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"He was a fiddler, and consequently a rogue." - Jonathan Swift
For Immediate Release - New York, NY - On Sunday, April 27th, 2025 at 7pm at NUBLU, Composers Concordance presents the concert event entitled 'The Fiddlers,' featuring four great violinists - namely Daisy Castro, Jason Hwang, Dave Soldier, and Mazz Swift - performing a set of new music together with a bold rhythm section, including Gene Pritsker on guitar, Laurence Goldman on bass, and Damien Bassman on drums.
Featured on the program are the premieres of 'Witness' by Gene Pritsker, 'Blurred' by Natasha Bogojevic, and 'Callisto' by Daisy Castro, plus music by Dan Cooper, Laurence Goldman, Jason Hwang, Dave Soldier, and Mazz Swift. This event is part of Composers Concordance's ongoing 'Timbre Tantrum' series, and will also showcase a performance by the Eoin O’Mara Group.
With roots firmly planted in the fiery passion of the Jazz Manouche tradition, Daisy Castro’s unique style refreshes and renews with a modern edge and global influence and instrumentation, bridging the distance between Django’s generation and her own in a very exciting way. Daisy has been an active member of the “Gypsy Jazz” community both in the United States and in Europe since she was quite young. She has played on stages on both continents and beyond with all of the most revered players of this style, earning the respect of these luminaries and their discerning audiences. With a repertoire encompassing everything from the Django songbook to Salsa to traditional Turkish music to original compositions, along with an occasional addition of effects pedals, a whole new world of musical exploration awaits all who attend a performance.
The music of Jason Kao Hwang (composer/violin/viola) explores the vibrations of his history. His most recent releases, Soliloquies, Book of Stories, and The Human Rites Trio, have received critical acclaim. Raised during the “melting pot” era of assimilation, Mr. Hwang did not learn Chinese from his immigrant parents, only English. When his parents spoke in Chinese to each other, he would listen intently to glean meaning from their inflection, rhythm, and timbre. Mr. Hwang imagines this musical experience of the Chinese language as the foundation of his creative instincts. In 2020, 2019, 2018, 2013 and 2012, the El Intruso International Critics Poll voted him #1 for Violin/Viola. The 2012 Downbeat Critics’ Poll voted Mr. Hwang as Rising Star for Violin. His chamber opera The Floating Box, A Story in Chinatown was one of the Top Ten Opera Recordings of 2005 by Opera News. Mr. Hwang has received support from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Chamber Music America, National Endowment for the Arts, Rockefeller Foundation, and others. As violinist, he has worked with William Parker, Henry Threadgill, Reggie Workman, Joëlle Leandre, Taylor Ho Bynum, Tomeka Reid, Anthony Braxton, Patrick Brennan, Steve Swell, Pauline Oliveros, Butch Morris, and others.
Dave Soldier played violin in Western swing bands and guitar in rhythm and blues groups, including Bo Diddley, and studied composition with Roscoe Mitchell before moving to New York City in 1981, where he studied with Otto Luening. In 1985, he founded the seminal punk chamber group, the Soldier String Quartet, followed by the punk Delta blues band, the Kropotkins. In addition to compositions for classical musicians ranging from solo works to two large operas, with conservationist Richard Lair, Soldier co-founded the Thai Elephant Orchestra, consisting of 16 elephants in Northern Thailand, for which he built giant musical instruments. He has coached children to compose their own music in Harlem (Da Hiphop Raskalz), Brooklyn (the Tangerine Awkestra), Washington Heights, and northern Guatemala. In addition to repertoire for these groups, Soldier’s compositions include The People’s Choice Music: the most wanted and unwanted songs, following poll results of likes and dislikes of the American population, a collaboration with artists Komar & Melamid; to song cycle collaborations with author Kurt Vonnegut; music on specially designed instruments by songbirds and pygmy chimpanzees; music performed by electrical brain activity in the Brainwave Music Project with Brad Garton: arrangements for John Cale, David Byrne, and Guided by Voices, and various song cycles /oratorios/ operas and TV and film soundtracks including I Shot Andy Warhol and Sesame Street, and has played on many pop, jazz, experimental, and classical recordings. Soldier received a Ph.D in neuroscience at Columbia University, where he is a professor in the Neurology, Psychiatry, and Neuroscience departments. His book "Music Math and Mind" on the physics and neuroscience of music is published by Columbia University Press (2021).
Mazz Swift (they/them) is a neuro-emergent composer, conductor, bandleader, educator, singer, and Juilliard-trained violinist, weaving classic African American musics, electronica, and mindfulness into their music. Improvisation is a throughline in their performance and composition practices, across genres and instrumental configurations, and can be found in most of their works. Mazz is a 2019 Jerome Hill Fellow, and 2021 United States Artist Fellow. Works include commissions by the Los Angeles Philharmonic (2020), the International Contemporary Ensemble (2023), the Silkroad Ensemble (2021, 2022, 2023), and the Kronos Quartet (2022+2024).
The concert will also be live-streamed on Composers Concordance's Facebook Page.
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Listing Information
Composers Concordance Presents
The Fiddlers
Four Great Violinists Perform a Set of New Music With Rhythm Section
Part of the 'Timbre Tantrum' Series
With Special Guest: Eoin O’Mara Group
Sunday, April 27th, 2025 at 7pm
NUBLU
151 Ave C, NYC
Tickets
Facebook
Live Stream
Composers:
J.S. Bach, Natasha Bogojevich, Daisy Castro, Dan Cooper,
Laurence Goldman, Jason Hwang, Gene Pritsker,
Dave Soldier, Mazz Swift
Performers:
The Fiddlers Ensemble
Daisy Castro, Jason Hwang,
Dave Soldier, Mazz Swift - violins
Gene Pritsker - guitar
Laurence Goldman - bass
Damien Bassman - drums
Eoin O’Mara Group
Eoin O’Mara - guitar
Ean Valte - bass
Aki Gorai - drums
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Staying in rotation for 41 years in NYC is a rare feat. In the case of a new music presenting organization, it requires not only diligence and cognizance of achievements of the past but also an ethic of keeping one's ear to the ground for emerging stylistic and technological developments, as well as talented new composers on the scene. Composers Concordance, founded in 1984 by Joseph Pehrson and Patrick Hardish, advised by Otto Luening, strives to present contemporary music in innovative ways, with an emphasis on thematic programming. Directors Gene Pritsker and Dan Cooper co-curate the programs and lead the CompCord Ensemble, Chamber Orchestra, String Orchestra, and Big Band. Associate Directors are Milica Paranosic, Peter Jarvis, Debra Kaye, and Seth Boustead. Composers Concordance has also created a Naxos-distributed record label: Composers Concordance Records. Composers Concordance's overriding vision is to promote contemporary music, composers, and new works as a rightful and respected part of society. Good music performed and recorded well, pushing the boundaries of sound and composition.
"Composers Concordance..a veritable New York new music institution of concerts, album production and multiple ensembles under a sweeping, tenacious brand, thriving on the emulsion of contemporary classical, free improv, jazz and rock, overt humor and fearless political statements, all very much in evidence..The ensemble..was masterful throughout.”- John Pietaro, The New York City Jazz Record
"An unwavering force in giving composers exposure through concert bookings and its own record label, the intrepid new-music organization Composers Concordance” - The Brooklyn Rail
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“Enterprising new music organization” - The New York Times
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