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 AFTER EVERYTHING INVITES YOU TO THE NEW PERFORMANCE SEASON 


EVAN KAHN
&
the After Everything Cello Orchestra 
conducted by Matthew Cmiel 
and featuring Lily Kaye Sevier percussion


P E R F O R M I N G
Canticles of the Sky John Luther Adams
The Holy Presence of Joan d'Arc Julius Eastman
Six Miniatures Erberk Eryilmaz

 

Evan Kahn on
Composer
Julius Eastman


Julius Eastman's day is finally here.
In just the past few years, his music— largely misplaced or forgotten,
left behind in the New York apartment he was evicted from in the early '80s,
scattered across the city and later the country, as he lived and drifted, homeless —has seen a rightful surge of performances.

Most notably the premiere of his second symphony,
performed just last month by the Mannes Symphony Orchestra.
We're just now scratching the surface of Eastman's oeuvre–
radical, black, queer, and unapologetic. This is music that resonates deep
within your gut, reverberating, sometimes uncomfortably, in the places and spaces that your body and mind fail to notice, or deign to ignore."

Eastman himself appears in recollections, and discussions about him
make him out to be an almost religious figure. Kyle Gann, a personal friend and important music analyst in the field, said:

He carried himself calmly,
and his deep bass voice
gave him a remarkable gravitas,
like an Old Testament prophet.
His ideas were way out of the mainstream and he expressed them fearlessly, but it was their content that provoked people, not his manner.

Eastman would attend concerts and classes in an all-white toga-like garb,
as a proclamation of his spiritual endeavor.  He was raised Christian,
but read the Quran, Confucious, Lao Tzu, and is quoted as having said

"I live like a wandering monk.
I've been fighting with the Lord for
a long, long, long, long time".

The piece we will be performing is called The Holy Presence of Joan d'Arc.
Joan of Arc inspired Eastman, he felt that she was a symbol of the indestructibility of the desire for dignity and freedom. 

"The Holy Presence of Joan d'Arc builds a wall of sound
that pushes past all boundaries, and gives way to something
deeply spiritual and majestic. It will rock you to your core." -Evan Kahn

Julius Eastman to  Joan of Arc

Eastman's own program note, written in the style of a letter

Dear Joan, 

Find presented a work of art, in your name, full of honor, integrity, and boundless courage. This work of art, like all works of art in your name, can never and will never match your most inspired passion. . . . I offer it as a reminder to those who think that they can destroy liberators by acts of treachery, malice, and murder. They forget that the mind has memory. They forget that Good Character is the foundation of all acts. They think that no one sees the corruption of their deeds, and like all organizations (especially governments and religious organizations), they oppress in order to perpetuate themselves. Their methods of oppression are legion, but when they find that their more subtle methods are failing, they resort to murder. Even now in my own country, my own people, my own time, gross oppression and murder still continue. Therefore I take your name and meditate upon it, but not as much as I should.


Matthew Cmiel on  Julius Eastman

Most likely, you have not heard the name Julius Eastman. 
A largely unknown composer who has seen a resurgence
of interest recently, Eastman never fit into
any of the movements or groups of music that existed
during the 70s and 80s when he was composing, 

He wasn't experimental enough for the experimentalists,
not minimal enough for the minimalists,
not jazz enough for the jazz musicians,
and not modern enough for the modernists.

The idea of viewing this through the lens of "not fitting in", 
is a modern trope, but one that seems to hold in this instance. 
Eastman is quoted as saying that he wanted to live his life


Black to the fullest,
a musician to the fullest,
a homosexual to the fullest.

-Buffalo News Magazine, 1976 interview

An unapologetic and empowering stance & one which Eastman achieved,
even if his life was shorter than it should have been.

 
 
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AE RUNS ON LOVE, ART, INSPIRATION & DONATIONS.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY

See you on 16th Street!

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