Julius Eastman compositions performed by Kukuruz Quartet, Megaron, The Athens Concert Hall, Athens, documenta 14, photo: Stathis Mamalakis
The powerful, experimental works of African-American pianist and composer Julius Eastman (1940–1990), have begun to be rediscovered and increasingly performed in recent years. After performing with Buffalo University’s 1970s avant-garde SEM Ensemble, with Morton Feldman, John Cage, and Pauline Oliveros, Eastman began concentrating on his own compositions. Their hypnotic sounds, into which Eastman incorporated a variety of improvisational and expressionistic elements, broke ranks with the established minimalist tendencies of his day. However, Eastman’s compositional signature is not limited to the use of specific stylistic methods but embodies a distinctive, completely personal development of form and harmony.
The Kukuruz Quartet focuses on the instrumental possibilities that Eastman opened up for the piano. The program consists of part of the celebrated “Nigger Series,” which Eastman composed in the late 1970s, as well as other piano interpretations, including Fugue No. 1, a rarely performed piece written by Eastman in 1983 upon invitation by Swiss artist Dieter Hall to play a concert in Zurich.
Julius Eastman, part of the score of Fugue No. 1 (1983)
Julius Eastman
Fugue No. 1 (1983)
Evil Nigger (1979)
Buddha (1983)
Gay Guerrilla (1979)
Performed by
Kukuruz Quartet: Philip Bartels, Duri Collenberg, Simone Keller, Lukas Rickli, piano
A coproduction of documenta 14 and The Athens Concert Hall Organization
Free entrance