House Blend is PS21’s annual chamber music series exploring a full range of adventurous music and creative modes of expression, fostering new collaborations specific to our place, venue, and audiences.
This stylistically diverse series surveys cutting edge new music and bold works of the past, creating new contexts for experiencing music in which even the familiar becomes surprising. All programs are developed for our space with an eye toward bringing virtuosic and thoughtful musicians together in genre-defying collaborations. Audiences are invited to go more deeply into the music with open rehearsals, workshops, artist talks, and informal post-concert discussions designed to guide the listener through the mysteries of these daring works. Brewed specially for the audience, House Blend invites listeners to experience vital music in stimulating new ways.
Angélica Negrón:Pedazos intermitentes de un lugar ya fragmentado (2022) for flute, clarinet in B-flat, violin, cello, and fixed electronics Olivier Messiaen:Le Merle noir (1952) for flute and piano Lou Harrison:Varied Trio (1986/87) for violin, piano, and percussion Johanna Beyer:Music of the Spheres (1938) for electronic instruments Annea Lockwood:Immersion (1998) for marimba, tam-tams, and quartz bowl gong Allison Loggins-Hull:The Pattern (2020) for flute, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, cello, percussion, and piano
Performed by Hub New Music: Michael Avitabile (flutes), Jesse Christeson (cello), Gleb Kanasevich (clarinet), Meg Rohrer (violin/viola) with Adam Tendler (piano), Ayano Kataoka (percussion), Matthew Gold (percussion)
Please note that the 7 PM House Blend III concert will make use of our flexible, reconfigurable theater, with seating in the round. When making your purchase you will be asked to select a seat from the conventional layout, but all seating will be General Admission, surrounding the musicians in this intimate, special arrangement. Every seat is up close with great sight lines and sound.
About House Blend III
Cited as “contemporary chamber trailblazers” by The Boston Globe, Hub New Music and guests Adam Tendler (piano) and Ayano Kataoka (percussion) present a program of visceral, colorful works exploring memory and place, utilizing a vast array of instruments and objects. Often called an “American maverick,” Lou Harrison was one of the essential pioneers of twentieth-century American music, blending Eastern and Western traditions and introducing instruments such as tuned rice bowls, gongs, and found objects to the concert stage. His Varied Trio for violin, piano, and percussion is an enchanting and luminous late work that surveys his own past as well as earlier musical forms, creating, as always in his music, a deep sense of place. Memory and place are central to Angélica Negrón’s Pedazos intermitentes de un lugar ya fragmentado (Intermittent Fragments of a Fractured Place) which reflects on the construction of identity and home in multiple lands. Trailblazing works by Messiaen, Johanna Beyer, Annea Lockwood, and Allison Loggins-Hull continue this theme while exploring the full expressive range of strings, winds, piano, electronics, and an expansive battery of percussion instruments and found sounds.
About the Artists
Hub New Music
Called “contemporary chamber trailblazers” by The Boston Globe, Hub New Music is a “nimble quartet of winds and strings” (NPR) forging new paths in 21st-century repertoire. The ensemble’s ambitious commissioning projects and “appealing programs” (New Yorker) celebrate the rich diversity of today’s classical music landscape. Founded in 2013, Hub has grown into a formidable touring ensemble driven by an unwavering dedication to building community through new art. Across its career, Hub has commissioned dozens of new works and continues to usher in a fresh and culturally relevant body of work for its distinct combination of flute, clarinet, violin, and cello. Hub is proud to collaborate with today’s most celebrated emerging and established composers, and is equally proud to count many of them as friends.
Adam Tendler:
Adam Tendler is a recipient of the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists and 2022 Yvar Mikhashoff Prize, and "currently the hottest pianist on the American contemporary classical scene" (Minneapolis Star Tribune), a "remarkable and insightful musician" (LA Times), and a "relentlessly adventurous pianist" (Washington Post) "joyfully rocking out at his keyboard" (New York Times). A pioneer of DIY culture in classical music, at age 23 Tendler performed solo recitals in all fifty states as part of a grassroots tour called America 88x50, the subject of his acclaimed coming-out memoir, 88x50. He has gone on to become one of classical music's most recognized and celebrated artists, commissioning major works from composers as diverse as Christian Wolff and Devonté Hynes, and recently appearing as soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra, LA Philharmonic, and on the main-stages of Carnegie Hall, the Barbican Centre, and BAM.
