Ethan Philbrick, a cellist, professor, and doctor of Performance Studies is interested in the intersection between musical performance art and abolitionist politics. His work has been praised for its uniqueness and beauty and will leave Skirball audiences fascinated. Inspired by the 19th century anarchist Peter Kropotin’s critique of capitalism, Conquest of Bread, performers utilize the words of Kropotin to engage in choral performance.

Office Hours: Ethan Philbrick and Alice Teyssier on "Choral Marx"

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Get Thee to the LIbrary

Recommended readings to get you in gear for the show.

Ethan Philbrick, Composing With, 2018

Matthew S. Adams, Rejecting The American Model: Peter Kropotkin’s Radical Communalism, 2014

Ruth Kinna, Kropotkin’s Theory of Mutual Aid in Historical Context, 1995

Read All About It

JW McCormack for The Nation | November 27, 2018

‘Choral Marx’ Sets ‘The Communist Manifesto’ to Music

“We’re singing our way through the contradictions of capital.”

Jack Halberstam for BOMB Magazine | March 2, 2023

Ethan Philbrick's Group Works: Art, Politics, and Collected Ambivalence

Group Works, Philbrick’s first book, is not a purely celebratory account of art groups, it is rather a meditation on the ambivalence of the group.”

Grace Coleman and MJ McDonald for New School Free Press | Apr 23, 2024

Part-time faculty member Ethan Philbrick holds cello performance at Gaza Solidarity Encampment

“Philbrick performed “The unofficial national anthem of Palestine” titled “Mawṭinī,” written by Palestinian poet Ibrahim Tuqan, as well as an improvisational piece.”

What is "The Conquest of Bread"?

Lydia Syson for Psyche

The radical aristocrat who put kindness on a scientific footing

“Kropotkin drew on biology, sociology, history, (anti-racist) ethnology and anthropology to argue that species can organise and cooperate to overcome the natural environment and ensure their future survival.”

Jim Mac Laughlin for Pluto Press

Peter Kropotkin and the Anarchist Intellectual Tradition

“Kropotkin’s philosophy of anarchism suffers from neglect in mainstream histories; misrepresented as a utopian creed or a recipe for social chaos and political disorder, the intellectual strengths and philosophical integrity is overlooked.”