by Mike Telin
Music can be a powerful tool for the expression of social discourse. Sometimes it is subtle. Other times it is overt and unapologetic. Such was the case with Andrew Rindfleisch’s American Monster, which received its premiere on September 17 in Drinko Hall at Cleveland State University. The concert was presented as part of No Exit’s season-opening series of concerts and CSU’s Cleveland Contemporary Players Artist in Residency Series.
by Mike Telin
2018-19 marks the tenth anniversary of the always creative new music ensemble No Exit. And they will begin their season later this week by once again sharing a stage with Minneapolis-based Zeitgeist. “I’m just thrilled that they will be joining us for these opening three concerts,” No Exit Artistic Director Timothy Beyer said during a telephone interview. “They are they an absolutely amazing new music ensemble but they’re also great collaborators — they always bring something wonderful to the table.”
The first concert on Friday, September 14 at 8:00 pm at SPACES will include world premieres by Christopher Goddard and Cleveland-based composer Ty Emerson. The program will also feature music by Joshua Rosner, Philip Blackburn, Jerome Kitzke, and Julius Eastman.
The two ensembles will move to WOLFS on Saturday the 15th. The 8:00 pm program will again feature works by Goddard, Emerson, and Blackburn. Rounding out the evening will be Frederic Rzewski’s Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues and the world premiere of North Star by Minnesotan Alexis Lamb.
by Mike Telin
For the most recent installment of No Exit’s year-long celebration of Dadaist composer Erik Satie, the ensemble commissioned seven composers to write new works representing their own take on Satie and how his music has shaped their own musical universe. On Friday, April 8 in the acoustically pleasing SPACES gallery, No Exit presented the second of three performances featuring the new compositions. The Satie-inspired musical sandwich also included works by Heinz Holliger, Georges Delerue, and Buck McDaniel. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Although Erik Satie’s Vexations consists of a single page of manuscript, the composer included the following statement: “In order to play the theme 840 times in succession, it would be advisable to prepare oneself beforehand, and in the deepest silence, by serious immobilities.”
Beginning on Monday, April 4 at 8:00 pm in Cleveland State University’s Drinko Recital Hall, No Exit will present the first of three area concerts featuring Satie’s incomparable work. The concerts are the second installment in the ensemble’s year-long celebration of the music, mind, mirth and mayhem of the original musical Dadaist, who lived from 1866 to 1925. The program will be repeated on Friday, April 8 at SPACES and on Saturday, April 16 at Heights Arts. Both concerts will begin at 8:00 pm. [Read more…]