ABOUT THE ARTISTS STUDIO “And in a sense, the Veterans Room, of all the Armory’s opulent reception rooms, has the deepest spiritual kinship with a work of contemporary art, the feel of an installation by a young collective whose members were reacting to one another and making it all up as they went along.” —The New York Times Curated by jazz pianist, composer, and MacArthur fellow Jason Moran, this series of interventions in the Veterans Room includes a diverse mix of artists and musicians whose practices defy categorization and expressly mirror the innovative spirit of the exceptional young artists present at the room’s inception.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
MIYA MASAOKA
ROSA BARBA
Miya Masaoka premieres The Long Arc of Time, a new chamber work developed with Noh actors and musicians from Japan and soprano Kamala Sankaram. The libretto is based on poet Tracie Morris’s Grey: A Tale of Time, and was commissioned by Masaoka for this occasion.
Rosa Barba comes to the Armory with percussionist Chad Taylor to present a live work performed within an enigmatic installation on display in several of the historic rooms and spaces, including the Veterans Room.
March 13, 2019
MALIK GAINES & ALEXANDRO SEGADE May 23, 2019
Malik Gaines & Alexandro Segade, founders of the collective My Barbarian, create and perform a new work, Star Choir, which was developed while serving as Armory artists-inresidence.
Cover photo: James Ewing
September 16–21, 2019
2019 ARTISTS STUDIO IN THE NEWLY RESTORED VETERANS ROOM Wednesday, March 6 at 7:00pm & 9:00pm Veterans Room at Park Avenue Armory
ROSCOE MITCHELL Thomas Buckner, Baritone Carlos Cordeiro, Clarinet John Gattis, French Horn Joseph Kubera, Piano Catherine Lee, Oboe Roberta Michel, Flute Dana Reason, Piano Christa Robinson, Oboe Scott Robinson, Woodwinds John C. Savage, Flute Sara Schoenbeck, Bassoon William Winant, Percussion
The Artists Studio is supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Support for Park Avenue Armory’s artistic season has been generously provided by the Charina Endowment Fund, 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 Shubert Foundation, The Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Foundation, the Marc Haas Foundation, the Juliet Lea Hillman Simonds Foundation, the Leon Levy Foundation, the May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, the Richenthal Foundation, and the Isak and Rose Weinman Foundation. Additional support has been provided by the Armory’s Artistic Council.
SEASON SPONSORS
SERIES SPONSOR
7:00PM PROGRAM because it’s Roscoe Mitchell this Poems by e.e. cummings dim
Thomas Buckner, baritone Joseph Kubera, piano
8/8/88 Roscoe Mitchell
Joseph Kubera, piano
Sustain and Run
Roscoe Mitchell
Roscoe Mitchell, sopranino saxophone
An Interesting Breakfast Conversation Thomas Buckner The Trio Space: Gerald Oshita Roscoe Mitchell, woodwinds Roscoe Mitchell Thomas Buckner, baritone Scott Robinson, woodwinds This performance is approximately 50 minutes, performed without intermission.
9:00PM PROGRAM Bells for New Orleans
Roscoe Mitchell William Winant, orchestra bells
Nonaah Roscoe Mitchell John C. Savage, flute Catherine Lee, oboe Dana Reason, piano Cutouts for Woodwind Quintet Roscoe Mitchell Wavefield Ensemble: Roberta Michel, flute Christa Robinson, oboe Carlos Cordeiro, clarinet Sara Schoenbeck, bassoon John Gattis, french horn Bells for New Orleans prelude/postlude
Roscoe Mitchell
William Winant, tubular bells
Cards, In The Faces Of Roses Roscoe Mitchell Roscoe Mitchell, alto saxophone Thomas Buckner, voice Scott Robinson, tenor saxophone John C Savage, flute Roberta Michel, flute Catherine Lee, oboe Christa Robinson, oboe Carlos Cordeiro, clarinet Sara Schoenbeck, bassoon John Gattis, French horn Joseph Kubera, piano Dana Reason, piano William Winant, orchestra bells and tubular bells This performance is approximately 50 minutes, performed without intermission. 2
Thompson Arts Center at Park Avenue Armory | 643 Park Avenue at 67th Street
NOTES FROM THE ARTIST because it’s / this / dim In 1987 I was commissioned by The Conimicut Foundation to compose a series of three works for baritone vocalist Thomas Buckner and pianist Joseph Kubera. In search of a text to set, I read several poets and finally settled on the work of E.E. Cummings. His poetry suggested to me the sort of playful artistic freedom that I envisioned when I first received the commission. “dim” was premiered in 1988 at The University of Wisconsin Union Theatre during the Festival of the Lakes in Madison, Wisconsin. “this” and “because it’s” premiered at the Madison Civic Center on August 20, 1989. These compositions can be heard on Full Spectrum Voice: Thomas Buckner (Lovely Music Ltd., 1991 LCD 3021). because it’s Spring thingS
