Ecstatic Music Festival – Clockworks and Songs of Mourning, Merkin Concert Hall – NYC, USA

We attended the Ecstatic Music Festival® presented by Kaufman Music Center, where we had the pleasure of experiencing two musical works, Clockworks & Songs of Mourning, the fourth in a series of nine programs. The works featured the avant-garde/modern Jazz and pop music of Patrick Zimmerli, Ethan Iverson, Chris Tordini, John Hollenbeck, Carla Kihledst and Jeremy Flower. The Ecstatic Music Festival® is a series of 9 concerts from January 27 until April 26, 2018.

Patrick Zimmerli and band

Clockworks

One of the many things we love about New York City is the rich cultural opportunities and the ability to discover new venues in which to experience music, like the Kaufman Music Center located on the upper west side of Manhattan at 129 West 67th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam, which consists of Merkin Concert Hall, Lucy Moses School for students of all ages to take music, dance, and theater classes, Face the Music – an acclaimed youth new music ensemble, and Special Music School for musically gifted children for grades K-12.

Patrick Zimmerli

We were at the Kaufman Music Center in the Merkin Concert Hall on Saturday, April 14, 2018, for Clockworks & Songs of Mourning. Clockworks, the first part of the program, described as "an hour-length suite, a meditation on times in all its forms…" featured the music of avant-garde/modern Jazz composer/saxophonist Patrick Zimmerli, with Ethan Iverson on piano, Chris Tordini on bass, and composer/Jazz drummer John Hollenbeck. The program consisted of 11 songs "as a pendant composition" to Patrick Zimmerli’s CD release, Clockworks, and the result was fabulous!

Ethan Iverson

Patrick Zimmerli and fellow musicians created an evening of innovative Jazz that explored varying sounds, rhythms, and timing. A few of the many highlights of the performance was Linear Variation, which had a tremendous drum solo by John Hollenbeck, The Center of the Clock, a reflective piece that began with Patrick Zimmerli playing into the open piano to create different resonating sounds, Harmonic Variation which showed the talent of pianist Ethan Iverson, and Windup, which had the band cooking with great rhythms and a long single-breath note by Patrick Zimmerli.

John Hollenbeck

Songs of Mourning, the second part of the program described as "an exploration of sorrow ranging from the political to the personal, and other works from their cumulative pasts," provided us with the opportunity to experience the world premiere of acollaboration between pop/art song composer/violinist/vocalist Carla Kihlstedt, acoustic and electronic music composer Jeremy Flower, jazz and classical saxophonist Patrick Zimmerli, jazz and pop bassist Chris Tordini, and jazz composer and drummer John Hollenbeck.

Chris Tordini

Carla’s lovely voice and violin gave life to poems set to music, with Jeremy Flower on guitar and piano, Patrick Zimmerli on saxophone, Chris Tordini on bass, and John Hollenbeck working his magic on the drum kit as well as on the piano. The theme was one of sadness and Carla introduced the songs as stating that even though it was a dark subject, sometimes good things derive from it, providing an interesting way of looking at and progressing beyond mourning.

Carla Kihlstedt and band
Songs of Mourning

Clockworks & Songs of Mourning was an evening of diverse music exceptionally executed and delivered, and introduced us to the Merkin Concert Hall, an intimate performance venue with outstanding acoustics and comfortable seating, one which we will happily add to our radar for future performances.

Until next time, keep enjoying the music!

A sampling of the many exciting upcoming programs at the Kaufman Music Center:

For information and the complete list of upcoming programs and events, please visit the website, www.KaufmanMusicCenter.org.

For tickets or information, please call: +1-203-254-4010 or toll-free:1-877-ARTS-396 (1-877-278-7396).

For information on Patrick Zimmerli and upcoming performances, please visit the website: www.patrickzimmerli.com

Merkin Concert Hall

Kaufman Music Center

129 West 67th Street (between Broadway and Amsterdam)

New York, NY 10023
United States

Telephone: +1 -212-501-3300
Website: www.KaufmanMusicCenter.org

Email: info@kaufmanmusiccenter.org

Merkin Concert Hall Box Office

Telephone: +1-212-501-3330

Email: boxoffice@kaufmanmusiccenter.org

Box Office Hours: Sunday through Thursday from 12:00 pm until 7:00 pm, Friday from 12:00 pm until 4:00 pm, closed on Saturday.

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