New Cicada Trio

The deep listening methods of the late Pauline Oliveros have influenced artists across mediums for decades. Come together with musicians Iva Bittová (voice and violin) , Timothy Hill (overtone singing and guitar), and David Rothenberg (clarinets and creatures) for a performance dedicated to Oliveros that explores the edges of ecstatic improvisation, meditative singing, and the cycling of natural rhythms and songs.

The artists will lead a special pre-program tour of the exhibition The World Is Sound, which features Oliveros, beginning in the Spiral Lobby at 6:15 p.m.

About the Performers

Czech violinist, singer, and solo performer Iva Bittová has lived in New York for more than a decade. A successful film and television actress in her native country, Bittová returned to her first love, music, in the 1980s. Her breakthrough came in 1987, when she and Pavel Fajt recorded their second album, Svatba (The Wedding), which was released internationally by Review Records. This attracted the attention of guitarist Fred Frith, who featured them in a documentary film on his life, Step Across the Border (1990), which gave them their first broad international exposure and a tour outside of Eastern Europe. Bittová has performed with a number of avant-garde musicians internationally, including Fred Frith, Chris Cutler and Tom Cora, Bill Frisell, Mark Ribot, Hamid Drake, Evan Ziporyn, and Bobby McFerrin and has given solo concerts across the world.

Timothy Hill weaves a natural purity of voice with threads of otherworldly abstract sound, blending seamlessly into a style that defies description. Having performed with such diverse artists such as John Cage, Bill Frisell, Jeff Buckley, Allen Ginsberg, Odetta, Pete Seeger, Pauline Oliveros, and Madan Gopal Singh, Hill’s musical explorations span the genres of folk, jazz, world music, contemporary classical, and improvisation. As a member of David Hykes and the Harmonic Choir, Hill was a pioneer in the art of harmonic singing, prompting The New York Times critic Robert Palmer to praise him as “a virtuoso of the Tibetan chanting technique.” Hill’s wish to deepen his understanding of music brought him to the study of Indian classical music with Sheila Dhar and Pandit Vijay Kichlu, as well as music influenced by G.I. Gurdjieff with John Pentland and others. The broad scope and genre-crossing nature of his work has been deeply influenced by a unique musical friendship with pianist Keith Jarrett. An active teacher, Hill has been a visiting lecturer at the Bard College Conservatory Graduate Vocal Arts Program under artistic director Dawn Upshaw since its inception in 2006.

Musician and philosopher David Rothenberg wrote Why Birds Sing, Bug Music, Survival of the Beautiful, and many other books, published in at least eleven languages. He has recorded 16 albums, including One Dark Night I Left My Silent House on ECM, and most recently Berlin Bülbul and Cool Spring. His work often involves interaction with the live sounds of nature. David has performed and recorded with musicians including Peter Gabriel, Ray Phiri, Suzanne Vega, Scanner, Elliot Sharp, Markus Reuter, and the Karnataka College of Percussion. He has also worked on the films Song from the Forest and the upcoming Nightingales in Berlin based on his new book.