Inside Light

WELCOME

We are pleased to welcome you to Inside Light, an extraordinarily immersive realization of rarely performed electronic compositions from Karlheinz Stockhausen’s iconic Licht opera cycle.

Considered one of the most experimental and progressive composers of the 20th century, Karlheinz Stockhausen stretched the limits of musical composition and continues to influence artists today. His Licht is a cycle of seven operas named for each day of the week and reflecting on the mythologies and symbolism linked to each day in a 29-hour epic. In 2019, the Dutch National Opera and the Holland Festival staged a new production of excerpts from the cycle from all seven days over three separate programs. Inside Light is a continuation of the spirit of that mammoth cycle by allowing audiences to experience the works across separate evenings, or as a durational marathon performance.

Realizing these works is an incomparable creative team—including one of Stockhausen’s original collaborators Kathinka Pasveer, frequent Armory lighting designer Urs Schönebaum, video designer Robi Voigt, and sound designer Reinhard Klose—who have come together to give audiences the rare opportunity to witness these electronic epics in an unparalleled staging in the Wade Thompson Drill Hall.

Inside Light is a continuation of our dedication to the performance of spatial musical works, building on previous Armory spatial productions like our 2013 staging of Stockhausen’s OKTOPHONIE, one piece in the Licht cycle also featuring Kathinka; Stockhausen’s sonic masterpiece Gruppen with the New York Philharmonic; Pierre Boulez’s Répons, performed by Ensemble intercontemporain and IRCAM under Matthias Pintscher; and Kaija Saariaho’s Circle Map performed by the New York Philharmonic.

Our space allows us the opportunity to break through the limits of artistic presentation, allowing New York audiences to experience works that are rarely performed as they were originally intended. We hope you find awe, wonder, and joy in this expansive auditory and sensory presentation of Stockhausen’s masterpiece.

Rebecca Robertson

Adam R. Flatto Founding President and Executive Producer

Pierre Audi

Anita K. Hersh Artistic Director

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

INSIDE LIGHT

JUNE 5 – 14, 2024

WADE THOMPSON DRILL HALL

Karlheinz Stockhausen Composition

Kathinka Pasveer Sound Projection

Urs Schönebaum Spatial Installation and Lighting Design

Robi Voigt Video Design

Reinhard Klose Sound Engineer

Pierre Audi Original Concept

PART I

June 5 & 12

MONTAGS-GRUSS (Monday Greeting)

UNSICHTBARE CHÖRE from DONNERSTAG AUS LICHT (Invisible Choir from Thursday from Licht)

MITTWOCHS-GRUSS (Wednesday Greeting)

2 hours and 30 minutes with intermission

PART II

June 6 & 13

FREITAGS-GRUSS (Friday Greeting)

FREITAGS-ABSCHIED (Friday Farewell)

2 hours and 45 minutes with intermission

MARATHON

June 8 & 14

Music from Parts I and II

6 hours and 30 minutes, including intermissions and a one-hour dinner break

SEASON SPONSORS

PUBLIC SUPPORT

Support for Park Avenue Armory’s artistic season has been generously provided by the Thompson Family Foundation, Charina Endowment Fund, the Donald A. Pels Charitable Trust, The Shubert Foundation, Wescustogo Foundation, the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, the Howard Gilman Foundation, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Marc Haas Foundation, Mary W. Harriman Foundation, the Reed Foundation, the Leon Levy Foundation, the May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, GRoW @ Annenberg, The Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Foundation, the Richenthal Foundation, and the Isak and Rose Weinman Foundation. Additional support has been provided by the Armory’s Artistic Council. Public support is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature as well as the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council under the leadership of Speaker Adrienne Adams. Cover image: Video still courtesy of Robi Voigt.

OTHER HAPPENINGS

ARTIST TALK: INSIDE LIGHT

SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 2024 AT 3:00PM

One of Stockhausen’s original collaborators and directors of the Stockhausen Foundation for Music, sound projectionist Kathinka Pasveer, is joined by trumpeter, program note writer, and Director of Analog Arts Joseph Drew to examine Stockhausen’s masterful electronic compositions, realizing them at the Armory, and his enduring influence and legacy.

JOSEPH DREW

Joseph Drew (Yale, MM; NYU, PhD) is a trumpeter based in New York City. His eclectic career includes tours with ensembles such as musikFabrik and rock bands like Cursive. He has premiered dozens of new pieces, including works for double-bell trumpet. Drew worked with La Monte Young on the US premiere of his Second Dream… He has given solo 24-hour performances of John Cage’s ASLSP, and often works as a pianist. Drew co-founded Analog Arts in 2004 and directed a wide range of projects under its non-profit umbrella. His Analog production portfolio includes a modular version of Bach’s Musical Offering, Ballet Mécanique, a concert of Samuel Beckett’s short plays, a Rameau ballet-opera, and music for kites. In 2007, he created the Iron Composer competition and radio show on WCLV 104.9 FM. His dissertation is the first full-length study of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s LICHT cycle. He directed and performed in the US and Canadian premieres of Stockhausen’s 21-hour KLANG cycle.

ARMORY AFTER HOURS

Join us after select performances for libations with fellow attendees at a special bar in one of our historic period rooms.

ARMORY PUBLIC TOURS

Come down to the Armory to view some of the unique qualities of this landmark building, from the soaring 55,000-square-foot Wade Thompson Drill Hall to the extraordinary interiors by Louis Comfort Tiffany, Stanford White, Candace Wheeler, Herter Brothers, and others.

DISRUPTION OF FORM:

STUDENT EXPLORATION OF STOCKHAUSEN’S CREATIVE GENIUS AND ENDURING IMPACT

As the 2023-2024 school year comes to a close, students experiencing Park Avenue Armory’s production of Inside Light have the opportunity to “awaken the universe of fantasy.” Stockhausen’s reputation as godfather of electronic music comes in part from his willingness to be a disrupter of form, pushing past boundaries and limitations. His work hopes to conjure “timeless, eternally present cosmic spirits,” providing a timely and expansive antidote to the frenetic but focused energy that can envelope students in June.

During the run of performances, 400 middle and high school New York City public school students gather at the Armory as part of our Production-Based offerings, engaging with Mittwochs-Gruss (Wednesday Greeting) and participating in a Q&A with Kathinka Pasveer. Onsite creative workshops allow students to dig deeper into many concepts and themes at play in the piece, self-selecting the ideas they are most drawn to. One space is designated for students to experiment with different electronic music programs, unpacking how Stockhausen’s techniques have influenced how we listen to music today. Another allows students to listen to other Stockhausen pieces and paint the walls with their own interpretations of his visual scoring methods. A movement room encourages kinesthetic exploration of the shapes and formations created by Stockhausen’s spatial compositions, while a sensory space offers the choice of opening or closing the senses to discover how they impact the listener’s experience with music. Finally, a visual art area dives into Stockhausen’s sonic layers and color schemes, while a storytelling room asks students to create their own narrative interpretations of the themes present in Inside Light These programs are part of the Armory’s creativity-based Arts Education Programs, which provide access to the arts to thousands of students from under-resourced New York City public schools and engage them with the institution’s artistic programming and outside-the-box creative processes. The Production-Based Programming initiatives invite schools to Drill Hall performances like the Inside Light student matinee, workshops taught by Master Teaching Artists, and in-depth residencies that support the schools’ curriculum.

