Loss, the multimedia performance in which I acted as composer, music director and pianist/keyboardist in Toronto in June 2023, will return from January 9-11, 2025 at the Apollo Theater, Harlem, New York City, presented by the Apollo in partnership with the Under the Radar Festival. It’s an intimate, multigenerational family story about grief and healing, written by Ian Kamau and his father Roger McTair (1943-2024), and shared live on stage with music, video, sound and lighting design. Created by and for people of African/Caribbean descent, it’s one of the most personally resonant projects I’ve been connected with so far. I’m excited to reunite with Ian and the creative team including my fellow musicians, and to have my performance debut in the US at this historic location and venue. Tickets: https://www.apollotheater.org/event/loss https://utrfest.org/program/loss
Category: New York City
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World Premiere of For Celine by Piano Lunaire
On Sunday, November 10, 2024, Piano Lunaire will give the world concert premiere of For Celine (1995, dedicated to my niece). “Fourths + Fifths” (2012, from Children’s Suite) will also be performed. These two short pieces are part of Composers in Play XII: Still Reeling, an expansive program that highlights world premieres by Charlie Piper, composer and pianist Christopher Mayo, and composer, pianist and Piano Lunaire co-founder Adam Sherkin, as well as music by Allison Cameron, David Sawer and Sean Shepherd. The concert will take place at 3 pm at Arts & Letters Club, Toronto. Doors open at 2:30 pm.
On Saturday, November 23, 2024, the same program will be performed, with songs by Emily Hall sung by Nathaniel Sullivan in place of the Cameron work. This concert will take place at 8pm at the Tenri Cultural Institute, New York City.
I performed For Celine several times in the late 90s in informal settings, always from memory with a variable duration and improvised details. I’m excited to have it played for the first time in its notated form by an expert performer in fine settings. This will also be the first time “Fourths + Fifths” has been performed as a standalone work, and its second appearance on a program since Stephen Clarke premiered the complete Children’s Suite at Arraymusic in 2020.I’m grateful for the opportunity to have my work presented by Adam and Christopher, two wonderfully accomplished artists.
EL MAHBOOB 