this forest pool A so
dare do people
of Black er than est if
(& not the other way round) because it ‘s A pril Lives lead their own persons (in stead of everybody else’s)but what’s wholly marvelous my Darling is that you & I are more than you &I (be ca us e It’s we)
Im agines more than life must die to merely Know dim i nu tiv e this park is e mpty (everyb ody’s else wher e except me 6 e nglish sparrow s)a utumn & t he rai n th e raintherain
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NOTES FROM THE ARTIST 8/8/88 August 8, 1988: This is the day I decided to write a solo composition for the great concert pianist Joseph Kubera. Since this work was not subject to the constraints associated with commissioned work, I spent ten years finalizing the first movement. In 1998 The Mutable Music Foundation commissioned me to complete the composition's remaining movements. “8/8/88” consists of three sections. The first movement is 35 measures long, divided asymmetrically into uncommon time signatures such as 15/8, 11/8, 17/8, and so on. The second movement has 17 measures and the third movement 44 measures.
SUSTAIN AND RUN “Sustain and Run” is an evolving improvised solo for sopranino saxophone, a recording of which can be heard on an album of the same name released by Selo Sesc SP (CDSS 0065/15). The album is a live recording of my solo concert in 2013 at Jazz na Fabrica in São Paulo, Brazil. It is an extended improvisation, averaging 14.5 minutes in length, in which I demonstrate my ability to simultaneously sustain long notes while playing running pitch sequences.
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AN INTERESTING BREAKFAST CONVERSATION The trio Space was formed in 1978 when I heard multiinstrumentalist Gerald Oshita and singer Thomas Buckner perform a duet at the Creative Music Studios in Woodstock, NY, where I'd invited Oshita to teach. Moved and inspired by their performance I approached them afterwards and said, “Let’s form a trio.” Buckner and Oshita had been meeting almost daily for a year to develop a shared vocabulary for duo improvisation. The two continued this practice in California, where they resided, and Space would get together as a trio for extended work periods before tours and recording sessions, as I was living in Madison, Wisconsin, at the time. During one such work period, at the tail end of a session of freely improvised recordings, Oshita and Buckner began improvising on material, developed by Oshita, that the two had worked through during their duo sessions. I joined in with a completely spontaneous part, unaware that the others were playing a previously developed piece. Oshita’s idea was that “the clearer one’s musical statement, the clearer the implied counterpoint,” and so the original musical idea was passed from Oshita to Buckner and was later inherited by myself. The next morning, at breakfast, we were listening to the playback of that untitled piece, when a friend entered the room and said, “That sounds like an interesting breakfast conversation.” That became the title of the piece, as well as the album to feature it. Gerald Oshita passed away in 1991, and Buckner and I continued to work together in the Roscoe Mitchell New Chamber Ensemble amongst other configurations. Recently, upon discovering the music of Scott Robinson, we decided to re-form the trio Space. We dedicate this performance to the memory of Gerald Oshita.
Thompson Arts Center at Park Avenue Armory | 643 Park Avenue at 67th Street
BELLS FOR NEW ORLEANS I was commissioned in 2005 by Sylvia Smith of Smith Publications to write a composition for publication in an upcoming book of music titled Summit: Compositions for Unaccompanied Orchestra Bells. “Bells for New Orleans” is dedicated to those people who suffered through the horrors of the devastating Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. “Bells for New Orleans” was premiered by percussionist William Winant on February 23, 2009 in a concert sponsored by The San Francisco Contemporary Music Players at Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, California. The score was revised in 2009 to include “Bells for New Orleans Prelude” and “Bells for New Orleans Postlude” for Tubular Bells. These movements will be premiered tonight as part of the composition's entirety by percussionist William Winant. Recordings of this work can be heard on Nocturne: Brett William Dietz (Cat Crisis Records), and Numbers (RogueArt ROG—0036).