Students from two Partner Schools participated in residencies inspired by Inside Light leading up to the student matinee. Creative writing students from Vanguard High School engaged with Stockhausen’s legacy as a disrupter of expected form, incorporating his ideas behind spatial music into performances of their narrative nonfiction pieces. Across the city, students studying Digital Media at Bronx Compass High School created a series of serialist compositions and photography self-portraits inspired by the soundscape of Stockhausen’s Licht opera, and his concept of “eternal spiraling.” Titled Inside Life, students dramatized their experience of each day of the week through sound and images, finishing by creating a symbolic “eternal spiraling” mobile that hangs, showing the images paired with their soundscape repeating over and over again. The experience of music is intensely personal; what it awakens in your imagination at any given moment is impossible to replicate. But while personal, it doesn’t have to be individual. While much of how music is consumed today happens through headphones, the textured composition that Stockhausen offers can only truly be experienced in a physical space with other people, awakening the possibility of the creativity that happens in a community that is willing to pause and meditate on the concepts of collaboration and harmony.

A NOTE ON INSIDE LIGHT

BY JOSEPH DREW

The first audience to encounter Karlheinz Stockhausen’s LICHT (Light) cycle at La Scala in 1981 was surprised that the show began in the foyer. Before they could get to their seats, they were greeted by a small chamber group playing Stockhausen’s music. As they left the performance, they heard fragments of the score echoed by five trumpeters playing on rooftops surrounding the opera house.

Stockhausen called these offstage pieces greetings (GRUSS) and farewells (ABSCHIED). They continued his longstanding practice of creating immersive concert experiences without discreet beginnings and endings. In 1967, he had musicians end a concert by leaving one at a time in the vein of Haydn’s Farewell Symphony. They were driven away in cars while they continued to play, inverting the usual practice where the audience are the ones that leave a concert.

This playfulness in Stockhausen’s work is underappreciated. The greetings and farewells in his seven-opera LICHT cycle is a way of centering the music for audiences while also encouraging them to expand their modes of listening. There is so much music in LICHT that cannot be heard in traditional ways. Some of it cannot be heard at all because it must be seen and even smelled.

Park Avenue Armory’s presentation of Inside Light is an opportunity to interact with Stockhausen’s magnum opus. Concertgoers are encouraged to choose their own adventure with the music, listening from wherever and however they like. Some may place their backjack in one spot and listen closely throughout the program. Others may relocate inside the Wade Thompson Drill Hall during the concert to hear it from another perspective. Listeners can create their own greetings and farewells to the program by listening outside of the hall.

Several pieces in LICHT explicitly call for concertgoers to relocate to a different venue. In his career-long obsession with spatial music, Stockhausen experimented endlessly with how to create a sense of movement. He would move sounds around an audience surrounded by musicians, or have musicians move as they play, or project movements through surround sound systems. Stockhausen’s spatial toolbox included the idea of simply making the audience move.

In the first staged scene of LICHT, a laughing young boy named Michael moves between his mother on the left side of the stage and his father on the right. As the curtain parts, Michael’s ambit expands. This gesture, like the majority of the movements in LICHT, was composed by Stockhausen, and it foreshadows the ways that LICHT will expand, not just from one opera into seven but inexorably beyond the proscenium itself.

At the core of the drama are the same three personalities we see at the outset. Michael’s mother and father are vague avatars of Eve and Lucifer, the other two protagonists of LICHT. Each character is examined closely in an opera. Michael in DONNERSTAG (Thursday), Lucifer in SAMSTAG (Saturday), and Eve in MONTAG (Monday).

MONTAGS-GRUSS (Monday Greeting) is a sublime work of overdubbed basset-horns. Stockhausen partnered with Suzanne Stephens to extract the full microtonal range of the instrument. The piece oozes between notes at both ends of its range. The effect is shimmering and hypnotic like ocean waves at night, which is precisely where the opera begins.

The first act opens on a giant statue of Eve beside a beach on a moonlit night. In the statue’s neck, three sopranos perform as Eve. They sing an elaborate overlapping music in the same style as MONTAGS-GRUSS. As they progress, their music begins to evoke the labored breathing of childbirth and eventually Eve gives birth to several generations of children. Eve’s final parturition produces seven boys. A pied piper eventually arrives. With her flute, she abducts the boys, and they transmogrify into birds. As the audience leaves, they hear a mirror image of MONTAGS-GRUSS. Instead of overdubbed basset-horns, Kathinka Pasveer recorded her soprano voice and piccolo flute to create MONTAGS-ABSCHIED. It is an acoustic aerie, underscoring the opera’s transition from the depths of the sea to the clouds in the sky.

The evolution of Eve’s children into winged beings is a metaphor that recurs throughout LICHT. Stockhausen believed life after death involved a spiritual maturation into a higher plane of existence, and he used LICHT to explore this concept from a myriad of angles. LICHT can perhaps best be understood as a prism. Stockhausen wrote music to refract ineffable beings and concepts onto opera stages and into scenarios that could speak to his audiences.

Likewise, much of the music of LICHT needs a kind of refraction to be comprehended. Some scenes contain too much information to digest in just one viewing. Inside Light is a chance to zoom in on some of the music and hear what is sometimes imperceptible.

UNSICHTBARE CHÖRE (Invisible Choirs) is the only piece on the program that was not used as a GRUSS or ABSCHIED. It is a tape accompaniment to onstage action in DONNERSTAG. Stockhausen intended it to sound as a “soft horizon” around the listeners. During Michael’s childhood the taped choir creates a penumbral atmosphere that signifies he is no ordinary being. It is like the cloud of smoke (shekinah) that cloaks God’s presence in the Torah. It is no coincidence that the libretto is primarily drawn from the apocryphal texts 2 Baruch, the Testament of Levi, and the Testament of Moses.

Michael grows up, falls in love, and returns to Heaven in the final act. As angels celebrate his return, UNSICHTBARE CHÖRE reappears to shroud the onstage action. The two musical layers occasionally interact. The performers comment on the Invisible Choirs, and two clarinetists from the stage intrude onto the tape. When Michael’s father sings a German folk song in Act One, the Invisible Choirs later parody it. Listening to the piece in isolation is a delight as all the sibilance and tongue clicks are crystal clear. It also highlights Stockhausen’s brilliant vocal writing, which is often overlooked among his many gifts.

The magnum opus within LICHT has to be MICHAELION, a scene so corpulent that it staggers performers and listeners alike. Stockhausen could craft extremely intricate counterpoint, but he also enjoyed the cruder counterpoint that results from simply stacking pieces on top of each other. MICHAELION is just such a layer cake, with multiple pieces occurring at once. It is the finale of MITTWOCH (Wednesday), the opera that contemplates the cooperation of Lucifer, Michael, and Eve.

Like so many of the scenes excerpted in this program, MICHAELION is too complex a spectacle for a brief description to do it justice. It involves a campaign for the galactic Presidency, and the winning candidate is a camel who successfully stumps for office by defecating planets. That is just a fraction of its dramatic content. The musical foundation for the riot of onstage action is a synthesizer composition which the audience also hears as MITTWOCHS-GRUSS (Wednesday’s Greeting).

