UA Hosts MacArthur ‘Genius’ Musician Anthony Braxton

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama’s Sonic Frontiers concert series presents legendary musician and composer Anthony Braxton in a week-long concert series and residency Feb. 6-27.

This event is the first major residency by Braxton in the Southeastern United States and will be one of the largest retrospectives of his work ever produced. Braxton will work with students from the University’s art, percussion, jazz studies, theatre and dance departments, as well as arts administration students in New College and the School of Music.

This residency was funded in part by a National Endowment for the Arts “Art Works” grant.

“This landmark series of internationally-significant events by one of the most celebrated and prolific of American composer/performers is evidence of UA’s emergence as a center for groundbreaking research in the arts,” said Dr. Andrew Dewar, assistant professor for interdisciplinary arts in New College. “This project is the pinnacle of my seven years of work building both an audience and a home for experimental music at the University.”

Braxton’s musical career spans more than five decades. His many awards include a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim fellowship, a 2009 honorary doctorate from the Université de Liège in Belgium, a 2013 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award and a 2013 New Music USA Letter of Distinction. He is also a 2014 NEA Jazz Master.

Braxton is one of the most prolific and eclectic American composer/performers of the past 50 years, composing more than 400 pieces, ranging from small ensemble works to operas, works for multiple orchestras, and a piece for 100 tubas. Braxton’s work appears on nearly 200 recordings.

Drawing inspiration from avant-garde composers Karlheinz Stockhausen and John Cage, to jazz experimentalists John Coltrane, Sun Ra, and Ornette Coleman, and the global sounds of traditional Native American and African ritual musics, his work organically synthesizes his diverse influences into a singular music wholly his own.

“I know I’m an African-American, and I know I play the saxophone, but I’m not a jazz musician,” Braxton said. “I’m not a classical musician, either. My music is like my life: It’s in between these areas.”

All events are free and open to the public. For a complete schedule, see  http://sonicfrontiers.ua.edu/upcoming-events.html.

Sonic Frontiers is a cutting-edge concert series of innovative and experimental music that enriches the cultural life of West Alabama and invites creative exchange between world-class performers of adventurous music, students, and the greater community through public performances and lively post-concert discussions.

All Sonic Frontiers events are free and open to the public.

Anthony Braxton’s residency is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, The University of Alabama’s New College, College of Arts and Sciences, the Office of the Provost, the School of Music and jazz studies program, the Blount Undergraduate Initiative, Honors College, University Programs, and the departments of American studies and gender & race studies.

For more information: http://sonicfrontiers.ua.edu

New College is a part of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.