“Drawing on an ultra-cosmopolitan range of musical and cultural sources, Leila Adu-Gilmore and Anthony Davis exemplify some of the many ways in which Afrodiasporic new music becomes revealed as an intercultural, multigenerational space of innovation that offers new subjects, histories, and identities.” — George Lewis

PROGRAM

Anthony Davis: Hemispheres V. Clonetics (1983) for chamber ensemble

Anthony Davis: Wayang No. II (Shadowdance) (1982) for chamber ensemble 

Anthony Davis: Wayang Variations (1990) for solo piano

Anthony Davis, piano

– Intermission – 

Leila Adu-Gilmore: Alyssum (2014) for harp and string quartet

Leila Adu-Gilmore: Mahakala Oratorio (2020-23, World Premiere of Live Version) for large ensemble 

Leila Adu-Gilmore, voice; Alice Teyssier, voice 

After the performance, ICE Artistic Director George Lewis will hold a conversation with Leila Adu-Gilmore and Anthony Davis. 

PERFORMERS

Anthony Davis, piano; Leila Adu-Gilmore, voice; Kalena Bovell, conductor

International Contemporary Ensemble

Isabel Lepanto Gleicher, flute; Alice Teyssier, flute & voice; Emmalie Tello, clarinet; Rebekah Heller, bassoon; Hugo Moreno, trumpet; Nicolee Kuester, horn; Kalia Vandever, trombone; Miranda Cuckson, violin; Pala García, violin; Kal Sugatski, viola; Chris Gross, cello; Nuiko Wadden, harp; Vicky Chow, piano; Edward Kass, bass; Nathan Davis, percussion; Clara Warnaar, percussion; Pheeroan akLaff, drumset

Production Credits: 

Aaron Sherwood, Video Artist; Nicholas Houfek, lighting designer

PROGRAM NOTES

Anthony Davis: Clonetics (1983)

Clonetics is the fifth and final movement of my work Hemispheres, which was commissioned for Molissa Fenley and Dancers for the Next Wave Festival. Hemispheres was conceived for an ensemble of 10 players with Marty Ehrlich and J.D. Parran, woodwinds, Wadada Leo Smith, trumpet, George Lewis, trombone, Shem Guibbory, violin, Abdul Wadud, cello, Rick Rozie, bass, Jay Hoggard, vibraphone and marimba, Pheeroan akLaff, drums and Anthony Davis on piano. The piece is structured in 10 Steps, and as the title, implies the music works like cell division, forming opposing rhythmic and harmonic antiphonal choirs. Step 1 is in a 12 beat pattern that begins in unison and expands in orchestration and harmony. Step II introduces a 30 beat pattern as the ensemble spits into two groups. Step III adds another layer with the piano and strings negotiating a pattern in a triplet relation to the previous music with a shifting contracting and expanding repeating pattern. In Step IV the bass and drums introduce a new 25 beat pattern 7-10-8, as there are now 4 different antiphonal groups. Step V introduces a new 20/8 pattern for the woodwinds and vibraphone as the Step 1, II & III music concludes. 5 cycles of the 20/8 pattern equal 2 cycles of the 25/4 pattern. Step VI introduces a vamp in 5/4 that is a variation of the opening material. At Step VII the Step V music concludes and there is a fast canon between Step VI and Step VII. This resolves with the beginning of Step VIII which is a slow canon with cantilevered entrances with a slow version of the 5/4 theme. The voices in the canon are distributed in overlapping two-measure- and one-measure-long notes of 5 as the 5/4 ostinato from Step VI repeats in variation with the vibraphone and piano. A bass improvisation begins over the slow canon. Step IX introduces a 27 beat pattern that plays against a 14 beat pattern with a trumpet improvisation over the two rhythmic structures. The piece culminates in Step X with the return of the opening theme. 

A number of rhythmic structures in Clonetics also appear in my opera X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X (1985-86), and the musical cells in Clonetics become leitmotifs in X. For example, the bass ostinato from Step IV became the underlying 25 beat pattern in the scene “They say Earl was on the tracks” after Earl Little’s murder, as well as in the beginning of Malcolm X’s ministry on 125th street. Also, the material for the “Father is Dead, the Mother is Mad” is derived from Step IX. The scene concludes with the 14 beat ostinato in Step IX. Step III appears as the transitional music after the confrontation scene with Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad in Act III. 

