with Monday Evening Concerts
April 29 and 30, 2023
Getty Museum
New Commissions by Davóne Tines, Sarah Hennies, and Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork
In the summer of 1975, composer Julius Eastman (1940–1990) presented two works at a concert held at the Albright Knox Museum of Art in Buffalo, New York. One ensemble performed Femenine (composer's spelling)—a composition that has been widely rediscovered in recent years as an under-recognized modern masterpiece—inside a gallery, while another ensemble performed a piece titled Masculine outside. This simultaneous presentation placed the audience in a space caught between Masculine and Femenine as they moved between both performances.
Today, no record or score exists of Eastman's Masculine. To fill the void left by this lost piece of music, three unique artists present new works that expound on both the idea of masculinity and the complex and radiant legacy of Julius Eastman—a figure who navigated radically interdisciplinary artistic communities within classical, avant-garde, popular, and underground music.
The commissioned artists include classical vocalist and artist Davóne Tines, experimental composer Sarah Hennies, and visual and sound artist Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork. These new compositions will be staged simultaneously with Eastman's Femenine, performed by Monday Evening Concerts' ECHOI ensemble, in various locations at the Getty Center, replicating the compelling dynamic of the original 1975 event.
Julius Eastman: (Masculine) | (Femenine) is a co-production Monday Evening Concerts and Getty Museum Public Programs.