The synthesizer timbres of MITTWOCHS-GRUSS are cold and austere, evoking the remoteness of outer space and providing the aural headroom for MICHAELION. They are also a bridge from the sonic assault of the preceding scene: HELIKOPTER-STREICHQUARTETT (Helicopter String Quartet). The noise of whirling rotors is sublimated into a tremulous sound that provides a suitable platform for MICHAELION.

In FREITAGS-GRUSS and ABSCHIED, the synthesizers are quite the opposite. They are warm and wide, and they do not undergird just one scene. They are the accompaniment for the entire opera. The music sounds static, but it is moving glacially at 0.5 beats per minute. When the GRUSS and ABSCHIED are performed together, Stockhausen titled them WELTRAUM (Outer Space).

The overall effect of this music is crepuscular. Stockhausen blends synthesizer drones with night sounds. When audiences arrived at the Leipzig Opera to hear FREITAGS-GRUSS projected in the lobby, it was lit by candles. The opera revolves around the temptation of Eve. In Stockhausen’s version of her story, she is seduced and a war ensues. The synthesizer drones are punctuated by accented notes throughout the climactic conflict. In the opera’s finale, Eve’s sin is symbolically purged by a giant flame, recalling the candles from the lobby.

The synthesizers of FREITAG are joined by manifold other sounds including the composer’s own voice. Kathinka Pasveer’s laughter can be heard both here and in MITTWOCHS-GRUSS. Just as the first thing we see in the entire cycle is a young Michael laughing, joy permeates LICHT. Stockhausen told collaborators that he composed at least one joke for every scene in the massive cycle.

INSIDE LIGHT is an invitation to play with Stockhausen’s music. Like the boy Michael, the audience gets to reorient itself and choose its vantage point. These four very different excerpts from LICHT showcase some of Stockhausen’s range as a composer. His deftness with ambient music is not widely known. The amount of drones in LICHT is surprising to some, but he was working on a project that spanned four decades of his life. What the Armory gives us in this production is a priceless opportunity to examine his masterpieces in close detail, and most importantly, the space.

Joseph Drew is a trumpeter and Director of Analog Arts, which produced the American premiere of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s KLANG cycle. He specializes in the performance and scholarship of Stockhausen’s work and freelances in New York City.

© Stockhausen Foundation for Music, Kürten, Germany (www.karlheinzstockhausen.org)

© Stockhausen Foundation for Music, Kürten, Germany (www.karlheinzstockhausen.org)

© Stockhausen Foundation for Music, Kürten, Germany (www.karlheinzstockhausen.org)

PROGRAM NOTES: PART I

MONTAGS-GRUSS / MONDAY GREETING (EVE GREETING) [34’00”] FOR MULTIPLE BASSET-HORN AND ELECTRONIC KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS [TAPE]

Monday from Light is the EVE day, in the way that Thursday from Light is the MICHAEL day, and Saturday from Light is the LUCIFER day. Monday is a musical ceremony in honour of the Mother, a celebration of the birth and the rebirth of mankind. The MONDAY music is therefore also connected with the element water: ocean – rain – hail – ice – steam – distilled water – soaked earth – green grass – water sculptures in glass – clouds.

Monday Greeting (EVE Greeting) may be performed staged – as entrance music to a performance of the opera Monday from Light – or in concert.

When it precedes a performance of the opera, it is played back as 4-track tape over 4 groups of loudspeakers in the main foyer.

In a concert performance, either a basset-horn player performs live, synchronous with a 4-track playback, or a 4-track version is projected without interpreter.

At the beginning of February 1988, I produced the Monday Greeting on 16-track tape with Suzanne Stephens (basset-horn) and Simon Stockhausen (sampler with water noises) at the Studio for Electronic Music of the WDR in Cologne (Annostraße). I mixed down this tape to a 4-track version.

A tape with this 4-track version, played by Suzanne Stephens, may be ordered from the Stockhausen-Verlag.

The world premiere took place in connection with the opera Monday from Light on May 7th 1988 at La Scala, Milan. Monday Greeting is dedicated to Suzanne Stephens.

Upon entering the theatre foyer in a staged performance, one has the impression of being under water. Everything is bathed in greenish waves, in which rays of sunshine are broken, bent and mirrored. Subdued, multi-layered basset-horn music – incredibly expanded and reaching into the lowest depths – is heard, with occasional splashing, rushing noises. In the waves, at the centre of the entrance hall, the sculpture of a woman’s figure with basset-horn is discernible, surrounded by twelve life-size photographs of this basset-horn player in various playing positions, which correspond to the 12 notes of the mirrored EVE formula:

The duration (33 minutes 32 seconds) of the Monday Greeting is the result of a four-fold enlargement of the composition Xi for basset-horn (1986) which lasts circa 8 minutes 25 seconds.

Both the score of Xi and a recording of it, performed by Suzanne Stephens on CD 32 , have been published by the Stockhausen-Verlag.

The score of Xi for basset-horn includes a realisation made in 1987 by Suzanne Stephens, in which all of the fingerings for the micro-steps are also notated.

This score is used for Monday Greeting

Xi (pro nounced [ksi]) = Greek letter, unknown quantity

The Monday segment of the musical super formula for Light, comprising the first segment of three synchronous formulae, is stretched to a melody which jumps back and forth from formula to formula:

Monday segment of the super formula

The dominating character of Monday from Light is melody – EVE character – and thus also gliding melody, glissando. The connections between the notes of the three super imposed formula segments are prescribed as glissando scales of micro tones with the instruction: “glissandi with as many micro-steps as possible.” The number of micro-steps in each interval is different. In the course of numerous experiments, Suzanne Stephens discovered how many intermediary pitches in each microtone glissando are possible on her instrument, taking into account the tempo, interval size and playing technique. She notated these results as fingerings in the realisation score of Xi

These are the unknown quantities (factors) of an interpretation.

The temporal composition of Xi surpasses the perceptual limits to which we have previously been accustomed. In Monday Greeting the beat is �� = 48 seconds, which corresponds to the metronome tempo �� = 1.25.

The tempo at the beginning is �� 5 = MM 6.25, i.e. �� 5 = 50.

As a result of stretching a few main pitches to circa 33 ½ minutes, and the subdivision of the intervals into as many as 12 intermediary steps within a minor second, the sense of time and space is lost and a strange state of suspension is reached.

In addition, the completely unusual and new fingering combinations used to produce the microtone steps result in wonderful timbre changes and dynamic shades. The unknown musical quantities thus produce unknown sensations – Xi experiences, so to speak.

UNTSICHTBARE CHÖRE OF THURSDAY FROM LIGHT FOR 16-CHANNEL RECORDING OF A CAPPELLA CHOIR AND 8-TRACK PLAYBACK

The composition “Invisible Choirs” for 16-track a cappella recording and 8-track or 2-track playback is played back in the opera Thursday from Light as the Choir tape in Act I (Michael’s Youth) and in Act III (Michael’s Home-Coming) during the first scene Festival

In addition, the “Invisible Choirs” can be performed as an independent tape piece. Its duration is then approximately 48 minutes. The work is dedicated to James Ingram.

