Driftless: Sam Amidon and the Winona Symphony Orchestra
With arrangements by Katherine Bergman, Manami Kakudo, Nico Muhly, and Darian Donovan Thomas
With special guest, Shahzad Ismaily
Sat, May 20, 2023 // 7 pm
Minnesota Marine Art Museum
Presented by the Minnesota Marine Art Museum
Produced by Liquid Music
In partnership the Winona Symphony Orchestra
TICKETS
General Admission Seated Tickets: $35 [SOLD OUT]
Includes a chair, and a parking space in the MMAM lot.
General Admission Standing Tickets: $30
Does not include a chair or a parking space in the MMAM lot. You are welcome to bring a blanket to sit on, or your own lawn chair. Please bike-in, carpool, or ride-share into the museum!
“[Amidon’s music], full of delicate noise and artful sophistication, deserves a pause in a harried time.” —No Depression
“Amidon has developed a shining reputation for taking something very old and making it sound brand new… thoroughly contemporary yet steeped in tradition.” —PBS
Singer and multi-instrumentalist Sam Amidon, who “stages a polyglot conversation among folk, classical and jazz” (Pitchfork), takes to the banks of the Mississippi for a performance of radically reimagined interpretations of the folk songs for which he is known. Joined by members of the Winona Symphony Orchestra and special guests, Amidon and ensemble present a wholly original blend of the old and the new. Featuring newly commissioned arrangements by composers Katherine Bergman, Manami Kakudo, and Darian Donovan Thomas (all first-time collaborators) as well as both new and old orchestrations by Nico Muhly, the program highlights new explorations into traditional American music amidst the spectacular backdrop of the Mississippi.
AmericInn by Wyndham Winona is a Preferred Hospitality Partner for Driftless: Sam Amidon and the Winona Symphony Orchestra. Mention the Best Available Rate when booking and receive 12% off nightly rates.
About the artists
Sam Amidon is a singer and multi-instrumentalist (banjo, guitar, fiddle) from Vermont, now based in London, England. He has released seven acclaimed solo albums of songs on Bedroom Community and Nonesuch Records, the most recent of which is 2020's "Sam Amidon."
Amidon's material for these albums often consists of adventurous reworkings of traditional American ballads, hymns and work songs, with the New York Times writing that Amidon "transforms all of the songs, changing their colours and loading them with trapdoors." The albums have been deeply collaborative in nature, inviting contributions from musicians such as composer Nico Muhly, guitarist Bill Frisell, and legendary percussionist Milford Graves.
Sam Amidon has recorded or performed as a guest artist with musicians such as Bon Iver, Emmylou Harris, Tune-Yards, The National, John Prine, Jason Moran, and Amidon’s wife, Beth Orton. He has also appeared internationally as a soloist performing with ensembles such as the Kronos Quartet, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, The Aurora Orchestra, The Oregon Symphony and the Britten Sinfonia.
Shahzad Ismaily was born in the United States to Pakistani parents who emigrated here just before his birth. Growing up in a bicultural household, he has always followed a multitude of paths and perusals. Primarily self-taught as a musician, composer, recording engineer, and producer, Ismaily plays electric bass, drums, percussion, guitar, synthesizers, and all manner of sound-makers procured in life’s travels. Ismaily has recorded and performed with a diverse crew of artMakers, Yoko Ono, Laurie Anderson, Beth Orton, Colin Stetson, Ben Frost, Bonnie Prince Billy, Damien Rice, Jolie Holland, JFDR, Secret Chiefs 3, Sam Amidon, further and further. He has been an integral member of experiences such as the People Festival (the brainchild of Bon Iver, The National, and the Michelberger), the Eau Claires festival, the Moers Festival. He has done work for dance and theater pieces, such as the film Frozen River (Oscar-nominated and Sundance award-winning), Inkboat (a butoh crew from California/Switzerland), and visual artist Laleh Khorramian. Currently based in Brooklyn and working out of the recording studio collective he founded and created, Figure 8 Recording, he has studied music extensively in Pakistan, India, Turkey, Mexico, Chile, Japan, Indonesia, Morocco, and Iceland.