Anthony Davis: Wayang No. II (1981)

This piece is part of a cycle of pieces composed in the 1980s that were inspired by Balinese Gamelan music and the Wayang Kulit. All the pieces employed repetition and were my initial effort in creating “rhythm drama,” a dramatic polyrhythmic musical structure. In Wayang No. II, the composition begins with a vibraphone phrase in 5/4 as the drums play around the groove as an introduction. The marimba enters in 7/4, revealing the underlying 35-beat pattern, as both the vibraphone and marimba ostinatos are pitched around a whole-tone tonality. The piano enters after 70 beats in an 11/4 pattern that clashes harmonically with the vibraphone and marimba. This creates a 385 beat structure. The winds play long tones following the 7/4 in the marimba. The violin introduces a new pattern in 9/4 along with the cello. The vibraphone, marimba, and piano embellish their patterns as the groove continues. This is followed by the strings playing glissando figures and textures against the groove. A slow melody is played by the trombone, bass clarinet, and contrabass. The vibraphone and violin re-introduce the 5/4 figure as the piece concludes. The Wayang compositions were the foundation for my second opera, Under the Double Moon, which premiered at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis in 1989 with the original intent to explore a science fiction narrative with shadow puppets.

Anthony Davis: Wayang Variations (1990)

This is an improvisational work for solo piano. The piece followed my works Wayang IV for septet in 1981, Wayang V for piano and orchestra that premiered with the San Francisco Symphony in 1984, and Wayang VI for two pianos, originally performed by Ursula Oppens and myself and later Marilyn Crispell and me for a dance work by Laura Dean. Wayang Variations draws from thematic material in Wayang IV and V in an improvisational spirit, allowing for a spontaneous realization of structure that I hope is entirely unexpected.

–Anthony Davis

Leila Adu-Gilmore: Alyssum                                                                              

for my mother, Alison

If anyone was ever deserving of a piece of being written in their honor, it is my Mum. Of course, like most mothers, she took care of my needs, and in our case, went through a particularly horrid birth process. Aside from that, while my mother seems to have befallen many a tragedy, rather than being dampened by this, her spirit has remained strong, calm and relatively light-hearted! Of late, since an earthquake destroyed the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, in which she still lives by the sea, we recently found that she has had increasing brain damage, possibly due to Alzheimers. Mum’s darkly sharp wit interpreted me writing this piece for her now, as being whilst she was still “compus mentus.” In fact, she is right — I wanted to write this while she could fully appreciate it, though she loves music and new arts so much that I imagine she will get a good bit of life enjoyment out of it yet. “Alyssum” is the plant that grows in rocky beds and is often added as a starry, white filler to a store bought bouquet: it sounds like her name and hardy and beautiful are qualities that suit her.

Mum sent me an email with a Youtube video of a scene from Pedro Almaldovar’s film Talk To Her where Caetano Veloso sings ‘Cucurrucucú Paloma’: remarkably, at the same time I had been really getting into Antonio Jobim. Therefore, upon finding our shared love of bossanova, I decided to add the theme of common tones to my cantus firmus, as well as harmonies descending by semi-tone and bossa rhythms, especially in the final section. The high A could show my mother’s enduring spirit. You can hear her initials, Alison Barbara Gilmore, as a theme. There are also themes of waves, pools and waterfalls, as she loves nature, especially the sea. 

Leila Adu-Gilmore: Mahakala Oratorio

The lyrics for Mahakala Oratorio, which was originally commissioned by Chatterbird, are adapted from the Plainsong Pujua of Mahakala, originally compiled by Lama Chimé Shore from texts received from the late Ven. Namgyal Rinpoche and the late Ven. Kalu Rinpoche. I wrote this piece thinking about climate crisis and pollution and the need for powerful protective qualities, as well as calming qualities of the sanctuary of nature. But the pandemic and the George Floyd uprisings added more reasons for this same resilient strength for self and others on one hand, and refuge on the other. Now, as we see growing global unrest, these qualities of strength and sanctuary seem more relevant than ever. Musically, I know when something is right because it makes me cry. There are sections like that in this piece, though, there is a fierceness there, as well as complete calm. That’s what this piece means to me, strength, calm and the unlikely combination of these two to overcome suffering in the world.  

