Daily Archives: May 16, 2009

Nadia Sirota (right) and Clarice Jensen performing Nico Muhly's "Duet No. 1, Chorale Pointing Downwards" at Galapagos Art Space.

I regret missing the first of the four installments of Undiscovered Islands, the festival of new music presented on Friday nights in May at Galapagos Art Space in Dumbo, Brooklyn, by New Amsterdam Records. By all acconts, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society — an 18-piece ensemble that Argue has dubbed a “steampunk big band” —  put on a killer show. (I still haven’t figured out how to be in two places at once, and MONO and the Wordless Music Orchestra were already on my calendar for that night!)

Nico Muhly and Nadia Sirota.

I’m glad I didn’t miss the second installment last night. It was a CD-release party for violist Nadia Sirota‘s first solo CD, First Things First. The program, credited as Nadia Sirota and friends, included many of the pieces on the new album. But her friends, including Caleb Burhans and Grey McMurry of itsnotyouitsme, cellist Clarice Jensen, and the Chiara String Quartet, did their own works as well. Continue reading →