Hearing Memory – An Artistic Journey Through 1970s East Germany

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, UNITED STATE, October 27, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ — National Sawdust presents oboist James Austin Smith in a program entitled Hearing Memory. Through documentary interviews, story-telling and musical performance, Smith reflects on the complicated legacy of the daring classical music scene that emerged in the 1970s in East Germany, offering a powerful example of musicians creating meaning beyond sound. Works of Friedrich Goldmann, Christfried Schmidt, Georg Katzer and Paul Dessau will be featured alongside the world premiere of a work by Matana Roberts. Smith will be joined by collaborators Yura Lee and Cory Smythe.

Hearing Memory will open on:

October 28, 7:30PM (doors at 6:30PM) at:

National Sawdust

80 N 6th St

Brooklyn, NY 11249

https://www.nationalsawdust.org/event/james-austin-smith-hearing-memory

https://jamesaustinsmith.com/hearing-memory

James Austin Smith, oboe

A chamber musician, curator and on-stage host praised for his “virtuosic,” “dazzling,” and “brilliant” performances (New York Times) and his “bold, keen sound” (New Yorker), James Austin Smith is driven by the communicative nature of live performance. He appears regularly at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, leading national and international chamber music festivals, at Carnegie Hall and on tour as Co-Principal Oboe of the conductor-less Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and as an artist of the International Contemporary Ensemble.

Co-Principal Oboe, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

International Contemporary Ensemble

Oboe Professor, Stony Brook University and Manhattan School of Music

Artistic and Executive Director, Tertulia Chamber Music New York/San Francisco

Yura Lee, Violinist/violist

Yura is one of the most versatile and compelling artists of today. She is one of the very few in the world that has mastery of both violin and viola, and she actively performs both instruments equally. Her career spans through various musical mediums: both as a soloist and as a chamber musician, captivating audiences with music from baroque to modern, and enjoying a career that spans more than two decades that takes her all over the world.

Cory Smythe, pianist

Cory has worked closely with pioneering artists in new, improvisatory, and classical music, including multi-instrumentalist-composer Tyshawn Sorey, violinist Hilary Hahn, and transdisciplinary composers from Anthony Braxton to Zosha Di Castri. His own “perplexingly perfect” (The Wire) music “dissolves the lines between composition and improvisation with rigor” (Chicago Reader).

Program

Christfried SCHMIDT Aulodie: Episoden für Oboe (1975)

Paul DESSAU Guernica (1937)

Georg KATZER miteinander – gegeneinander for English Horn and Viola (1982)

Matana ROBERTS New Work for Oboe and Piano (2023)

Friedrich GOLDMANN Sonata for Oboe and Piano (1980)

Venue

National Sawdust is a dynamic non-profit cultural institution that commissions, produces, and presents programming rooted in sound and supports multidisciplinary artists and arts organizations in the creation of innovative new work. Founded in 2015 by Kevin Dolan and Paola Prestini, National Sawdust operates out of an intimate space, equipped with a state-of-the-art Meyer spatial sound system, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where it is one of the few remaining cultural venues. The New York Times has described National Sawdust as “the city’s most vital new-music hall” and as “a triumphantly successful performance space that stands for a hip, sophisticated brand of new music.”

National Sawdust provides artists across musical genres and artistic disciplines with comprehensive support including commissions, workshops, residencies, public performances, recording, mentorship, and professional development. It aims to be not only a home for its community of artists, but also a place for audiences to discover wide-ranging music at accessible ticket prices. The institution’s mentorship initiatives counteract industry barriers and the historic marginalization of diverse communities in the arts, providing artists and arts workers with guidance, resources, and relationships with established visionaries to accelerate their careers.

Designed by Brooklyn’s Bureau V, National Sawdust is constructed within the existing shell of a century-old sawdust factory, preserving the authenticity of Williamsburg’s industrial past while providing a refined and intimate setting for the exploration of new music. At the venue’s core is a flexible chamber hall, acoustically designed by renowned engineering firm Arup to provide the highest-quality experience of both unamplified and amplified music.

Danielle Morland
PA Group
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