The subtitle “for 16-track a cappella recording” means that a 16-track tape recorder was used for the recording. The additional subtitle, “for 8-track or 2-track playback” means that 8-track performance tapes were mixed down from the 16-track original. 2-track copies were made from the 8-track tapes for performances where only 2-track stereo playback is possible.

The “Invisible Choirs” were composed in July and August 1979, recorded on 16-track tape with the chorus of the West German Radio (WDR) in Cologne at the end of August and beginning of September, conducted by K. Stockhausen (rehearsals: Herbert Schernus, Godfried Ritter and K. Stockhausen) and mixed down by him by the end of September 1979. Stockhausen then made 8-track performance copies from this original. Original and copies are now in the archives of the Electronic Music Studio of the WDR, Cologne.

On October 16th, 1979 the quasi-concert world premiere of Michael’s Youth took place at the Jerusalem Theatre, with an 8-track playback of the Choir tape. The quasi-concert world premiere of Festival followed on June 14th 1980 at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, also with an 8-track playback of the Choir tape. The staged world premiere of Thursday from Light (with 8-track Choir tape) took place on March 15th, 1981 at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan.

First text (CHOIR sections 1–7, sung in Hebrew): Judgement Day (from the Ascent of Moses)

Then shall My reign begin over all My creatures and then shall be the end of Satan, and when he goes, with him will go all sorrow because the LORD in Heaven will rise up from His throne and the earth tremble the sun no longer give forth light, the points of the moon shatter and the circuits of the stars be thrown into confusion and thou mankind shall be content and GOD shall raise ye up.

Second text (CHOIR sections 9–17, sung in German): The End of Time (from the Apocalypse of Baruch) In their time shall appear miraculous things. They shall see the world that was first invisible to them. They shall also see the time still hidden when they shall live in the heavens like the stars clothed in beauty as splendid as the light as brilliant as the rays of the sun.

Third text (CHOIR sections 19–25, sung in Hebrew): The End of Time (from the Apocalypse of Baruch)

Healing shall fall like dew and the pains and sighs of affliction vanish from mankind and joy shall cover all the earth. The wild animals shall come forth from the forest and allow themselves to be led by the small child.

Fourth text (CHOIR sections 28–35, sung in Hebrew): Hymn (from Leviticus)

The heavens shall rejoice and the earth exult and the clouds be glad and HE shall open the gates of paradise and cast away the frightful sword from mankind and then shall rejoice Abraham Isaac and Jacob and I too shall rejoice and all the saints will be arrayed in joy.

MITTWOCHS-GRUSS / WEDNESDAY GREETING (1998) [54’]

WEDNESDAY GREETING originates from the Electronic Music of MICHAELION, Scene 4 of MITTWOCHS AUS LICHT (Wednesday from Light) for choir, bass singer with short-wave receiver/flute, basset-horn, trumpet, trombone / synthesizer player, tape / 2 dancers / sound projectionist. The synthesizer player interprets—live—the pitches and timbres notated in three staves at the top of each page of the score. These pitches are stored, dynamically balanced, in the synthesizer as the E-, M-, and L-pitches of the EVE, MICHAEL, and LUCIFER formulae

Three output channels I – II – III are circuited to the mixing console in the hall, where they are connected to 3 joysticks on 3 stands (or other equipment for moving sounds in space) next to the sound projectionist and 3 assistants. The joysticks lead to a quadro distribution unit, the 3 × 4 outputs of which are circuited to an external mixer having 3 × 4 faders. In this external mixer, faders 1 – 5 – 9 are mixed to sum 1, faders 2 – 6 – 10 to sum 2, faders 3 –7 – 11 to sum 3, and faders 4 – 8 – 12 to sum 4

The 4 sum faders are circuited to 4 channels of the mixing console in the hall and from there to the 4 loudspeakers (loudspeaker groups) in the four corners of the hall

In the world premiere of MICHAELION on July 26th 1998 at the Prinzregenten Theater in Munich, Antonio Pérez Abellán played the synthesizer part, and with 3 joysticks I improvised the directions of movement (including the rotations and diagonal movements) of synthesizer channels I – II – III. The quadraphonic spatial movements notated in the score were made by me on February 22nd, 2003 at the Sound Studio N in Cologne. I operated the virtual surround potentiometer in the Sony DMX 100 mixing console by drawing the individual movements within a square marking on a glass plate (“touch screen”) using a graphic tablet pen. Every movement of the pen on the glass plate briefly left behind a track of light. It was possible to correct each figure as often as necessary. The four corners of the square corresponded to four loudspeakers set up in a square . Therefore, I could simultaneously hear each movement.

Timbres

In numerous parts of LICHT (Light), the terms “EVE sounds,” “MICHAEL sounds,” and “LUCIFER sounds” are used to describe the timbre composition Antonio Pérez Abellán knows the music of LICHT well, and has often worked with me in producing sounds at the Studio for Electronic Music of the WDR and for numerous compositions with synthesizers. The sounds for MICHAELION and thus for MITTWOCHS-GRUSS (Wednesday Greeting) are a result of our collaboration from February to April 1998.

Fantasy

During the realisation of the three sound layers for MICHAELION, I was aware that they could be played back only softly when projected with the choir and instruments. But in anticipation of their use as Wednesday Greeting I naturally also listened to them at high volume, although initially over three separate loud speakers and with out movements. During this work, a completely independent sound fantasy developed which has an alien, mysterious, cosmic atmosphere.

Since it is impossible to listen to the music in a concentrated way when it is played preceding a staged performance of Wednesday from Light (due to the public, the subdued playback level, and the scenery in the foyer), a 4-track tape performance in a dark auditorium (with a small projected full moon) and undisturbed listening in the dark with eyes closed is prerequisite for profoundly experiencing the music, which is very seldom reminiscent of this world and which awakens the universe of the fantasy.

All program notes were written by Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928–2007), translated by Suzanne Stephens, and provided courtesy of the Stockhausen Foundation for Music, Kürten, Germany.

© Stockhausen Foundation for Music, Kürten, Germany (www.karlheinzstockhausen.org)

© Stockhausen Foundation for Music, Kürten, Germany (www.karlheinzstockhausen.org)

PROGRAM NOTES: PART II

WELTRAUM / OUTER SPACE

(FREITAGS-GRUSS UND FREITAGS-ABSCHIED / FRIDAY GREETING AND FRIDAY FAREWELL) ELECTRONIC MUSIC

The electronic music WELTRAUM with a duration of approx. 141 minutes is the result of the projection of the 5th element of the musical super formula of LICHT and the double formula EVA-LUZIFER.

