Julius Eastman | New Performance Materials

The Moon's Silent Modulation is our most recently engraved score and set of parts from the Julius Eastman catalog, part of our ongoing effort to restore and publish the works of a neglected American Master. (Up next is the world premiere of Eastman's long-lost Symphony No. II, restored by composer/musicologist Luciano Chessa. Watch this space for further details.)

Scored for mixed chorus and an ensemble of two pianos, flute, string quintet, and percussion, Eastman composed The Moon's Silent Modulation in 1969-70 while a member of the music faculty at the University of Buffalo. Eastman's involvement with Buffalo's Creative Associates, directed by Lukas Foss and which at the time included fellow composer-performers Terry Riley and Petr Kotik, commenced his most fertile and productive decade. The world premiere was set to original choreography for three dancers (by Eastman), and its structure marked an early, formal use of improvisation in his compositions.

Carnegie Hall's Ensemble Connect, members from Opera on Tap, and conductor Mila Henry will give the first performance from the new set of materials at Lincoln Center's Rubinstein Atrium in New York City on September 20 in collaboration with Access Contemporary Music.

At the concert, Seth Boustead, the composer and host of WFMT Chicago’s "Relevant Tones," will join Jeremiah Moss, author of Vanishing New York, a book on gentrification and income inequality, along with Open House New York executive Director Gregory Wessner, the architect and author of A Country of Cities Vishaan Chakrabarti, and NewMusicBox co-editor Frank J. Oteri to explore the idea of a city's vanishing soul.

Tickets:
Relevant Tones Live: Vanishing City