SFJAZZ presents Michael Abels: At War With Ourselves – 400 Years of You (CA premiere) featuring Kronos Quartet with a choir directed by Valérie Sainte-Agathe; text by poet Nikky Finney
Robert M. Miner Auditorium
SFJAZZ Center, 205 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA
7:00 PM, Sunday, May 8, 2022

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[7:00 PM] {lights down; no announcement; enter Kronos}

1. [7:01 PM] (instrumental overture)
   [7:08 PM] {add chorus, NF, VSA}
2. [7:09 PM] At War With Ourselves
3. [7:13 PM] You are given 10 square feet
4. [7:17 PM] You are the new country's newest
5. [7:18 PM] The rest of you
6. [7:23 PM] In a flash of slave schooner moonlight
7. [7:25 PM] Alongside the invention of the TV
8. [7:31 PM] Yes, your heart beats
   [7:35 PM] {applause; add 9 girls chorus}
9. [7:35 PM] Before the eyes of their children
   [7:42 PM] {applause; drop 9 girls chorus}
10. [7:42 PM] Skin is the largest organ
11. [7:49 PM] You have re-attached the legs
12. [7:56 PM] Your indefatigable zest & quiet
13. [8:00 PM] You are the Real McCoy
14. [8:04 PM] Refusing to halt their haunting laughter
15. [8:10 PM] Now is the great 400th anniversary
    [8:19 PM] {applause; bows; off & back for more bows}
    [8:21 PM] {no encore tonight; all done}

Kronos Quartet

• Hank Dutt: viola;
• David Harrington: violin;
• John Sherba: violin;
• Sunny Jungin Yang: cello.

• Michael Abels: composer;
• Nikky Finney: poet, reader;
• Valérie Sainte-Agathe: conductor.

It's interesting that tonight's show lacked any sort of speaking beside Nikky Finney's dramatic reading of her poem and the choral rendition that followed each bit. No greeting. No goodnight. No thanks to the sponsors. Wordless!

It's also interesting that unlike most every other Kronos show I've seen, this one had no visual/multimedia component. No fancy or dramatic stage lighting. No videos. Nothing!

What it did have was plenty of tuneful music. Fifteen parts by the count above, but I probably missed a couple as there were a few times where segments seemed to segue together, while the notes above correspond to the obvious breaks in the performance. In other words: take my list as an advisory impression rather than gospel truth!

NPR posted a brief podcast about this work at Deceptive Cadence just prior to the world premiere last November.

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2022 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2022 event list! ☸ On to the next event!