Bowebird and Crane Arts are pleased to present “Rushes”, an evening length work for seven bassoons by composer Michael Gordon. Performed by the Rushes Ensemble – with bassoonists Dana Jessen, Michael Harley, Jeffrey Lyman, Rachael Elliott, Saxton Rose, Lynn Hileman and Maya Stone – this unique septet of bassoonists is dedicated to expanding and diversifying the future of bassoon repertoire through commissioning projects and collaborations. The ensemble takes its name from Michael Gordon’s Rushes, a sixty-minute work for seven bassoons commissioned through the New Music Bassoon Fund. The Rushes Ensemble released the premiere recording of Gordon’s “Rushes” on Cantaloupe Records in March 2014. Recent engagements include performances at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center in New York, the November Music Festival in Hertogenbosch, University of Michigan’s Stamps Auditorium, Amsterdam’s Ostadetheater, the Hague’s Korzo Theater and a Belgium National Radio Broadcast performance at the Concertgebouw Brugge.

ABOUT THE COMPOSER

Michael Gordon’s music merges subtle rhythmic invention with incredible power embodying, in the words of The New Yorker’s Alex Ross, “the fury of punk rock, the nervous brilliance of free jazz and the intransigence of classical modernism.” Over the past 25 years, Gordon has produced a strikingly diverse body of work, ranging from large-scale pieces for high-energy ensembles to major orchestral commissions to works conceived specifically for the recording studio. Transcending categorization, this music represents the collision of mysterious introspection and brutal directness.