New York, NY -- The 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY), one of New York’s leading cultural venues, presents Wild Up performing Radical Adornment: The Music of Julius Eastman with special guests Devonté Hynes and Adam Tendler on April 21 & 22, 2023.

The extraordinary music of Black, gay experimental composer Julius Eastman remained at the margins during his life and through his death in 1990 at the age of 49, against a backdrop of mental illness and homelessness, the bulk of his scores tossed by law enforcement into the winter snow.

What I am trying to achieve is to be what I am to the fullest. Black to the fullest, a musician to the fullest, a homosexual to the fullest. – Julius Eastman, quoted in the Buffalo Evening News, 1976

The resurgence of Eastman’s music over the past five years has uncovered a vital and distinctive artistic voice. In this major NYC retrospective of his music, the omnivorous Los Angeles-based music collective Wild Up – an early champion of Eastman’s work – presents three concerts over two days and two stages. On Friday, April 21 on the 92NY mainstage, Wild Up performs Femenine – the work widely regarded as Eastman’s masterpiece. The first of two concerts on Saturday, April 22 begins with one of Eastman’s best-known works, the joyful party that is Stay On It. Select chamber works round out the afternoon, including Eastman’s vibrant solo piano piece Piano 2. This concert features special guests Devonté Hynes and Adam Tendler and is held in the intimate Buttenwieser Hall. On Saturday evening, they will present Buddha, Eastman’s egg-shaped open-score epic.

Additional events over the two days, including a photo exhibit in 92NY’s Weill Art Gallery and panel discussions with scholars and those in Eastman’s circle, result in a weekend offering a 360-degree view of one of the most iconoclastic voices of the 20th century. Additional details to be announced.

“singularly jubilant … one beautiful moment after another” - NPR on the music of Julius Eastman

Program:

Eastman: I- Femenine

Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 7:30 pm ET

Kaufmann Concert Hall

Eastman: II- Stay On It, Piano 2, and other chamber works

Sat, Apr 22, 2023, 2 pm ET

Buttenwieser Hall

Eastman: III- Buddha

Sat, Apr 22, 2023, 7 pm ET

Buttenwieser Hall

About the Artists

Wild Up is a collective of artists who work together at the vanguard of classical music. Wild Up is a laboratory for experimenting with the future of sound. It’s an ethos about what a concert should feel like, how music should function in our lives, and how music can bring us together. To us, the name Wild Up means: the thoughtful, unabashed, hearts open, eyes up feeling that connects us when we make and listen to music.

Wild Up began in 2010 as the self-funded project of Artistic Director Christopher Rountree. After graduate school, Rountree returned to Los Angeles to create an ensemble made up of young musicians that would reject classical music’s most outdated traditions and embrace unusual venues and programs that throw the classical repertoire into the context of pop culture, new music and performance art. The group’s first few concerts at art studios and rock clubs around L.A. created a fanbase of true believers. When UCLA’s Hammer Museum tapped Wild Up as the museum’s first-ever orchestra in residence, the group played dozens of concerts in the Hammer’s halls, courtyards, galleries and bathrooms, and The Los Angeles Times proclaimed Wild Up the best classical music of the year. From there it was off to the races, as Wild Up began collaborating with musical and cultural institutions around the world.

Called “…a raucous, grungy, irresistibly exuberant…fun-loving, exceptionally virtuosic family” by Zachary Woolfe of the New York Times, Wild Up has been lauded as one of classical music’s most exciting groups by virtually every significant institution and critic within earshot. This year, Wild Up premieres new pieces by Julianna Barwick and Andrew Greenwald; unveils an evening-length program with Ted Hearne about religion, space and the internet called “of Ascension”; makes their debut on the Ecstatic Music Festival with new work by William Brittelle and Zola Jesus; plays a live radio show at the ACE Hotel with Nadia Sirota, Andrew Norman, and Caroline Shaw; goes on a second U.S. tour with residencies in Salt Lake City, Chapel Hill, and Sonoma; joins Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and Four Larks for a show where the audience doesn’t wear shoes in downtown L.A.; plays a new program called “Eve” with Martha Graham Dance Company; brings the West Coast premieres of Ragnar Kjartansson's “Bliss” to Walt Disney Concert Hall and Bill Morrison and Alex Somers’ “Dawson City: Frozen Time” to Royce Hall; gives a portrait of Julius Eastman at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.; and teaches classes around the intersection of mindfulness, social practice and empathy in Virginia.

