Press Release

For Immediate Release
May 8, 2015
Press Contacts: Blake Zidell, John Wyszniewski and Ron Gaskill at Blake Zidell & Associates: 718.643.9052,
blake@blakezidell.com, john@blakezidell.com, ron@blakezidell.com.
HIGHLY ANTICIPATED NON-PROFIT MUSIC VENUE IN WILLIAMSBURG,
BROOKLYN, ANNOUNCES OPENING, CURATORS, PROGRAMMING DETAILS
AND A NEW NAME
Beginning in October, National Sawdust (Formerly Original Music Workshop) Will Provide Composers
and Musicians a State-of-the-Art Home for the Creation of New Work and Will Give Audiences and a
Place to Discover Genre-Spanning Music at Accessible Ticket Prices
Curators to Include Composers Anna Clyne, Bryce Dessner, David T. Little and Nico Muhly; Pianists
Simone Dinnerstein and Anne Marie McDermott; Vocalists Helga Davis, Theo Bleckmann and Magos
Herrera; and Violinists Miranda Cuckson and Tim Fain
Groups and Artists in Residence to Include Brooklyn Rider, Glenn Kotche (Wilco), Alicia Hall Moran
and Zimbabwe’s Netsayi
Venue Partners and Collaborators Range from Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute and the New York
Philharmonic’s CONTACT! to Stanford University and Williamsburg-Based El Puente Center for Arts and
Culture
National Sawdust +, Created by Elena Park, Will Include National Sawdust Talks as well as Performance Series
that Offer Leading Directors and Writers, from Richard Eyre to Michael Mayer, a Platform to Share Their
Musical Passions
Opening Concerts in October to Feature Terry Riley, John Zorn, Roomful of Teeth, Nico Muhly, Bryce
Dessner, Fence Bower Jon Rose, Throat Singer Tanya Tagaq and Others
Brooklyn, NY (May 7, 2015) - The non-profit National Sawdust, formerly known as Original Music Workshop, is
pleased to announce that its highly anticipated, state-of-the-art, Williamsburg, Brooklyn venue will open this fall.
Adopting the name of the factory once housed within the century-old building’s shell, the $16 million, 13,000-squarefoot space will welcome the public for an inaugural season beginning in October. National Sawdust also revealed
today the diversity of world-class artists and composers who are working with the venue’s Creative and Executive
Director, composer Paola Prestini, to curate the space, and announced the inaugural season’s artists- and groups-inresidence and partners. Programming and dates will be announced this summer, with tickets on sale in July.
In a city teeming with venues, National Sawdust, located at North 6th Street and Wythe Avenue in the heart of
Williamsburg, is founded upon a singular, expansive vision: to provide composers and musicians across genres with a
setting in which they can flourish, and a place where they are given commissioning support, mentoring and other
critical resources essential to create, and then share, their work. It will be a resource not only for the community of
musicians, but also for audiences in search of remarkable musical experiences—serious fans and casual listeners
alike—at accessible ticket prices. National Sawdust will also offer progressive public programs and educational
initiatives.
Designed by Brooklyn-based studio Bureau V, with acoustic design by Arup, National Sawdust is housed within the
preserved shell of a century-old, two-story building. The intimate concert venue combines the crafted sensibility of an
historic European concert hall with the flexibility of a contemporary, dynamic performance space.
Paola Prestini said, “It’s a dream come true, and a rare opportunity, for me to lead a place like National Sawdust as a
young composer. I am excited to be in turn creating a venue curated by—and focused on providing vital mentoring,
space and support to—so many other still-nascent artists. I look forward to sharing the thrill of their creations and
discoveries with audiences.”
Curators
Artists will lead National Sawdust, in addition to benefitting from it. Prestini, whom The New York Times has
described as a “human resources alchemist” with a “gift for bringing together disparate artists, technicians and other
creative professionals,” has assembled a wide range of composers, musicians, vocalists, multimedia artists and others
to serve as curators. In keeping with National Sawdust’s emphasis upon fostering new talent and sharing it with
audiences, curators will bring promising emerging artists to the venue.
