For the past several months, Tod has been meeting with M.I.T. linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky to explore ideas for a new piece, centered particularly around the influence of music in Chomsky’s life and work. The project originated with David Harrington, violinist for the Kronos Quartet, who reached out to Chomsky after hearing him speak at Howard Zinn’s memorial, and has since evolved through a series of intensive conversations, emails and meetings. It has been an unusual collaboration between composer, performer and subject. Kronos will perform the piece at its world premiere on April 15 as part of the New Music Marathon concert. The concert also features Bang on a Can All-Stars and Chinese pipa virtuoso Wu Man, who team up with MIT’s own Gamelan Galak Tika and MIT Chamber Chorus. In addition to Machover’s Chomsky Suite, the concert will showcase compositions by MIT’s Evan Ziporyn, alum Christine Southworth, Bang on a Can’s David Lang, Michael Gordon and Julia Wolfe, as well as ambient music pioneer Brian Eno and minimalist gurus Terry Riley and Steve Reich. We’re intrigued and excited!
MIT FAST FUTURE | NEW MUSIC MARATHON
April 15, 2011 | Curated by Evan Ziporyn, Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor at MIT
7 PM–midnight Kresge Auditorium at MIT, 48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA
Tickets $30 general admission, $10 non-MIT students, FREE with MIT I.D.
Cool! Chomsky is the one deserving it!
I missed a similar concert last year too when composer Edward Manukyan gave his tribute at MIT. Kronos must have got that idea from Manukyan. I hope more composers will follow. The world needs to hear about Noam Chomsky more often.