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For the second consecutive summer, Living Music Underground returns to Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City programming. Experimental and post-genre music has always thrived in New York – but recently has made its way out of the margins and into some of the city’s largest institutions. In the past year, we’ve seen Hamed Sinno (with arrangements by Donia Jarrar) dazzle The Met Museum; Chuquimamani Condori/DJ E and Sunn o))) toast Lincoln Center’s speakers at Unsound weekend; and Jlin, Mabe Fratti, and Arushi Jain activate spaces at MoMA. With Living Music Underground, curator Nadia Sirota taps into this burgeoning well of “new music-adjacent” artists for nine free-admission Thursday evening concerts this summer from June 12 to August 7 in The Underground at Jaffe Drive.
Sirota’s passion for curation was ignited in her radio days back in 2007. As a WNYC host, she navigated how to weave engaging throughlines for audiences who had the ability to turn off her programming at any moment. As a violist, conductor, and educator she’s since had an extensive range of curatorial responsibilities – from on-air mixes, to concert and student programming, albums and track sequencing, and live series. Sirota relishes the opportunity to advocate for artists and works she loves, and to present them to a wide variety of listeners. “Sometimes curation is honestly that simple,” she shared in our recent interview.
The music closest to her heart, however, often feels inaccessible to those outside of the recital halls. “Classical music loves to feel ‘gatekeepy.’ There is this feeling that if you don’t have core knowledge about the classical world, you’re going to be at sea. So I create an environment where you can come in knowing totally nothing, and then come out knowing a lot.”
Claire Chase at Living Music Underground 2024 — Photo by Sachyn Mital
With Living Music Underground, Sirota manages to break down these barriers to entry. Each artist will be interviewed by Sirota as part of the series – demystifying their craft for curious concertgoers. The unique setting of The Underground additionally removes a layer of unfamiliarity or discomfort for those who are not frequent classical music heads. The intimate indoor-outdoor pop-up cabaret space will be set up beneath the grandiose steps to the Josie Robertson Plaza specifically for the series.
WIth a shared touchpoint of classical music, Sirota focused on bringing together artists with unique experimental sensibilities from multiple scenes. The series kicks off on June 12 with GRAMMY-nominated Nathalie Joachim, Haitian-American artist whose recent songs and work with sampling examine generational trauma and ancestral connection.
Eliza Bagg (aka Lisel) brings her classically-charged vocal techniques, pop-music aesthetics, and experimental improvisation with electronics to Living Music on June 26. “Musicians who create really interesting work are multilingual in terms of the musical languages they speak,” Sirota explained. “I don’t think people are actively trying to ‘defy genres.’ Folks are just making music in the most natural way to them.”
The series offers something for everyone, with everything from early music ensembles to electronic improvisation. The baroque-specializing band Ruckus and American Modern Opera Company’s (AMOC) violinist Keir GoGwilt celebrate 18th-century Scottish musician Niel Gow (1727-1807) with a fusion of traditional folk dances and present-day expression on July 3. The concert is a collaboration between Sirota’s series, and AMOC’s “Run AMOC* Festival” that will concurrently transform Lincoln Center’s campus with even more bold presentations – like George Lewis’ The Comet/Poppea, several works by Julius Eastman, and a song cycle of Asian American poetry by Miranda Cuckson. On the other end of the chronological spectrum, champion LA-based improvisers Jeremiah Chiu and Marta Sofia Honer will invoke futuristic beauty with modular synthesizers and viola on July 24.
CJ Camerieri (CARM) — Courtesy of artist
The programming is rounded out by other artists pushing boundaries: the “genrefluid” PUBLIQuartet (June 19); improvising brass player CJ Camerieri (aka CARM) of Paul Simon’s band and contemporary classical ensemble yMusic (July 10); immersive electroacoustic cellist Clarice Jensen (July 17); and innovative jazz trumpeter Riley Mulherkar of The Westerlies (July 31) will all take the spotlight at Living Music Underground. Sirota mentions the excitement over several of the collaborative performers having the opportunity to present solo projects during the series – “It will show what happens when you allow people to really pursue their expression of art in the way that they see it.” The series concludes fittingly on Aug 7 with a performance by pianist and producer Kelly Moran, whose transitory music hovers between minimalist composition, electronic dance music, and hints of metal.
Sirota emphasizes the importance of large cultural institutions like Lincoln Center opening their doors – and driveways – to work that challenges and takes risks, supporting the artists who create it, and “respecting audiences to find something new and interesting.” Her refreshing view of curation as a privilege to expose people to new things, along with the free and accessible formatting of the series, are significant to supporting experimental music in a landscape where capitalist endeavors and shrinking budgets often dictate the types of art that gets platformed. “It’s about humanity – allowing people to be creative and push creativity, art, and conversations forward. It’s important that musicians who take risks have the opportunity to grow and flourish, and that major institutions have space for this kind of work.”
Free admission for Living Music Underground concerts can be accessed in two ways:
- General Admission (first come, first served)
- “Fast-Track” (RSVPs open 12pm ET the Monday before the concert)
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