Announcing Ensemble Pi’s 2021-2022 Season

Dear friends, it has been a rough year. Many of us have faced losses of some kind during this past year, so we start our new season with heavy hearts and anger, but also with hope. We will continue shedding light on the pressing issues of our society, collaborating with artists, organizations, and creators, and (we hope) inspiring you.

Kinship through MUSIC - NO “US OR THEM”, JUST “US”

December 2021

Where: The Culture Project, NYC

Our signature concert this season is inspired by Father Gregory Boyle’s project Homeboy Industries and his book Tattoos on the Heart, in which he advocates for seeing the world not as “us versus them,” but simply as “us,” a people together working towards social healing through compassion. 

Ensemble Pi is presenting a collaborative project built around this message in partnership with Rehabilitation Through the Arts. The concert is based on true life stories written and narrated by incarcerated people and presented along with improvisations and commissioned compositions by Carlos Simon and Damian Norfleet. 

This project is made possible via generous funding from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. 

To Whom the Shoe Fits – A celebration of female artists, creativity and music

Fall 2021

Where: Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation

We are thrilled to collaborate with the Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation to present “To Whom the Shoe Fits,” a special evening exploring the essence of the creative process through words, music, dance, and images. The event features excerpts of letters from abstract expressionist painter Pat Passlof to her students about their craft. These are paired with musical responses from composers Marianna Martines, Sofia Gubaidulina, Augusta Read Thomas, Laura Kaminsky, Courtney Bryan and Kaija Saariaho. Performing the pieces along with Ensemble Pi will be guest artists Lucy Shelton (voice and narration), Stefani Starin (flute), and Tanja Hoehne (visuals). 

 

F as in Frank

Spring 2022

Where: MOCA Cleveland

F as in Frank is a group exhibition that brings together different artistic practices to reflect on the power of being frank and using one’s artistic voice to directly and sincerely address the truth. Presented by MOCA Cleveland, Ensemble Pi will be performing a new work based on an interview with  writer Kazuo Ishiguro about truth in writing that explores the truth found in reading between the lines. Among the pieces included in the project are: George Crumb: Vox; Damian Norfleet: Kendi’s Secret; John Cage: Variations III with Aram Han Sifuentes’s protest banners; Laura Kaminsky: Deception; and a work by Orlando Jacinto Gracia.

 

Reparations NOW!

Fall 2021

New Recording to be released in the Spring of 2022 on Albany Records 

We are excited to announce that our project Reparations NOW! will be recorded in Fall 2021 and released in Spring of 2022 thanks to the generous support of the Alice M. Ditson Fund. Ensemble Pi commissioned works by an eclectic group of exceptional young composers for this project including Allison Loggins-Hull, Angélica Negrón, Trevor Weston, and Courtney Bryan who will be featured on the recording.

A recording of our concert held on January 25, 2021 as part of our residency at the Center at West Park is available here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhVmKwGwhrI&ab_channel=EnsemblePi 

 

 

*Stay tuned for exact dates and times for these events in the coming weeks.