THE MUSIC OF CAROLINE SHAW: ROOMFUL OF TEETH

Tuesday, October 15, 2013
7:00 pm

Brookfield Place (Formerly known as the World Financial Center)
Winter Garden

Founded in 2009 by Brad Wells, Roomful of Teeth is eight classically trained vocalists skilled in Tuvan throat singing, belting and pop techniques, yodeling, Inuit throat singing, and vocal traditions from Sardinia and Korea.  A Roomful of Teeth concert feels less like a classical new music performance and more like a world music rock concert high wire act.  This concert will include several parts of Shaw’s award-winning Partita for 8 Voices, among other works.

In 2013 Caroline Shaw was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in Music for writing Partita for 8 Voices. At the age of 30, Shaw is the youngest-ever recipient of this coveted prize. This year’s New Sounds Live events focus on Shaw’s extraordinary work with two nights of live music performed by two of her ensembles and featuring screenings of her filmRiternello. A multimedia installation and live performance piece for voices or for strings, the film was inspired by architecture, the notions of return and memory, and by the tale of Rip Van Winkle. The accompanying music includes elements of American hymnody, Baroque music, and her own contemporary sonic sensibility. Shaw says that Ritornello,with its shots of New York bridges and a stop-action sequence of paper folding and unfolding, “tries to evoke the notion of time folding in on itself, repeating and forgetting and unfolding again.”

Curated by John Schaefer, host and producer of WNYC Radio’s popular radio showsNew Sounds and Soundcheck.