The work is played back from 8-track tape. The loudspeakers are placed in the auditorium as follows:

Due to the extraordinarily large time spread of individual tones, I have moulded the interior of each individual tone and its development like never before: microtonal movements of pitch, beats with continuous decelerations, accelerations, separations, unifications; expanding and compressing interval relationships to a reference tone; selection of timbres solely to clarify the formulaically composed tones, chords, tone layers, glissandi, spatial movements; meticulous shaping of the volume curve of each tone to emphasise its presence in the polyphony and to support the simultaneous tones; finely graduated differences between tones, sounds, coloured noises of different bandwidths; micro-rhythmic pulsation in various transitions from periodic to syncopated to irregular impulses; individual, clearly traceable trajectories, forms of movement, speeds in space

Of course, we still lack the ability to grasp the one large sound organism of approx. 141 minutes as a single entity, this unique musical Outer Space. Anyone who wants to learn this would have to listen to all the details and the whole as often and for as long as I did during the realisation, and I hope that the future will bring us auditoriums with permanent technical installations where we can listen to music like WELTRAUM as often as we like – including the individual layers, sounds and tones in listening seminars.

Only in this way can more and more enthusiasts participate in the indescribable expansion of listening. I realised WELTRAUM in 1992 and 1994 as part of a larger project in the Studio for Electronic Music at WDR Cologne.

The sound production took place in co-operation with my son Simon Stockhausen. Employees of the studio were: Sound technician Gertrud Melcher, sound engineer Volker Müller.

WELTRAUM is to be performed in the dark with a small light moon or with a starry firmament.

You can take a break after ca. 66 ½ minutes.

Listeners may perceive every sound from beginning to end, experience every movement and maintain their concentration.

All program notes were written by Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928–2007), translated by Suzanne Stephens, and provided courtesy of the Stockhausen Foundation for Music, Kürten, Germany.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN COMPOSITION

Karlheinz Stockhausen is among the most important composers of the 20th century. A pioneer of electronic music, Stockhausen composed 376 individually performable works, including his opera cycle LICHT – DIE SIEBEN TAGE DER WOCHE Woche (Light – The seven days of the week), the longest coherent work of music in history. His compositional oeuvre has influenced musical achievements such as serial music, space-music, and formula composition. Stockhausen has served as inspiration for popular artists ranging from the Beatles to Pink Floyd to Björk. In staged works he not only composed the musical parameters, but also wrote libretti, choreography, colors, costumes, props, and staging. Stockhausen served as Professor of Composition at Cologne Music Conservatory and had guest professorships in Switzerland, Finland, the Netherlands, the US, and Denmark. He was awarded honorary doctorates from the Freie Universität Berlin (1971) and the Queen’s University Belfast (2006). Stockhausen is considered one of “111 Germans you should know” (Emons Verlag), often representing Germany with his works. The German Pavilion at the 1970 World’s Fair featured a spherical auditorium designed by Stockhausen holding 183 days of performances of his music for over one million listeners. His composition SIRIUS was Germany’s official gift for the US Bicentennial. Awards include the Bundesverdienstkreuz, Siemens-Musikpreis, Polar Music Prize, and UNESCO’s Picasso-Medal, among others. More information about his biography and work list at www.karlheinzstockhausen.org.

KATHINKA PASVEER SOUND PROJECTION

Kathinka Pasveer was a longtime collaborator of Karlheinz Stockhausen, working with the composer since 1982. Stockhausen composed and dedicated numerous works for Pasveer, including KATHINKA’S CHANT as LUCIFER’S REQUIEM for flute and 6 percussionists (1983), of which she gave the world premiere (Donaueschinger Musiktage 1983). Pasveer performed as soloist in the world premieres of Saturday from Light (La Scala 1984); Monday from Light (La Scala 1988); Tuesday from Light (Leipzig Opera 1993); Friday from Light (Leipzig Opera 1996); ORCHESTRA-FINALISTS, second scene of Wednesday from Light (Carré, Amsterdam 1996); and MICHAELION, fourth scene of Wednesday from Light (Prinzregenten-Theater, Munich 1998). Other world premieres include: LIGHT-PICTURES, third scene of Sunday from Light (Donaueschingen 2004); HARMONIES for flute, fifth hour of KLANG (Stockhausen Courses Kürten, Suelztalhalle 2007). PARADIES for flute and electronic music, 21st hour of KLANG (Laeiszhalle, Hamburg 2009); and SCHÖNHEIT for bass clarinet, flute, and trumpet, sixth hour of KLANG (Grande Auditório, Gulbenkian Foundation 2009). Pasveer assisted Stockhausen from 1983 until 2007 in all realizations of his music in the Studio for Electronic Music of the WDR, IRCAM, and private studios; mix-downs of his music; and sound projection of his concerts. She was the musical director in the staged world premieres of Stockhausen’s Sunday from Light (Staatenhaus, Cologne 2011), Wednesday from Light (Birmingham, 2012), and aus LICHT (Amsterdam, 2019).

URS SCHÖNEBAUM SPATIAL INSTALLATION AND LIGHTING DESIGN

Following a photography apprenticeship in Munich, Urs Schönebaum worked in the Münchner Kammerspiele lighting department under Max Keller. In 1998, he served as Assistant Director for productions at Grand Theatre de Genève, Lincoln Center, and Münchner Kammerspiele and in 2000 began his lighting design career in opera, theater, dance, art installations, and performances. He has worked with stage directors including Pierre Audi, Claus Guth, Laurent Pelly, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Damien Jalet, Sacha Waltz, Thomas Ostermeier, La Fura dels Baus, Michael Haneke, and Robert Wilson. His work includes also lighting designs for art projects with Vanessa Beecroft, Anselm Kiefer, Dan Graham, Taryn Simon, Soundwalk Collective, William Kentridge, and Marina Abramović. At Park Avenue Armory: Doppelganger with Claus Guth and Jonas Kaufmann (2023), The Head and The Load with William Kentridge (2018), Pierre Boulez’s Répons (2017), Taryn Simon’s An Occupation of Loss (2016), and Goldberg with Marina Abramović and Igor Levit (2015). Set and lighting designs include: La Regenta (Matadero, Madrid); Bomarzo (Teatro Real); aus LICHT (Holland Festival); Apocalypse Arabe (Féstival d’Aix-en-Provence); Klangwolke 22 (Linz); and Bastarda! (La Monnaie). As set designer and director: Jetzt, What Next?, and Happy Happy (Opéra national de Montpellier); and the second act of the Walküre Project (Staatsoper Stuttgart, 2022).

ROBI VOIGT VIDEO DESIGN

New media artist and stage designer Robi Voigt works at the intersection of theater, fine art, and technology. As a media scenographer, he creates immersive spaces, combining sound, video, and light into multisensory landscapes. His works enable new experiences by making current topics, technical innovations, and fantastic stories tangible. He is currently working on QUANTUM NATURE, an AI-collaboration with the Natural History Museum in Freiburg, Switzerland. His most recent solo exhibitions include QUANTUM DREAMS at Zentralwäscherei Zurich (2023) and STATE:LUCID at Immersive Art Space Zurich (2020). Since 2014, he has worked on theater and opera projects at the Dutch National Opera & Ballet Amsterdam, Volksbühne Berlin, Staatsoper Frankfurt, Schauspielhaus Hamburg, Landestheater/Musiktheater Linz, Burgtheater Wien, Schauspielhaus, and Opernhaus Zurich, among others. He designed video-works for the internationally acclaimed opera Amerika by Roman Haubenstock-Ramati (Zurich, 2024). Voigt regularly collaborates with directors such as David Alden, Pierre Audi, Sebastian Baumgarten, Karin Henkel, Volker Lösch, and Kay Voges. As visual concept designer he collaborates with stage designer Rob Sinclair for Herbert Grönemeyer’s 2024 40Bochum-concert tour. Voigt studied audiovisual media at the University of Applied Science Hamburg, Germany, and stage design at University of the Arts Zurich, Switzerland. He lives in Zurich, Switzerland.

