Crossing Open Ground collective: an introduction
Music by John Luther Adams, Christopher Rountree, Nathalie Joachim, CJ Camerieri, Trever Hagen, and Vicky Chow
Produced by Liquid Music
Presented by Center for the Arts at Kayenta
Sat, Nov 2, 2024, 7:30 pm
Center for the Arts at Kayenta
On October 25, 2025, conductor Christopher Rountree known for his “elegant clarity” (New York Times), prestigious French choreographer Dimitri Chamblas, and powerhouse section leaders Sidney Hopson (percussion), Nathalie Joachim (winds), C.J. Camerieri and Trever Hagen (brass) will guide an acoustic ensemble of 36 local musicians in an ultimate rendering of Pulitzer Prize-winning environmentalist composer John Luther Adams’s Crossing Open Ground in the majestic setting of Southern Utah (site to be announced).
Ahead of this singular experience, producer Liquid Music introduces the artistic team to the Kayenta community with works by the Crossing Open Ground musicians, special guest Vicky Chow, and John Luther Adams—hosted by Rountree. Liquid Music artistic director Kate Nordstrum will share insights on the development of Crossing Open Ground for the uniquely inspiring environment of southwestern Utah.
About the artists
John Luther Adams
For John Luther Adams, music is a lifelong search for home—an invitation to slow down, pay attention, and remember our place within the larger community of life on earth.
Living for almost 40 years in northern Alaska, JLA discovered a unique musical world grounded in space, stillness, and elemental forces. In the 1970’s and into the '80s, he worked full time as environmental activist. But the time came when he felt compelled to dedicate himself entirely to music. He made this choice with the belief that, ultimately, music can do more than politics to change the world. Since that time, he has become one of the most widely admired composers in the world, receiving the Pulitzer Prize, a Grammy Award, and many other honors.
In works such as Become Ocean, In the White Silence, and Canticles of the Holy Wind, Adams brings the sense of wonder that we feel outdoors into the concert hall. And in outdoor works such as Inuksuit and Sila: The Breath of the World, he employs music as a way to reclaim our connections with place, wherever we may be.
A deep concern for the state of the earth and the future of humanity drives Adams to continue composing.
As he puts it: “If we can imagine a culture and a society in which we each feel more deeply responsible for our own place in the world, then we just may be able to bring that culture and that society into being. This will largely be the work of people who will be here on this earth when I am gone. I place my faith in them.”
Since leaving Alaska, JLA and his wife Cynthia have made their home in the deserts of Mexico, Chile, and the southwestern United States.
Christopher Rountree
Christopher Rountree is a three time Grammy Nominated conductor, composer, curator, band leader, and educator. He is the Founder and Artistic Director of the orchestral collective Wild Up, Music Director of Long Beach Opera, co-founder of the Los Angeles Conducting Co-op, and curator of the LA Phil’s Fluxus Festival.
Rountree has become regarded as one of the most iconoclastic conductors and programmers in classical music, his inimitable style leading to collaborations with: Björk, John Adams, Yoko Ono, David Lang, Scott Walker, La Monte Young, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Alison Knowles, Ragnar Kjartansson, Dev Hynes, Sigourney Weaver, Tyshawn Sorey, Sarah Davachi, Julia Holter, Ryoji Ikeda, John Luther Adams, Allora and Calzadilla, Raven Chacon, and many of the planet’s greatest orchestras and ensembles including the National, San Francisco, Houston, Cincinnati, and Chicago Symphonies, the LA Philharmonic, Roomful of Teeth, Ochestre de Paris, the Washington National, Los Angeles, Omaha, San Diego, Detroit, and Atlanta Operas, and the Martha Graham Dance Company who tours the world with his revival of Graham’s solo Immediate Tragedy.
He has presented compositions and concerts at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Palais Garnier, Mile High Stadium, The Metropolitan Museum, Kennedy Center, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Hammer, The Getty, LACMA, The National Gallery, in a grove of old California oak trees, on a basketball court, in a museum bathroom, and at Lincoln Center on the New York Philharmonic’s Biennale.
Nathalie Joachim
Nathalie Joachim is a Grammy-nominated performer and composer. The Haitian-American artist is hailed for being “a fresh and invigorating cross-cultural voice” (The Nation). Her creative practice centers an authentic commitment to storytelling and human connectivity while advocating for social change and cultural awareness, gaining her the reputation of being “powerful and unpretentious.” (New York Times)
Ms. Joachim is Assistant Professor of Composition at Princeton University and is regularly commissioned to write for orchestra, instrumental and vocal ensembles, dance, and interdisciplinary theater. This season’s highlights include new works for Carnegie Hall, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Grant Park Music Festival, and Spoleto Festival USA. Her landmark project, Fanm d’Ayiti, an evening-length work for flute, voice, string quartet, and electronics, celebrates and explores her personal Haitian heritage and received a GRAMMY nomination for Best World Music Album. Joachim’s highly anticipated sophomore album, Ki moun ou ye—an intimate examination of ancestral connection and self—was co-released by Nonesuch Records and New Amsterdam Records in early 2024.
