Either/OR: Transpositions - Music by Braxton, Obadike

Transpositions: Music by A. Braxton, M. & K. Obadike
Sunday, December 8, 2024
8:00 PM 9:30 PM

Church of St. Luke & St. Matthew
520 Clinton Avenue Brooklyn, NY, 11238

Either/Or presents an evening of works that situate the players and their audience in a compelling dialogic relationship between notation and improvisation, featuring Anthony Braxton's pivotal and rarely heard Composition No.98 (1981) for quartet and selections from Mendi + Keith Obdike's graphic score collection Big House/Disclosures (2007).

Composition No.98

Braxton's Composition No.98 (1981) is a pivotal work in the prolific composer/performer's oeuvre, fully realizing the total fusion of conventional and visual notation. EO brings together a special quartet to revive this rarity, featuring James Fei (long-time Braxton collaborator) on woodwinds, Jonathan Finlayson on trumpets, Chris McIntyre on trombones and euphonium, and Richard Carrick on keyboards.

Excerpt from Big House/Disclosures

At the excellent new Brooklyn venue Church of St. Luke & St. Matthew, EO is also revisiting Mendi + Kieth Obadike's Big House/Disclosures (2007), the fecundated collection of graphic scores “...inspired by Nigerian nsibidi writing, European music notation, and architectural drawings.” Big House/Disclosure was the inaugural work in the Obadike's ongoing series of multimedia works entitled The Americana Suites.

PERSONNEL
James Fei (woodwinds), Johnathan Finlayson (trumpets), Chris McIntyre (trombones, euphonium), Richard Carrick (keyboards)

Either/Or - Anthony Braxton composer portrait at Miller Theatre (Sep. 2019)
L to R: Chris Mcintyre, richard carrick, james fei, jonathan finlayson
detail of photo by Anthony creamer