REINHARD KLOSE SOUND ENGINEER

German sound designer and recording producer Reinhard Klose has been present in the industry since the 1980s, working for artists such as Paul Kuhn and his Big Band as well as the Grammy award-winning group WDR Big Band. He has been engaged in major projects in Germany, including festivals, operas, musical productions, and large-scale live concerts. Klose worked with Karlheinz Stockhausen in the 1980s and 1990s on several projects in Europe, such as “MONTAG” at Teatro alla Scala, Milan. He has worked with Kathinka Pasveer on several performances of Stockhausen’s music, including the 2019 production of Aus Licht at the Holland Festival in Amsterdam. He currently teaches at the music conservatory of Dusseldorf and the media academy of Nuremberg.

PIERRE AUDI ORIGINAL CONCEPT

A critically acclaimed director and artistic director, Pierre Audi was appointed Anita K. Hersh Artistic Director of Park Avenue Armory in 2015. He also serves as General Director of the Féstival d’Aix-en-Provence and Creative Partner for Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. His numerous critically acclaimed performances include: aus LICHT, a three day production of Stockhausen’s LICHT opera cycle in Amsterdam in 2019; Kaija Saariaho’s Circle Map and Pierre Boulez’s Répons at Park Avenue Armory; his staging of Wagner’s Ring cycle; his now-classic cycle of three Monteverdi operas, Vespers, and madrigals; his staging of Rossini’s Guillaume Tell; and a large repertoire of contemporary musical theater works, including world premieres by Tan Dun, Wolfgang Rihm, Louis Andriessen, and Pascal Dusapin. Audi is Founder of London’s Almeida Theatre. Audi was appointed to the Dutch National Opera in 1988, then the youngest opera leader in the world. From 2004 to 2014, Audi served as Artistic Director of the Holland Festival. Audi has also worked as guest director at opera and theater companies, including the Metropolitan Opera, Paris Opera, Ruhrtriennale, Salzburg Festival, and Vienna State Opera. Awards include the Leslie Boosey Award, Prize of Holland’s Theater Critics, Johannes Vermeer Award, Gold Medal of Honour for Arts and Sciences, Order of the Dutch Lion, and Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur.

STOCKHAUSEN FOUNDATION FOR MUSIC

The Stockhausen Foundation for Music has existed since November 14, 1994, as a non-profit foundation to “support musicology and musical life on the basis of the creative oeuvre of Professor Karlheinz Stockhausen.” The legal body of the foundation is comprised of the executive board, which is assisted by the advisory board. The foundation is located in Stockhausen’s hometown of Kürten, Germany, northeast of Cologne in the so-called Bergisches Land, where he lived for 41 years until his death, and where he was named the town’s only honorary citizen on the occasion of his 60th birthday. The positive support of the community of Kürten, which now calls itself the Stockhausen Community Kürten and has renamed its market square to Karlheinz Stockhausen Square, is of great importance to the foundation. The foundation’s task is to maintain Karlheinz Stockhausen’s oeuvre and conserve and propagate his intellectual heritage. In order to fulfill this educational mission, the Stockhausen Foundation for Music supports musical performance practice; collects, archives and secures the estate in its own archive facilities; and publishes Stockhausen’s scores, recordings, and writings.

PRODUCTION STAFF

Ryan Gohsman Production Stage Manager

Kana Morita Company Manager

Amanda Harris Assistant Company Manager

Denivia Rivera, Adonai Fletcher-Jones Production Assistants, Programming

Ruby Carmel Production Assistant, Production

Carl Whipple Production Carpenter

Nick Houfek Lighting Supervisor

Dave “Tater” Polato, Alexis Josephine Durso Production Electrician

Taylor Jensen Lighting Programmer

Andrew Carey Deck Electrician

Mark Grey Audio Supervisor

Andrew Lulling Audio Systems Engineer

Jeffrey Rowell Production Audio

Daniel Santamaria Production Video

Stephen Pucci Production Rigger

PRODUCTION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

BNW Rigging

Five Ohm Productions

Mind the Gap

Lighting, Rigging, and Video Equipment by 4Wall Entertainment

Audio Equipment by Masque Sound

The CDs of all works performed and all other CDs, scores, and videos of Stockhausen’s works may be ordered at www.stockhausenCDs.com and www.stockhausen-verlag.com.

For further information about Stockhausen and his work, see: www.karlheinzstockhausen.org.

ABOUT PARK AVENUE ARMORY

Part palace, part industrial shed, Park Avenue Armory supports unconventional works in the performing and visual arts that cannot be fully realized in a traditional proscenium theater, concert hall, or white wall gallery. With its soaring 55,000-square-foot Wade Thompson Drill Hall—reminiscent of 19th-century European train stations—and an array of exuberant period rooms, the Armory provides a platform for artists to push the boundaries of their practice, collaborate across disciplines, and create new work in dialogue with the historic building. Across its grand and intimate spaces, the Armory enables a diverse range of artists to create, students to explore, and audiences to experience epic, adventurous, relevant work that cannot be done elsewhere in New York.

The Armory both commissions and presents performances and installations in the grand Drill Hall and offers more intimate programming through its acclaimed Recital Series, which showcases musical talent from across the globe within the salon setting of the Board of Officers Room; its Artists Studio series curated by Jason Moran in the restored Veterans Room; Making Space at the Armory, a public programming series that brings together a discipline-spanning group of artists and cultural thought-leaders around the important issues of our time; and the Malkin Lecture Series that features presentations by scholars and writers on topics related to Park Avenue Armory and its history. In addition, the Armory also has a year-round Artists-in-Residence program, providing space and support for artists to create new work and expand their practices.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Armory’s creativity-based arts education programs provide access to the arts to thousands of students from underserved New York City public schools, engaging them with the institutions artistic programming and outside-the-box creative processes. Through its education initiatives, the Armory provides access to all Drill Hall performances, workshops taught by Master Teaching Artists, and in-depth residencies that support the schools’ curriculum. Youth Corps, the Armory’s year-round paid internship program, begins in high school and continues into the critical post-high school years, providing interns with mentored employment, job training, and skill development, as well as a network of peers and mentors to support their individual college and career goals.

The Armory is undergoing a multi-phase renovation and restoration of its historic building led by architects Herzog & de Meuron, with Platt Byard Dovell White as Executive Architects.