Joachim is a United States Artist Fellow and co-founder of the critically acclaimed duo Flutronix. She is an alumnus of The Juilliard School and The New School.
C.J. Camerieri
Since graduating from The Juilliard School in 2004 with a degree in Classical Trumpet Performance, CJ Camerieri has become an esteemed soloist, chamber musician, and indispensable collaborator for some of the most important artists of our time.
Camerieri is a two-time Grammy award winner (Best New Artist, 2011 and Best Alternative Album, 2011) and a co-founder of the acclaimed contemporary classical sextet yMusic (who the New Yorker has called “six contemporary classical polymaths who playfully overstep the boundaries of musical genres”). Camerieri has toured the world as a core member of Paul Simon’s band since 2013 and with artists such as Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens, Ben Folds, and Sting, among many others. He has contributed to over 200 recordings and has commissioned over 100 new works of chamber music featuring the trumpet, including pieces by Andrew Norman, Gabriella Smith, Nico Muhly, Marcos Balter, Ryan Lott, and Missy Mazzoli.
In 2021 Camerieri debuted his solo project CARM, which was highlighted by performances on The Colbert Show and Tiny Desk Concert. For Paul Simon’s “Farewell Tour” in 2018, Camerieri brought yMusic into Simon’s touring band. This resulted in contemporary classical arrangements of the artist’s iconic songs being performed in arenas around the world, as well as in featured performances on Saturday Night Live and The Colbert Show. His trio project, Heavy MakeUp, featuring himself, Edie Brickell, and Trever Hagen just released their second full length record on Sony Records.
Camerieri is also an accomplished French Horn player, keyboardist, arranger, composer, and improviser—comfortable in all styles and genres of music. In addition, Camerieri has held numerous chairs on Broadway; played principal trumpet with orchestras such as Orpheus, The Knights, and Orchestra of St. Lukes; and has written arrangements for many types of ensembles on countless recordings and performances.
Trever Hagen
Trever Hagen has collaborated with a range of musicians and ensembles from Bon Iver to Mouse on Mars. As well, Hagen holds a Grammy nomination, a PhD, and is an Oxford Press author. He has given talks and masterclasses on sound, music, noise, and trumpet at universities and conferences in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.
Vicky Chow
Hong Kong/Canadian/American pianist Vicky Chow has been described as “brilliant” (New York Times) and “one of our era’s most brilliant pianists” (Pitchfork). Since joining the Bang on a Can All-Stars in 2009, she has collaborated and worked with composers, artists, ensembles, and orchestras such as Tania León, Meredith Monk, Julia Wolfe, David Lang, Michael Gordon, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Terry Riley, John Zorn, George Lewis, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Sasha Waltz Dance Company, BBC Orchestra, LA Philharmonic, International Contemporary Ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, The Knights, Yarn/Wire, to name a few. She has toured to over 40 countries and has performed in various venues in New York including Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Barbican Centre and Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms in London, L'auditori in Barcelona, Tivoli Vrendenburg in Utrecht Netherlands, ZKM in Karlsruhe Germany, City Recital Hall in Sydney Australia, Konzertzāle Latvija in Ventspils, POLIN Museum in Warsaw, Poland, in the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires Argentina and others.
She has released over 25 solo and chamber music albums on various labels. Her recording of Canadian composer Vincent Ho’s ‘Super Villain Etudes’ was nominated for a Juno Award in 2023. The New Yorker wrote [about her recording of Michael Gordon’s Sonatra], “Sonatra is a milestone of composition, and Vicky Chow’s recording of it is a milestone of pianism." Her album Tristan Perich: Surface Image released in 2013 on New Amsterdam Records was among the top 10 Avant Music albums in Rolling Stone. In October 2022, she released Philip Glass: Piano Etudes Book 1 in celebration of Mr. Glass's 85th birthday which Mr. Glass says, "It's a highly dynamic and expressive performance. There's a certain energy that is uniquely hers.” Her other recordings can be found on Nonesuch, Cantaloupe, New Amsterdam, Tzadik, Innova, and others.
Originally from Vancouver, Canada, she is based in Brooklyn, NY. She serves as faculty at the Bang on a Can Summer Institute, Nief-Norf Summer Festival, and has been on faculty at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. She is on the Board of Advisors for Composers Now, and is also a mentor at The Juilliard School. A graduate of The Juilliard School (B.M. '05, M.M. '07 Piano Performance) and The Manhattan School of Music (M.M. Contemporary Performance '09) Ms. Chow is a Yamaha Artist.