Saul Williams, Patricia McGregor, and Ted Hearne
Place (New Amsterdam Records, 2020)
NOMINATED FOR TWO 2021 GRAMMY AWARDS
Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance (Ted Hearne, Steven Bradshaw, Sophia Byrd, Josephine Lee, Isaiah Robinson, Sol Ruiz, Ayanna Woods and Place Orchestra) and Best Contemporary Classical Composition (Ted Hearne, composer)
Ted Hearne and Saul Williams, Place (New Amsterdam Records, 2020)
produced by Nick Tipp with Ted Hearne
album art by Sanford Biggers
Place conceived by Ted Hearne, Saul Williams and Patricia McGregor
"Gentrification is a generational conversation that has gone by many names. We should not discuss what brings you back to the city without acknowledging why you left.” - Saul Williams from Place
Created with poet/librettist Saul Williams and director Patricia McGregor, Place is a 75-minute work considering the topic of gentrification and displacement. The piece took shape as I saw my own neighborhood of Fort Greene, Brooklyn rapidly transforming under the last term of Mike Bloomberg's mayorship, leading me to grapple with my own role in that process.
I wrote as best I could toward these feelings (Part 1), and handed that text to Saul Williams, who then responded to and clapped back (Part 2-3). Saul challenged the spiraling narcissism inherent in the oh-so-well-meaning white male protagonist exploring his own complicity, by kicking the subject outward to its historical and theoretical origins.
Place is a patchwork, meant to be heard as a jarring, Sanford Biggers-esque quilt, where the edges make it clear the materials have their own infungible properties, not a neoliberal melting pot where all perspectives can combine to make a pleasant if bland smoothie.
“An extraordinary work of genre-collapsing music”
Set designer Sanford Biggers spray paints a quilt for the premiere at the BAM Harvey Theater
Reviews and interviews
NPR’s All Things Considered interview with Ted Hearne on Place
The Daily Beast: Essay by Ted Hearne and Video Premiere from Place
Classical Post interview with Ted Hearne and Saul Williams on Place
Vol. 1 Brooklyn interview with Ted Hearne about Place
WNYC’s The Greene Space presents: Place: A World Premiere
The New York Times preview of Place (2018)
The New York Times review of Place’s premiere performance at BAM (2018)
Opera News review of Place
The Nation review of Place
The Wire (UK) review of Place
Unwinnable Noteworthy Hip Hop - July 2020 review of Place
AnEarful review of Place
The Road to Sound review of Place
New York Music Daily review of Place
Place featured on WNYC’s New Sounds
Place
ensemble 18 instruments and 6 singers
duration 75 minutes
libretto by Saul Williams and Ted Hearne
directed and co-conceived by Patricia McGregor
scenic design by Sanford Biggers
video design by Tim Brown
lighting design by Pablo Santiago
commissioned by the LA Philharmonic, The Barbican Centre, and Beth Morrison Projects
premiere October 2018 at Brooklyn Academy of Music Next Wave Festival
June 2022 at Los Angles Philharmonic
video premiere WNYC’s The Greene Space presents: Place: A World Premiere
other performances March 2022 at Cal Performances, Berkeley
PLACE: QUARANTINE EDITION
Video featuring live performances
by Ayanna Woods, Sol Ruiz, Isaiah Robinson, Josephine Lee, Sophia Byrd and Steven Bradshaw.
Filmed in quarantine, March-April 2020
directed and edited by Ted Hearne
Place: Quarantine Edition directed and edited by Ted Hearne
premiered July 9, 2020 on WNYC.
post-show discussion moderated by John Schaefer, featuring Saul Williams, Ted Hearne, Patricia McGregor and Nathalie Joachim
Isaiah Robinson performing Place at Cal Performances, March 2022
Place at Cal Performances, March 2022
Vocalists
Steven Bradshaw
Josephine Lee
Isaiah Robinson
Sol Ruiz
Sophia Byrd
Ayanna Woods
Orchestra
Braylon Lacy , electric bass
Taylor Levine, electric guitar
Philip White, live electronics/mixer feedback
RC Williams, keyboard
Ron Wiltrout, drums
Diana Wade, Nate Schramm, Erin Wight, violas
Ashley Bathgate, Melody Giron, John Popham, cellos
Christa van Alstine, bass clarinet/contrabass clarinet
Eileen Mack, bass clarinet/clarinet
Jacob Garchik and Matt Wright, trombones (premiere performance)
Matt Barbier and Weston Olencki, trombones (album version)
Gareth Flowers, trumpet (premiere performance)
Jonah Levy, trumpet (album version)
Rachel Drehmann, french horn
Clara Warnaar, percussion
Place by Ted Hearne and Saul Williams. Excerpt from Part 2: The Guilt That I Feel Is Freedom featuring live performances by Ayanna Woods, Steven Bradshaw, Isaiah Robinson, Sol Ruiz, Josephine Lee, and Sophia Byrd
“Place is exquisite, a work of genius whose premiere recording seems to arrive both at the right
cultural moment and entirely too late.”