Among those working alongside Prestini to program the space will be:
•
New music composers and musicians including Andy Akiho (composer, percussionist), Anna Clyne
(composer), Miranda Cuckson (violinist), Simone Dinnerstein (pianist), Tim Fain (violinist), Daniel
Felsenfeld (composer), Kai Kight (composer, violinist, entrepreneur), David Krakauer (clarinetist), Lukas
Ligeti (composer, percussionist), Alex Lipowski (percussionist), David T. Little (composer), Anne-Marie
McDermott (pianist), Nico Muhly (composer, pianist), Ian Rosenbaum (percussionist), Jeffrey Zeigler
(cellist)
•
Vocalists Ryland Angel (countertenor), Theo Bleckmann (singer, composer), Anthony Roth Costanzo
(countertenor), Helga Davis (vocalist and improviser) and Martha Redbone (soul singer)
Multimedia artists and innovators such Julian Crouch (director, designer), with Saskia Lane (composer, singer,
multi-instrumentalist); R. Luke Dubois (composer and electronic musician); Rinde Eckert (writer, composer,
librettist, musician, performer, director); Mark Stewart (multi-instrumentalist, instrument-maker); Reggie
“Regg Roc” Gray (Flexn choreographer); and Bora Yoon (composer, multi-instrumentalist, sound artist)
•
International artists including Ljova (Russian violist) and Magos Herrera (Mexican jazz singer)
•
Rock and pop music tastemakers such as Bryce Dessner (composer, guitarist of The National), Billy Jones
(music director and proprietor of Baby’s All Right) and Imogene Strauss (arts curator and co-founder of Cool
Managers)
Artists- and Groups-in-Residence
Residencies will play an important role in the life of the venue, with numerous artists and groups using it for the
development, performance and recording of new work. As part of its residency program, National Sawdust will also
offer its full system of support—including mentoring in entrepreneurship, design, marketing and other areas of
expertise—to ensure successful careers in the arts.
Inaugural season groups-in-residence will include:
•
Rising talents including Norwegian youth string ensemble 1B1, new music ensemble Hotel Elefant and
Zimbabwean singer-songwriter Netsayi
•
Veterans of the New York new music scene, including the ensemble ACME, indie opera and new music
commissioning and producing company Beth Morrison Projects, string quartet Brooklyn Rider, and New
Amsterdam
•
Practitioners of new media, including radio show hosts and DJs Chances with Wolves and audio/visual
production company and creative collective Mason Jar Music
•
Music-based community engagement project Found Sound Nation
•
Indie pop band Givers and art-music collective Hessismore
Artists-in-residence will include Trinidadian poet Roger Bonair Agard, composer and percussionist Glenn Kotche
(Wilco), mezzo-soprano Alicia Hall Moran (Porgy and Bess) and composer Gity Razaz,
Partner Companies, Organizations and Institutions
Prestini and her team have forged relationships with companies, organizations and festivals to foster the development
of new works and innovative programs. These collaborations include:
•
Mentorship and education programs by organizations including 2x4, which will offer design mentorship to
resident artists and groups; Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, which will co-present collaborations
developed in the Institute’s education program; Williamsburg-based El Puente Center for Arts and Culture,
Brooklyn’s leading Latino arts center, which will co-present unique arts education programs; the crowdfunding company Kickstarter, whose music curator will bring guidance to National Sawdust’s Next Steps
mentoring program; and Stanford University, which will bring interns to National Sawdust for mentoring in
entrepreneurship
•
Development programs with arts organizations including Zimbabwe’s Harare International Festival of the
Arts, whose artists National Sawdust will bring to New York for performances; MASS MoCA, whose
resident artists will come to the venue to further develop and perform new work; and VisionIntoArt, the nonprofit new music and interdisciplinary production company founded by Prestini in 1999, which will
commission, develop and present new work
•
Arts presenters including American Composers Orchestra (ACO), which will co-present concerts as part of
its citywide new music festival, SONiC; the New York Philharmonic, which will co-present concerts in the
orchestra’s new music series CONTACT!; and Trinity Choir, which will develop Prestini’s Hubble Cantata
and a new live-scoring of the Academy Award-winning Italian film The Great Beauty
•
Partnerships with publications and digital media platforms including the louderARTS Project, which will copresent poetry and music events; McNally Jackson Books, which will co-present a series of readings with
music; the contemporary classical label Open G Records, whose artists will perform at the venue; Pitchfork,
whose editor, Brandon Stosuy, will curate concerts; and Q2 Music, which will host and broadcast concerts
National Sawdust +
The venue will also launch National Sawdust +, a series of conversations and concerts created by Elena Park. The
Directors’ Series and The Writers’ Series will give leading artists, from prominent British auteur Richard Eyre to
innovative American director Michael Mayer, a platform to share their musical passions with the Williamsburg
audience; they will curate and host concerts that showcase works they love and musicians they admire. National
Sawdust Talks, curated by Park, will bring together artists and thinkers in surprising conversations.
