Present Music

99 drummers. Most orchestras or ensembles might need that many different people in a given year. Present Music needs them for a single afternoon, at Lynden Sculpture Garden this Saturday at 4 p.m.

It’s quite the way to start a season, their 32nd here in Milwaukee under the leadership of artistic director Kevin Stalheim. And this show, Inuksuit, is just the tip of the iceberg. In the season to come, Present Music will craft its first vocal ensemble, mount a new version of its now-annual chamber music series, embark on the streets of Milwaukee in search of neighborhood-crafted compositions and complete a grand total of seven major performances, one more than they’ve ever tackled in a season

That extra performance comes as a result of Inuksuit itself, in a way. Stalheim says this weekend’s concert was meant to be part of a larger percussion festival, but logistical constraints made that impossible (PM’s next concert, featuring Third Coast Percussion, would be added to make up the difference.).

Those constraints become immediately understandable as Stalheim explains Inuksuit. The piece, by Alaskan composer John Luther Adams, requires 99 percussionists, all in an outdoor setting. As they perform, they begin to move, expanding outward into the landscape surrounding them. And then – this is perhaps the coolest part – the audience can do whatever it wants, be that staying where they are to experience the aural ambiance, or exploring, weaving through the mix of tom-toms, cymbals and more unusual instruments around them.

“Every single second in every single space will sound different,” Stalheim said. “I think this is very indicative of [Adams’] mentality; it’s an environmental piece in many ways. It matters where you play it, and it’s inspired by nature and the outdoors.”

The word “inuksuit” itself has an Arctic origin, referring to a type of stone landmark used by Inuit and other native peoples in that region, but Present Music has intuitively tied the piece to the sculptures that cover the Lynden grounds. “We plan on starting near these cow sculptures on the far side of the pond, and then going out from there. … Then all these guys will be out there, and in a sense they’ll be their own little sculptures, but then there’ll be all these other sculptures from Lynden,” Stalheim said.

It’s all figured out now, of course, but back when Stalheim was planning out his season Inuksuit was the sort of performance he couldn’t see working – until he could. “[Inuksuit’s] just ridiculously unwieldy and impractical. 99 percussionists, you know, and you think, well how can you ever do that? And then I started thinking about how can you do that?”

He started talking to people who’d done Inuksuit before, including colleagues in Chicago who had performed it last summer, and then started getting local universities and musicians interested. It was those Chicagoans, he says, who best galvanized the project, helping him find artists from states as far-off as New York to come into town for the show – a response he never anticipated but appreciates now that the moment itself has come. “I look at it like the Harley thing that just happened. This is like a pilgrimage. You know, why would people drive across the country to play this piece? This takes time and expense. But the reason is: to play together with 99 percussionists in this unusual setting is pretty unusual, and so they’re willing to do it.”

And the complexity doesn’t stop there for Present Music. Read on for a deconstruction of their whole season, from sculptures to shelters and everything in between. For more information on the season or to order tickets for Inuksuit ($20, $15 for Lynden members, $10 for students), visit Present Music’s website.

Inuksuit
Date: September 7 at 4 p.m., Lynden Sculpture Garden (Rain date September 8 at 3 p.m.)
Premise: Present Music will gather 99 percussionists to perform John Luther Adams’ outdoor work Inuksuit, at the Lynden Sculpture Garden.
Kevin’s Thoughts: There’s a lot of interesting places in Milwaukee, but Lynden Sculpture Garden’s just one of the coolest things in Milwaukee and a lot of people don’t know about it. It always excites me to bring people to new experiences, so it’s not just the piece itself but it’s actually the place itself that is a huge part of this. So it became a reality.

Third Coast
Date: October 12 at 7:30 p.m., Marcus Center’s Vogel Hall
Premise: Present Music is joined by premier Chicago contemporary music ensemble Third Coast Percussion for an evening of unique pieces, including a work commissioned in memory of murdered journalist Daniel Pearl.
Selected Works: Daniel Variations, by Steve Reich; Resounding Earth, by Augusta Read Thomas; Trade Winds, by Timothy Andres
Kevin’s Thoughts: These guys happen to be from Chicago. Third Coast, ironically. They’re just incredible and so they’re coming up and we’re doing pieces with them. … They are just fully committed to doing just about anything that’s possible for percussion. They don’t let practical considerations get in their way.

