TANG-ENERGY-38Soprano Lindsay Kesselman and Sandbox Percussion perform composition by Kenneth Frazelle

Video of world premiere performance a Tang, SPAC collaboration

Saratoga Springs, N.Y. — The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College and Saratoga Performing Arts Center present the world premiere of Energy in All Directions, composed by Kenneth Frazelle and performed by soprano Lindsay Kesselman and New York City-based ensemble Sandbox Percussion. 

Recorded in the exhibition of the same name that inspired Frazelle’s composition, the performance can be viewed on the Tang Teaching Museum’s website beginning Wednesday, September 8, at https://tang.skidmore.edu/exhibitions/276-energy-in-all-directions#performance.

The performance is the culmination of a poetry and music commissioning project that responds to the exhibition Energy in All Directions. The exhibition celebrates the life and legacy of the artist and gallerist Hudson by bringing together work from the Shaker Museum with art from the Tang collection by artists who were represented by Hudson’s gallery, Feature Inc.

The Tang Teaching Museum, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, and the Academy of American Poets collaborated on the project, which included commissioning contemporary poets including Hanif Abdurraqib, April Bernard, Nickole Brown, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Claudia Castro Luna, Victoria Chang, Forrest Gander, Ilya Kaminsky, Eileen Myles, Francine Prose, and TC Tolbert to craft new writings in response to the art and ideas in the exhibition, and then Frazelle composing his work using texts from the poems. The project is made possible by a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation and Charles and Candace Wait, who commissioned Frazelle’s composition.

“The interplay of all the objects in the exhibit found a fitting parallel in the imaginative and virtuoso composition by Frazelle,” wrote Joseph Dalton, the classical music critic for the Albany Times Union who was among a small, invited audience who experienced the live performance. “The percussion parts emphasized the mallet keyboards but the textures weren’t demanding or repetitive. The vocal writing regularly took Kesselman into the highest points of her range. Her effort was obvious but the elegant sound remained intact.”

The video also includes an interview between Frazelle and Ian Berry, the Dayton Director of the Tang Teaching Museum, reflecting on the performance and the exhibition.

Energy in All Directions is part of All Together Now, a regional collections-sharing project organized by the Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College with support from the Henry Luce Foundation.

For more information, contact the Tang Visitors Services Desk at 518-580-8080 or visit http://tang.skidmore.edu.

About Kenneth Frazelle

Composer Kenneth Frazelle’s music has been commissioned and performed by numerous prominent artists, including Yo-Yo Ma, Jeffrey Kahane, Dawn Upshaw, Anthony Dean Griffey, Emmanuel Ax, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Ransom Wilson, Paula Robison, John Adams, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Jan DeGaetani and Gilbert Kalish. He has received commissions from Music@Menlo, the Ravinia Festival and the Spoleto Festival. Frazelle first received international acclaim with his score for Still/Here, a multimedia dance theater work for the Bill T.Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Co. Frazelle has received awards and fellowships from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Academy in Rome, and Columbia University, and he was the winner of the 2001 Barlow Prize, the international competition administered through Brigham Young University. He has held residencies with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Santa Rosa Symphony and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Frazelle was a pupil of Roger Sessions at The Juilliard School and attended high school at the North Carolina School of the Arts, where he studied with Robert Ward. His music is published by Subito Music Corporation.

About Lindsay Kesselman

Lindsay Kesselman is a soprano who passionately advocates for contemporary music. Recent and upcoming highlights include a leading role in a new opera by Chris Cerrone, a world premiere performance at the national CBDNA convention in 2019 (John Mackey), a world premiere with the UNCG Wind Symphony in 2019 (D.J. Sparr), Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Michigan State University Symphony Orchestra, the John Corigliano 80th birthday celebration at National Sawdust (2018), Quixote (Amy Beth Kirsten and Mark DeChiazza) with Peak Performances at Montclair State University (2017), the release of Antique Violences on Blue Griffin in 2017 featuring Songs from the End of the World (John Mackey), a leading role in Louis Andriessen’s opera Theatre of the World with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Dutch National Opera (live recording released on Nonesuch Records, 2017), and an international tour of Einstein on the Beach with the Philip Glass Ensemble (2012-2015). This production won the prestigious Laurence Olivier award for Best New Opera Production in 2013. Kesselman holds degrees in voice performance from Rice University and Michigan State University.  She is represented by Trudy Chan at Black Tea Music and lives in Charlotte, NC with her husband, conductor Christopher James Lees, and son Rowan.

