Barbara Hannigan Sings Zorn II

In the last 50 years, very few artists have been as boundless as John Zorn, from his ideas to his energy to his organization. After first emerging in the experimental Wild West of New York’s downtown scene in the ’70s, the span and scale of Zorn’s work have only seemed to increase over the intervening decades. From his breakthrough reinterpretations of Ennio Morricone and ground-breaking musical “games” like Cobra to his splenetic art-grindcore with Naked City, from his jazz-reorienting in Masada to his compositional gauntlets like Moonchild and Incerto, Zorn has packed several lifetimes of music-making into 72 years. He seems to have only grown more active and tireless of late. Zorn has also been a crucial catalyst for the development of experimental music, whether establishing his great Tzadik label or his New York space The Stone, or convening brilliant bands that otherwise might not have come into existence. After making his Big Ears debut in 2022 and celebrating his 70th birthday here in 2023, Zorn returns to Big Ears with a staggering cast of collaborators for two days at the Bijou Theatre.

Zorn and Hannigan chose to follow the success of their first collaboration, the acclaimed vocal gauntlet “Jumalattaret,” not by replicating it but instead by expanding their approach. Zorn composed three new works for Hannigan and built a masterful ensemble that includes a string quartet (Jay Campbell, Austin Wulliman, John Pickford Richards, and Christopher Otto), Sae Hashimoto’s vibraphone, Ikue Mori’s electronics, Steve Gosling’s piano, and Zorn’s ultra-dynamic rhythm section of bassist Jorge Roeder and drummer Ches Smith. The material speaks to the range of both Zorn and Hannigan, as the tense string-and-circuits drone of “Liber Loagaeth” opens to the see-saw between clatter and quietude of “Star Catcher,” where Hannigan reaches a piercing climax above the ensemble before slipping into a haunting dénouement. The group even does a rapturous interpretation of “Pandora’s Box,” which Zorn wrote and recorded more than a decade ago. Hannigan and Zorn are peerless in their fields and backed here by a truly world-class ensemble, capable of matching their every move. 

Ensemble

Barbara Hannigan

Steve Gosling

Jorge Roeder

Ches Smith

Jack Quartet – Chris Otto, Austin Wulliman, John Pickford Richards, Jay Campbell

Sae Hashimoto

Ikue Mori