Rhys Chatham’s Guitar Trio at Saratoga Arts Center, Saturday, November 20
Saratoga Arts is partnering with soundBarn and Albany Sonic Arts Collective (ASAC) to present the full length version of Rhys Chatham’s Guitar Trio. The performance will be on Saturday, November 20, at 8pm in the theater at The Arts Center, 320 Broadway, Saratoga Springs.
Written in 1977, Guitar Trio is Rhys Chatham's signature composition. With a single, repeated chord, Guitar Trio (or G3 as it was later renamed to accommodate increased instrumentation of six to ten electric guitars) embodies an amalgamation of the textural intricacies of the avant-garde collided with the visceral punch of electric guitar-slinging punk rock. Chatham’s Guitar Trio created a new type of urban music. Raucous and ecstatic, the sound energized the downtown New York scene throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, prefigured the No Wave movement and cast a huge influence over the subsequent work of Chatham’s many protégés, including Glenn Branca and future members of Sonic Youth.
Accompanying the performance of G3 is the original visual projection Pictures for Music, created for the piece in 1977 by internationally known visual artist Robert Longo.
soundBarn and Albany Sonic Arts Collective will also perform Swallowtail for three or more electric guitars with electric bass and drums by Holland Hopson. Composed in 2010, Swallowtail is inspired by Guitar Trio and was written as a companion piece to Chatham's work to be performed by the ensemble on the same program.
The G3 ensemble includes: Thomas Lail, Tara Fracalossi, Patrick Weklar, Matt Ernst, Holland Hopson, Ray Hare, guitars; Eric Hardiman, bass; Matt Weston, drums.
The performance is the latest in a series of experimental and underground concerts Saratoga Arts has presented since 2007, when it received a large seed grant from the New York State Music Fund to present an ensemble headed by RPI's Neil Rolnick, John Cage's 5-hour multi-media piece HPSCHD, and other work.
More recently, Saratoga Arts has presented or co-presented with Albany Sonic Arts Collective or The Spring Street Gallery performances by the underground music collective Sunburned Hand of the Man, Ecstatic Peace! recording artists MV + EE and the Golden Road, and the Michael Flower-Chris Corsano Duo.
Albany Sonic Arts Collective is a grassroots organization located in and around Albany, NY dedicated to building a thriving community of listeners and performers of music that exists outside of traditional boundaries with a special emphasis on forms that stress freedom and exploration of new ideas. soundBarn is the experimental music duet of Thomas Lail and Patrick Weklar. The soundBarn is a project of artist/musician Thomas Lail and artist/gallerist Tara Fracalossi and is located on what was once Heald Orchards in Valatie, New York.
What: Rhys Chatham's Guitar Trio
Where: Saratoga Arts Center, 320 Broadway, Saratoga Springs
When: Saturday, November 20, 8pm
Cost: $5
For more information: (518) 584-4132 or www.saratoga-arts.org
image credits: Robert Longo, Pictures for Music
Awesome event, guys! So happy I could make it! Had pleasure of seeing Rhys and a dozen or more other guitarists perform in NYC back in '81, I think. Thanks for continuing to amaze.
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