Concert 3 – Darius Jones in Seattle
PROGRAM:
CHRISTOPHER DELAURENTI Grey Angel for guitar and electronics
ANGELIQUE POTEAT Cyclic Complement for bass clarinet and electronics
ANNE LEILEHUA LANZILOTTI Find for solo viola and electronics
YIGIT KOLAT Inference Engines for saxophone, electric guitar, viola, percussion and live electronics – featuring Alto Saxophonist Darius Jones – World Premiere
EVA-MARIA HOUBEN echo fantasia V for any kind and number of instruments or voices – US Premiere
DARIUS JONES WAR for ensemble – World Premiere
After the enthusiastic reception of our collaboration with New York-based composer and saxophonist, Darius Jones, in 2019, SMO is commissioning a new work from the celebrated composer. This experimental concert will feature Jones on the saxophone and will explore the intersection between written and improvised music. The second SMO commission of the concert will be by Seattle-based composer, Yiğit Kolat, composed specially for Mr. Jones and SMO.
SMO Single tickets: $25 General, $15 Seniors, $10 Students
SMO Digital Stage Single Tickets: $15
Safety Protocols
The safety of our musicians and audience is of top priority to us. We will continue to follow guidelines and recommendations from the CDC, King County, and the City of Seattle as we move forward this season. All of our performances this season will require masking and proof of vaccination. Details about Town Hall Seattle’s Covid-19 policy can be found here.
ABOUT OUR FEATURED COMPOSERS:
Darius Jones, Alto saxophonist/Composer
Over the past decade, Darius Jones has created a recognizable voice as a critically acclaimed saxophonist and composer by embracing individuality and innovation in the tradition of African-American music. “Jones’ concept is proudly his own,” writes Philip Clark in The Wire. “[His music] poses big questions about the relationship between the African-American tradition of spirituals, blues and gospel, and now.” With New York City as his base since 2005, Jones has brought his unique sound to dozens of cities around the United States, Canada, and Europe.
Jones early on established himself as a powerful voice in the jazz community and was nominated in 2013 for Alto Saxophonist of the Year, and for Up & Coming Artist of the Year two years in a row for the Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards. More recently The New York Times named Jones among the Best Live Jazz Performances of 2017 for his Vision Festival performance with Farmers by Nature.
Jones has collaborated with artists including Gerald Cleaver, Oliver Lake, William Parker, Trevor Dunn, Branford Marsalis, Steve Lehman, Sun Ra Arkestra, and many more. Signed to AUM Fidelity records in 2009, Jones has released a string of diverse recordings which comprise his Man’ish Boy Epic, featuring music and images evocative of Black Futurism. Darius’ 2012 release, Book of Mæ’bul (Another Kind of Sunrise) was listed among NPR’s Best Top 10 Jazz Albums of that year.
Jones graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a Bachelors in Jazz Studies in 2003, earning a Master’s Degree in Jazz Performance/Composition from New York University in 2008, where he also taught New Music Improvisation for a year as an adjunct professor. Jones taught saxophone and improvisation at Columbia University in 2017.
Yiğit Kolat, composer
Yiğit Kolat’s music explores the liminal frontiers of musical activity and potentialities in processing extra-musical data as musical information. The complicated political and social environment of his native Turkey is a recurring theme in his diverse output, which includes acoustic, electro-acoustic, and electronic works written for orchestra, chamber ensembles, voice, and solo instruments.
His works, described as “touching and convincing…a multi-sensory universe,” (K. Saariaho) have been recognized by a prestigious array of international organizations, including the Bogliasco Foundation (2016 Edward T. Cone Bogliasco Fellow in Music), the Tōru Takemitsu Composition Award (1st Prize, 2015), the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium (Finalist, 2013), and the Concours International de Composition Henri Dutilleux (2nd Prize, 2012).
His music has been featured throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia by leading ensembles and soloists, among them the Tokyo Philharmonic and Ryoko Aoki (Japan); Solistes de L’Orchestre de Tours, Donatienne Michel-Dansac, and Pascal Gallois (France); The Nieuw Ensemble, The Black Pencil Ensemble, and the Duo Mares (The Netherlands); Eric Wubbels, Jonathan Shames, the Talea Ensemble, and the Argento New Music Project (USA); the Presidential Symphony Orchestra of Turkey; Peter Sheppard-Skaerved and Aaron Shorr (Great Britain). His music has been broadcast by the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) and Turkish Radio Television (TRT).
Kolat earned his Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Washington, studying with Joël-François Durand.