Brooklyn, NY — EXTENSITY Concert Series launches its inaugural season, Analogs, taking place June 12-July 31, 2021 at Uncommonly Studio, a new venue at the Bushwick/Ridgewood, NY border: 1519 Decatur Street, #104, Ridgewood, NY. The seven concert season features a diverse and dynamic lineup of classical, jazz and world music artists. Limited in-person and virtual tickets available at: https://www.musae.me/extensity/experiences
Analogs bring together some of the most innovative musicians working today to explore unexpected interrelationships between Western classical music and underrepresented and new voices from a wide range of musical traditions and time periods. The adventurous programming includes works by contemporary female composers Tania León, Liza Lim, Felipe Lara, Caroline Shaw and Andrea Casarrubios, rarely performed piano sonatas by George Walker, original pieces by Craig Taborn, and new compositions for Kora (West African harp).
The opening night concert, “Stand the Storm”, June 12, 2021, features baritone Adam Richardson and pianist John Arida in a program dedicated to the vocal music of contemporary Black composers.
The Analogs season roster includes Bang on a Can All Star Vicky Chow, hailed as a “prodigious” pianist (NY Times), pianist and composer Craig Taborn, called “one of the best jazz pianists alive” (NY Times), Gambian kora master Malang Jobarteh, and Thomas Mesa, principal cellist of the Sphinx Virtuosi.
EXTENSITY Concert Series Spring/Summer 2021 Season: Analogs
Stand the Storm: Richard Adamson, baritone and John Arida, piano
June 12, 8pm
EXTENSITY’s opening night concert, featuring baritone Adam Richardson and pianist John Arida, celebrates an incredible diversity of vocal music by 20th and 21st century Black composers. This genre-bending program features re-interpretations of traditional spirituals, bold new works, and folk adaptations, showcasing the breadth and diversity of this repertoire. Composers include: Daniel Bernard Roumain, H. Leslie Adams, David Ragland and Shawn Okpebholo.
Beethoven X Walker, Piano Sonatas: EXTENSITY Concert Series Benefit. Francesca Khalifa, piano and Chelsea Randall, piano
June 19, 8pm
In celebration of Juneteenth and George Walker’s birth month, EXTENSITY co-founders Francesca Khalifa and Chelsea Randall perform an exciting duo recital pairing the monumental, late piano sonatas No. 30 Op. 109 and No. 31 Op. 110 by L. van Beethoven with the masterful, yet rarely heard piano sonatas No. 2 and No. 4 by pioneering 20th century Black American composer George Walker. Proceeds from this benefit concert will raise funds for EXTENSITY’s inaugural season, Analogs, taking place June 12-July 31, 2021, at Uncommonly Studio.
Vicky Chow, piano and Craig Taborn, piano
June 26, 8pm
New music star Vicky Chow and inimitable pianist/composer Craig Taborn join forces for a first time collaboration juxtaposing works by contemporary female composers with original pieces by Taborn. The program includes Caroline Shaw’s Gustave Le Gray, Tomeka Reid’s Lamenting G.F., A.A., B.T., T.M, Tana Leon’s Rituál and Craig Taborn’s 3 Set Ups and a Double Cross.
Distant Voyages: Jeffrey Swann, piano
July 10, 8pm
Folklore, mystery, and the natural world collide in this atmospheric program showcasing masterpieces of the Western tradition. From the complex interiority of Schumann’s Sonata in F# minor, Op. 11 to Liszt’s evocative Années de Pèlerinage and Debussy’s shimmering l’isle Joyeuse, acclaimed pianist Jeffrey Swann takes the listener on a thrilling journey through the inner and outer world.
The Seasons: Marilyn Nonken, piano
July 17, 8pm
In The Seasons, renowned pianist Marilyn Nonken explores the relationship between memory and time. Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s Das Jahr (1841), a monumental cycle of pieces depicting the months of the year, is juxtaposed with Liza Lim’s The Four Seasons (After Cy Twombly) (2009), commissioned by the Ian Potter Foundation for Marilyn Nonken and inspired by Twombly’s painting Quattro Stagioni.
Echoes in Life: Thomas Mesa, cello
July 24, 8pm
Cellist Thomas Mesa presents an emotional and timely recital celebrating an emergence from despair to joy. The program opens with Andrea Casarrubios’ SEVEN (2020), commissioned by Mesa and written as tribute to the essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by Elizabeth Start’s Echoes in Life (2015), a ruminative exploration of bi-culturality which combines Native American influenced melodic elements with Western musical developments. The program concludes with Lydia Jane Pugh’s jubilant Caroline’s Jig (2015), and Beethoven’s transformative Sonata No. 3 in A major, Op. 69.
Dialogues: Malang Jobarteh, kora
July 31, 8pm
Malang Jobarteh is a master of the kora, a 21-stringed West African harp and instrument of choice for griots, storytellers who chronicle the history and traditions of West Africa. The program features original compositions, arrangements of Western classical pieces and traditional West African music in a boundary-defying recital that unifies these seemingly disparate musical traditions.
Programs subject to change
About EXTENSITY Concert Series: EXTENSITY, Co-Founded by Brooklyn-based pianists Chelsea Randall and Francesca Khalifa, presents cutting edge programming by emerging and established artists working across a range of disciplines including music, fine art and multimedia. EXTENSITY aims to foster connections between musical traditions, artistic practices and time periods with emphasis on underrepresented and new voices. We also create platforms for artists and audiences to interact and make new discoveries through receptions, artist talkbacks, lectures and events. EXTENSITY hinges on this fluid, immersive perspective, both in programming and in experience; our goal is to promote a free flow of ideas and perspectives, and to forge meaningful links between artists and engaged, active audiences. For more information about EXTENSITY please visit: https://www.extensityconcertseries.com/. Follow EXTENSITY on Instagram and Facebook.