PARK AVENUE ARMORY STAFF

Rebecca Robertson Adam R. Flatto Founding President and Executive Producer Pierre Audi Anita K. Hersh Artistic Director

ARTISTIC PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING

Michael Lonergan Senior Vice President and Chief Artistic Producer

Kevin Condardo General Manager, Programming

Rachel Rosado Producer

Samantha Cortez Producer

Darian Suggs Associate Director, Public Programming

Kanako Morita Company Manager/Associate Producer

Oscar Peña Programming Coordinator

ARTISTIC PRODUCTION

Paul E. King Director of Production

Claire Marberg Deputy Director of Production

Nicholas Lazzaro Technical Director

Lars Nelson Technical Director

Aidan Nelson Technical Director

Rachel Baumann Assistant Production Manager

ARTS EDUCATION

Cassidy L. Jones Chief Education Officer

Monica Weigel McCarthy Director of Education

Aarti Ogirala Associate Director of Education, School Programs

Biviana Sanchez School Programs Manager

Nadia Parfait Education Programs Manager

Ciara Ward Youth Corps Manager

Bev Vega Youth Corps Manager

Milen Yimer Youth Corps Assistant

Drew Petersen Education Special Projects Manager

Emily Bruner, Donna Costello, Alexander Davis, Asma Feyijinmi, Hawley Hussey, Larry Jackson, Drew Petersen, Leigh Poulos, Neil Tyrone Pritchard, Vickie Tanner Teaching Artists

Wilson Castro, Shar Galarza, Daniel Gomez, Nancy K. Gomez, Maxim Ibadov, Amo Ortiz Teaching Associates

Arabia Elliot Currence, Victoria Fernandez, Sebastian Harris Teaching Assistants

Felipe Aguirre, Marc Keven Chaudry, Moon Emigli, Lia Fortune, Raven Garcia, Melina Jorge, Yenupaak Konlan, Nephthali Mathieu, Sofia Maza, Kailo Meng, Alan Munoz, MJ Polanco, Elijah Tejeda Youth Corps

BUILDING OPERATIONS

Karen Quigley Vice President of Capital Projects and Facilities

Marc Von Braunsberg Director of Operations and Security

Xavier Everett Security/Operations Manager

David Burnhauser Collection Manager

Emma Paton Administrative and Office Coordinator Williams Say Superintendent

Olga Cruz, Leandro Dasso, Mayra DeLeon, Mario Esquilin, Jeferson Avila, Jose Campoverde, Branden Fell, Jacob Garrity, Ira Martin, Jonathan Mays, Juan Parker, Joshua Rosa, Tyrell Shannon Castillo

Maintenance Staff

Jason Moran Curator, Artists Studio Tavia Nyong’o Curator, Public Programming

DEVELOPMENT

Patrick Galvin Chief Development Officer

Alan Lane Director of Development

Caity Miret Executive Assistant to the Chief Development Officer

Chiara Bosco Individual Giving Manager

Angel Genares Director of Institutional Giving

Hans Rasch Manager of Institutional Giving

Margaret Breed Director of Special Events

Séverine Kaufman Manager of Special Events

Michael Buffer Director of Database and Development Operations

Maeghan Suzik Development Coordinator

EXECUTIVE OFFICE

Lori Nelson Executive Assistant to the President

Nathalie Etienne Administrative Assistant, President’s Office

Simone Elhart Rentals and Project Manager

FINANCE, HR, AND IT

Judy Rubin Chief Financial Officer

Tejal Patel Controller

Khemraj Dat Accounting Manager

Zeinebou Dia Junior Accountant

Ashlee Willaman Director of Human Resources

Oku Okoko Director of IT

Jorge Sanchez IT Helpdesk Administrator

MARKETING, COMMUNICATIONS, AND AUDIENCE SERVICES

Tom Trayer Chief Marketing Officer

Nick Yarbrough Associate Director of Digital Marketing

Allison Abbott Senior Press and Editorial Manager

Mark Ho-Kane Graphic Designer

Joe Petrowski Director of Ticketing and Customer Relations

Monica Diaz Box Office Manager

John Hooper Assistant Box Office Manager

Meghan Lara Hrinkevich Box Office Lead

Victor Daniel Ayala, Fiona Garner, Isabelle Graham, Jordan Isaacs, Sarah Jack, Matthew Kamen, Emma Komisar, Michelle Meged, Caleb Moreno,

Miciah Wallace Box Office Associates

Grace Kent, Anne Wolf Tour Guides

Natasha Michele Norton Director of House Management

Clayton McInerney House Manager

Becky Ho, Cody Castro Assistant House Managers

Aiyana Greene, Beth Miller, Christina Johns, Christine Lemme, Eboni Greene, Eileen Rourke, Glori Ortiz, Jacqueline Babek, Joseph Balbuena, Kin Tam, Mariel Mercedes, MJ Ryerson, Naomi Santos, Naz Black, Neda Yeganeh, Raven Garcia, Regina Pearsall, Sarah Gallick, Sebastian Harris, Yanitza Chan, Yao Adja, Zoë Rhinehart Ushers

Resnicow + Associates Press Representatives

NEXT AT THE ARMORY

R.O.S.E.

SEPTEMBER 5 – 12

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE, AN ARMORY COMMISSION

Award-winning choreographer Sharon Eyal and her creative partner Gai Behar are joined by Caius Pawson of London-based multi-arts organization Young for the North American premiere of a new work that celebrates the freedom, energy, and intimacy that run through the best of club culture and modern dance. Iconic DJ Ben UFO provides the soundtrack for this scintillating synthesis of contemporary dance, electronic music, and nightlife, playing for both the dancers during performances and the audience’s own movement throughout. Dissolving boundaries between stage, dancer, and spectator to subvert conventional notions of experiencing dance, this Armory commission serves as an open invitation to watch, to dance, to come together on the dance floor—whether you are a club kid who wants their first taste of Eyal’s visceral choreography or a dance fan wanting to experience the artistry of dancers up close in a setting like no other.

MAKING SPACE AT THE ARMORY DAY FOR NIGHT: A SALON ON ART AND NIGHTLIFE

SEPTEMBER 8

While many see clubbing as a murky night out in a sweaty nightclub, an abandoned warehouse, or at an open-air rave with no connection to more wholesome things that happen during the day, club culture has long been an important incubator of cultural movements and continues to provide spaces for connection, creativity, and personal expression. This afternoon salon brings together scholars, writers, artists, and nightlife makers to enlighten nightlife as an art form, and discover the ways social and performative dance have intertwined in recent years. Presented in conjunction with R.O.S.E

RECITAL SERIES

LEAH HAWKINS & KEVIN MILLER

SEPTEMBER 13 & 15

Having first dazzled Armory audiences with her participation in the Lindemann Young Artist recital in 2019, soprano Leah Hawkins has gone on to perform career-defining roles on some of the world’s leading opera stages including the Metropolitan Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Dutch National Opera, and Opéra National de Paris. She returns to the Armory recital stage to showcase her global journey with a collection of folk songs and proverbs from various cultural and religious traditions, from American and Yiddish to Jamaican, Swahili, and others. The program features works by composers and arrangers including Jasmine Barnes, Peter Ashbourne, Robert De Cormier, and a thrilling world premiere.

ARTISTS STUDIO

EJ HILL: ANTHEMS FOR THE RESOLUTE WHEN THE SKY IS EMPTY

SEPTEMBER 20 & 21

Through a practice that includes writing, music, painting, and sculpture, EJ Hill tells untold stories and provides visibility for those who have been historically ignored, focusing on everyday experiences that intermingle public struggle, endurance, trauma, joy, and resilience. His work interrogates how society’s deeply held prejudices and inequalities continue to position Black, brown, and queer bodies as targets of violence. The performance artist comes to the Veterans Room with a team of his primary collaborators to create an evening of song, storytelling, and sonic exploration. Collectively, they weave together their individual influences and practices to offer musical constellations which sprawl the space between disaster and desire. With [jef]Frey Michael Austin, Carson Childs, Quincie Mychelle Lewis, and Alexander Margarite.

