Upcoming Event
World Premiere at DACAMERA
Friday, February 14, 2025 (7:30pm)
Zilkha Hall, The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts
800 Bagby St. Houston TX 77002Performed by Emi Ferguson, Immanuel Wilkins Quartet, and RuckusOn the Program:Telemann: Fantasia for solo flute, re-imagined for full ensembleGeorge Lewis: Artificial LifeRoscoe Mitchell: The Metropolis Trilogy (World Premiere)
Weaving together modern jazz quartet and baroque instruments
The daring flutist Emi Ferguson, the shape-shifting baroque band Ruckus (continuo group, plus solo winds), and the visionary jazz saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins and his quartet combine forces in the art of improvisation for an exhilarating mix of musical styles at DACAMERA in Houston’s downtown Theater District.
The large-scale, three-movement World Premiere of iconic innovator Roscoe Mitchell’s Metropolis Trilogy*, will be surrounded by a dazzling constellation of works from the baroque era and beyond, including an inspired take on Bach’s contemporary, Georg Philipp Telemann; MacArthur-winning composer George Lewis’s open-ended work for mixed instrumental ensemble.
The full trilogy takes the listener on a journey from the gentle and mysterious world of Lady Moon (baroque instruments), to the hard-edged O’Cayz Corral (jazz quartet), culminating in the epic combined forces of Oakwood Drive. The full trilogy is performed by all nine players in three parts; while the first two parts may be performed separately.
*Metropolis Trilogy is a 2020–24 co-commission by Metropolis Ensemble**, Immanuel Wilkins Quartet, Ruckus, Emi Ferguson, and DACAMERA (2025).
**Major funding for this commission and project has been generously provided by Jennifer Salomon and The Richard Salomon Family Foundation.
Metropolis Trilogy by Roscoe Mitchell is a Metropolis Ensemble Production.
Behind the Scenes: Metropolis, Immanuel Wilkins Quartet, Emi Ferguson, and Ruckus workshopped the new work with Roscoe Mitchell in Fall 2022 at Carrolls Studios Manhattan.
Roscoe Mitchell
“I’m interested in all aspects of creativity. And one goal has always been to be a really good improviser who really does create spontaneous composition.” —Roscoe Mitchell
Master saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell (b.1940 in Chicago) is one of the great innovators in creative music of the post-Coltrane, post-Ayler era. He has for over 40 years been a restless explorer of new forms, ideas and concepts. In 1967 he founded the Art Ensemble of Chicago (originally the Roscoe Mitchell Art Ensemble). Its motto – “Great Black Music, Ancient to the Future” – is vividly demonstrated on their ECM legacy, including the widely praised albums Nice Guys, Full Force, Urban Bushmen and Tribute To Lester.
Roscoe is considered one of the key figures in avant-garde jazz, integrating influences from everywhere—world music, funk, rock, classical—to create music that is at once beautiful and complex. He has performed on more than 85 recordings and written in excess of 250 compositions in the jazz and classical realms. He continues to pass down his musical knowledge of composition and improvisation, both in educational and performance settings. More »
Immanuel Wilkins Quartet
“An alto saxophonist whose playing is at once dazzlingly solid and perfectly lithe” —The New York Times
The music of saxophonist and composer Immanuel Wilkins is filled with empathy and conviction, bonding arcs of melody and lamentation to pluming gestures of space and breath. Listeners were introduced to this riveting sound with his acclaimed debut album Omega, which was named the #1 Jazz Album of 2020 by The New York Times. The album also introduced his remarkable quartet with Micah Thomas on piano, Daryl Johns on bass, and Kweku Sumbry on drums, a tight-knit unit that Wilkins features once again on his stunning sophomore album The 7th Hand.
Immanuel has collaborated with Metropolis on multiple projects, including Free Assembly, The Meta Simulacrum, House Music, Fritz Lang: Metropolis, Grief, Regrowth, and Biophony. More »
Ruckus
“Achingly delicate one moment, incisive and punchy the next” —The New York Times
Ruckus is a shapeshifting, collaborative baroque band with a visceral and playful approach to early music. The ensemble debuted in Handel’s Aci, Galatea e Polifemo in a production directed by Christopher Alden featuring Anthony Roth Costanzo, Ambur Braid and Davóne Tines at National Sawdust. The band’s playing earned widespread critical acclaim: “rough-edged intensity” (New Yorker), “superb” (Opera News), “the world’s only period-instrument rock band” (San Francisco Classical Voice).
Ruckus’s core is a continuo group, the baroque equivalent of a jazz rhythm section: guitars, keyboards, cello, bassoon and bass. Other members include soloists of the violin, flute and oboe. Its members are assembled from among the most creative and virtuosic performers in North American early music, and is based in New York City. More »
Emi Ferguson
“Blindingly impressive...a fizzing, daring display of personality and imagination” —The New York Times
Hailed by critics for her “tonal bloom” and “hauntingly beautiful performances,” English-American performer and composer Emi Ferguson stretches the boundaries of what is expected of modern-day musicians. Emi’s unique approach to the flute can be heard in performances that alternate between the Silver Flute, Historical Flutes, and Auxilary Flutes, playing repertoire that stretches from the Renaissance to today.
Emi Ferguson can be heard live in concerts and festivals with groups including Metropolis, Handel and Haydn Society, AMOC*, New York New Music Ensemble, and Manhattan Chamber Players. More »
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