NONAAH
transcription of the trio for flute, bassoon, and piano. Unlike previous adaptations, “Nonaah” for Chamber Orchestra was penned as an entirely through-composed work. In 2013, when Ilan Volkov invited me to his Tectonics Festival in Glasgow, Scotland, I decided to take this piece of music that began as a solo alto saxophone feature in 1971 and infuse it with the grandeur of a full orchestra. February 22, 2014, was the world premiere of my composition “Nonaah” for Orchestra, with Ilan Volkov conducting the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at Grand Hall, City Halls Candleriggs in Glasgow, Scotland.
CUTOUTS FOR WOODWIND QUINTET This version of Cutouts, which is completely notated, was commissioned in 1981 by the Wisconsin Arts board and the Conimicut Foundation. In addition to traditional notation, this work contains symbols for extended techniques such as multiphonics, harmonics, micro-tones, special effects, and circular breathing. The earlier works from the “cutouts concept” were scored for improvising ensembles. A quintet version was recorded in 1981 on the Black Saint label (BRS 0050), and a trio version on CECMA Records (CECMA 1003).
In 1971, I started to write a set of five solo works for the alto saxophone. “Nonaah” is the first title in that series of five compositions. This work includes both written and improvised sections and was completed in 1972. Solo performances of the work can be heard on The Roscoe Mitchell Solo Saxophone Concerts (AECO Records AECO16) and Nonaah (Nessa NCD-9/10).
CARDS, IN THE FACES OF ROSES
The Nessa release also features an adaptation, or extension, of the piece written for four alto saxophones, which blends composition and improvisation. After hearing the slow middle-movement of the work realized by four saxophones, I was inspired to further extend the concept by writing a version for string quartet. I spoke with a dear friend and genius composer Primous Fountain III about this idea, and he suggested that I write this composition for four cellos. I thought this to be a stroke of brilliance as it allowed me to retain certain characteristics of the alto-saxophone adaptation while fulfilling my desire to hear this music performed by strings. The “Nonaah” quartet for four cellos was completed in 1979 and premiered in Berkeley, California, in 1980 by the 1750 Arch Ensemble. The next composition in the “Nonaah” series was a trio for flute, bassoon, and piano, which can be heard on Roscoe Mitchell – Four Compositions (Lovely Music LCD 2021).
The text is an excerpt from “Sonnet 35: No more be grieved at that which thou hast done” by William Shakespeare.
In this scored improvisation, each player is given one card with notated material I've provided, intended to serve as both inspiration and a point of anchorage for a group improvisation.
No more be grieved at that which thou hast done: Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud, Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun, And loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud. All men make faults, and even I in this, Authórizing thy trespass with compare, Myself corrupting salving thy amiss,…
I was asked by the American Composers Orchestra to present a composition in the Miller Theatre at Columbia University in New York City in the summer of 2010. It was clear to me that “Nonaah” was the best-suited composition, so I chose to develop a version for Chamber Orchestra based off a armoryonpark.org | @ParkAveArmory
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS ROSCOE MITCHELL
Roscoe Mitchell is an internationally renowned musician, composer, and innovator serving as the Darius Milhaud Chair of Composition at Mills College. His virtuosic resurrection of overlooked woodwind instruments spanning extreme registers, visionary solo performances, and assertion of a hybrid compositional/improvisational paradigm have placed him at the forefront of contemporary music. Mitchell is a founding member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), and the Trio Space. He is also distinguished as the founder of the Creative Arts Collective, The Roscoe Mitchell Sextet & Quartet, The Roscoe Mitchell Art Ensemble, The Sound Ensemble, The New Chamber Ensemble, and the Note Factory. His instrumental expertise includes the saxophone and recorder families, clarinet, flute, piccolo, and the transverse flute in addition to his elaborate invention, the Percussion Cage (consisting of instruments from five continents and found objects). His oeuvre boasts hundreds of albums and original works, ranging from passionate, forceful improvisations to ornate orchestral music. His vast discography includes Sound (1966), People in Sorrow (1969, with the AEOC), Nonaah (1977), Bells for the South Side (2017), and Discussions. His works have been premiered by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Del Teatro Comunale Di Bologna, the SEM Ensemble, the Orchestra Banda, Montreal-Toronto Art Orchestra and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. He has performed and/or recorded with Craig Taborn, Jack DeJohnette, Mike Reed, Tyshawn Sorey, George Lewis, Anthony Braxton, Vijay Iyer, Henry Threadgill, Muhal Richard Abrams, and Thomas Buckner, among many others. Mitchell’s honors include the Doris Duke Artist Award (2014), a CMA Presenting Jazz grant (2010), and grants from The National Endowment for the Arts and Meet the Composer. Mitchell was also granted The Doris Duke Audience Development Fund, which was put towards audience development for his residency at the Museum of Contemporary Art, as well as The Shifting Foundation Grant, which contributed to the audio and video recordings of the residency.