The Building
Bureau V’s design maintains the building’s rough historic brick exterior while providing a refined new interior: a
flexible, acoustically-driven, intimate chamber hall can accommodate 120-170 seated patrons, cabaret seating, or 350
standing guests. The venue can hold a 70-piece orchestra for rehearsals and recordings, and will house two bars and a
restaurant featuring James Beard Award-winning chef Patrick Connolly.
Acoustically designed by Arup to accommodate a range of repertoire, both amplified and unplugged, National
Sawdust has the optimum balance of sound absorbing, diffusing, and reflecting finishes for an enriched acoustic
experience. The entire building is connected via audio, video, and data tie lines. This point-to-point infrastructure
allows an engineer to be situated in either the sound and light control room or the production room and record artists in
all the interior spaces.
Bureau V founding principal Peter Zuspan said, "The design looks back as much as it does forward. We wanted to
retool the 18th century model of the chamber hall for a modern context—to provide composers the luxury of a single,
memorable space to compose and record in, and in which to premiere new works. For National Sawdust's founder,
Kevin Dolan, to have trusted a bunch of twenty-somethings who had never built a building with a project like this one
is a testament to Kevin's vision. I do not know of any other institution that supports and takes risks on young artists
with this level of commitment."
From Groundbreaking to Ribbon-Cutting: The Innovative Fundraising Model That Made National Sawdust
Possible
National Sawdust founder Kevin Dolan, a tax attorney and amateur musician and composer, purchased the property in
2009. Of the $16 million needed to construct National Sawdust, Dolan contributed an initial amount for building
acquisition, design and reconstruction of the core and shell of the building. To raise the balance for the interior buildout, he appealed to others to join him as Philanthropic Investors. In exchange for their investment, the Philanthropic
Investors co-own the building, provide National Sawdust rent-free use of the space, actively nurture the non-profit and,
after a period of years, will either choose to contribute their interest in the building to National Sawdust or sell their
interest to National Sawdust or the other investors at a pre-determined yield.
Once Dolan selected Bureau V as architect and appointed Paola Prestini as Creative Director in 2012, he, Prestini and
Peter Zuspan worked innovatively to raise the $8 million needed to supplement Dolan’s contribution and open the
venue. In a rare feat, National Sawdust has raised all of its construction capital from individuals. The Philanthropic
Investors include Jean Pierre Chesse, the entrepreneur who founded Sinodis Co. Ltd. in 1996 and recently moved to
New York, and who provided the largest portion of the additional funding; Jill Steinberg, founding member of the
National Opera Center and Chair of Prestini’s company VisionIntoArt; Rick D’Avino, Special Advisor at General
Atlantic; and Harvey Mogenson of Morgan Stanley. National Sawdust has also received a generous grant from the
Pacific Foundation for capital expenditure.
