Ensemble in Progress: Surrealist Dreamscapes

media release: Don't miss the Ensemble in Process: Surrealist Dreamscapes + Album Release Concerts featuring Cole Bartels and Brian Mark at Arts + Literature Laboratory on Sunday, May 8, 2022 at 1:00 and 4:00pm. Tickets $12 ($8 students/members) in advance online until 2 hours before the show, and $15 at the door (doors open 30 min. before each performance).

Hailed for having a fluid approach to presenting new music in fresh contexts and juxtapositions, (The New Yorker), composer and pianist Brian Marks imaginative Ensemble in Process concert series presents contemporary music at the intersection of film, electronics, visual art, spoken word, and dance. Surrealist Dreamscapes explores the ethereal, atmospheric, and expansive aspects of acoustic music, blended seamlessly with dreamy electronic soundscapes and stunning video installations.

Trombonist Cole Bartels, joined by the members of the Beltline Bones, will premiere two new works by Brian Mark at this event. One of those works, funded in part by a grant from the UW Division of the Arts, titled You may say Im a Dreamer for solo trombone, digital delay processing, and fixed media, will utilize snippets of recorded interviews and musical quotations from iconic Beatles songs as source material, focusing on the late John Lennon's political engagements, peace activism, and fight for civil rights.

This concert will also feature works written by Eve Beglarian, Missy Mazzoli, Pauline Oliveros, David Lang, Michael Gordon, Erik Satie, and Yann Tiersen. Additionally, this concert is presented as a celebration of the public release (in late April 2022) of Cole Bartels debut solo album On the Brink.