MATA Interval is a concert series dedicated to small-scale performances by emerging performers and composers
based in New York City. Except where noted, all concerts take place at Issue Project Room in Brooklyn.

MATA INTERVAL 5.2
JAMES HOLT AND THE KNIGHTS CO-CURATORS
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 7:00pm
Every stop on the F-Train.  Queens, Manhattan, Brooklyn.

FREE!

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH MAKE MUSIC NEW YORK’s MAKE MUSIC WINTER

New York-based composer James Holt and The Knights jointly curate a free public music installation that involves “accidental participation” by audiences on December 21, 2011 as part of MATA’s INTERVAL concert series in partnership with Make Music New York.

From 7:00pm to 8:00pm on every Brooklyn-bound F-train platform from Jamaica, Queens (Jamaica-179 St) to Coney Island, Brooklyn (Coney Island Stillwell Av), Thruline will feature more than 40 members of The Knights chamber orchestra, each performing the Prelude from J.S. Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G major.

The Bach was chosen because it is widely recognized and enjoyed by the public; it is a work that subway riders will tend to notice remains the same from stop to stop.  In addition, the consistent texture and musical pattern allows listeners less familiar with the piece to relate the short snippets they will hear at each station, whether beginning, middle or end, creating a through-line experience no matter where they begin their trip or how long it lasts.

The Prelude lasts approximately 3 minutes, and The Knights (cellists, and in some stations alternate instruments) will play the movement continuously for the duration of the installation, repeating as many times as necessary. As an ‘accidental’ participant, the public will hear the music as they wait on platforms and while riding on the train every time the car doors open at each station.  With each subsequent stop in a given trip, ‘listeners’ will develop an experiential thread that starts and ends wherever they enter and leave the subway.  The ideal public experience is one where a subway rider hears fragments of the piece every few minutes, recognizing that, at each stop, the same piece has continued, but in different contexts.

More information can be found at www.matafestival.org and www.makemusicny.org

ABOUT THE CURATORS

James Holt is a composer who primarily writes music for mixed chamber ensembles.  His works have been commissioned and performed by the JACK Quartet, the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), the Verdehr Trio, Tonus Percussion Group, Tosca String Quartet, Attacca Percussion Group, Sqwonk, REDSHIFT, Composer’s Concordance, and Forecast Music.  His music has been heard across the United States and in England, including recent and upcoming performances in New York City, Boston, Washington DC, San Francisco, and Alaska.

His bi-weekly podcast, My Ears Are Open, is dedicated to contemporary composers and performers.  This ever-growing library of interviews features contemporary music’s most important advocates from around the world.  Ensembles and individual musicians are represented from cities such as New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, as well as countries such as Italy, Germany, Denmark, The Netherlands, England, and Hong Kong.

James has been a Fellow at both the Aspen Music Festival and School and the Bang on a Can Summer Institute of Music, has taken creative residencies at Yaddo and Centrum, and taught as an Associate Instructor of Composition at Indiana University, where he was also Assistant Director of the IU New Music Ensemble.

Originally from Seattle, James now lives and works in New York City.  www.myearsareopen.net

The Knights are an orchestra of friends from a broad spectrum of the New York music world who cultivate collaborative music making and creatively engage audiences in the shared joy of musical performance. Led by an open-minded spirit of camaraderie and exploration, they expand the orchestral concert experience with programs that encompass their roots in the Classical tradition and their passion for musical discovery.

Led by conductor Eric Jacobsen, The Knights are enjoying return engagements this summer to the Ravinia Festival and Central Park’s Naumburg Orchestral Series. They also opened Central Park’s SummerStage series this summer, collaborating with the Silk Road ensemble and Yo-Yo Ma in celebration of the Silk Road Connect program. 2011/12 season highlights include chamber music performances at Bargemusic in Brooklyn and for the Westport Arts Center in Connecticut, a return to the Brooklyn Friends of Chamber Music, and two tours: in March the orchestra joins Jan Vogler again for concerts in Munich, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Dresden and Darmstadt, Germany. In April, the orchestra embarks on their first US Tour featuring works from their New Worlds album.

This season The Knights add an album of music by Schubert, Satie and Feldman to their impressive discography. They will also record Beethoven in their third project for Sony Classical. Other discs include Lisa Bielawa’s Chance Encounter for Orange Mountain Music and Mozart, the ensemble’s 2010 Juno Award-winning collaboration with Lara and Scott St. John for Ancalagon.

The Knights evolved from late night chamber music reading parties with friends at the home of violinist Colin Jacobsen and cellist Eric Jacobsen, who now serve as co-artistic directors. Among the group’s diverse talents are composers, arrangers, singer-songwriters and improvisers who bring a range of cultural influences. The musicians are graduates of elite music schools, and members have performed as soloists with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago and San Francisco symphony orchestras. Each opportunity for these busy, versatile musicians to perform together as The Knights is a special occasion that they consider, quite literally, playtime.

For more information, visit www.theknightsnyc.com.