Readers may wonder why an iceberg is present in the music blog, and rightly so. Is this some kind of stealth climate change activism? While its true that climate change has become an unavoidable iceberg in the room of our lives, ICEBERG is quite a different matter: It will be very much present in the East Atrium of Crosstown Concourse today and tomorrow, but it won’t be either melting or dangerous.
Rather, the ICEBERG new music collective hails from New York, a group of 10 young composers who promote the idea that “classical” compositions should draw from a broad array of influences in their work — including popular music, avant-garde techniques, and everything in between. The ICEBERG composers hail from different schools and cultivate radically different sounds, but with their longstanding collaboration with Memphis’ Blueshift Ensemble, they often compose for the same group and present their works during a joint concert. The result is a glimpse into the ever-widening possibilities of art music in the 21st century.
Not to be confused with the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), also based in New York, ICEBERG was founded by composer Alex Burtzos in 2016. Almost from the beginning, they’ve cultivated a relationship with Blueshift Ensemble, often being featured in the Continuum Festival that typically takes place this time of year. While there’s no festival per se, Blueshift, which happens to include flautist Jenny Davis, Crosstown Arts’ music department manager, will be performing a selection of compositions from the ICEBERG group.
This weekend, they’ll be joined by another ensemble, the Coalescent Quartet, an all-saxophone group playing everything from traditional to contemporary works. Regular members Nathan Bogert, Michael Shults, Nick Zoulek, and Drew Whiting will be joined by Heidi Radtke, instructor of saxophone at Butler University. All told, Coalescent’s members have taught at Ball State University, Silver Lake College, the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, UW Oshkosh, UW Whitewater, the University of Memphis, and Oakland University, and collectively the quartet has presented master classes across the country.
It’s an all too rare chance to delve deeply into the world of contemporary art music, all live and all free. Why not welcome this ICEBERG into the safe harbor of Memphis, and help keep this cutting-edge collaboration a going concern?
Blueshift Ensemble & Coalescent Quartet perform ICEBERG New Music in the East Atrium of the Crosstown Concourse, Friday, August 20 and Saturday, August 21, at 7:30 p.m. on both nights. Free.