There are nine sections in the work:

  • Overture
  • Chenrezig Mahakala
  • Look Now
  • Clear Danger from the Path
  • Strong Legs, Sure Feet
  • Greed Despoliates the World
  • Encourage Peace
  • Om Mani Padme Hum
  • Aksobya

— Leila Adu-Gilmore

Mahakala Oratorio Lyrics

OVERTURE

Courage now, on and on!

Uncertain times confront us all – every creature, every place. All our own responses, arising from the deep,
Can be empowered by compassion and thus protect and discipline
The outcome of expression. 

CHENREZIG MAHAKALA

Chenrezig powerful!

Mahakala is an expression of…
Mahakala is an expression of…

LOOK NOW

Look now, all around!
Look now, all around!
There are abusive states, new in the world.
Look now, all around!
There are abusive states, Careless of all life, immersed in selfish wants. 

burn the fog of apathy
burn the fog of apathy
burn the fog of apathy
There are abusive states, new in the world.
There are abusive states, new in the world.
There are abusive states, new in the world.

Chenrezig Mahakala (x6)
can tame the darkest energy and burn the fog of apathy.
can tame the darkest energy and burn the fog of apathy.

CLEAR ALL DANGER FROM THE PATH

Clear all danger from the path

one to one, all to all, Continuous, unbroken, active synergy
one to one, all to all, Continuous, unbroken, active synergy

Garner wisdom and authority, vitality and power

Collective compassion is able to face, quell, control and transcend All forms of harm and ignorance.

Eminent, bright radiance, blue black clarity, Fearless in the midst of deep time force and energy, Transform the lower world
Charge our many hearts with clear determination; Find right understanding; map the common ground.

The mind that goes awry, losing sanity – that mind can be healed! Within each human birth there is a truth, a torch of certainty,
A light that can reveal a way to live more graciously.

Bodhicitta, great blessing in the human birth, essential understanding (x3)
Call the tiger to your side 

MAHAKALA HAS STRONG LEGS, MAHAKALA HAS SURE FEET

Mahakala has strong legs and Mahakala has sure feet;
They are well able to trample down demonic thoughts and deeds!
Teeth are bared; hair and eyebrows upward blaze; (x3)
The body of passion is fully awake, focused and engaged. (x6)
The body of passion (x3)
Is awake, focused, and engaged

GREED DESPOLIATES THE WORLD

Delusion has the power to destroy and deform; Greed despoliates the world; hatred is a disease.

Delusion has the power to destroy and deform; Greed despoliates the world; hatred is a disease.

ENCOURAGE PEACE

Remember the purpose of practice! Remember why the Teachings are created!
Renew always the vow for peace; strengthen practice in accord;
Encourage peace (x3)
throughout the world;
Encourage peace throughout the world (x6)

OM MANI PADME HUM

OM MANI PADME HUM (x12)
Resilient compassion takes many forms To suit the many different needs:
White to temper pride; green to ease fierce jealousy;
Yellow to gladden yearning want; sky blue to free entangled thought; Red to quell consuming greed; blue-black to pacify
The realms where hatred rules.
Chenrezig in this last place, Reveals the power, Mahakala
Chenrezig in this last place, Reveals what must be said and done
Chenrezig in this last place, Reveals the power, Mahakala

AKSOBYA

Aksobya,
A tranquil place and purpose, like a sacred grove. Clear, reflective mind, white light wisdom mirror (x3)
The blessings of the natural world are recognized and valued here
Air, water, earth and energy; living world, Gaia (x2)
May gratitude and offering be accepted and enjoyed. May the way of compassion be wise with its power.
Bodhicitta, right intention, knowledge, teaching, dialogue: Contribute and bestow, expand and liberate The power, peaceful mind;
Bodhicitta, right intention, knowledge, teaching, dialogue; Alive and realised.
Purify delusion, confusion and fixated views.
In thought and word and deed, this intent is deeply felt;
Faith and aspiration grow in confidence.
Now the light of all experience can illuminate the path. The suffering in the world becomes the cause of practice.
Skill and means be with us now; light of peace, compound; Become the inner lamp, grace the sacred ground. 