Past notable performances are many. The group accompanied Björk at Goldenvoice’s FYF Fest; premiered David Lang and Mark Dion’s “anatomy theater” at LA Opera; played the scores to “Under the Skin” by Mica Levi and “Punch Drunk Love” by Jon Brion at the Regent Theater and Ace Hotel; premiered a new opera of Julia Holter’s at National Sawdust; premiered a new work of avant-pop icon Scott Walker at Walt Disney Concert Hall; played a noise concert as a fanfare for the groundbreaking of Frank Gehry’s new building on Grand Avenue and First Street in downtown L.A.; and has been lavished with praise by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, public radio’s Performance Today and many, many more publications and critics.

The first record in their Eastman anthology Julius Eastman Vol. 1: Femenine has been lauded as “A masterpiece.” (New York Times) “instantly recognizable” (Vogue) and “singularly jubilant..a bit in your face, sometimes capricious, and always surprising.” (NPR). NPR named the record among the top ten records of 2021 in all genres.

Julius Eastman (1940–1990) was an African-American composer, pianist, vocalist, and dancer. Eastman grew up in Ithaca, New York, where he began studying piano at age 14 and made rapid progress. He began college at Ithaca College and transferred to the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied piano with Mieczyslaw Horszowski and composition with Constant Vauclain.He made his debut as a pianist in 1966 at Town Hall in New York City. He was also possessed of a rich, deep, and extremely flexible singing voice. The latter became famous owing to his 1973 Nonesuch recording of “Eight Songs for a Mad King” by the British composer Peter Maxwell Davies. Eastman's talents brought him to the attention of composer-conductor Lukas Foss, who conducted his music with the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

Eastman's music was often written according to what he considered an "organic" principle by which each new section of a work contained all the information from previous sections, though sometimes "the information is taken out at a gradual and logical rate." The principle is most evident in his three works for four pianos, ”Evil ******”, “Crazy ******”, and “Gay Guerrilla”, all from around 1979. The last of these appropriates Martin Luther's hymn "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" as a gay manifesto. Eastman's “Stay On It” from 1973 was an influential post minimalist piece that incorporated pop music influences.

In 1970, Eastman joined the Center for the Creative and Performing Arts at SUNY Buffalo, where he met the Czech-born composer, conductor, and flutist Petr Kotik. Eastman and Kotik performed together extensively in the early to mid 1970s. Eastman was a founding member of the S.E.M. Ensemble. From 1971 he performed and toured with the group, and composed numerous works for it. Many of the earliest performances of Eastman's works were given by the Creative Associates ensemble of University at Buffalo, of which he was a member from 1968.

A 1980 piece for Eastman's voice and cello ensemble, “The Holy Presence of Jeanne d'Arc”, was performed at The Kitchen in New York City, and in 1986 choreographer Molissa Fenley used his work “Thruway “for a dance, “Geologic Moments”, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Also a vocalist, he recorded with Meredith Monk's ensemble for her influential album Dolmen Music (1981).

Despondent about what he saw as a dearth of professional possibilities worthy of him, Eastman grew increasingly dependent on alcohol and crack after 1983, and let his life fall apart. He had taught theory at University at Buffalo, but not very successfully, and a promised job at Cornell University failed to materialize. At one point he was evicted from his apartment, his belongings (including scores) confiscated by the sheriff, and he was forced to live in Tompkins Square Park. Despite a temporary attempt at a comeback, he died alone in Millard Fillmore Hospital in Buffalo of cardiac arrest. So far had he descended from the public eye that no public notice was given to his death until an obituary in the Village Voice by Kyle Gann on January 22, 1991, eight months after his death.

