Irondale Ensemble Project

“The Irondale Ensemble Project is as close as we come these days to the Elizabethan acting companies that once presented Shakespeare’s plays to the Earl of Leicester, Sir Francis Drake and the Virgin Queen of England. ...What is on offer is the miracle of the word made flesh. I wish you joy in it.” —Lewis Lapham, editor of Lapham’s Quarterly

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WALTER THOMPSON ORCHESTRA

April 16, 17, 18 | 7:30PM

The Irondale Center presents
Anthony Braxton and Walter Thompson Premiere
A New Soundpainting Composition

Performed by Anthony Braxton, Walter Thompson, and the Walter Thompson Orchestra

Anthony Braxton, one of music’s most original composers and instrumentalists, has composed a new work in collaboration with Soundpainter Walter Thompson and the Walter Thompson Orchestra. Mr. Thompson will combine Mr. Braxton’s Language Music System with Soundpainting - the multidisciplinary live - composing sign language created by Mr. Thompson. The concerts will feature performances by Anthony Braxton, a woodwind virtuoso and multi-instrumentalist and the fifteen musicians and actors of the Walter Thompson Orchestra.

Mr. Thompson will soundpaint Mr. Braxton’s notation, text, and drawings (called Palettes in the Soundpainting language) and then transform them in the canvas of the work. They become the colors and textures used by Mr. Thompson to shape and guide the overall direction of the piece. The resulting composition will be created entirely in the moment. Each of the three performances will assume a unique shape dependent on the recombination of the Palettes, the Soundpainter’s gestures, and the response of the performers. In this unique form of artistic collaboration, the components of the Soundpainting coalesce to saturate the performance in a dynamic interplay.

“There is no end to the variations and combinations possible in Walter Thompson’s Soundpainting. Elating!” – Sonloco, Sweden

“Imagine a great erector set where every component can be refashioned based on the dictates of the moment.” – Ted Panken, on Anthony Braxton, Downbeat Magazine

The Walter Thompson Orchestra commissioned this project by Anthony Braxton with the support from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust. The Walter Thompson Orchestra is supported by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts.

For further information about Anthony Braxton visit www.akamu.net, and for Walter Thompson, www.soundpainting.com.

Prices: Adult $20.00 | Student with ID $15.00
Senior $15.00 | Working Artist $15.00

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