The 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY), one of New York’s leading cultural venues, presents Mary Halvorson’s ensemble Amaryllis at 7:30 pm at Buttenwieser Hall at The Arnhold Center. Online streaming is also available for 72 hours following the performance. Tickets start at $25 and are available at https://www.92ny.org/event/mary-halvorson.

MacArthur “Genius” Grant recipient guitarist-composer Mary Halvorson, hailed for her sonic explorations at the intersection of jazz and rock, is widely considered one of the most original guitarists of the 21st century. She joins us with her Amaryllis sextet for the New York release concert for her new Nonesuch album Cloudward – the follow-up to her critically acclaimed dual release Amaryllis and Belladonna, named Jazz Album of the Year in Downbeat’s annual Critics Poll.

One of New York City’s most in-demand guitarists, Halvorson has collaborated with leading figures in contemporary music including Tim Berne, Anthony Braxton, Bill Frisell, Jason Moran, Marc Ribot, John Zorn, and others. Don’t miss the rare chance to experience one of the most exciting artists in avant-garde jazz in a NYC concert hall space.

Mary Halvorson, guitar

Adam O’Farrill, trumpet

Jacob Garchik, trombone

Patricia Brennan, vibraphone

Nick Dunston, bass

Tomas Fujiwara, drums

This concert is under 90 minutes and will be performed without intermission. Join us in the hall’s lounge following the performance and meet the artist.

Guitarist, composer and MacArthur Fellow Mary Halvorson has been called “NYC’s least-predictable improviser” (Howard Mandel, City Arts), “the most forward-thinking guitarist working right now” (Lars Gotrich, NPR.org) and “one of today’s most formidable bandleaders” (Francis Davis, Village Voice). Halvorson’s most recent releases, Amaryllis and Belladonna, showcase her string quartet writing deftly interpreted by The Mivos Quartet, alongside a new sextet featuring Adam O’Farrill (trumpet), Jacob Garchik (trombone), Patricia Brennan (vibraphone), Nick Dunston (bass) and Tomas Fujiwara (drums). The twin debuts for Nonesuch Records, released in May 2022, were called “...new landmarks in Halvorson’s already inimitable discography” in a five-star review by the Guardian. Collaborative projects include the longstanding collective ensemble Thumbscrew (with Michael Formanek and Fujiwara), and a chamber-jazz duo with violist Jessica Pavone. Over the past two decades Ms. Halvorson has also performed in bands led by Anthony Braxton, Tim Berne, Taylor Ho Bynum, Trevor Dunn, Ingrid Laubrock, Myra Melford, Jason Moran, Joe Morris, Tom Rainey, Tomeka Reid, Marc Ribot, Ches Smith and John Zorn, among others.

Brooklyn-bred artist Adam O’Farrill has been heralded as “among the leading trumpeters in jazz- and perhaps the music’s next major improviser” (New York Times). Born into a musical legacy that includes composer Chico O’Farrill and pianist Arturo O’Farrill, Adam has cemented his status as one of creative music’s most in-demand voices, collaborating with Mary Halvorson, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Mulatu Astatke, Samora Pinderhughes, Anna Webber, Vijay Iyer, Mahogany L. Browne, Kambui Olujimi, and Stimmerman. In 2021, Adam released his third album, Visions of Your Other (Biophilia Records), with his quartet, Stranger Days. The album was listed as one of the best albums of 2021 by The New York Times, won the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, and the Wall Street Journal wrote of the album, “Mr. O’Farrill’s music is refined and discreet; it integrates aspects of art rock and contemporary classical music and boasts a cinematic influence.” For his work as a composer and bandleader, Adam has received awards, commissions, and grants from the ASCAP Foundation, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, The Jazz Gallery, Roulette, The Shifting Foundation, and South Arts.

