art

With Poetry and Rap Mixed In, Aperio Presents Innovative Concert of New and Reimagined Music

With Poetry and Rap Mixed In, Aperio Presents Innovative Concert of New and Reimagined Music

DJ Sun

ON SATURDAY, JUNE 10, Houston’s intrepid new music ensemble Aperio, Music of the Americas, led by artistic director Michael Zuraw, takes the stage at Miller Outdoor Theatre to present Loveletter & Radio Rewrite, a program of groovy, post-minimalist compositions by Steve Reich (Radio Rewrite and Duet) and Michael Torke (Blue Pacific).

The outfit offers a full-length, orchestral performance of DJ Sun’s 2022 album Loveletter, with special guests poet Outspoken Bean, rapper Fat Tony, and vocalist Krystal Hardwick. Loveletter’s hypnotic collage of sampled vinyl has been transcribed for chamber instrumentation by Henry Darragh, Tim Ruiz, Ken Easton, and Marlon Chen, who will conduct the piece. Far from being the outlier on the program, Loveletter in its orchestral incarnation offers a provocative spin on Reich and Torke’s respective musical languages and will no doubt reel in audiences unfamiliar with modern 20th and 21st century composition. For those who missed Loveletter’spremiere last year at Moores Opera House, this is a great opportunity to check it out live.

Reich’s Radio Rewrite was inspired by the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer meeting and hitting it off with Radiohead guitarist and composer, Jonny Greenwood. Buried within the five-movement work is musical material pulled from two Radiohead songs: “Everything in its Right Place” from Kid A, an experimental left turn the band took after the success of OK Computer, and “Jigsaw Falling into Place,” a harmonic puzzle from their 2007 masterpiece In Rainbows.

Reich’s Duet for two violins and small string orchestra is a short, canonic work featuring soloists ChloéTrevor and Chavdar Parashkevov. Rounding out the program is Torke’s Blue Pacific, a luminous, virtuosic piece originally composed for solo piano, now newly arranged for piano and string orchestra. The music shimmers and grooves like song in search of a singer. It’s got a good beat, and it’s easy to dance to, as American Bandstand may have observed.

Aperio performing at Miller Outdoor Theatre (Photo by Lynn Lane)

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
Art + Entertainment
promoted

Leadership in Action: John Kuykendall Traded Newcaster Dream for Success in Luxury Retail

Leadership in Action: John Kuykendall Traded Newcaster Dream for Success in Luxury Retail

John Kuykendall, Showroom Manager, Sub-Zero, Wolf and Cove

How did you get to where you are today? Growing up I had envisioned myself as a news anchor, living in NY and enthusiastically saying into the camera “Good Morning America!”. To this day, I am still a news/political junkie. My mother owned fur salons so specialty retail, luxury retail was in my blood through the family business. Eventually, mom shuttered the stores and I was recruited to a large specialty retailer. Over the next 30 years, I was in commissioned sales on the sales floor, became a department manager, worked my way up to buyer and store manager. Although I never became a newscaster, I did live in NYC for a few years. But Texas is home and with aging grandparents, I felt the pull to come back to my roots. A headhunter approached me. I never envisioned myself in the high-end appliance market, but there are so many similarities. Clients want a memorable experience; whether shopping for diamonds and fur or remodeling their kitchen.

Keep Reading Show less
parties

Galentines Gather for Sweet Celebration Benefiting Dec My Room

Kendall and Susan Plank, Noel Wise, Anna Osborn, Michelle Koskie

MORE THAN 140 lovely ladies showed up at Tootsies to shop, sip and celebrate Dec My Room, the local nonprofit responsible for personalizing and decorating hospital rooms for pediatric and young-adult patients.

Keep Reading Show less
Food
food

After Multiple James Beard Nods, Cambodian-Inspired EaDo Bakery Plans Expansion to The Quad

Salted Coconut Latik Ice Cream Sandwich at Lil' Koffeteria

THERE'S SOME INTERESTING news coming out of The Quad at Britmoore, the adaptive, mixed-use development fashioned of repurposed industrial warehouses in Spring Branch near Memorial.

Keep Reading Show less