International Contemporary Ensemble Staff

Jennifer Kessler, Executive Director

George Lewis, Artistic Director

Jenni Bowman, Executive Producer

Bridgid Bergin-Davidson, Producer & Communications Director

Keisha Husain, Director of Finance and Administration

Eric Umble, Director of Development

Daniel Rodier, Technical Director & Audio Engineer

Isabel Crespo Pardo, Production & Communications Manager

Remi Shimode, Development Administrator

Jacob Greenberg, Director of Recordings

About International Contemporary Ensemble

Now in its third decade, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) is a multidisciplinary collective of musicians, digital media artists, producers, and educators committed to building and innovating collaborative environments in order to inspire audiences to reimagine how they experience contemporary music and sound. The Ensemble creates a mosaic musical ecosystem as “America’s foremost new-music group” (The New Yorker), honoring the diversity of human experience and expression by commissioning, developing, recording, and performing the works of living artists in “a mission worth following” (I Care If You Listen). 

Co-founded in 2001 by flutist and MacArthur “genius” Fellow Claire Chase, the Ensemble has premiered over 1,000 works and is the recipient of the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, as well as Musical America’s Ensemble of the Year Award. Past artistic leadership includes co-founder Claire Chase and Ensemble members Joshua Rubin, Rebekah Heller, and Ross Karre. Notable presenting partners have included Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, TIME:SPANS Festival, Roulette, and Miller Theatre. The Ensemble has given performances at Warsaw Autumn, Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music, Cité de la Musique (Paris), Park Avenue Armory, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ojai Music Festival, and Big Ears Festival as well as in venues such as the Dutch National Opera, Carnegie Hall, and Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Through trailblazing initiatives such as the Call for ____ Commission Program and Ensemble Evolution (in partnership with The New School’s College of Performing Arts), the Ensemble has had a major impact on the contemporary performance ecosystem in New York City, nationally, and internationally, by supporting the creativity of their composer-collaborators, as well as presenting workshops and performances for hundreds of student composers. Many of the Ensemble’s composer-collaborators have developed highly influential careers, such as Du Yun, who won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for the opera Angel’s Bone, which the Ensemble developed and premiered, and MacArthur Fellows Tyshawn Sorey and Courtney Bryan. 

The Ensemble’s Digitice platform provides high-quality video documentation for artist-collaborators, as well as public access to an archive of composers’ workshops and performances. In addition, the Ensemble continues to build space for dialogue on equity, and has facilitated New Music Virtual Town Hall meetings for peer organizations and individual musicians to share resources, processes, and initiatives around equity and inclusion.

Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the Ensemble. Read more at www.iceorg.org 

ABOUT NYU SKIRBALL

NYU Skirball holds close James Baldwin’s dictum that “artists are here to disturb the peace.” Our mission is to present adventurous, transdisciplinary work that inspires yet provokes, confirms yet confounds, and entertains yet upends. We proudly embrace renegade artists who surprise, productions that blur aesthetic boundaries, and thought-leaders who are courageous, outrageous, and mind-blowing.

A roster of international artistic visionaries command our stage, often with North American or World Premieres, including directors Milo Rau and Toshiki Okada; choreographers Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, Florentina Holzinger, and Faustin Linyekula; composers Du Yun, George Lewis, and John Zorn; the theatre ensembles Elevator Repair Service, Forced Entertainment, Gob Squad, Wooster Group, and Teatro La ReSentida; along with the dance companies A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, Big Dance Theater, and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance. Eminent scholars, authors, and paradigm shifters headline our events and have included Kwame Anthony Appiah, Judith Butler, David Chalmers, Angela Davis, Zadie Smith, and Slavoj Žižek.

NYU Skirball’s engagement programming supports the University’s academic mission with conjunctions of cutting-edge live art and practical, experiential curricular resources, including artists’ conversations, workshops, scholarly essays, and diverse public events. Our work promotes encounters with boundary-pushing art forms, enhances critical thinking, nurtures imaginations, and employs the performing arts as an essential means of teaching, researching, and lifelong learning.

We are NYU’s largest classroom. We want to feed your head.

NYU Skirball Funding

NYU Skirball’s programs are made possible in part with support from the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; and by Howard Gilman Foundation; FUSED (French U.S. Exchange in Dance), a program of FACE Foundation in partnership with Villa Albertine; General Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the USA; Collins Building Services; Korean Cultural Center New York; Marta Heflin Foundation; Harkness Foundation for Dance; Van Cleef & Arpels; as well as our valued donors through memberships, commissioning, and Stage Pass Fund support.

