For the sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary of the transfer of Russian America to the U.S., Wild Shore New Music presents a concert of contemporary music that addresses elements of Alaska that cut across boundaries: the light, the mountains, the water, the wildlife, and the silence of the tundra. The program includes music by Pulitzer Prize-winning Alaskan composer John Luther Adams, Californian composer Lou Harrison, John Cage, Julia Wolfe, and more.

Wild Shore New Music was created in 2013 by three New York musicians who all grew up in Alaska: Katie Cox, Andie Springer and Conrad Winslow. Over the past four seasons, Wild Shore has brought musicians from some of the nations leading contemporary ensembles such as Bang on a Can All Stars, Mivos Quartet, eighth blackbird, California EAR Unit, and more. Wild Shore presents adventurous new chamber music in south-central Alaska and explores how art engages the natural world in all its beauty and danger. Humans have always needed to use and understand the natural world in order to survive. Wild Shore stages this struggle, and invites audiences to reflect on it, through performances of instrumental music. Wild Shore fosters collaborations between living composers, the nation’s finest classically-trained musicians, and the extraordinarily creative artists and residents of Alaska.

PERFORMERS

Katie Cox, flutes
Bill Kalinkos, clarinet
Andie Springer, viloin
Maria Jeffers, cello
Michael McCurdy, percussion
David Friend, piano
Conrad Winslow, piano

FUNDER & PARTNERSHIP LANGUAGE

Wild Shore New Music is an organization that is fiscally sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), which supports artists who want to realize specific projects. Through NYFA, all contributions to Wild Shore Festival for New Music are tax-deductible within the fullest extent of the law.

This program is presented in partnership with the Alaska Historical Society and Bunnell Street Arts Center in Homer. Wild Shore is grateful for the support of the Atwood Foundation, the Curtis-Meares Foundation, the Elizabeth Charitable Gift Fund in memory of Don Leistikow, Judith Greenspon, and many individuals.

WILD SHORE VIDEO LINKS

National Archives Washington D.C.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD6avyp3LA4
Federal Hall New York, NY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17fZLtEOVF4
Season Two Wrap Homer, AK: https://vimeo.com/110283913

COMPOSERS (Click on names for links to bios)

John Luther Adams
Lou Harrison ( I grabbed this bio from Naxos. It seems to be the right length)
John Cage (also from Naxos)
Julia Wolfe

EVENTS

9/27 – Kenai Fine Arts Center in Kenai, AK

9/28 – Educational Event/ Workshop in Homer, AK

*9/29 @ 7:30PM – Bunnell Street Arts Center in Homer, Alaska

9/30 Time and location TBD – University of Alaska Anchorage in Anchorage, AK

*10/1 @ 1PM – The Anchorage Museum, Anchorage, Alaska in Anchorage, AK