Sunday, November 15

8pm

FREE

photo by Nathan Koci

On Sunday, November 15th at 8pm guests are invited to join members of the New Music Collective at the

Circular Congregational Church (150 Meeting Street) as they perform transitions, a new work by Sam Sfirri. Essentially, transitions is a collection of transcribed events that occurred in Charleston County in May of 2009. Depending on decisions individually made by the performers, fragments of these transcriptions may delicately appear amongst the silence and sound of the performance environment. The performance, as well as tea and cookies, will be free of charge.

The composition and performance of this work was made possible in part by the Coastal Community Foundation's Expansion Arts Program.

Sam Sfirri is a composer and performer residing in Charleston, South Carolina. He is currently investigating what being a composer and performer means.

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Wednesday November 18

8pm
Redux Print Studio

136 St Philip St.

$10 / $5 students / under 18 free!

photo by Peter Gunnushkin

The NMC is proud to once again present a concert featuring Tatsuya Nakatani! He has sold out the Redux Print Studio twice before, and this time he's bringing a collaborator with whom to perform improvised works: Eugene Chadbourne from Greensboro, NC on guitar and banjo. These two internationally known artists play all over the world, and we're delighted they're able to make it to Charleston to play on the Redux stage.

The pair came together first circa 2007 when the former sent the following email message from his home in Pennsylvania to the notorious House of Chadula in Greensboro, North Carolina: "Hello, I want to come South and play Johnny Cash train beat with you." Of course the Doc's radar went up, having spent decades in an intense if sometimes inexplicable mangling of American country and western, Appalachian folk, rock and roll and international free improvisation and noise music. Soon, the duo was performing in clubs in the Southeast as well as New York spots like John Zorn's The Stone

While touring initially Doc Chad was delighted to learn that Nakatani had fronted a bossa nova band at various points in his career and could sing in Portugese. Thus, a small set of bossa was also added to the show which of course includes a tribute to Johnny Cash as well as a variety Doc Chad's original songs from a catalog that has been expanding since since the early '80s Shockabilly years.

These days Chadbourne mostly focuses on these original songs, including a great deal of political and social satire. In collaborations as well as solo, these songs are launching pads for improvisations that are likely to go anywhere. The duet show also features solo sections by both performers.

Tatsuya Nakatani web
Eugene Chadbourne web

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Friday, December 4

8pm

$10 / $5 students / under 18 FREE

photo by Ben Williams

For the 3rd year in a row, the NMC presents it's annual chamber music program, featuring local composers and local performers in brand new compositions. This year also marks the inaugural season of the New Works Program, whereby we use your support to directly commission composers to write new pieces for the ensemble. The winners of the 2009 NWP Commissions are Sean Friar, a New Jersey-based composer studying at Princeton, and Charleston's own Nick Jenkins, a musician, composer, illustrator, and generally amazing fellow about town. Sean's Finding Time is a rhythmically complex tour-de-force that forces the ensemble to hang on with white knuckles, and Nick's Noble Homes is a beautiful set of songs featuring one of Charleston's favorite vocalists, Bill Carson. We're excited to be premiering both works this Friday.

Also on the program is a world premiere by Philip White for solo piano, the Charleston premiere of a set of works by Ron Wiltrout, Bill Carson, and Nathan Koci written this past spring about the Olympia Mill Village in Columbia, SC, and some wonderful guitar and percussion duos by the late Lou Harrison.

We hope you'll join us!

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Saturday, December 19

5-6:30pm

FREE (boombox required!)

photo by Charlie Thiel

For the 4th year in a row, we invite you to join us for Boombox Christmas Caroling with Phil Kline's Unsilent Night. With your help, we will create a roving sound installation, where boomboxes replace voices in a holiday caroling event like no other! You bring a boombox, ipod with speakers, or any media playing device you wish, and we supply a CD, tape, or digital download of one of the four parts of the piece. We all press play together, and walk through the streets of Charleston, creating a cacophony of bells, voices, and reverberent joy echoing the sentiments of the season in a wholly unique way.

RSVP REQUIRED!!

If you wish to join us this year, PLEASE RSVP to ron@newmusiccollective.org so we know how many CD's/Tapes to bring! The more the merrier! Bring the whole family! Even the dog!

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