TYSHAWN SOREY’S MONOCHROMATIC LIGHT (AFTERLIFE) AT BIG EARS
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Tyshawn Sorey: Monochromatic Light (Afterlife)
Fifty years ago, composer Morton Feldman wrote music to commemorate the opening of the Rothko Chapel in Houston. A half-century later, composer, conductor, multi-instrumentalist, MacArthur “Genius,” and now Pulitzer prize-winning Tyshawn Sorey has created a new piece, commissioned by the Armory, as a tribute to both the deeply contemplative space and the work by this composer that has influenced his creative output. The resulting score provides the listener with the feeling of being enveloped in sound in much the same way that Mark Rothko’s paintings give in that space, revealing ever changing shades of color and texture.
Sorey brings his incredible music composition to Big Ears in 2025.
Personnel / Performers
Tyshawn Sorey
“An extraordinary talent who can see across the entire musical landscape.” – The New Yorker
Tyshawn Sorey is celebrated for his incomparable virtuosity, effortless mastery and memorization of highly complex scores, and an extraordinary ability to blend composition and improvisation in his work. He has performed nationally and internationally with his own ensembles, as well as artists such as John Zorn, Vijay Iyer, Roscoe Mitchell, Muhal Richard Abrams, Wadada Leo Smith, Marilyn Crispell, George Lewis, Claire Chase, Steve Coleman, Steve Lehman, Robyn Schulkowsky, Evan Parker, Anthony Braxton, and Myra Melford, among many others.
As part of Sorey’s residency, he will have several other performances throughout the weekend including: Tyshawn Sorey Trio, Fieldwork (Vijay Iyer, Steve Lehman, and Sorey), Tyshawn Sorey, King Britt, & Friends, and a duet with Adam Rudolph.
Read: “A Conversation with Dr. Tyshawn Sorey”
Davóne Tines (Bass-Baritone)
A pathbreaking artist whose work encompasses a diverse repertoire, ranging from early music to new commissions by leading composers, while exploring the social issues of today. Tines is engaged in work that blends opera, art song, spirituals, contemporary classical, gospel, and protest songs as a means to tell a deeply personal story of perseverance connecting to all of humanity. Tines returns after previous performances in 2024 and 2018.
Read: “A Conversation with Davóne Tines
Kim Kashkashian (Viola)
Hailed as “an artist who combines a probing, restless intellect with enormous beauty of tone,” Kim Kashkashian has forged a unique path as a performing and recording artist. She made history when she won the coveted Grammy Award – the first ever given to a violist – for her ECM recording of Ligeti and Kurtag solo viola works. Kashkashian’s performances in 2019 still reverberate through the halls of St. John’s Cathedral.
Listen: “Kim Kashkashian Launches New Video Series”
Steven Schick (Percussion)
Born and raised in Iowa within a farming family, Steven Schick, a renowned percussionist, conductor, and author, has been praised by Alex Ross in the New Yorker as a premier virtuoso. His career advocating for contemporary percussion music spans more than five decades. Schick was honored by the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame in 2014. Additionally, he will present Sarah Hennies’s evocative piece, “Portrait,” and Kurt Schwitters’s avant-garde piece, “Ursonate.”
Read: “Steven Schick Takes a Hike”
Sarah Rothenberg (Piano / Celesta)
Committed to creating new audiences for classical music and jazz, and a firm believer in the accessibility of great music of all genres, Sarah Rothenberg is recognized internationally as a pianist of “power and introspection” (The New York Times) and “a prolific and creative thinker” (The Wall Street Journal). She is Artistic Director of DACAMERA, internationally recognized as a vanguard model of a multi-genre music institution for performance, community engagement, and arts advocacy.
