June 13, 1980 - NMA Minneapolis: Julius Eastman - "Gay Guerilla", "Evil Nigger"
On June 13, 1980, New Music America in Minneapolis presented Julius Eastman performing two works: Gay Guerilla with Gwen Goldsmith, Peter Gena and Carol Van Nostrand and Evil Nigger for solo piano.
Archive.org recording (Evil Nigger only)
https://archive.org/details/NMA_1980_06_XX_02/NMA_1980_06_XX_02_A_ed.wav
Intro and extro by Nigel Redden, NMA Minnesota Director
Transcript:
39:59
Nigel Redden: “While this celebration is quite apolitical, Morrow’s nature inspired compositions often have politically charged overtones concerned with ecology. Julius Eastman is often inspired by political subjects of a different kind. The title of his two compositions that were performed during the festival, Gay Guerilla and Evil Nigger clearly indicate his political concerns.
Eastman, a composer who falls loosely in the minimalist school, yet whose music is clearly rooted in the Western European tradition, often scores his works for unusual groups of instruments. A piece may be written for 13 cellos or as in the case of Evil Nigger, for four pianos, as we are about to hear.
♪40:42 Julius Eastman, Gwen Goldsmith, Peter Gena and Carol Van Nostrand Evil Nigger (20:06)
1:00:53 applause
1:01:08
Nigel Redden: That was Evil Nigger by Julius Eastman, performed on the seventh day of New Music America by the composer and pianists Gwen Goldsmith, Peter Gena and Carol Van Nostrand. This is New Music America 1980. We will be back with the second half of our program after a brief pause for station identification.
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Cover from the Walker Art Center web page with a special tribute to Julius Eastman - the link below has a full tribute including an hour video from the original performance:
From the Walker Art Center online archives:
As agreed upon the two works to be performed are Gay Guerrilla & Evil Nigger, the lengths of the pieces are 28:30 and 19:35 respectively, a total 48:05. The instruments to be used are 4 violins, 4 violas, 3 celli, 1 Bass.
Good would be 5 three hour rehearsals. I will arrive the day before the first rehearsal, and I am to receive the agreed [payment] in cash on the day of arrival. Let me know by phone if these things are possible.
Yours, Julius Eastman
https://walkerart.org/collections/publications/jazz/julius-eastman-at-the-walker
Scroll to near the bottom of the page and you’ll get a video of the actual performance, and even more essays about Eastman during this time.
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Some further reading include this 2017 profile by Alex Ross in the New Yorker
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/23/julius-eastmans-guerrilla-minimalism
And a pretty authoritative looking blog post with stills of the original scores here by Matthew Morrison at NYU:
https://blog.oup.com/2015/05/julius-eastman-gay-guerilla/
On Renée Levine Packer and Mary Jane Leach’s Gay Guerilla, with links to more reviews and details about the book
https://reneelevinepacker.com/new-publication-gay-guerrilla/
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About that word… Mary Jane Leach’s discussion of it and the work, after what she euphemistically calls an unfortunate event of “trickster hijinx”.
https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/julius-eastman-incendiary-titles-13168/
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Eastman’s studio version of Gay Guerilla with Julius Eastman, Frank Ferko, Patricia Martin and Jannet Kattas - Y2b post by “Orchard Enterprises”
Studio version of Evil Nigger with Julius Eastman y2b post by “Believe SAS”
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Other versions of Gay Guerilla:
2010
Jeroen Van Veen, part of a box set titled
Minimal Piano Collection Volume X-XX
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February 10, 2012
Sarah Cahill, Regina Schaffer, Chris Brown, Luciano Chessa,
Joseph M. Colombo, Dominique Leone
A Tribute to Julius Eastman, Berkeley Art Museum
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March 16, 2013
Marta Casulleras, Andriy Dragan, Benoît Hennecart, Lukas Rickli,
Kunsthalle Basel, Germany (y2b user: “VernissageTV”) (excerpt)
May 3, 2013
Time’s Arrow orchestral ensemble version, Boston University
(y2b user: “Rodney Lister”)
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November 24, 2017
Ensemble Tra Tempi version for trio
Nicole Ferrein, Ramon Gardella, Michael Veltman, Köln
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November 29 - December 1, 2017
Philip Bartels, Duri Collenberg, Simone Keller, Lukas Ricki
(recorded and posted by Kukuruz Quartet)
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February 15, 2018
Kukuruz Quartet performs, posted at their y2b account
Philip Bartels, Duri Collenberg, Simone Keller, Lukas Ricki
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
July 24, 2018
performed and uploaded by Madboots Dance
