Place (New Amsterdam Records)

NOMINATED FOR TWO 2021 GRAMMY® AWARDS


Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance

TED HEARNE, STEVEN BRADSHAW, SOPHIA BYRD,
JOSEPHINE LEE, ISAIAH ROBINSON, SOL RUIZ, and PLACE ORCHESTRA

Best Contemporary Classical Composition

TED HEARNE, COMPOSER


Colonizing Space (from ‘Place’)
film by A.M. Frison
music by Ted Hearne, text by Saul Williams
featuring Isaiah Robinson, vocals

Place: Quarantine Edition directed and edited by Ted Hearne
featuring live performances by Ayanna Woods, Sol Ruiz, Isaiah Robinson, Josephine Lee, Sophia Byrd, Steven Bradshaw
premiered July 9, 2020 on WNYC.
post-show discussion moderated by John Schaefer, featuring Saul Williams, Ted Hearne, Patricia McGregor and Nathalie Joachim

ABOUT PLACE

"Gentrification is a generational conversation that has gone by many names. We should not discuss what brings you back to the city without acknowledging why you left.”  - Saul Williams from Place

Created with poet/librettist Saul Williams and director Patricia McGregorPlace is a 75-minute work considering the topic of gentrification and displacement. The piece took shape as I saw my own neighborhood of Fort Greene, Brooklyn rapidly transforming under the last term of Mike Bloomberg's mayorship, leading me to grapple with my own role in that process. 

I wrote as best I could toward these feelings (Part 1), and handed that text to Saul Williams, who then responded and clapped back with his own libretto (Part 2-3). Saul challenged the spiraling narcissism inherent in the oh-so-well-meaning white male protagonist exploring his own complicity, by kicking the subject outward to its historical and theoretical origins. 

Place is a patchwork, meant to be heard as a jarring, Sanford Biggers-esque quilt, where the edges make it clear the materials have their own infungible properties, not a neoliberal melting pot where all perspectives can combine to make a pleasant if bland smoothie.


Place is exquisite, a work of genius whose premiere recording seems to arrive both at the right
cultural moment and entirely too late.
— Opera News

‘Place’ takes shape in songs that emerge like a graffiti mural as repetitive gestures gradually bloom into vibrant, brash statements in high-volume color... It always felt as if Mr. Hearne was questioning his own comfort and — in the final moment — his power.
— The New York Times
Saul Williams, Patricia McGregor, and Ted Hearne photo by Devin Yalkin for The New York Times

Saul Williams, Patricia McGregor, and Ted Hearne
photo by Devin Yalkin for The New York Times

CREATIVE TEAM

TED HEARNE composer
SAUL WILLIAMS librettist
PATRICIA McGREGOR director

NICK TIPP album production, mixing and engineering
SANFORD BIGGERS cover art
ANDREW GARVER mastering
NIA EASLEY additional album art
LAURA GREY design

TIM BROWN and SANFORD BIGGERS video and scenic design
E.B. BROOKS and RACHEL MYERS costume design
PABLO SANTIAGO lighting design

VOCALISTS

Steven Bradshaw

Steven Bradshaw

Josephine Lee

Josephine Lee

Isaiah Robinson

Isaiah Robinson

Sophia Byrd

Sophia Byrd

Sol Ruiz

Sol Ruiz

Ayanna Woods

Ayanna Woods

PLACE ORCHESTRA

Taylor Levine electric guitar

Taylor Levine
electric guitar

RC Williams keyboard/fender rhodes/hammond B3

RC Williams
keyboard/fender rhodes/hammond B3

Diana Wade viola

Diana Wade
viola

Eileen Mack clarinet/bass clarinet

Eileen Mack
clarinet/bass clarinet

Rachel Drehmann french horn

Rachel Drehmann
french horn

Weston Olencki trombone

Weston Olencki
trombone

Clara Warnaar percussion

Clara Warnaar
percussion

Braylon Lacy electric bass guitar

Braylon Lacy
electric bass guitar

Ron Wiltrout drums

Ron Wiltrout
drums

Ashley Bathgate cello

Ashley Bathgate
cello

Christa Van Alstine bass clarinet/contrabass clarinet

Christa Van Alstine
bass clarinet/contrabass clarinet

Jonah Levy trumpet

Jonah Levy
trumpet

Matt Barbier trombone

Matt Barbier
trombone

Philip White electronics/mixer feedback

Philip White
electronics/mixer feedback


Guggenheim: Works and Process
a discussion with Ted Hearne, Saul Williams, Patricia McGregor, and Beth Morrison on the making of Place.

Ayanna Woods and Ted Hearne BAM: Next Wave Festival 2018

Ayanna Woods and Ted Hearne
BAM: Next Wave Festival 2018

Isaiah Robinson, Steven Bradshaw, Ted Hearne and Saul Williams in the live video version of Place

Isaiah Robinson, Steven Bradshaw, Ted Hearne and Saul Williams in the live video version of Place

Steven Bradshaw and Ted Hearne  BAM: Next Wave Festival 2018

Steven Bradshaw and Ted Hearne
BAM: Next Wave Festival 2018

Sol Ruiz and Isaiah Robinson performing in the live video version of Place

Sol Ruiz and Isaiah Robinson performing in the live video version of Place

Set designer Sanford Biggers spray paints a quilt for the premiere at the BAM Harvey Theater

Set designer Sanford Biggers spray paints a quilt for the premiere at the BAM Harvey Theater