From 1971 to 1978, Kotik worked with texts by Gertrude Stein, a period that culminated in his largest work to date, Many Many Women (1975-78). It uses the entire text of Stein’s 86-page novella of the same title. There is no general score, and the 173 sections are distributed among the musicians who shape the piece, deciding indivudually on each section’s entry.
Many Many Women is one of Petr Kotik’s best-known pieces, due in part to a 1980 recording of a 3.5-hour excerpt (5 LPs) of the piece released on Labor Records. After its premiere at The Whitney Museum of American Art in 1979, Richard Kostelanetz called the piece a “continually austere and yet engaging,” a classic of underground music in the 1970s.
S.E.M. Ensemble will perform a 2.5-hour excerpt of the piece.
Audience members are free to come and go at will, and stay for as long as they like between 6pm and 8:30pm.
S.E.M. Ensemble
Lisa Bielawa, Michele Eaton, Sopranos
Patrick Fennig, Countertenor
Daniel Neer, Tenor
Elliot Z. Levine, Baritone
Steven Hrycelak, Bass
Petr Kotik, Martha Cargo, Flute
Kyle Resnick, Thomas Verchot, Trumpet
William Lang, James Rogers, Trombone
Petr Kotik: Many Many Women (1975-78)
Text by Gertrude Stein
Date + Time
Friday, November 2
6–8:30pm
Admission
Free
Donations welcome
Location
The Main Gallery
51 Bergen St.