As Original Music Workshop (OMW), the non-profit presented concerts and events representative of Prestini’s unique
curatorial perspective, which often? combines music in various styles—classical, jazz, international, contemporary and
experimental music—with work in other disciplines.These events included performances in the National Sawdust
construction site, a “virtual season” of concerts at the Greene Space at New York Public Radio and a series of sitespecific performances in the River to River Festival. New York Magazine named OMW’s first performance, Skyful
(September 2012), one of the Top 10 Classical Music Performances of 2012. The New York Times said of that concert,
“It was easy to feel hopeful and excited that the evening’s richness and range would be a fixture of the city for many
years to come.” Reviewing one of the “virtual season concerts,” The New York Times said, “It’s a rare privilege to
encounter performers musically skilled and culturally sympathetic enough to synthesize a global range of styles and
periods before a live audience in real time.”
About Composer Paola Prestini, National Sawdust’s Creative and Executive Director
Composer, multimedia artist and entrepreneur Paola Prestini is “the enterprising composer and impresario” (New York
Times) and “visionary-in-chief” (Time Out New York) of VisionIntoArt, the non-profit multimedia production
company dedicated to fostering collaborative, interdisciplinary new music. Prestini has been commissioned by the
BAM Next Wave Festival, Carnegie Hall, the New York Philharmonic and the Sydney Opera. Her work has been
presented by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Sydney Opera, the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra and London’s Barbican Centre. She has collaborated with stage designers, puppeteers, astrophysicists,
conservationists, musicians, dancers, singers and more. She has been awarded residencies at the Park Avenue Armory,
The Watermill Center and Sundance. Prestini started VisionIntoArt in 2001 while a student at the Juilliard School,
where she was a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow. Since then, the company has provided comprehensive support—from
fundraising and commissioning to incubation and performances—for more 100 original productions. She launched
VIA Records in 2014.
About Bureau V
Brooklyn-based design studio has created architecture, objects, performances, installations and events for
institutions and artists including the Montello Foundation, Assume Vivid Astro Focus, Arto Lindsay and Mary
Ping, among many others. The studio’s collaborative works have been exhibited or performed at institutions
such as the Guggenheim Museum, the Venice Biennale of Art, Inhotim, Performa and REDCAT.
Peter Zuspan is a founding principal of the studio. He has taught architecture at Columbia University, the
University of Pennsylvania, the University of Kentucky’s College of Design, and Syracuse University.
Zuspan, a member of National Sawdust's Board of Directors, is also a trained opera singer.
About Arup
As an independent firm of designers, planners, engineers, consultants and technical specialists, Arup offers a
broad range of professional services that combine to make a real difference to their clients and the
communities in which they work. Arup Acoustics is one of the world’s most respected acoustic consultancies
in the world. With U.S. teams in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles, they leverage the
practical knowledge of over 30 years’ worth of global experience as an industry leader in planning and design.
Arup works in every area of acoustics, from advanced noise and vibration mitigation to optimization of
performer and audience acoustic experience in acoustically critical performance venues, audio system
integration in large public transit facilities and more. Their highly interactive style of collaborative design
benefits clients across market areas ranging from performing arts and museums to education, business,
healthcare, transportation, leisure, sports and multimedia.
National Sawdust’s Board of Directors and Advisory Board
Rick D’Avino is President and Chairman of National Sawdust’s Board of Directors, which includes Adam
Abeshouse, Dan Breen, Courtenay Casey, Jean Pierre Chesse, Valerie Dillon, Randy Ezratty, Chris Grymes,
Richard Kessler, Roger Krulak, Harvey Mogenson, Michelle Nakash, Paola Prestini, Natalia Schwien, R.
Adam Smith, Jill Steinberg, Jeremy Turner and Peter Zuspan.
The National Sawdust Advisory Board, chaired by Richard Kessler, includes Laurie Anderson, Helena
Christensen, Philip Glass, Jennifer Frommer, James Murphy, Nico Muhly, Elena Park, Terry Riley, Limor
Tomer, Suzanne Vega and Karen Wong.
For more information about National Sawdust, please visit nationalsawdust.org.
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