METROPOLIS ENSEMBLE PRESENTS
TOCSIN
A large-scale, two-movement piano trio by composer Patrick Higgins in a concert featuring some of today’s most virtuoso advocates for new music: Bang-on-a-Can's pianist Vicky Chow, cellist Jay Campbell (of Jack Quartet), and cellist Mariel Roberts, as part of Higgins’s Crisis Music series and Metropolis Ensemble x BLUEPRINTS In Visible Roads Piano Festival
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
1 Rivington Street / 2nd Floor (Buzzer #1) / New York, NY
6:30pm (doors) / 7:00pm (event)
Tickets: $15 general / $10 students / free for members
on the program
Patrick Higgins: Tocsin
TOCSIN is a two-movement piano trio in an unusual format.
Written for virtuoso pianist Vicky Chow and two accompanying cellos, it was first premiered as part of a concert suite and art installation by Mr. Higgins' at Pioneer Works in 2016.
A highly demanding and idiosyncratic work, TOCSIN uses subtle mechanical preparations for piano and a unique instrumentation to create a music where the line between piano, cello, and otherworldly source is constantly traversed, undermined, and transformed. The title comes from Old French, and refers to a warning bell. It is, in its way, a expression of our particular moment of crisis--of agency, of mechanism, of mourning.
This performance will feature three of New York City's most gifted and most exciting performers engaging in a challenging and adventurous new work, performed here for the first time in over two years.
BLUEPRINTS unites pianists from different musical genres for eclectic concerts that present traditional classical music alongside contemporary works (including premieres), jazz and free improvisation. Co-founded by Daniel Anastasio and Erika Dohi, these unusually varied programs are each inspired by an aesthetic theme or blueprint. In Visible Roads, co-created with Metropolis Ensemble, represents its first major artistic collaboration with another performing organization, with the goal of enriching the community of pianists, composers, and instrumentalists alike through creating and fostering new collaborative relationships.
Yamaha CF6 premium grand piano provided by Yamaha Artist Services New York.
CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS
