events

BlackBox ENSEMBLE: WORDPLAY
Apr
25

BlackBox ENSEMBLE: WORDPLAY

BlackBox presents an evening of contemporary chamber music exploring the expressive relationship between the human voice and instrumental sound. Across works that move between narration, song, and fractured language, the ensemble becomes an extension of speech itself—echoing, distorting, and illuminating the voice.

PROGRAM
Andile Khumalo Shades of Words
ELLIOT CARTER A Mirror on Which to Dwell
PAUL NOVAK when I was nine (world premiere) & a diagnosis (NY premiere)
UNSUK CHIN Akrostichon-Wortspiel

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Williams College
Mar
18

Williams College

BlackBox performs works by Annie Nikunen, Ursula Mamlok, Tania León, Nathalie Joachim, Ileana Perez Velazquez, and Douglas Boyce.

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COMPOSERS NOW FESTIVAL
Feb
21

COMPOSERS NOW FESTIVAL

In our second NYC show of the season, BlackBox performs works by Nathalie Joachim, Ursula Mamlok, Tania León, Ileana Perez Velazquez, and Douglas Boyce.

Tickets here!

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Scenes from the Post-Diaspora: BlackBox Ensemble performs Cheung, Mochizuki, and the US Premiere of Baldwin Giang's PIPA BOY
Dec
5

Scenes from the Post-Diaspora: BlackBox Ensemble performs Cheung, Mochizuki, and the US Premiere of Baldwin Giang's PIPA BOY

BlackBox performs works by Anthony Cheung, Misato Mochizuki, and two works by Baldwin Giang, including the US premiere of PIPA BOY—Three Scenes from the Post-Diaspora (2024), a multimedia work for ensemble and pipa player exploring global identity and the conditions of belonging and non-belonging, written during his time as a Rome Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Rome.

https://www.nationalsawdust.org/event/scenes-from-the-post-diaspora-blackbox-ensemble-performs-cheung-mochizuki-and-the-us-premiere-of-baldwin-giangs-pipa-boy

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University of Richmond: Third practice festival
Nov
14

University of Richmond: Third practice festival

  • Camp Concert Hall, Modlin Center for the Arts (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

BlackBox concludes our first week as ensemble-in-residence at the University of Richmond with a headlining performance on the Third Practice Festival of electroacoustic music, featuring works by Kelley Sheehan, Chris Chandler, Heather Stebbins, Bekah Simms, Bobby Gee, Annie Nikunen, and a world premiere by University of Richmond Professor and Third Practice Festival Director Benjamin Broening.

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George Washington University Corocan music festival
Nov
8

George Washington University Corocan music festival

  • Flagg Building, Corocan School of the Arts & Design, George Washington University (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

BlackBox performs works by Annie Nikunen, Baldwin Giang, Heather Stebbins, and a world premiere by George Washington University Professor of Music Composition Douglas Boyce.

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PennSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY LIVING MUSIC SERIES
Oct
23

PennSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY LIVING MUSIC SERIES

  • Pennsylvania State University School of Music (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

BlackBox performs works by Annie Nikunen, Ileana Perez Velazquez, Nathalie Joachim, Alex Burtzos, Baljinder Sekhon, and James Diaz on the Living Music Series as part of a residency at Pennsylvania State University.

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Unsuk Chin: Akrostichon-Wortspiel
May
9
to May 12

Unsuk Chin: Akrostichon-Wortspiel

  • Elebash Recital Hall, CUNY Graduate Center (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

A very special performance — BlackBox joins our soprano soloist Amber Evans for a performance of Unsuk Chin’s seminal Akrostichon-Wortspiel as part of her final DMA recital at the CUNY Graduate Center!

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SPECULATIVE LISTENING: THE SONIC WORLD OF JULIUS EASTMAN AT Bang on a can LONGPLAY FESTIVAL
May
3

SPECULATIVE LISTENING: THE SONIC WORLD OF JULIUS EASTMAN AT Bang on a can LONGPLAY FESTIVAL

BlackBox presents a wide-ranging sonic portrait of Julius Eastman curated by Eastman scholar Isaac Jean-Francois as part of Bang on a Can’s LongPlay Festival. Featuring works by Hildegard von Bingen, Gérard Grisey, Barbara Kolb, and Julius Eastman.

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DIALOGUES IN DUALITY: NYC PREMIERS BY NIKUNEN, SIMMS, DIAZ, and sekhon
Nov
23

DIALOGUES IN DUALITY: NYC PREMIERS BY NIKUNEN, SIMMS, DIAZ, and sekhon

On Saturday, November 23rd at 8pm at the Church of St. Luke & St. Matthew in Brooklyn, BlackBox Ensemble presents a series of works unified in their explorations of physicality and duality. Featuring works by Anthony Cheung, Annie Nikunen, Bekah Simms, Baljinder Sekhon, James Diaz, Brittany J. Green and Reilly Spitzfaden, we traverse dialogues between present and memory, sound and silence, structure and freedom, clarity and complexity, propulsion and resistance, unpredictability and certitude, chaos and smoothness, magic and science. This program features the US premieres of Simms’ Stygian Pulse and Diaz’s mil cuartos en linea recta as well as the NY premieres of Nikunen’s all mass is interaction and Sekhon’s Divination, commissioned for BlackBox to perform at University of South Carolina’s Southern Exposure New Music Series last month. From pitchwheel motions and chronic pain to physics and a thousand white rooms in a straight line, each of these composers expresses their own unique avenue in which to see, hear, and feel these physicalities and dualities through sound.

TICKETS

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BlackBox at USC - Southern Exposure New Music Series
Oct
4
to Oct 5

BlackBox at USC - Southern Exposure New Music Series

BlackBox performs as part of USC’s Southern Exposure New Music Series.

Tyler Neidermayer Mosaic 1

Anna Thorvaldsdottir

Annie Nikunen All Mass is Interaction

Angelica Negrón espacios, objectos, sonidos y tiempo

Berio Michelle II

Murail Paludes

Baljinder Sekhon Divination

Berio Yesterday

inti figgis-vizueta Form the Fabric

Tyler Neidermayer Mosaic II

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BlackBox at UNC-Pembroke
Oct
1
to Oct 2

BlackBox at UNC-Pembroke

Cole Reyes Shadowstains

Brittany J. Green Shift.Unravel.Break

Bekah Simms Stygian Pulse

James Diaz mil cuartos en linea recta

Brittany J. Green Maps

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BlackBox in Fayetteville, NC
Sep
30
to Oct 1

BlackBox in Fayetteville, NC

  • Fayetteville Technical Community College (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Cole Reyes Shadowstains

Brittany J. Green Shift.Unravel.Break

Bekah Simms Stygian Pulse

James Diaz mil cuartos en linea recta

Brittany J. Green Maps

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The Sound of Space Between Us: Paris Film Premiere
May
24

The Sound of Space Between Us: Paris Film Premiere

The Sound of Space Between Us - a film of our performance at the Clark Art Institute - is premiered at the Fête de la Cite in Paris, France.

Director of Production and Cinematography: Kevin Chiu

Choreography: Annie Nikunen & Joelle Santiago

Dancers: Peter Cheng, Annie Nikunen, Liana Zhen-ai

Music: Feldman, Fujikura, Nikunen, figgis-vizueta

Performed at the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA, October 1, 2023

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