On October 14 at Bowling Green State University, Mantra Percussion gives the US premiere of Michael Gordon’s percussion sextet, Timber — followed by a North American tour that includes the Canadian premiere on October 22 at the X Avant Festival (with indie rock-duo Buke & Gass).
The new work, an evening-length tour de force scored for six graduated wooden 2x4s brings the physicality, endurance and technique of percussion performance to a new level…
continue readingOn June 16 at Korzo Theatre in Den Haag, The Netherlands, the Dutch percussion group Slagwerk Den Haag gives the world premiere of Michael Gordon’s percussion sextet, Timber, an evening-length tour de force.
Scored for six graduated wooden 2x4s, or Simantras (Greek liturgical percussion instruments used by French composer Iannis Xenakis), the work brings the physicality, endurance and technique of percussion performance to a new level…
continue readingThe Kronos Quartet has been a long-time champion of the music of Michael Gordon, having commissioned Sad Park in 2006 and Potassium in 2000. This fall, they premiere two brand new pieces by Gordon: Clouded Yellow, with a world premiere at Dartmouth on October 2nd and at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City on October 9th, and another world premiere, Exalted, for string quartet and chorus, for which they will join forces with the Young People’s Chorus of New York City at Le Poisson Rouge
Listen above to Francisco Nuñez and 3 of his choristers from the Young People’s Chorus of NYC talk about their work on Gordon’s Exalted…
On April 27, the Melbourne Symphony gives the Australian premiere of Michael Gordon’s Dystopia at the 2012 Metropolis New Music Festival.
Mantra Percussion’s New York premiere of Timber at the Brooklyn Academy of Music received a great review from Steve Smith and great reactions from the three nights of audiences and BAM staff: “Michael Gordon’s Timber is its own religious experience, and the members of Mantra are the rhythmic monks who make it so.” — Sarah Garvey, Brooklyn Academy of Music
Click here to read Steve Smith’s review.
continue readingMichael Gordon’s percussion sextet Timber, “six players, six two-by-fours, one hour of aural hypnosis” (TimeOut NY) is toured from Canada to Ireland to Germany and beyond by co-commissioners Slagwerk Den Haag and Mantra Percussion.
Recognized by The New Yorker Magazine as one of the ten most memorable performances of 2012, Timber is a mesmerizing and unique evening-length work…
continue readingFrom May 11-19, Long Beach Opera stages Michael Gordon’s opera Van Gogh.
Based on Vincent Van Gogh’s letters to his beloved younger brother Tlusteheo, an art dealer and often Vincent’s sole means of personal and financial support, Gordon’s powerful opera has been praised by the San Francisco Chronicle as “puls[ing] with a distinctive brand of emotional energy that is hard to resist.”
Gordon writes:
I started composing Van Gogh because of my obsession with the letters Vincent Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo…
continue readingOn Sunday March 17, Michael Gordon’s newest work for orchestra, Beijing Harmony, is premiered by Kristjan Jarvi and the Beijing National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra.
Gordon writes about the new work:
I wrote Beijing Harmony as part of Composing China, a project in which I (along with four other composers) was asked to compose a work that reflected upon my first hand impressions of China…
continue readingThe fortieth annual Kilkenny Festival in Ireland presents the newest work by Michael Gordon, called Dry, written for and premiered by the Crash Ensemble.
Over the last 16 years, Crash Ensemble has established itself as a “a powerhouse of new music” (The Irish Times) renowned for commissioning, producing and performing the most adventurous and exciting works both from established international composers like Steve Reich and Kevin Volans and up-and-coming fresh talent…
continue readingOn November 14 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the percussionists of the San Francisco Contemporary Players perform Michael Gordon’s acclaimed, hypnotic, epic concert-length work Timber for 6 percussionists.
Scored for six graduated, amplified, wooden simantras (2x4s) the work brings the physicality, endurance and technique of percussion performance to a new level. In this work, Gordon shapes the music in both polyrhythmic and dynamic waves of textures — often each players’ hands are in separate rhythmic ‘worlds’, each traversing a different dynamic contour from loud to soft to loud, similar in some respects to his solo for percussion, XY…
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