On Thursday, November 7th, 2019, 8pm, the Interpretations Series continues it 31st season with Harlem Reunion: original improvisational compositions led by JD Parran; and Elevated Moon: a ‘ritualistic happening’, presented by both Amir Bey & JD Parran. Held at Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY, tickets are $20 for adults / $15 for students & seniors, and available on www.Roulette.org and www.Interpretations.info.

Composer and multi-woodwind player JD Parran’s Harlem Reunion is a music/spoken word quartet, performing original improvisational compositions. (With Alexis Marcelo, piano; Larry Roland, poet and bass; Jackson Krall, percussion.)

Amir Bey & JD Parran present Elevated Moon: a ‘ritualistic happening’ that combines sound, movement, visual vibrance, and light projections. An ‘elevation of spirits’ is presented in a multidisciplinary, mixed-media synthesis, aiming to present the room with a joyous experience.

Storyteller Amir Bey acts as a visual ambassador, using various masks, Astrologos, and swinging percussive mobiles. The audience is invited to participate at the end, synergising with the Freedom the performers have expressed. (With Soundrhythium Michael TA Thompson, drums & percussion; Bill Toles, light-magic; Chihiro Cute-Beat Kobayashi, movements and poses.)

Of this concert, JD Parran says, “In the past I have performed in Interpretations concerts that have marked high points in my work. I am excited about this concert as an opportunity to compose and perform the music for two specific projects close where I live in my creative self.”

Interpretations continues its tradition of playing host to composers, interpreters, and improvisers — artists of both local and international scale, with myriads of approaches to music.

On the heels of last year’s acclaimed 30th anniversary, the Interpretations Series is dedicated to nurturing the relationship of innovative composers with the growing community of new music virtuoso performers. “When we started, this was a real need, especially for the more experimental new music,” says Founder and Artistic Director Thomas Buckner. “Now we are experiencing a blossoming of new music groups and solo performers, which makes the series necessary in a new way. There are so many exceptional composers and performers who need a great place to perform.”

OTHER UPCOMING SERIES LINEUPS

※ THURSDAY DECEMBER 5, 2019:
Momenta Quartet plays music by Frances White and Elizabeth Brown

※ THURSDAY APRIL 9, 2019:
Thomas Buckner sings music by Earl Howard, Pauline Kim, JD Parran and Thomas Buckner. With Soo Yeon Lyuh, Andrew Drury, Earl Howard and JD Parran

※ THURSDAY MAY 7, 2020:
Mélanie Genin / Ensemble L’Art Pour L’Art

Selected Artist Bios for the November 7th Concert

JD PARRAN is a multi-instrumentalist and composer, who has mastered a wide variety of woodwind instruments (from the familiar tenor saxophone to the rarely heard alto clarinet, E-flat contrabass clarinet, bass saxophone and bamboo flute).

He has appeared on more than 50 recordings over the last three decades, including collaborations with The Band, Anthony Braxton, Don Byron, Anthony Davis, Julius Hemphill, New Winds, Yoko Ono, Alan Silva and Stevie Wonder among many others. His latest two releases as a leader, JD Parran & Spirit Stage featuring the poetry of Shirley LeFlore and Omegathorp: Living City (co-led with Mark Deutsch) are both available on Y’All Recordings.

He is also a veteran educator who lectures at City University of New York (CUNY) and teaches clarinet and saxophone at Harlem School for the Arts. In addition to his teaching and performing careers, he has been commissioned as a composer by organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Jerome Foundation and the Helen W. Buckner Foundation.

Born in New York City, AMIR BEY is a mixed-media sculptor whose early work was influenced by his life in the mountains of Northern California at Black Bear Ranch , where he began to experiment with tactile surfaces carving in wood, stone, and leather.
Returning to New York in the late 1970s, he was introduced to woodcuts, and silkscreen prints on paper and fabric. In the 80s he began to cast in plaster, cement, and bronze; used the etched surfaces of copper foil, and aluminum with original effects; and in these media he continued to explore textures and oxidizing processes. Indoor and outdoor installations led to his work as a curator for over 100 exhibitions and performances. He was curator at Bronx River Art Center and Gallery from 1989 – 99. A permanent installation, Procession of Folk #3, comprised of 12 faceted glass windows, was commissioned by the MTA in 2003, which was completed in 2006.