Excerpt from performance at the Joyce Theatre, NYC (no details on dancers)
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December 2018
(y2b uploaded by Company Christph Winkler):
“Speak Boldly - The Julius Eastman Dance Project” with the Zafraan Ensemble
Other videos and artist description of the project:
http://christoph-winkler.com/produktionen/eastman/
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May 11, 2019
San Francisco Contemporary Music Players live y2b at SF Jazz 2019
Kate Campbell and Allegra Chapman with full remote presentation by Eric Dudley, SFCMP Artistic Director
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February 28, 2020
Billy Childs, Scott Dunn · Daniel Schlosberg · Louise Thomas
“live” recording (no further details, y2b acct of “CD Baby”)
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May 29, 2020 (maybe)
Kai Schumacher with Patricia Martin, Mirela Zhulali and Benedikt Ter Braak
visual indicates “live at Moers-Festival 2020” but no mention of this performance on the festival’s archive site; posted by label “Neue Meister” but no details of the recording at the label’s website
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April 2021
Boston Conservatory Remote Percussion Ensemble
Uploaded to y2b June 2021 by “SamZSolomon”
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June 10, 2022
76th Ojai Music Festival: Members of the American Modern Opera Company plus Seth Parker Woods on cello; Emi Ferguson, Miranda Cuckson, Doug Balliett, Conor Hanick, Davóne Tines and Zach Winokur
(posted by the Ojai Music Festival)
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July 20, 2022
Sō Percussion Summer Institute, Princeton Univesity
Alex Braud, Ben Hausman, Cherri Chen, Daniel Brodie, Daniel Davis, Ethan Isaac, Hannah Moore, Kevin Yetter, Liz Fetzer, Zachary Wilson
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April 2, 2023
Posted and performed by “Sō Percussion”
Jason Treuting, Adam Sliwinski, Eric Cha-Beach and John Quillen with Amy Garapic, Luca Morante, Elijah Shina and Adam Tendler
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April 9, 2023
Vivianne Cheng and Maarten van Veen (excerpt)
posted by y2b user “Podium Klassiek”
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April 30, 2023
y2b user “Neil van der Linden”
Installation by Boris Acket; choreography Christian Guerematchi; sound design Danny van der Lugt, pianos (prerecorded) Helena Basilova and Vivianne Cheng
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Other versions of Evil Nigger
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March 12, 2014
“Piano Bizarro” series, Michelle’s Pianos, Portland, Oregon
Jennifer Wright, Paul Safar, Ted Clifford, Art Resnick
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June 23, 2017
Andrea Lodge, Georgia Mills, Brianna Matzke, Daniel Schreiner, Jon Clancy, Neil Krzeski; posted by Brianna Matzke
y2b video has a link that says “please listen to Eastman’s remarks pertaining to this piece” which leads to:
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June 15, 2018
Philip Bartels, Duri Collenberg, Simone Keller, Lukas Rickli
(release date) y2b acct and performance by the Kukuruz Quartet
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October 2019
Version for four harpsichords
Christopher Bagan, Stephanie Chua, Daniel Morphy and Wesley Shen
(date apx) for Early Rubens exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario
posted by y2b user “Workout Solutions Health Fitness”
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July 30, 2020
Matt Long and Tilmann Albrecht
(y2b posted by the Ballery, Berlin Art Gallery)
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October 3, 2020
Autonomous Piano Ensemble
World Music Day - Zurich Jazzclub Moods-Schauspielhaus Zurich
Lhakpa Dolmatsang, Vera Kappeler, Simone Keller, Amine Diaré Conde, Filmon Mengs and Philip Bartels (y2b post by Simone Keller)
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May 28 or 29, 2021
Ensemble Tra I Tempi
Festival “Julius Eastman - Right Thought, Right Music”
posted by y2b user “das hohe C”, Ballsaal, Bonn
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August 13, 2022
Brendan Kinsella, presentation and performance - University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley (posted by “Costa Rica Desde El Piano”)
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January 27, 2022 (date of upload)
Sketchy version with visual of score, taking Eastman’s recording and when y2b fan “The Piano Experience” (with a Patreon account) gets to the line of “license” it is left blank. Still, it’s the only version with a score to flip through.
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April 19, 2023 (upload)
Wild Up (Devonté Hayes and Adam Tendler) studio version
(y2b user New Amsterdam Records)
From 2016, a Greek version arranged for two pianos by “Piano for Two”, aka Beata Pincetic and Christos Sakellaridis