Nico Muhly, born in 1981, is an American composer who writes orchestral music, works for the stage, music for film, choral music, chamber music and sacred music. He’s received commissions from The Metropolitan Opera: Two Boys (2011), and Marnie (2018); Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Australian Chamber Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Tallis Scholars, King’s College and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, at which he is composer in residence. He is a collaborative partner at the San Francisco Symphony and has been featured at the Barbican and the Philharmonie de Paris as composer, performer, and curator. An avid collaborator, he has worked with choreographers Benjamin Millepied at the Paris Opéra Ballet, Bobbi Jene Smith at the Juilliard School, Justin Peck and Kyle Abraham at New York City Ballet; musicians Sufjan Stevens, The National, Teitur, Anohni, James Blake and Paul Simon. His work for screen includes scores for The Reader (2008) and Kill Your Darlings (2013), Howards End (2017) and Pachinko (2022) . Recordings of his works have been released by Decca and Nonesuch, and he is part of the artist-run record label Bedroom Community, which released his first two albums, Speaks Volumes (2006) and Mothertongue (2008).
Darian Donovan Thomas is a Brooklyn based composer, multi-instrumentalist, and interdisciplinary artist. He is interested in combining genres into a singular vocabulary that can express ideas about intersectionality (of medium and identity). Necessarily, his work aims to redact all barriers to entry that have existed at the gates of any genre - this vocabulary of multiplicity will be intersectional, and therefore all-inclusive. He has received a Bachelors in Music Composition from The University of the Incarnate Word, and was a 2018 New Amsterdam Composer Lab Fellow, 2018 SoSI Composer Fellow, and 2019 Bang On A Can Composition Fellow. He is currently touring with Moses Sumney, Balùn, and Arooj Aftab.
Katherine Bergman (b. 1985) is a Minnesota-based composer who draws on environmentalism, literature, and found materials to create music that has been described as hypnotic and visceral. She has received commissions and performances from leading ensembles throughout the United States and abroad, including the U.S. Coast Guard Band, Estonian Police and Border Guard Orchestra, Hub New Music, Zeitgeist, Seen/Heard Trio, The Dream Songs Project, and many others. Her works have been presented at ISCM World Music Days, The Midwest Clinic, North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference, College Band Directors National Association Conference, and The Upper Midwest Chamber Winds Symposium, and her compositions have received support from the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Jerome Foundation, the Metro Regional Arts Council, and New Music USA.
Katherine holds a master’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa School of Music, where she studied composition with Jonathan Schwabe and Alan Schmitz. She earned a bachelor’s degree in music from Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota with composition instructors including Michele Gillman and Steve Wright. She has studied extensively with Mary Ellen Childs, and has received individual instruction from Samuel Adler.
Katherine’s work is published under Katherine Bergman Music, and her works for large ensemble are distributed by Murphy Music Press. Recent and upcoming projects include new works for 10th Wave Chamber Collective, Duo Leon, Nautilus Music-Theater, Isle Royale National Park, and a concerto for trombone and symphony orchestra commissioned by the Oneota Valley Community Orchestra.
Katherine is Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Spitting Image, a composer collective that brings together composers, listeners, and performers to strengthen the Twin Cities contemporary music community.
Manami Kakudo grew up surrounded by the mountains and rivers of Nagasaki Prefecture. While working as a trained percussionist with a background in contemporary music, her unconfined, free-spirited music and performances emerged around 2016, featuring marimba and other percussion instruments, vocals, spoken words, music boxes, cassette tape players, and household goods. She has released three albums to date. In addition to her solo work, she participates in numerous live shows and recordings for bands such as cero, dip in the pool, and TAIKUH JIKANG, and produces for films, theater, dance, and installation art.
ABOUT the MINNESOTA MARINE ART MUSEUM
The Minnesota Marine Art Museum is a nonprofit art museum that engages visitors in meaningful visual art experiences through education and exhibitions that explore the ongoing and historic human relationship with water. Located in Winona, Minnesota, the purpose-built museum is located on the banks of the Mississippi River and boasts six galleries, an educational and events space, and a destination retail shop on its seven acre riverside campus. It is through this surprising diversity that MMAM is not only describing what marine art is, but pushing the boundaries of what marine art can be.