Pulitzer Prize Finalist

Described by The Pulitzer Prizes as “an exquisitely crafted composition that balances density with fragile detail using chords and singing, particularly a strong bass voice, a masterful blend of sound and contemplative silence.”

Tyshawn Sorey: Rothko Chapel 50^th Anniversary Commission Monochromatic Light (Afterlife)
Tyshawn Sorey, composer, conductor
Houston Chamber Choir
Davóne Tines, bass-baritone
Kim Kashkashian, viola
Steven Schick, percussion
Sarah Rothenberg, piano/celesta

In celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the opening of Rothko Chapel, DACAMERA and Rothko Chapel commissioned boundary-breaking composer Tyshawn Sorey to create a new work inspired by the Chapel and by Morton Feldman’s 20^th-century masterpiece, Rothko Chapel, composed for the opening celebration. Tyshawn Sorey epitomizes DACAMERA’s commitment to work that explodes traditional distinctions between genres. Using the same instrumentation as Feldman, Tyshawn Sorey brings to this new work his impressive background in jazz and creative music. Sorey’s new work premieres during the 50th anniversary year of the first performance of the Feldman work at the dedication of the Chapel in 1972.

From the New York Times Review:

“Sorey, who has called [composer Morton] Feldman his hero, has responded to the chapel and its paintings — as well as to one of late-20th-century music’s classic works — bravely, with a small group of instruments virtually identical to those of “Rothko Chapel.”

“And Feldman’s sense of ritual — you always get the feeling that his ensemble is standing side by side, facing you and announcing the piece — is subtly different than Sorey’s, who implies more of a conversation, a circle. Sorey has shifted Feldman’s vocal soloist, a high female voice, to a low male one, and what was an evocation of the angelic has become something more medieval — a monk chanting in his cloister — and also more human.”

“For Sorey to interpolate his own invocation, his own heritage, history and memory, is a gesture of both respect and daring. Rarely does a composer present a new work haunted so openly and pervasively by a predecessor’s. But “Monochromatic Light” feels less like a nostalgia trip than a broadening of Feldman’s path deep into the pain and community of our time and the distant but resonant past.”