Anthony Braxton, Mary Halvorson, and Tyshawn Sorey and more for 25th anniversary edition of the Other Minds Festival of New Music in San Francisco
Mike Flynn
Tuesday, September 21, 2021
This year’s festival, Moment’s Notice, will take place across four evenings from 14-17 October, 2021, at the Taube Atrium Theater in San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House
Curated by jazz concert producer Harry Bernstein, Moment’s Notice will bring to the festival stage 26 leading lights of the contemporary improvised music scene, including many of the pioneering icons of this music, as well as younger artists whose work is at once a continuance and an expansion of the jazz avant-garde. Festival artists include MacArthur Genius Award winners Anthony Braxton, Mary Halvorson, and Tyshawn Sorey; Guggenheim Fellows Jen Shyu, Wadada Leo Smith, and Zeena Parkins; Doris Duke Performing Artist Award winners William Parker and Myra Melford; NEA Jazz Master Roscoe Mitchell; Berlin Prize Awardee Elliott Sharp; and a number of additional performers whose music is a vital expression of the traditions of improvisation.
Throughout the Festival, performances combining media, including dance, theater, spoken word and live electronics will be represented, including pianist/composer Myra Melford who will partner with Butoh dancer Oguri; William Parker’s dance/theater work, The Sky is Trembling featuring dancer Patricia Nicholson and percussionist Hamid Drake; a highly rare performance by AACM forbear Roscoe Mitchell with collaborators Ambrose Akinmusire, Junius Paul and Vincent Davis; and vocalist Jen Shyu’s luminous Nine Doors, a theatrical work with ritualistic overtones sung in multiple languages and performed by Shyu on a variety of instruments. Other highlights include performances by MacArthur Fellows Anthony Braxton, Mary Halvorson in duet with pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and a new collaboration between Tyshawn Sorey and electronics innovator King Britt.
Other Minds Festival 25 will be presented as a live concert in San Francisco and as a livestream event worldwide. The streamed event will include intermission features, interviews with the performers, and live voiceover by expert hosts each night.
For the full programme and tickets visit www.otherminds.org/