Phillip Glass and Daniel Bernard Roumain
Phillip Glass and Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) have been sporadically touring a collaborative concert that will hit the east coast at Newark's New Jersey Performing Arts Center's cutting-edge Alternate Routes series, Saturday, March 18.
SEEN AND HEARD:Philip Glass and Daniel Roumain, a dual presentation of études for piano and other works. The concert will allow people to revisit Glass' Etudes for Piano (1994-1999) performed by the composer, and will introduce many to DBR, a Harlem-based composer, performer, violinist, and band-leader who seamlessly blends funk, rock, hip-hop and classical music.
SEEN AND HEARD:Philip Glass and Daniel Roumain, features Glass on solo piano performing Etudes for Piano (1994-1999), DBR on piano performing his 24 Bits: Hip-Hop Studies & Etudes inspired by Glass' études, and additional collaborative works featuring Glass on piano and DBR on violin. The two world renowned composers first joined hands in August 2005, with the world premiere of Seen and Heard at Arizona State University.
Since the 1990s, Philip Glass has been inviting audiences to take an intimate glimpse into the intricacies of his work through his solo performance of his Etudes for Piano. It's a body of work with a broad range of dynamic tempo and emotion that was initially created to expand his piano technique with music that would enhance and challenge his playing, hence the name études or “studies”. This rare opportunity provides a re-acquaintance for Glass fans and a chance for new audiences to hear the definitive performance of the Etudes.
DBR's 24 Bits: Hip-Hop Studies & Etudes is a blend of classical traditions with elements of funk, jazz, and hip-hop. They're small musical vignettes (one in each key) that explain, examine, and express aspects of hip-hop music, from rhythm to timbre to form. According to the New York Times, these works “vary greatly in style, from slow, introspective Neo-Classical ruminations to rhythmically complicated, riffy pieces that would not be out of place in a dance club.”
SEEN AND HEARD:Philip Glass and Daniel Roumain
New Jersey Performing Arts Center
Saturday, March 18, 2006 at 7:30 pm
Glass: Etudes for Piano (1994-1999)
DBR: 24 Bits: Hip-Hop Studies & Etudes
The third work on the program will be a Glass and DBR collaborative composition
Victoria Theater, New Jersey Performing Arts Center
One Center Street, Newark, New Jersey
From Manhattan: NJ Transit or PATH Train to Newark's Penn Station
There will in fact be three DBR works performed in New York this March:
American Composers Orchestra, Zankel Hall, Friday, March 17, 2006 (see below)
SEEN AND HEARD:Philip Glass and Daniel Roumain. NJPAC, Saturday, March 18
DBR & THE MISSION, Knitting Factory, March 23, 2006
Knitting Factory