YSM alumni don’t wait for opportunities to come to them. They are building ensembles for the work they want to make. They are tearing down boundaries between cultures, genres, and venues.
Invisible Anatomy
They’ve taken Williamsburg by storm: performing at National Sawdust, the 13,000-foot former factory space turned collaborative incubator —the first venue of its kind in the nation. They’re recording Grammy-winning albums and promoting Pulitzer Prize-winning new works. They’re maximizing new models like the artist-centric New Amsterdam Records. They’re collaborating with theater directors, lighting designers, and dancers. And, of course, they’re performing at venues like Carnegie Hall. This is how to be a cultural leader. Jacob Ashworth ’13 MM, ’14 MMA of Cantata Profana has this directive: “to get out from behind stands, and out of the chairs, to train a new generation of musicians.” In doing so, these artist-led ensembles are discovering new formulas, learning all the tasks of entrepreneurship on the job.
THE MENTORS Of Yale’s inspiring teachers, composercollective Sleeping Giant credits Martin Bresnick, David Lang ’83 MMA, ’89 DMA, and Christopher Theofanidis ’94 MMA, ’97 DMA. Vocal octet Roomful of Teeth’s founder Brad Wells ’98 MMA, ’05 DMA adds to that list Marguerite Brooks and Michael Friedmann. The same goes for Invisible Anatomy’s Brendon Randall-Myers ’14 MM. Martin Bresnick’s lectures made a big impact on his future direction. Randall-Myers was especially buoyed when David Lang volunteered his own apartment for an Invisible Anatomy benefit concert. Half of Cantata Profana’s core artists worked with Friedmann. RandallMyers says, “Bang on a Can and Sleeping Giant are our precedents.” Bang on a Can, of which David Lang is a founder, along with Julia Wolfe ’86 MM and Michael Gordon ’82 MM, established a composer collective model. Most of the six Giants studied with them in various capacities, as well as attending their summer festival. 11
Roomful of Teeth’s Dashon Burton ’11 MM says, “We couldn’t exist without the amazing progress made by people like Meredith Monk. We are so lucky to live in a time of fantastic artists like JACK Quartet and ACME, and lots of others pushing boundaries every day.” So let’s introduce some young ensembles formed by YSM graduates.
INVISIBLE ANATOMY: THE DRAMATISTS The youngest ensemble, Invisible Anatomy recently took the stage of National Sawdust to realize its audiovisual ambitions. “Sawdust,” says guitarist Brendon Randall-Myers, “is amazing. Period.” Everything is possible with multi-media capabilities. Sawdust is dedicated to audiocraft, and, says Randall-Myers, “designed for audiophiles.” What CBGB was to punk, what churches were to early music, so venues like Sawdust will be for the new classical. Anatomy’s show nearly sold out, attracting everyone from metalheads to video game music fans.