led a 34-piece chamber orchestra for a performance at San Francisco's de Young Museum. These events have featured several of Mitchell's colleagues and collaborators: William Winant, James Fei, Thomas Buckner, and Gianni Trovalusci, among others. Mitchell recently premiered a large-scale orchestral work in Paris entitled Useful News commissioned by the Ensemble intercontemporain. He celebrates two 50-year anniversaries this decade: the AACM's in 2015, and the Art Ensemble of Chicago's in 2019. To honor the history of the ensemble— and the legacy of Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, and Malachi Favors Maghostut—Mitchell has embarked on tour showcasing musicians of the highest caliber.
THOMAS BUCKNER, baritone
For more than 40 years, baritone Thomas Buckner has dedicated himself to the world of new and improvised music, collaborating with a host of new music composers and improvisers. He has sung in major concert halls and festivals throughout the world. Buckner is featured on over forty recordings, including six of his own solo albums. His long term collaborations include thirty-five years as a member of Robert Ashley’s opera company, and regular performances with Roscoe Mitchell since 1979.
CARLOS CORDEIRO, clarinet
Portuguese clarinetist Carlos Cordeiro is stalwart in creating and broadcasting new music, collaborating with composers of different disciplines, improvising, studying, and performing on the different instruments of the clarinet family. Cordeiro is a freelancer based in New York City, equally as a soloist and chamber musician, and is a member of loadbang and TAK ensemble. He holds a Master’s Degree in Contemporary Performance from Manhattan School of Music, a Master’s Degree from Rice University, and a Bachelor’s Degree from ESMAE (Portugal).
His recent critically-acclaimed suite of orchestral works Conversations for Orchestra has been performed worldwide and was created at the behest of conductor Ilan Volkov, who invited Mitchell to prepare music for the Tectonics Festival in Reykjavik (2016). Selections from the Conversations series have since been performed in Bologna, Glasgow, Ostrava, Toronto, San Francisco, and New York. Conductors of these works have included Peter Kotik and Steed Cowart of Mills College, who 6
Thompson Arts Center at Park Avenue Armory | 643 Park Avenue at 67th Street
JOHN GATTIS, french horn
Originally from Tennessee, John Gattis is a horn player and educator based in New York City. Fluent in a variety of musical styles, Gattis is active as an orchestral and chamber musician. He has performed with groups such as Tilt Brass, West Point Band, Radio City Orchestra, Talea Ensemble, and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). As an advocate of new music he has given dozens of world premieres by composers such as Brian Ferneyhough, John Zorn, and Olga Neuwirth. In 2016 he performed the solo horn movement in the American premiere of Karlheinz Stockhausen's Klang. Gattis attended the Cleveland Institute of Music (BM) as well as SUNY Stony Brook (MM and DMA).
JOSEPH KUBERA, piano
A leading interpreter of contemporary music for the past three decades, Joseph Kubera he has worked closely with such luminaries as Morton Feldman, La Monte Young, and Steve Reich, and composers such as Michael Byron, Roscoe Mitchell, Alvin Lucier and David First have written for him. A longtime Cage advocate, he toured widely with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company at Cage's invitation. Kubera has been awarded grants through the NEA and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. He has recorded for Wergo, New Albion, and many other labels.
CATHERINE LEE, oboe
ROBERTA MICHEL, flute
Brooklyn-based flutist Roberta Michel is dedicated to the music of our time. Co-artistic Director of Wavefield, Michel has also performed with: Cadillac Moon Ensemble, SEM Ensemble, Ecce, Portland String Quartet, Newspeak, Argento, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Ensemble LPR, and Cygnus Ensemble, among others. She can be heard on New Dynamic, Innova, Tzadik, and Meta Records. Michel holds degrees from CU-Boulder, SUNY-Purchase College, and the CUNY Graduate Center. She currently teaches at St. Francis College and Sarah Lawrence College.