INDRA’S NET

SEPTEMBER 23 – OCTOBER 6

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

One of the most unique and influential artists of our time, Meredith Monk returns to the Armory with her latest creation, an immersive work that is part performance, part installation, inspired by Indra’s Net, a parable that illustrates life’s interconnectedness. Following an initial concert performance of the work at Mills College in 2021 and a world premiere at the Holland Festival in 2023, this monumental creation receives a full production in its highly anticipated North American premiere. Monk, together with members of her extraordinary Vocal Ensemble, a sixteen-piece chamber orchestra, and an additional eight-member chorus, offers an interplay of music, movement, and architecture to embody celestial, earthly, and human realms through sound, video, and performance. The resulting production serves as a beacon to affirm life and a sense of connection to each other and all living things.

RECITAL SERIES

KARIM SULAYMAN & SEAN SHIBE

OCTOBER 8 & 10

Garnering international attention as a sophisticated and versatile artist, LebaneseAmerican tenor Karim Sulayman put his sensitive and intelligent musicianship, riveting stage presence, beautiful voice, and inventive programming on full display in a varied program of works examining the relationship of East and West performed with guitarist Sean Shibe. Featuring wide ranging works from Monteverdi, Britten, and Purcell to Takemitsu, Layale Chaker, and traditional Sephardic songs, this intimate recital inspects the artists own ethnic identities through songs that at once were seen to exotify but through playful juxtaposition subvert that narrative into one of celebration.

MAKING SPACE AT THE ARMORY

CANTO DE TODES / SONG FOR ALL

OCTOBER 19

Singer and performance artist Dorian Wood exhibits a 12-hour composition and installation inspired by a lyric written by the late Chilean singer and songwriter Violeta Parr. Combining both live performances with a chamber quartet and pre-recorded movements, the durational work mixes a genre-defying canon of folk, pop, and experimental music of Central and Latin America. This Armory commission spotlights timely issues of migration and emphasizes the urgency of folk music as a vessel for social change, punctuated by concurrent readings, screenings, conversations, and collaborations curated by film scholar Michael Gillespie and the Tierra Narrative poetry collective. Presented in collaboration with the Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present.

JOIN THE ARMORY

Become a Park Avenue Armory member and join us in our mission to present unconventional works that cannot be fully realized elsewhere in New York City. Members play an important role in helping us push the boundaries of creativity and expression.

FRIEND $100

$64 is tax deductible

• 10% discount on tickets to all Armory tours and performances*

• 20% discount on member subscription packages*

• Invitations to member preview party for visual art installations

• Complimentary admission for two to visual art installations

• Access to the Membership Hotline for ticket assistance

• Discounts at local partnered restaurants

SUPPORTER $250

$194 is tax deductible

• All benefits of the Friend membership plus:

• Fees waived on ticket exchanges*

• Two free tickets to Armory Public Tours***

• Invitation to annual Member event

ASSOCIATE $500

$348 is tax deductible

All benefits of the Supporter membership plus:

• Complimentary admission for two additional guests (total of four) to visual art installations and member preview party

• Two free passes to annual fairs held at the Armory, such as TEFAF, The Art Show, Salon Art + Design, etc.**

• Access to the Patron Lounge at select productions

BENEFACTOR $1,000

$824 is tax deductible

All benefits of the Associate membership plus:

• Recognition in the Armory printed programs

• No-wait ticket pick up at the patron desk

• Handling fees waived on ticket purchases*

• Invitation for you and a guest to a private Chairman’s Circle event

• Two complimentary tickets to the Malkin Lecture Series*

CHAIRMAN’S CIRCLE

starting at $2,500

Chairman’s Circle members provide vital support for the Armory’s immersive arts and education programming and the restoration of our landmark building. In grateful appreciation of their support, they are provided unique and exclusive opportunities to experience the Armory and interact with our world-class artists.

AVANT-GARDE

starting at $350

The Avant-Garde is a group for adventurous art enthusiasts in their 20s to early 40s. Members enjoy an intimate look at Armory productions, as well as invitations to forward-thinking art events around New York City.

*Subject to ticket availability **Certain restrictions apply ***Reservations required

For information on ticketing, or to purchase tickets, please contact the Box Office at (212) 933-5812 or visit us at armoryonpark.org.

For more information about membership, please contact the Membership Office at (212) 616-3958 or members@armoryonpark.org. Each membership applies to one household, and one membership card is mailed upon membership activation.

ARTISTIC COUNCIL

The Artistic Council is a leadership group that champions and supports groundbreaking “only at the Armory” productions.

Co-Chairs

Noreen Buckfire

Lisa Miller

Anonymous (2)

Anne-Victoire Auriault/Goldman Sachs Gives

Abigail and Joseph Baratta

Noreen and Ken Buckfire

Jeanne-Marie Champagne

Hélène and Stuyvesant Comfort

Caroline and Paul Cronson

Courtney and Jonathan Davis

Jessie Ding and Ning Jin

Lisa and Sanford B. Ehrenkranz

The Lehoczky Escobar Family

Adam R. Flatto

LEGACY CIRCLE

Roberta Garza and Roberto Mendoza

Lorraine Gallard and Richard H. Levy

Barbara and Peter Georgescu Kim and Jeff Greenberg

Lawrence and Sharon Hite

Samhita and Ignacio Jayanti

Wendy Keys

Irene Kohn

Fernand Lamesch and Maria Pisacane

Almudena and Pablo Legorreta

Christina and Alan MacDonald

Andrew Martin-Weber and Beejan Land

John and Lisa Miller

Lily O’Boyle Valerie Pels

Amanda J.T. and Richard E. Riegel

Susan and Elihu Rose

Caryn Schacht and David Fox

Stephanie and Matthew Sharp Brian S. Snyder

Joan and Michael Steinberg

Emanuel Stern

Slobodan Randjelović and Jon Stryker

and James Tisch Mary Wallach

Saundra Whitney

The Armory’s Legacy Circle is a group of individuals who support Park Avenue Armory through a vitally important source of future funding, a planned gift. These gifts will help support the Armory’s out-the-box artistic programming, Arts Education Programs, and historic preservation into the future.

Founding Members

Angela and Wade F.B. Thompson

Co-Chairs

Lisa and Sanford B. Ehrenkranz

Marjorie and Gurnee Hart

Members

The Estate of Ginette Becker

Wendy Belzberg and Strauss Zelnick Emme and Jonathan Deland Lisa and Sanford B. Ehrenkranz

Adam R. Flatto

Roberta Garza

Marjorie and Gurnee Hart

Anita K. Hersh

Ken Kuchin

Heidi McWilliams

Michelle Perr

Amanda J.T. Riegel

Rebecca Robertson and Byron Knief

Susan and Elihu Rose

Francesca Schwartz

Joan and Michael Steinberg

Angela and Wade F.B. Thompson