artist and a composer and producer for film and television music. He is noted for his technique of performing drums, keyboard, and electronics simultaneously as part of Wye Oak… READ MORE

BEN CASSORLA / ELECTRIC GUITAR

Ben Cassorla is an unrepentant hipster that loves to make music and cook. If his music were a dish, it would be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Simple yet so satisfying. Some might wash that down with a glass of milk, but Ben would probably opt for a beer. Cassorla is… READ MORE

LAUREN CAULEY KALAL / VIOLIN

A performer of “gripping brilliance” and “prodigious energy and skill” (Vancouver Classical Music), hailed as “simply amazing” and “spellbinding.” (Rochester Fringe Festival), New York-based violinist Lauren Cauley propels the avant-garde forward with genre-breaking… READ MORE

ANDREW CYR / CONDUCTOR

Grammy-nominated conductor Andrew Cyr, a “prominent influence in the world of newly emerging music” (Washington Post), is a leader in the rapidly growing contemporary music scene. His passion for creating new platforms for outstanding emerging composers and… READ MORE

ERIKA DOHI / PIANO

NYC-based pianist Erika Dohi, a multi-faceted artist with an eclectic musical background that ranges from traditionally classical to jazz, free improvisation, and new music, has been described as a “dynamic” performer whose “technique is decidedly… READ MORE

JEREMY JORDAN / PIANO

A member of the Young Steinway Artists roster and critically acclaimed, “a clear technical virtuoso”, “a rare talent”; “a true Wunderkind”, pianist and native Chicagoan Jeremy Jordan burst on the music scene at age 9 playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in a… READ MORE

EVAN RUNYON / BASS

A regular guest of many groups in both Europe and the US, bassist Evan Runyon has performed with Klangforum Wien, The Knights, International Contemporary Ensemble, Metropolis Ensemble and Talea Ensemble. He has worked directly with composers Julia Wolfe… READ MORE

PAUL WIANCKO / CELLO

Paul Wiancko has led an exceptionally multifaceted musical life as a cellist, composer, and collaborator. As a student, Paul was simultaneously winning international cello competitions (which led him, most notably, to Poland to perform the Lutoslawski Cello Concerto with… READ MORE

IMMANUEL WILKINS / SAXOPHONE

Immanuel Wilkins is an American Saxophonist, Composer, Arranger, and Band Leader. While growing up in the Philadelphia area, he played in his church and programs dedicated to teaching jazz music such as the Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts. Immanuel… READ MORE