DANA REASON, piano
Dana Reason is a Canadian-born composer, sound and recording artist. She was part of The Space Between trio with Pauline Oliveros and is documented on 16 recordings. Reason premiered her film score for Nell Shipman’s Back to God's Country (Kino-Lorber) at BAM in 2018. Reason curates Site and Sound, at the Joan Truckenbrod Gallery. Reason holds a Ph.D. from the University of California San Diego, a Masters in composition from Mills College, and a Bachelor of Music from McGill University. Reason is on faculty at Oregon State University and is coordinator of Contemporary Music and Research.
CHRISTA ROBINSON, oboe
Catherine Lee has performed extensively as a solo, chamber, and orchestral musician on oboe, oboe d’amore, and English horn, in settings from classical to free improvisation. Recent solo recitals at Open Space (Victoria) and the Now Hear This Festival (Edmonton) included newly commissioned solo works that explore experimental compositional and oboe performance techniques. She has performed at Sound Symposium (Newfoundland), Performer's Voice Symposium (Singapore) and Embodiment of Authority (Helsinki), and is a founding member of Re:Soundings Trio with Dana Reason, piano, and John Savage, flute. Lee holds a Doctor of Music in Oboe Performance from McGill University (Montreal).
Oboist and music educator Christa Robinson has been working and living in NYC for the past 10 years. In that time, she has become an auditioned member of the new music group Alarm Will Sound, Ensemble Signal, and was the Music Director and singing oboist for Broadway’s King Charles III. Robinson has performed with St. Luke’s Chamber Orchestra, the Westchester Philharmonic, the Harrisburg Symphony, and has sat in as a substitute oboist in many Broadway productions. She has recorded for pop artists Jonsi, Five for Fighting, Of Montreal, and Okkervil River. Before moving to New York City, Robinson graduated from the Eastman School of Music, and was the principal oboe of the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra in Canada.
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SCOTT ROBINSON, woodwinds
Scott Robinson and his unusual reed and brass instruments have been heard throughout 55 nations and 250 recordings with a cross-section of jazz greats representing nearly every imaginable style of the music, including Bob Brookmeyer, Tom Harrell, Frank Wess, Maria Schneider, Anthony Braxton, Joe Lovano, Ron Carter, Ella Fitzgerald, Ruby Braff and Roscoe Mitchell. Primarily a tenor saxophonist, Robinson once placed directly below the great Sonny Rollins in the DownBeat Readers' Poll. As a composer, his works range from solo performance pieces to chamber and symphonic works. He has been a writer of essays and liner notes, an invited speaker before the Congressional Black Caucus, and a Jazz Ambassador for the State Department. Robinson releases highly adventurous music on his ScienSonic Laboratories label, and his Doctette (celebrating pulp adventure hero Doc Savage) performed at the 2015 Newport Jazz Festival.
SARA SCHOENBECK, bassoon
Originally from California, bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck spent her time on the west coast freelancing in a broad spectrum of ensembles from Dakah Hip Hop Orchestra and the Mancini Orchestra to the Santa Barbara Symphony. Schoenbeck also recorded for various sound and film projects. She now calls Brooklyn home and is active in the creative music community in New York and beyond. She is currently a member of Anthony Braxton’s Tri-Centric Orchestra, Wavefield ensemble, Peter Kotek’s SEM, Wayne Horvitz's Gravitas Quartet, Harris Eisenstadt's Golden Quartet, Nels Cline Lovers, and the Michael Leonhart Orchestra. Schoenbeck has performed at major venues and festivals throughout North America and Europe including Newport Jazz Festival, Carnegie Hall, the Guggenheim, Disney Hall, New Orleans Jazz Festival, Tempere Jazz Festival, Berlin Jazz Festival, Biennale Musica in Venice Italy, Ottawa jazz Festival, Vancouver Jazz Festival, and the San Francisco Jazz Festival. Schoenbeck received her BFA from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and MFA from the California Institute of the Arts where she has given master classes on improvisation for bassoonists and classically trained musicians.
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JOHN C. SAVAGE, flute
John C. Savage (flute and saxophone) has been compared to Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Herbie Mann, Noah Howard, and Colin Stetson. In addition to the Re:Soundings Trio, Savage has performed and recorded with, among others, Cartridge (The Black Heron and the Spoonbill), the Andrew Hill Big Band (A Beautiful Day), Billy Fox and Mark Dresser (The Uncle Wiggly Suite), and PJCE Records (Demolition Duo, Senses Sharpened). Lie Very Still, his latest project, performs compositions of Savage’s influenced by classical composition, improvisation, and a dystopian future. Savage holds a Ph.D. from New York University in flute performance and improvisation.
