Critic’s Choice
The relative lull of a holiday week turns the spotlight to worthy musical activities that might otherwise have been overlooked. There is, for example, still time to catch an event in the piano-oriented new-music festival In Visible Roads, which began its run last month. A joint project of Metropolis Ensemble and Blueprints Piano Series, the festival brings together highly capable pianists and other performers with present-day composers, both well-known and emerging, in programs that roam widely among jazz, classical, and avant-garde styles.
Among the more classically weighted offerings is Saturday’s marathon in three sets titled “Points of Departure,” exploring the trails of influence that shape contemporary music. Missy Mazzoli’s ghostly Isabelle Eberhardt Dreams of Pianos, Jesse Jones’s Handel-inspired Variations on a Fiddle Tune, Andy Akiho’s arrangement of Sondheim’s Into The Woods and Gabriel Zucker’s Weighting are among the works featured. One ticket grants admission to any or all of the three sets.
Metropolis Ensemble presents “Points of Departure” at 5 p.m.: Pianists Erika Dohi, Xak Bjerken, and Kathy Supové perform works by Erika Dohi, Jesse Jones, Missy Mazzoli, and Randall Woolf; 6:30 p.m.: Pianists Kris Davis, Anthony de Mare, Daniel Anastasio and violinist Suliman Tekalli perform works by Andy Akiho, Derek Bermel, Bruce Stark, Kris Davis, and Steven Stucky; 8 p.m.: Pianist Gabriel Zucker and trumpeter Adam O’Farill perform works by Gabriel Zucker. Saturday at 1 Rivington Street, 2nd Floor (Buzzer #1). metropolisensemble.org; 917-930-6106.
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