The winter solstice is on December 21, and if you’re
looking for a unique and musical way to observe the transition from autumn to
winter on the shortest day of the year, you might want to take in the special performance
that day of Georg Friedrich Haas’s “Solstices” (2017) by the Talea Ensemble at PS21‘s Black Box Theater.
Cited as one of the leading European composers of his generation, Haas,
who is part of Columbia University’s composition faculty, is known as a leading
proponent of spectral music and has been compared to Gyorgi Ligeti for his use of micropolyphony, microintervals, and
overtone series. Composed to be played by 10 musicians in complete darkness, “Solstices”
is approximately 75 minutes in duration and is designed to evoke the natural
phenomenon of planetary movement.
New York’s Talea Ensemble has earned the Chamber Music
America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming and has premiered nearly 45
commissions of major new works since the group was founded in 2008. The
ensemble’s PS21 performance will take place in complete darkness. To give
attendees a chance to acclimate to the room, the presentation will begin with a
few minutes of darkness in advance of the full performance. Ushers will be
equipped with night vision goggles to assist anyone who needs to exit during
the performance.
The Talea
Ensemble will perform Georg
Friedrich Haas’s “Solstices” at the Black Box Theater of PS21 in Chatham on December
21 at 4:26pm precisely. Tickets are $35 (students, youth, and educators are
$10).
This article appears in December 2023.