He has exhibited in Japan, Turkey, Germany, Spain, and Martinique, and returned to Japan, the country he has exhibited most frequently outside of the US, for an exhibit of his work in Tottori in 2012. He will return to Japan for a series of performances and showing his sculpture inspired by the honeybee and an astrological installation of mobiles representing the planets.

Aside from work as a visual artist, Amir Bey has been a radio program producer, creating and broadcasting shows for KPFA-FM in Berkeley, CA 1972-75, KPOO in San Francisco, and freelance work at WBAI-FM New York. Bey has also written editorials, interviews, and satire on a variety of topics. His critique of Manning Marable’s recent book on Malcolm X appears in a compilation of commentaries on it by writers, By Any Means Necessary: Malcolm X Not Re-invented, published by Third World Press, 2012

A professional astrologer since 1971 who has worked on thousands of charts, and has written and published articles on the topic, such as The Astrology of Malcolm X, which was published by American Astrology, and Eclipses Are Important, featured in The Amsterdam News.

FOUNDER AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR THOMAS BUCKNER (www.thomasbuckner.com)
For decades, baritone Thomas Buckner has dedicated himself to the promotion and performance of new and improvised music, collaborating with a host of new music luminaries including: Robert Ashley, Noah Creshevsky, Tom Hamilton, Earl Howard, Matthias Kawl, Leroy Jenkins, Bun Ching Lam, Annea Lockwood, Roscoe Mitchell, Phill Niblock, Wadada Leo Smith, Chinary Ung, Christian Wolff, and many others.

Buckner has appeared at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Herbst Theatre, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Berlin Spring Festival, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the Prague Spring Festival, and the Angelica Festival of Bologna. He is featured on over 50 recordings, including 6 solo albums, the most recent being “New Music for Baritone & Chamber Ensemble,” which includes works by Annea Lockwood, Tania Leon, and Petr Kotik. Buckner also appears in the CD/DVD “Kirili et le Nymphéas (Hommage à Monet)” filmed at the Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris, which houses the Monet’s celebrated Water Lilies murals.

For the past 31 years Thomas Buckner has curated the Interpretations series in New York City, and continues to produce recordings on the Mutable Music label, introducing current artists and repertoire, as well as presenting important historic material, previously unavailable in CD format.

ABOUT INTERPRETATIONS
The Interpretations series, now in its 31st season, is a New York-based concert series focusing on the relationship between contemporary composers and their interpreters. Sometimes the interpreters are the composers themselves; more often, the series features performers who specialize in the interpretation of new music. Since its inception in 1989, Interpretations has featured leading figures in contemporary music and multimedia, including Muhal Richard Abrams, Robert Ashley, Anthony Braxton, Thomas Buckner, FLUX Quartet, Joseph Kubera, Annea Lockwood, and Alvin Lucier, Roscoe Mitchell, Phill Niblock, Pauline Oliveros, Ursula Oppens, and Morton Subotnick.

Interpretations began as a collaboration with Robert and Helene Browning and the World Music Institute, presenting concerts at Merkin Concert Hall, then at Roulette, at its Greene Street location in Soho. When Roulette moved to the current space in Brooklyn, Interpretations moved with it. Interpretations is thrilled to co-produce at Roulette, which has developed into a premiere venue for new and innovative music, with excellent acoustics and world-class technical facilities.

For its 31st season, Interpretations has assembled an eclectic line-up of innovative composers and their interpreters, representing a wide variety of approaches to music making.

ROULETTE:
509 Atlantic Ave. Downtown Brooklyn
2, 3, 4, 5, C, G, D, M, N, R, B & Q trains & LIRR.
Tickets, available online at www.interpretations.info, range from $15 for Seniors, Students, and Roulette Members to $20 for General Admission.

All concerts begin at 8pm unless otherwise noted.