Metropolis Ensemble presents and hosts a mini-series devoted to pianists at the vanguard of New York’s new music scene, curated in collaboration with pianist David Kaplan. The series features five maverick New York-based pianists with long associations with Metropolis Ensemble, sharing the stage with invited artists making their Metropolis Ensemble debuts.

Yamaha CF6 premium grand piano provided by Yamaha Artist Services New York.

with Erika Dohi and Guy Mintus

Piano Off-Book

Innovative pianists Erika Dohi and Guy Mintus create a program of improvisations and compositions inspired by the idea of dislocation. World premieres by Wadada Leo Smith and Iranian composer Niloufar Nourbakhsh, works by Anthony Davis and Andy Akiho, and extemporization by the performers will explore our common need to find our own place. Explore the complex theme of migration, journeying through myriad sound worlds and styles.

Dislocated

We are defined by our locations, whose cultural contexts blanket us in particular beliefs, rituals, and patterns of thought. What happens when we change location, or different locations visit us? This program explores our need to find our own place, and highlights the vulnerability of journeying beyond one’s home. Wadada Leo Smith escorts us to unexplored parts of the cosmos in his Piano Pieces (world premiere); Anthony Davis’s Middle Passage reflects a less voluntary journey; Iranian composer Niloufar Nourbakhsh’s HbeaRt searches inward, wishing to find individual purpose (a world premiere commissioned for this program will also be presented); Andy Akiho’s Transparency pays homage to a 20th century masterpiece by presenting it in an utterly different context.

This concert opens with Israel-born New Yorker Guy Mintus, a jazz pianist whose deeply personal music often addresses the struggle of those who migrate. Drawing on his own mixed heritage of Iraqi, Moroccan and Polish Jewish roots, as well as his exploration of Mediterranean musical styles, Guy will share his inner musical world with us, using a loop station and other special electronic effects to achieve his aesthetic.

Doors open at 6:30pm.

Because of the generous support of our followers, Metropolis Ensemble is thrilled to offer our pop-up venue at 1 Rivington as a place for new projects and works of music to take shape, at little to no cost to our artists. Select artists are given the opportunity not only to share finished works, but to use this platform to craft ideas into tangible realities.