SANTA CRUZ — Santa Cruz’s New Music Works will hold its first concert of the 2018-2019 season at the UCSC Music Recital Hall on Oct. 13, kicking off the group’s 40th season.
“October Surprise” brings together an eclectic, varied set of pieces and features some special guests, including renowned trombone player Andy Strain.
“We wanted to start off the season with a bang,” said New Music Works’ Artistic Director and Conductor Philip Collins. “This show is visceral, it’s out of the ordinary. It’s powerful.”
New Music Works, formed in 1979, aims to present musical performance in new, imaginative ways, including pieces from living composers as well as masterworks of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Starting off the Oct. 13 concert is “22 American Folk Songs” by Ruth Crawford Seeger. An electric guitar sets off the piece, comprised of classic folksong arrangements Collins described as “slippery, and so unlike what we know to be folk.”
Next is Bun Ching Lam’s “Five Songs from Cold Mountain,” featuring tenor Andrew Scott Carter and accompanied simply by flute, viola and harp.
“It casts a spell from beginning to end,” Collins said of the piece. “It’s haunting.”
The first half of “October Surprise” concludes with a special appearance by Andy Strain, a Bay Area trombonist who will be also playing a garden hose, Collins confirmed, on “Anagnoorisis” by Bob Hughes.
A world premiere from Hughes and Lou Harrison will follow intermission: “Ritmicas: Homago al Roldan.” The quintet was dubbed as “double music” by the composers, referring to Harrison’s co-composing with John Cage in the 1930s.
Concluding the show is “Coming Together” by Frederic Rzewksi. The 20-minute minimalist piece will feature Lori Rivera as the piece’s speaker, a role routinely held by male vocalists.
“[‘Coming Together’] is almost like an anthem among American experimental musicians,” Collins said. “It’s powerful, rhythmic, inspirational.”
With “October Surprise,” New Music Works leaps into its 40th anniversary season, and three more concerts are planned for February, March and June 2019.
Of being such a long-standing group, Collins made sure to attribute much of their success to community support.
“We are so grateful,” he said. “We know this couldn’t have happened without all the individuals and groups who’ve helped us for all these years.”
“October Surprise” will be held at the UCSC Music Recital Hall, 402 McHenry Road in Santa Cruz, on Oct. 13 at 7:30 p.m., with a reception to follow.
Collins promised that the show would be one of energy and high-entertainment.
“It will be a pulse-raising concert,” he said. “It’s extroverted. A true celebration.”