Thanksgiving
Date: November 24 at 5 p.m., Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, 812 N. Jackson St.
Premise: Once again, Present Music comes together to celebrate Thanksgiving with a variety of vocal works (including pieces by visiting composer Caroline Shaw, the youngest-ever Pulitzer-winner at age 30) and the return of the Bucks Native American Singing and Drumming Group.
Selected Works: “Spem in alium,” by Thomas Tallis and “I Never,” by David Lang (both for 40 voices); “Sarabande” and “Fly Away,” by Caroline Shaw, “The Way Old Friends Do,” by ABBA’s Bjorn Kristian Ulvaeus
Kevin’s Thoughts: This concert is actually unique because, I’m excited to say, we’re putting together a vocal ensemble. We’re starting from scratch. It reminds me of when I started Present Music a long time ago, because I’m calling up people, seeing if they would fit, what their availability is. Basically, the core of it is eight people, but what I was excited about originally was some larger pieces for 12, 16, 20 singers. So I don’t know where it’s going to go.

Women in the Chamber
Dates: January 9-11 at 7:30 p.m., locations TBD
Premise: The second installment of what will now be an annual chamber music series, Women in the Chamber will be concerts of entirely woman-composed works, performed in small, unorthodox locations.
Selected Works: All works still TBD
Kevin’s Thoughts: I want to do things that are unique for Milwaukee, but also for us. It’s not unique to do a chamber music concert of a small nature in a small place, but it is unique for Present Music to embrace that. … Even though it can sometimes be impractical financially, because you can only have a certain amount of an audience, I think it’s worth it. There’s certain things that we do that I think are worth spending the money for to make happen because the experience is so strong.

Temptation’s Snare
Dates: March 6-9 at 7:30 p.m excepting 2:30 p.m. Sunday matinee, Next Act Theater
Premise: Inspired by a production done by guest composer collective Sleeping Giant, Temptation’s Snare will feature Stravinsky’s Soldier’s Tale, a collection of companion pieces by Sleeping Giant, and new choreography by Dani Kuepper of Danceworks.
Selected Works: The Soldier’s Tale, by Igor Stravinsky; “Histories,” by Sleeping Giant collective
Kevin’s Thoughts: “We’ve done [The Soldier’s Tale] three times in our history, and so it’s always been really close to my heart. When we first started, that was on the first concert I ever did. … I just gave Dani the music to see what she thought, and she really got into it and very quickly got excited about certain theatrical ideas. I don’t even know exactly where it’s gonna all land right now.

Life, Love, and Death
Date: April 11, 7:30 p.m., Turner Hall Ballroom
Premise: The concert will feature works of music, art, film and dance centered around the three ideas of life, love and death. Among the evening’s cornerstones are an appearance by acclaimed Irish singer Iarla O Lionaird, to perform a contemporary piece built on the classic Irish Sean-nos style and an afterparty featuring Vitrolum Republic.
Selected Works: “Gra agus Bas” (Love and death), by Donnacha Dennehy, “Life,” by Louis Andreissen with a film by Marijke van Warmerdam
Kevin’s Thoughts: Sean-nos singing is an old Irish tradition. What [Dennehy] does, as a composer, is he takes the most modern compositional ideas and he uses those and combines them and fuses them into this piece that uses that Sean-nos tradition. … I think it’s very typical of living composers to take other traditions and other kinds of music nowadays and to use that as their inspiration, rather than thinking they have to come up with something that’s totally original, supposedly. They take things that they love, and then they have fun.

Home Place
Date: June 21, location TBD
Premise: Present Music will pair with Milwaukee Opera Theatre and other community partners to produce a concert centered around the ideas of home, shelter and place.
Selected Works: “Shelter,” by David Lang, Julia Wolfe and Michael Gordon; “Passacaglia” by Caroline Shaw, in-process work assembled from community member-composed works of music
Kevin’s Thoughts: “We’re going into all kinds of neighborhoods in Milwaukee and getting people to actually compose original music. … Originally, I just took this piece, “Shelter,” that I really liked and wanted to do. That is not a Milwaukee piece, per se, but I definitely want it to have a huge emphasis on Milwaukee, so that’s why we’re going to neighborhoods, meeting people in neighborhoods, interviewing them.”