About Sandbox Percussion

Described as “virtuosic and utterly mesmerizing” by The Guardian, Sandbox Percussion has established themselves as a leading proponent in this generation of contemporary percussion chamber music. Brought together by their love of chamber music and the simple joy of playing together, Sandbox Percussion captivates audiences with performances that are both visually and aurally stunning. Through compelling collaborations with composers and performers, Jonathan Allen, Victor Caccese, Ian Rosenbaum and Terry Sweeney seek to engage a wider audience for classical music. Sandbox Percussion performs throughout the United States and made their United Kingdom debut in 2019 at the Vale of Glamorgan Festival in Cardiff where they premiered a new work by Benjamin Wallace for percussion quartet and fairground organ. In 2020, Sandbox Percussion released their debut album And That One Too on Coviello Classics. The album features works by longtime collaborators Andy Akiho, David Crowell, Amy Beth Kirsten, and Thomas Kotcheff.

About the Academy of American Poets

Founded in 1934 in New York City, the Academy of American Poets is the nation's leading champion of American poets and poetry, with members in all fifty states. Its mission is to support American poets at all stages of their careers and to foster the appreciation of contemporary poetry. Each year, the charitable organization connects millions of readers to poets' work with its many programs and publications, which, in addition to Poets.org, include Poem-a-Day, the first place of publication for new poems by 260 poets annually; National Poetry Month (April), which the Academy founded in 1996; American Poets biannual literary journal for members; the American Poets Prizes, which provide more than $200,000 to 150 poets each year; Poetry & the Creative Mind, a celebration at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall of poetry's influence on other artists and public leaders; a Fall Conversation Series, that features poets and other artist; and an Education Program that provides free resources, such as lesson plans, the award-winning weekly series Teach This Poem, and the Dear Poet project for K-12 teachers and students. In addition, the organization coordinates the Poetry Coalition, an alliance of more than 20 poetry organizations across the United States. 

About Saratoga Performing Arts Center

Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC), located in the historic resort town of Saratoga Springs in upstate New York, is one of America’s most prestigious summer performance venues. Its tranquil setting in a 2,400-acre park preserve surrounded by hiking trails, geysers, and natural mineral springs draws vacation crowds and arts connoisseurs each year for immersive experiences of performances by resident companies New York City Ballet, The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival, Opera Saratoga, and concerts by Live Nation. SPAC also hosts the annual Saratoga Wine and Food Festival in addition to imaginative programming such as the popular “SPAC on Stage” series and Caffè Lena @ SPAC. https://spac.org

About The Henry Luce Foundation

The Henry Luce Foundation seeks to enrich public discourse by promoting innovative scholarship, cultivating new leaders, and fostering international understanding. Established in 1936 by Henry R. Luce, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Time, Inc., the Luce Foundation advances its mission through grantmaking and leadership programs in the fields of Asia, higher education, religion and theology, art, and public policy.

A leader in arts funding in the United States since 1982, the Luce Foundation's American Art Program supports innovative museum projects nationwide that advance the role of the visual arts of the United States in an open and equitable society, and the potential of museums to serve as forums for art-centered conversations that celebrate creativity, explore difference, and seek common ground. The Foundation supports the efforts of museums and arts organizations to center works of art in dialogues that reconsider accepted histories, foreground the voices and experiences of underrepresented artists and cultures, and welcome diverse collaborators and communities across their work.

About the Tang Teaching Museum

The Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College is a pioneer of interdisciplinary exploration and learning. A cultural anchor of New York’s Capital Region, the Tang’s approach has become a model for university art museums across the country — with exhibition programs that bring together visual and performing arts with interdisciplinary ideas from history, economics, biology, dance, and physics, to name just a few. The Tang has one of the most rigorous faculty-engagement initiatives in the nation, and a robust publication and touring exhibition program that extends the museum’s reach far beyond its walls. The Tang Teaching Museum’s award-winning building, designed by architect Antoine Predock, serves as a visual metaphor for the convergence of art and ideas. The Tang is open to the public, Thursday–Sunday, noon–5 p.m. http://tang.skidmore.edu.