WILLIAM WINNANT, percussion William Winant is an avant-garde percussionist who has performed and collaborated with musical acts as diverse as Sonic Youth, Mr. Bungle, John Zorn, and Oingo Boingo. He is principal percussionist with the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and has been closely associated with NYC composer John Zorn, performing in many projects internationally with the composer. Winant has made more than 200 recordings in a variety of genres. He is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of California at Santa Cruz, and teaches at Mills College and the University of California at Berkeley. For eight years Winant was Artist-in-Residence at Mills College with the critically acclaimed Abel-Steinberg-Winant Trio.
Thompson Arts Center at Park Avenue Armory | 643 Park Avenue at 67th Street
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Co-Chairs Adam R. Flatto Elihu Rose, PhD. Vice Chairs Wendy Belzberg Amanda J.T. Riegel President Rebecca Robertson Vice Presidents Ken Kuchin Pablo Legorreta Emanuel Stern Secretary Gwendolyn Adams Norton
Marina Abramović Emma Bloomberg Martin Brand Cora Cahan Hélène Comfort Paul Cronson Tina R. Davis Emme Levin Deland Thomas J. DeRosa Sanford B. Ehrenkranz David Fox Andrew Gundlach Marjorie L. Hart Edward G. Klein, Major General NYNG (Ret.) Mary T. Kush
Ralph Lemon Heidi McWilliams David S. Moross Joel Press Genie H. Rice Janet C. Ross Joan Steinberg Mimi Klein Sternlicht Angela E. Thompson Deborah C. van Eck Peter Zhou Wade F.B. Thompson, Founding Chairman, 2000–2009
Treasurer Harrison M. Bains Marina Kellen French Artistic Director Pierre Audi
ABOUT THE VETERANS ROOM The Veterans Room is among the most significant surviving interiors of the American Aesthetic Movement, and the most significant remaining intact interior in the world by Louis C. Tiffany and Co., Associated Artists. This newly formed collective led by Tiffany included some of the most significant American designers of the 19th century at early stages of their very distinguished careers: Stanford White, Samuel Colman, and Candace Wheeler among them. The design of the room by these artisans was exotic, eclectic, and full of experimentation, as noted by Decorator and Furnisher in 1885 that “the prepondering styles appear to be the Greek, Moresque and Celtic, with a dash of Egyptian, the Persian and the Japanese in the appropriate places.” A monument of late 19th-century decorative arts, the Veterans Room is the fourth period room at the Armory completed (out of 18). The revitalization of the room responds to the original exuberant vision for the room’s design, bringing into dialogue some of the most talented designers of the 19th and 21st centuries – Associated Artists with Herzog & de Meuron, Platt Byard Dovell White Architects, and a team of world-renowned artisans and experts in Tiffany glass, fine woodworking, and decorative arts. The revitalization of the Veterans Room follows Herzog & de Meuron’s design approach for the Armory building, which seeks to highlight the distinct qualities and existing character of each individual room while interweaving contemporary elements to improve its function. Even more so than in other rooms at the Armory, Herzog & de Meuron’s approach to the Veterans Room is to amplify the beauty of the room’s original vision through adding contemporary reconstructions of lost historic material and subtle additions with the same ethos and creative passion as the original artisans to infuse a modern energy into a harmonious, holistic design. The room’s restoration is part of an ongoing $215-million transformation, which is guided by the understanding that the Armory’s rich history and the patina of time are essential to its character, with a design process for the period rooms that emphasizes close collaboration between architect and artisan. The restoration and renovation of the Veterans Room was made possible by The Thompson Family Foundation, Inc., Susan and Elihu Rose, Charina Endowment Fund, Lisa and Sanford B. Ehrenkranz, Almudena and Pablo Legorreta, Assemblymember Dan Quart and the New York State Assembly, Emanuel Stern, Adam R. Flatto, Olivia Tournay Flatto, Kenneth S. Kuchin, R. Mark and Wendy Adams, American Express, Rebecca Robertson and Byron Knief, Amy and Jeffrey Silverman, the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Anonymous (2).