Jacob Garchik, multi-instrumentalist and composer, was born in San Francisco and has lived in New York since 1994. At home in a wide variety of styles and musical roles, he is a vital part of the Downtown and Brooklyn scene, playing trombone in groups ranging from jazz to contemporary classical to Balkan and Mexican brass bands. He has released six albums as a leader including The Heavens: the Atheist Gospel Trombone Album and 2022’s Assembly. In 2018 he won the “Rising Star – Trombone” category in the Downbeat Jazz Critic’s Poll. Since 2006 Jacob has worked as the “house arranger” for Kronos Quartet, creating over 115 arrangements and transcriptions of music from all over the world. His work for them has appeared on 11 albums, including the Grammy-winning Landfall with Laurie Anderson. In 2017 he composed the score for The Green Fog, a found-footage remake of Vertigo, directed by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson, and in 2019 he composed Storyteller using the talking, singing, playing and compositions of Pete Seeger.

Patricia Brennan “has recently started to make her presence known on the New York avant-garde, working with such prominent bandleaders as Matt Mitchell and Michael Formanek,” observed the New York Times. Patricia is a member of Grammy-nominated John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, Michael Formanek Ensemble Kolossus, Matt Mitchell’s Phalanx Ambassadors, the Webber/Morris Big Band, and Tomas Fujiwara’s 7 Poets Trio. She has also collaborated with pianist Vijay Iyer as a member of Blind Spot and Open City. Patricia has appeared on several recordings, including an ECM recording with Michael Formanek Ensemble Kolossus called The Distance. Patricia released her solo debut album Maquishti in January 2021 under the label Valley of Search. Patricia Brennan is a BlueHaus Mallets artist and currently teaches at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music and at the Jazz Studies program at NYU Steinhardt.

Called an “indispensable player on the New York avant-garde" (New York Times), Nick Dunston is an acoustic and electroacoustic composer, improviser, and multi-instrumentalist. He has worked with artists such as Marc Ribot, Ches Smith, Son Lux, Lucrecia Dalt, Mary Halvorson, Vijay Iyer, Allison Miller, Ingrid Laubrock, Tyshawn Sorey, Anna Webber, and Craig Taborn, among others. Dunston’s works have been commissioned by Bang on a Can, JACK Quartet, A L'ARME! Festival, Ex-Aequo, Bass Players for Black Composers, Tenth Intervention, Gaudeamus Festival, Line Upon Line Percussion, Johnny Gandelsman, T R O M P O, and more. He was awarded Roulette’s Van Lier Fellowship, which supported the creation of the song cycle La Operación, the double bass quintet The Floor is Lava!, and his debut studio album, Atlantic Extraction. With Dogbotic Labs, he co-created “Ear Re-training”, a music composition course focusing on experimental techniques. Dunston and Katherine Young were featured as the first Artists-in-Residence with Wet Ink Ensemble, where Dunston created his ensemble work Reverse Broadcast. At Berlin’s A L’ARME! Festival, he premiered the multimedia installation Static Arrival with artist Alex Schweder. His most recent recording, Spider Season, received critical acclaim from Pitchfork and the Wire magazine. 

Brooklyn-based Tomas Fujiwara is an active player in some of the most exciting music of the current generation. He leads the bands Triple Double, 7 Poets Trio, and Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up; has a collaborative duo with Taylor Ho Bynum; is a member of the collective trio Thumbscrew (with Mary Halvorson and Michael Formanek); and engages in a diversity of creative work with Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, Mary Halvorson, Tomeka Reid, Matana Roberts, Nicole Mitchell, Ben Goldberg, Amir ElSaffar, Benoit Delbecq, and many others. In 2021, he won the Downbeat Critics Poll for Rising Star Drummer, and premiered two suites of new music as part of his Roulette Residency: You Don’t Have to Try (with Meshell Ndegeocello) and Shizuko.

Date: Saturday, February 10, 2024

Time: 7:30 PM

Location: Buttenwieser Hall at The Arnhold Center/ and also on Online.
1395 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10128

Tickets from $25

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