Up Next @ NYU Skirball

NYU SKIRBALL MEMBERS ARE FRIENDS...WITH BENEFITS

FRBenefits include:
• Up to 30% off one ticket per show
• Advance notice of upcoming events
• Exclusive pre-sale tickets
• Subscription to NYU Skirball’s e-newsletter
• Personalized NYU Skirball Member card
• Member offers at local Greenwich Village restaurants and shops
(Fully tax-deductible)

Sidekick $125All of the benefits Friends receive plus:
• Up to 30% off two tickets per show
• Complimentary NYU Skirball tote bag
• Complimentary ticket exchanges
• VIP reserved seating for select NYU Skirball humanities events
($110 tax-deductible)

Comrade $250All of the benefits Sidekicks receive, plus:
• Up to 30% off four tickets per show
• Waived ticketing fees (savings of up to $6 per ticket)
• Exclusive access and invitations to meet artists
• Invitations to private dress rehearsals
($235 tax-deductible)

Bosom Buddy $1000All of the benefits Besties receive, plus:
• Two complimentary drinks at the Lobby Café per Skirball Presents production
• Two passes to all Skirball humanities event receptions
• Enhanced pre-sale, prior to Member pre-sale
• Dedicated patron line for personalized customer service
($955 tax-deductible)

JOIN AS A BOSOM BUDDY MEMBER

 

Soul Mate $2500All of the benefits Bosom Buddies receive, plus:
• Four passes to all NYU Skirball humanities event receptions
• Ability to secure premium house seats
($2455 tax-deductible)

NYU SKIRBALL ACADEMIC ADVISORY COUNCIL

Sheril Antonio
Senior Associate Dean, Strategic Initiatives, NYU Tisch

Ulrich Baer
University Professor

Una Chaudhuri
Divisional Dean for the Humanities &
Vice Dean for Interdisciplinary Initiatives

Anna Deavere Smith
University Professor

Michael Dinwiddie
Associate Professor, NYU Gallatin

Georgina Dopico
Interim Provost, NYU

Karen Finley
Arts Professor, NYU Tisch

Faye Ginsburg
David B. Kriser Professor, NYU Arts & Science

Lynn Gumpert
Director, NYU Grey Art Gallery

Sylvaine Guyot
Professor of French Literature, Thought, and Culture,
NYU Arts & Science

André Lepecki
Professor; Chair of Performance Studies, NYU Tisch

Julie Malnig
Associate Professor, NYU Gallatin

Judith Graves Miller
Professor Emerita of French and Collegiate Professor, NYU Arts & Science

Pamela Pietro
Arts Professor; Chair of Dance, NYU Tisch

Rubén Polendo
Associate Dean, Institute Of Performing Arts, NYU Tisch

J. Ryan Poynter
Associate Vice Provost for Academic Affairs & Chief of Staff

Karen Shimakawa
Associate Professor; Academic Associate Dean, NYU Tisch

Catharine Stimpson
University Professor

Justin Townsend
Arts Professor; Chair of Graduate Design for Stage & Film, NYU Tisch

Tomi M. Tsunoda
Associate Arts Professor; Chair of Drama, NYU Tisch

Bryan Waterman
Associate Professor, English Literature, NYU Arts & Sciences

Deborah Williams 
Clinical Professor, Liberal Studies

Julia Wolfe
Professor of Music Composition; Artistic Director of Music Composition, NYU Steinhardt

NYU SKIRBALL ARTISTIC ADVISORY COUNCIL

Kyle Abraham

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker

David Lang

Elizabeth LeCompte

Eiko Otake

Annie-B Parson

Philippe Quesne

Alex Timbers

NYU SKIRBALL STAFF

Jay Wegman
Director

Emily Anderson
Supervisor, Lighting And Sound

Cliff Billings
Ticket Operation Specialist

J De Leon, PhD
Associate Director, Engagement

Brian Emens
Theater Technician

George Faya
Theater Technician

Angie Golightly
Theater Technician

Jenny Liao
Manager, Operations

Craig Melzer
Box Office Manager

Kimberly Olstad
Director, Development

Jordan Peters
Front of House Supervisor

Alberto Ruiz
Production Manager

Don Short
Senior Supervisor, Lighting And Sound

Caroline Grace Steudle
Administrative Coordinator

Ian Tabatchnick
Director, Operations

Julia Thorncroft
Marketing Manager

Helene Davis 
Press Representative

Pentagram Design
Graphics