JACK QUARTET – WAVES AND PARTICLES, JOHN LUTHER ADAMS

Commission | November 12th, 2021 | BMCM+AC {120 College Street} + Streaming | The world premiere of John Luther Adams’ new composition “Waves and Particles,” performed by JACK Quartet. Presented on the opening night of the 12th annual ReVIEWING Black Mountain College Conference (November 12 – 14, 2021) and co-commissioned as part of the inaugural Faith in Arts Institute, a partnership between BMCM+AC and UNC Asheville.

PERFORMANCE: THOMAS MOORE – THE MUSIC OF JOHN CAGE

October 16, 2021 | BMCM+AC {120 College Street} – Presented as part of the Faith in Arts Institute. Thomas Moore’s performance of solo piano works by John Cage featured compositions from the 1950s through the 1990s, including the often discussed but infrequently performed 4’33” — Cage’s “silent” piece of 1952 — as well as Water Music (1952), selections from the Etudes Australes (1974–75), and One5 (1990).

PERFORMANCE: DUET FOR THEREMIN AND LAP STEEL

September 30, 2021 | Streaming – Duet for Theremin and Lap Steel is Scott Burland (Theremin) and Frank Schultz (Lap Steel guitar). Burland and Schultz bring their mesmerizing duet to BMCM+AC for a live recorded session in the gallery. Presented in conjunction with the Fall 2021 exhibition Don’t Blame it on ZEN: The Way of John Cage & Friends.

PERFORMANCE: KATHERINE YOUNG / TIM DAISY DUO

September 2, 2021 | Streaming – Chicago-based percussionist Tim Daisy and bassoonist, improviser, and composer Katherine Young (a recent Atlanta, GA transplant) bring their two-decades-long collaborative experience to the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center for a live recording of improvised duets. Investigating a wide array of sonic territory from laser-focused pointillism to extremes in density and texture, Katherine and Tim aim to use the art of listening combined with their shared performative experience to create a unique blend of sound-making, taking full advantage of the unique instrumentation involved.

PERFORMANCE: CHRISTOPHER-RASHEEM MCMILLAN

August 19, 2021 | Streaming – “The Long Way Home,” a new solo work by Christopher-Rasheem Mcmillan, poses a way of contending with the Black body as a composite body, one that is connected to, affirms, and disrupts the archive and Historiography. Through this solo dance performance, McMillan tracks the Merce Cunningham technique through diaspora, emphasizing that the diaspora is never the homeland: it’s never home, it’s always somehow both exile in migration and in travel; different from, yet somehow always in dialogue with, its genesis.

BMC-TV: A MULTIDISCIPLINARY COMMUNITY ART EVENT

August 5, 2021 | BMCM+AC {120 College Street} + Streaming – A Happening meets variety show, this premiere episode of BMC-TV connects a wide range of the Asheville area’s most innovative performers, musicians, artists, and craftspeople. For over 25 years, Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (BMCM+AC) has bridged the history of Black Mountain College with its lasting legacy in Western North Carolina and beyond. Broadcast from the stages, studios, and streets of Asheville, BMC-TV brings together our friends and collaborators who stoke the flames of experimentation sparked at BMC.

PERFORMANCE: THOM NGUYEN

June 24, 2021 | Streaming – A fully improvised percussion set from Asheville-based musician Thom Nguyen, streaming from the BMCM+AC space using a drum kit and various percussion elements, in the spirit of Nguyen’s recently released album “Exits.”

PERFORMANCE: TWO WAY STREET + NEVERMIND THE NOISE

May 13, 2021 | Streaming – Performance by the Asheville-based duo Two Way Street of new music composed by members of Nevermind the Noise, a collective of graduate student composers from New York University.

OPTION SERIES: BMCM+AC / TYONDAI BRAXTON + GRACE VILLAMIL

April 26, 2021 | Streaming – OPTION is a weekly music salon curated by Chicago musicians Andrew Clinkman, Tim Daisy, and Ken Vandermark. Its programming explores contemporary perspectives on improvisation and composition in a ‘salon’ format, enabling local, national, and international artists to publicly discuss their practice and ideas as well as perform.

PERFORMANCE: MARIO GALEANO TORO

April 7, 2021 | Streaming – Presented in partnership with Make Noise – Streaming premiere of a new electronic performance “Falla Común del Béndix” (Common Failure of the Bendix), by Colombian composer, arranger, and producer Mario Galeano Toro. Galeano Toro has dedicated the past 20 years to finding new paths for Latin-American musical identities through influential tropicalist projects, ranging from roots to experimental.

CAGE SHUFFLE: A DIGITAL DUET

March 20, 2021 | Streaming – In this reconception of Cage Shuffle commissioned by the Wexner Center for the Arts, Paul Lazar teams up with renowned choreographer, dancer, and Ohio State Distinguished Professor Bebe Miller and media artist Eamonn Farrell to present a series of one-minute stories written by musician John Cage while simultaneously dancing a complex choreographic score by Lazar, Miller, and Annie-B Parson, artistic director of Big Dance Theater.

PERFORMANCE: SOFIA JERNBERG

December 9, 2020 | Streaming – Experimental composer and vocalist Sofia Jernberg presents two solo performances at Gränslandet that avant-garde icon Laurie Anderson calls “extraordinary” and “transcendent.” Sofia Jernberg is a Swedish experimental singer, composer, improviser, and performer. She grew up in Ethiopia, Vietnam, and Sweden. Since 2011, she lives in Oslo, Norway.

PERSPECTIVES: ASHER GAMEDZE AND ANOTHER TIME ENSEMBLE

December 2, 2020 | Streaming – For this performance, from a rooftop in historic Cairo, Asher Gamedze and Another Time Ensemble meditate and speculate on the possibility and necessity of another time. The performance will be followed by a discussion with Asher Gamedze.

PERSPECTIVES: STEPH RICHARDS + ANDREW MUNSEY

October 14, 2020 | Streaming – Experimental trumpeter/composer Steph Richards and drummer/producer Andrew Munsey perform “homeostasis,” a new piece for sonic conversations with difficult objects.

PERFORMANCE: KIMATHI MOORE

October 8, 2020 | Streaming – Electronic composer Kimathi Moore performs “Oliver’s Tail [We The Fish]” a new piece that attempts to illustrate a town underwater inspired by the Polish surrealist painter Jacek Yerka.

PERFORMANCE: TURNING JEWELS INTO WATER

September 10th, 2020 | Streaming – Turning Jewels Into Water exclusively premiere songs from their newly released album, Our Reflection Adorned by Newly Formed Stars, including ‘Flower In Flames,’ ‘Our Reflection Adorned by Newly Formed Stars’ and ‘Crushed Petals.’ Presented in partnership with Asheville Rhythm.