(MASCULINE) / (FEMENINE) :
A LOST WORK REIMAGINED
FEAT. WORKS BY JULIUS EASTMAN, JACQUELINE KIYOMI GORK, SARAH HENNIES and DAVÓNE TINES
FREE CONCERTS WITH RSVP:
April 29 (4pm) and April 30 (6pm), 2023 | Getty Museum
1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90049
April 29 (4pm) and April 30 (6pm), 2023 | Getty Museum
1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90049
Julius Eastman in Buffalo, circa 1974. Photographer unknown.
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EVENT ONE : APRIL 29 at 6pm
PROGRAM: Julius EASTMAN - FEMENINE Sarah HENNIES - (MASCULINE) Jacqueline KIYOMI GORK - (MASCULINE) |
EVENT TWO : APRIL 30 at 4pm
PROGRAM: Julius EASTMAN - FEMENINE Sarah HENNIES - (MASCULINE) Davóne TINES - (MASCULINE) |
At a performance in 1974 at the Albright-Knox art museum in Buffalo, New York, the composer Julius Eastman presented two pieces on the same program, one entitled FEMENINE and the other entitled MASCULINE. Interestingly, instead of presenting the two works on successive halves of a single program, Eastman presented both works *simultaneously* in different locations on the Albright-Knox campus. Thus, the audience was forced to make a choice: do they listen to FEMENINE? do they listen to MASCULINE? or do they oscillate freely between the two performances? or could they somehow position themselves to listen to both works equally?
These questions that Eastman thrust upon the audience were not only musical; they were both prescient and philosophical. What does it mean to be feminine? What does it mean to be masculine? Can one be one today and another tomorrow? Can one be both simultaneously? Can one be neither? Are they separable? Or do they in fact contain each other?
To the best of anyone's knowledge, FEMENINE was the work composed first. Around the date of its completion, the work was performed several times (at its premiere, Eastman reportedly played piano wearing a dress). However, following this initial flurry of performances, FEMENINE was forgotten and (until recently) never revisited. Fortunately, both a manuscript and a recording of FEMENINE survived, and within the past five years, the piece has heroically re-emerged, becoming widely recognized as a masterwork with frequent performances across the globe.
MASCULINE, on the other hand, did not receive such a charmed fate; to this day, no score nor recording survives. Not so much as a fragment of manuscript, nor an anecdote from a colleague has surfaced, thus leaving a tragic and poetically charged void where MASCULINE once was.
Which brings us to our present project: instead of seeing MASCULINE's absence as an obstacle, we have decided to see it as a blank canvas for a new generation of artists - each deeply schooled in the lineage of Julius Eastman - to meditate, express and respond. The world has changed so much in the nearly fifty years since the composition of both MASCULINE and FEMENINE. Eastman's attitudes about race and gender have been vindicated in so many ways. Julius Eastman is the prism, and we have asked a new generation of artists to refract their own energies and ideas through him.
For this project, we have asked three primary artists (Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork, Sarah Hennies and Davóne Tines) to create works filling the empty space left by MASCULINE's absence. The works are not re-creations, but rather, re-imaginings. Recalling that extraordinary day in 1974 at the Albright-Knox, we will perform these works simultaneously with FEMENINE, using the Getty's expansive campus as our grounds for experimentation. We are so thrilled about this project and can't wait to share it with you.
* Post-Script: Monday Evening Concerts wishes to say THANK YOU to the many tireless and selfless scholars behind the scenes in the Julius Eastman renaissance. There are too many to name, but we would like to express our gratitude for making our work possible.*
These questions that Eastman thrust upon the audience were not only musical; they were both prescient and philosophical. What does it mean to be feminine? What does it mean to be masculine? Can one be one today and another tomorrow? Can one be both simultaneously? Can one be neither? Are they separable? Or do they in fact contain each other?
To the best of anyone's knowledge, FEMENINE was the work composed first. Around the date of its completion, the work was performed several times (at its premiere, Eastman reportedly played piano wearing a dress). However, following this initial flurry of performances, FEMENINE was forgotten and (until recently) never revisited. Fortunately, both a manuscript and a recording of FEMENINE survived, and within the past five years, the piece has heroically re-emerged, becoming widely recognized as a masterwork with frequent performances across the globe.
MASCULINE, on the other hand, did not receive such a charmed fate; to this day, no score nor recording survives. Not so much as a fragment of manuscript, nor an anecdote from a colleague has surfaced, thus leaving a tragic and poetically charged void where MASCULINE once was.
Which brings us to our present project: instead of seeing MASCULINE's absence as an obstacle, we have decided to see it as a blank canvas for a new generation of artists - each deeply schooled in the lineage of Julius Eastman - to meditate, express and respond. The world has changed so much in the nearly fifty years since the composition of both MASCULINE and FEMENINE. Eastman's attitudes about race and gender have been vindicated in so many ways. Julius Eastman is the prism, and we have asked a new generation of artists to refract their own energies and ideas through him.
For this project, we have asked three primary artists (Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork, Sarah Hennies and Davóne Tines) to create works filling the empty space left by MASCULINE's absence. The works are not re-creations, but rather, re-imaginings. Recalling that extraordinary day in 1974 at the Albright-Knox, we will perform these works simultaneously with FEMENINE, using the Getty's expansive campus as our grounds for experimentation. We are so thrilled about this project and can't wait to share it with you.
* Post-Script: Monday Evening Concerts wishes to say THANK YOU to the many tireless and selfless scholars behind the scenes in the Julius Eastman renaissance. There are too many to name, but we would like to express our gratitude for making our work possible.*
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