May 20: Variant 6
vocal sextet presented by Chris Grymes’ Open G Series at National Sawdust performing music from their debut album New Suns
A celebration of 21st century vocal music by Joanne Metcalf, Jeremy Gill, Bruno Bettinelli, Benjamin C.S. Boyle and Gabriel Jackson
"luminous....perfectly calibrated and adventurous" - Broad Street Review
On May 20, 2022 at 7:30 pm the vocal sextet Variant 6 performs their debut full-length album New Suns (Open G Records) with a concert on the day of the album's release at National Sawdust presented by Chris Grymes’ Open G Series. The ensemble performs the same program again in their hometown of Philadelphia on May 21.
Variant 6’s virtuosic artists regularly sing with the Grammy-award winning ensemble The Crossing, and have performed with Roomful of Teeth, Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, Los Angeles Philharmonic and other internationally recognized ensembles.
Variant 6 performs Six Pensées de Pascal by Jeremy Gill at National Sawdust (2019)
The program represents a widely diverse range of styles and sounds of 21st century vocal music, with works by Benjamin C.S. Boyle, Bruno Bettinelli, Jeremy Gill, Gabriel Jackson, and Joanne Metcalf. Variant 6's recordings of these works are collected on their new album, New Suns (Open-G Records), which is also released on May 20.
“The music we offer here celebrates the virtuosic potential of voices singing together," wrote the members of Variant 6. "It represents a collection of some of our favorite repertoire from our first half-decade as an ensemble.”
Highlights include works commissioned by the group by Jeremy Gill and Joanne Metcalf. Jeremy Gill’s Six Pensées de Pascal (2017) finds common ground between the poet Blaise Pascal’s Pensées that defend Christianity through a collection of logical 'proofs’, and the composer’s own Atheism. “Essentially, I allowed myself complete freedom of thought and invention within a highly—and, it must be acknowledged, arbitrarily—restricted world," said Gill. Metcalf’s The Sea’s Wash in the Hollow of the Heart (2020) looks to the past with overt influences from medieval music, while feeling wholly contemporary. The work is set to a poem by Denise Levertov.
Tickets for Variant 6 at National Sawdust on May 20 at 7:30 pm (doors at 6:30 pm) are $25 for general admission and are available at nationalsawdust.org or (646) 779-8455. National Sawdust is located at 80 North 6th Street in Brooklyn.
CALENDAR LISTING
Chris Grymes' Open G Series at National Sawdust:
Variant 6 performing their debut album New Suns
May 20, 2022 at 7:30 pm (doors at 6:30)
National Sawdust
80 North 6th St
Brooklyn, NY
Program
Benjamin C.S. Boyle: Supplice (2019)*
Gabriel Jackson: Zero Point Reflection (2014)
Bruno Bettinelli: Excerpts from Madrigali a cinque voci miste (1993)
Jeremy Gill: Six Pensées de Pascal (2017)*
Gabriel Jackson: Spring (2005)
Joanne Metcalf: The Sea’s Wash in the Hollow of the Heart (2020)*
*composed or arranged for Variant 6
Variant 6
Jessica Beebe, soprano; Rebecca Myers, soprano; Elisa Sutherland, mezzo-soprano; Steven Bradshaw, tenor; James Reese, tenor; Daniel Schwartz, bass-baritone
Tickets are $25 for general admission, and are available at nationalsawdust.org or (646) 779-8455
National Sawdust's Covid protocols are at this link.
Variant 6 Biography
Variant 6 is a virtuosic vocal sextet that explores and advances the art of chamber music in the twenty-first century. The ensemble’s work includes radically reimagining concert experiences, commissioning substantial new works, collaborating closely with other ensembles, and educating a new generation of singers.
All of Variant 6’s virtuosic artists regularly sing with the Grammy-award winning choir, The Crossing, and have performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Roomful of Teeth, Bang on a Can and more.
Chris Grymes' Open G Series
April 28 | Nia Imani Franklin
May 20 | Variant 6
June 11 | Music in The Constellation: An In-Person Immersive Audio Experience
Chris Grymes founded Open G Records with a philosophy to produce music that is rooted in the classical tradition, but delivered in a way that will resonate with current and future generations of music fans. Having released a half dozen recordings, Open G has expanded to include a concert series hosted at National Sawdust in Brooklyn.
About National Sawdust
National Sawdust believes that artistic expression empowers us all to create a more joyful and just world. They curate and produce music and artistic works rooted in curiosity, experimentation, innovation, and inclusivity. They present their work by engaging communities of artists and audiences at their state-of-the-art Williamsburg home and on their digital stage.