2022/23 TISCH MUSIC SEASON

In this first season curated by 92NY’s new Vice President of Tisch Music Amy Lam, the season features 39 events, more than 20 92NY debuts, 31 premieres, and four 92NY commissions. The 22/23 season includes premieres of Joseph Schwantner’s guitar quintet Song of a Dreaming Sparrow, a song cycle by Anthony Cheung, and works by Laurie Anderson, Timo Andres, Marcos Balter, Christopher Cerrone, Nicholas DiBerardino, Reena Esmail, inti figgis-vizueta, John Glover, Ted Hearne, Fred Hersch, Stephen Hough, Jimmy López, Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, Angélica Negrón, Mary Prescott, Caroline Shaw, Sarah Kirkland Snider, Darian Donovan Thomas, Scott Wollschleger, Pamela Z, and more.

Select Highlights:

This season marks the first time 92NY is presenting a fully integrated concert season across genres, including performances by Kate Baldwin, Joshua Bell, Regina Carter, Angela Hewitt, Larisa Martinez, Branford Marsalis, Kelli O’Hara, Eric Owens, Pepe Romero, Caroline Shaw, Sir András Schiff, Daniil Trifonov, and Jessica Vosk.

The World Premiere of a 92NY-commissioned piece from composer Jimmy López, performed by J’Nai Bridges and the Catalyst Quartet.

The New York premiere of Difficult Grace by cellist Seth Parker Woods and dancer Roderick George, presented in collaboration with Harkness Dance Center.

An in-depth two-day Julius Eastman retrospective featuring LA-based music collective Wild Up in three concerts, as well as exhibits, and panel discussions with Eastman friends and scholars examining the life of one of the 20th century’s most iconoclastic voices.

The Bach Collegium Japan, conducted by Masaaki Suzuki with baritone Roderick Williams

92NY’s signature series exploring the American songbook, Lyrics and Lyricists, continues to explore the best of Broadway, while also highlighting significant contributions to American culture by singer-songwriters across a variety of musical genres such as Marvin Gaye, Joni Mitchell, Nina Simone, the Mamas and the Papas, and more.

Two performances as part of an ongoing partnerships with The Curtis Institute of Music.

Jazz, which has been a staple of 92NY’s Tisch season since Thelonius Monk and Charles Mingus took to the stage in 1955, will be performed by world-class musicians like Branford Marsalis, Fred Hersch, and Regina Carter not just within the renowned Jazz in July series, but throughout the year.

About The 92nd Street Y, New York: The 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a world-class center for the arts and innovation, a convener of ideas, and an incubator for creativity. 92NY offers extensive classes, courses and events online including live concerts, talks and master classes; fitness classes for all ages; 250+ art classes, and parenting workshops for new moms and dads. The 92nd Street Y, New York is transforming the way people share ideas and translate them into action all over the world. All of 92NY's programming is built on a foundation of Jewish values, including the capacity of civil dialogue to change minds; the potential of education and the arts to change lives; and a commitment to welcoming and serving people of all ages, races, religions, and ethnicities. For more information, visit www.92NY.org. 

PLEASE JOIN US:

Friday, April 21, 2023 at 7:30pm

Saturday, April 22, 2023 at 2:00pm

Saturday, April 22, 2023 at 7:00pm

Tickets start at $25 and are available at 92ny.org/event/wild-up-plays-julius-eastman.

Please RSVP to Michelle Tabnick: [email protected], 646-765-4773

LIVESTREAM ALSO AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW PURPOSES BY REQUEST

PHOTOS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/628wn1vjg5suzxj/AAAKiDWssjPC0ALMsEMSCCwMa?dl=0