An expert in the music of John Cage, Tendler has worked closely with the John Cage Trust, Merce Cunningham Trust, and Cage's publisher, Edition Peters. He has also extensively performed the music of Julius Eastman and is featured on Wild Up's latest album of the composer's works, If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich, and Sō Percussion's recording of Stay On It. Tendler recently released an album of Liszt's Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses on the Steinway Label, Robert Palmer: Piano Music on New World Records, and published his second book, tidepools. He recently commissioned 16 works using the entire inheritance left to him by his father, including music by Laurie Anderson, Nico Muhly and Missy Mazzoli as part of a project called Inheritances, a New York Times Critic Pick described as "not only a display of contemporary compositional force, but also a true show...emotionally involving...with a sense of true dramatic stakes." Adam Tendler is a Yamaha Artist and serves on the piano faculty of NYU.
Ayano Kataoka:
Percussionist and marimbist Ayano Kataoka is known for her brilliant and dynamic technique, as well as the unique elegance and artistry she brings to her performances. She has been a season artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 2006 when she was chosen as the first percussionist for the society’s prestigious residency program, The Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two). A retrospective of her early life along with interviews and performances were featured on the CMS’ live stream program Artist Series in fall 2021. Together with cellist Yo-Yo Ma at the American Museum of Natural History, Ms. Kataoka gave a world premiere of Bruce Adolphe’s Self Comes to Mind for cello and two percussionists, based on a text by neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, and featuring interactive video images of brain scans triggered by the live music performance. She presented a solo recital as part of the prestigious B to C (Bach to Contemporary) recital series at the Tokyo Opera City Recital Hall, which was broadcast nationally in Japan on NHK, the national public station of Japan. Other highlights include a performance of Steven Mackey’s Micro-Concerto for Percussion Solo and Chamber Ensemble at Alice Tully Hall, a theatrical performance of Stravinsky’s Soldier’s Tale at the 92nd Street Y with violinist Jaime Laredo and actors Alan Alda and Noah Wyle, and performances of Bartok’s Sonata for Two Pianos and percussion at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center with pianists Emanuel Ax and Yoko Nozaki. Her music festival appearances include Music@Menlo, Chamber Music Northwest, Yellow Barn, Lake Champlain, Caramoor, Bridgehampton, Skaneateles, Emerald City Music, ChamberFest West, and Salt Bay Chamberfest. Her performances can be also heard on Deutsche Grammophon, Naxos, Bridge, New World, Albany and Music@Menlo LIVE recording labels.
A native of Japan, Ms. Kataoka began her marimba studies at age five, and percussion at fifteen. She started her performing career as a marimbist with a tour of China at the age of nine. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Tokyo University of the Arts, her Master of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory, and her Artist Diploma degree from the Yale School of Music, where she studied with world-renowned marimba virtuoso Robert van Sice. She is currently a full professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. In fall/winter 2023-24, she will be teaching as a visiting professor at Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln. Website: ayanokataoka.com
Dinner and a Show Package
Show 7 PM Dinner 8 PM
With select shows throughout the season, PS21 is pairing performances with dinner and wine before or after the show. After House Blend Concert III, enjoy an intimate, family-style farm-to-table dînneren plein air with fresh ingredients from chef Leah Guadagnoli's garden on our beautiful 100-acre campus, featuring artists, VIPs, and limited tickets available to the public.
Dinner and a show tickets for House Blend Concert III on August 25 are sold out. However, you can email us at boxoffice@ps21chatham.org and be placed on the waitlist.
Dinner and a show tickets available to order until August 22.
Photo: Steven Taylor
Support for House Blend III is provided by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation
Venue Details
PS21 Open-Air Pavilion Theater
2980 New York 66 Chatham, New York 12037
PS21: Performance Spaces for the 21st Century
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About PS21
Established in Chatham, NY in 2006, PS21 supports innovative performing artists and creators and introduces their work to a broader audience, while also providing the surrounding region with opportunities for arts engagement regardless of economic status, cultural background, and age.
Five acres of PS21's 100+ acres are developed; the rest are meadows and woodlands. Situated near the theater are the Dance Barn, a rehearsal and performance venue, and two artists’ residences accommodating sixteen individuals. The PS21 property is also host to the Chatham Farm Animal Rescue. PS21's new theater and rural campus are important resources for both visiting artists and the community, optimized for the public's enjoyment and to encourage citizen expression and participation.
The 350-seat theater is a state-of-the-art, green facility offering resident makers and performers the tools and flexibility for successful innovation and collaboration in the development of sophisticated multi-media work. Few other US facilities are able to provide this level of technical support. PS21 operates year-round, supporting performances by and residencies for dancers, choreographers, musicians, composers, actors and creators. The summer season is PS21's public highlight, during which a full calendar of performances is augmented with a myriad of events and workshops, many of which are free of charge and involve community collaboration with the gifted artists in residence.
PHOTOGRAPHY PS21 will take photos of this event for use in social media and on our website. The photos sometimes include audiences. Your attendance at this performance indicates you consent to appear in PS21 photography. If you would prefer not to appear in any photos, please let a staff member know, and we will be glad to accommodate your request.
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