Ayanna Woods and Ted Hearne in Place, at Cal Performances 2022
Stephen Bradshaw and Ted Hearne, BAM 2018
WORKS
LARGE WORKS WITH VOICES
Farming (2023, 60 min.)
24 voices, 6 instruments
Place (2018/2020, 80 min.)
18 instruments, 6 voices
In Your Mouth (2019)
voice and ensemble; voice and piano
Sound from the Bench (2014/2017, 40 min.)
mixed choir with 2 electric guitars and percussion
Coloring Book (for Roomful of Teeth) (2015, 30 min.)
vocal octet
The Source (2014, 65 min.)
7 instruments, 4 voices
Partition (2010, 20 min.)
mixed choir with full orchestra
Katrina Ballads (2007, 60 min.)
11 instruments, 5 voices
ORCHESTRA
In Thrall (2019, 15 min.)
wind ensemble
Brass Tacks (2018, 6 min.)
large orchestra
Miami in Movements (2017, 35 min.)
large orchestra with video
Dispatches (2015, 18 min.)
large orchestra
Respirator (2015, 13 min.)
chamber orchestra
Stem (2013, 25 min.)
large orchestra
Law of Mosaics (2012, 30 min.)
string orchestra
Erasure Scherzo (2012, 6 min.)
large orchestra
Word for Word (2011, 10 min.)
large orchestra
Shizz (2010/2017, 4 min.)
versions for large orchestra and chamber orchestra
Build a Room (2010, 20 min.)
concerto for trumpet and orchestra
Patriot (2007, 9 min.)
large orchestra
SOLO WORKS
Lobby Music (2021, 7 min.)
solo cello, with electronics
Inheritance (2021, 5 min.)
solo piano
The Luminous Road (2020, 2 min.)
solo piccolo
Distance Canon (2020, 3 min.)
solo violin
Another National Anthem (2019, 5 min.)
solo piano
DaVZ23BzMH0 (2016, 7 min.)
solo cello, with electronics
Parlor Diplomacy (2011, 20 min.)
solo piano
Nobody's (2010, 4 min.)
solo violin or viola
CHAMBER MUSIC
(2-5 instruments)
Exposure (2017, 18 min.)
string quartet
To Be the Thing (2017, 10 min.)
voice, electric guitar and percussion, with live electronics
The Answer to the Question That Wings Ask (2016, 11 min.)
string quartet and narrator
Furtive Movements (2013, 14 min.)
cello and percussion
Interlude for Fingers (2013, 4 min.)
two vibraphones
Candy (2011, 8 min.)
electric guitar quartet
Thaw (2009, 12 min.)
percussion quartet
Ghostspace (2009, 8 min.)
mixed quartet (accordion, electric guitar, piano, drums)
Vessels (2008, 10 min.)
trio (violin, viola, piano)
Crib Dweller (2007, 8 min.)
mixed quintet (bass clarinet, elec. guitar, trumpet, trombone, horn)
23 (2005, 8 min.)
mixed quintet (flute, horn, elec. guitar, piano, drums)
Warning Song (2006, 7 min.)
voice and cello, with electronics
One of Us, One of Them (2005, 8 min.)
piano and percussion
Forcefield (2004, 5 min.)
viola and vibraphone
MEDIUM TO LARGE ENSEMBLE MUSIC
(6-16 instruments)
To Be Whole Is To Be Part (2021, 7 min.)
14 musicians
Authority (2019, 30 min.)
10 musicians
Time is forever dividing itself toward innumerable futures [Speed is Pure] (2019, 40 min.)
for Pam Tanowitz Dance 4 horns, electric guitar, voice with live processing
One Like (2016, 7 min.)
14 musicians
For the Love of Charles Mingus (2016, 9 min.)
6 violins
Baby [an argument] (2016, 11 min.)
10 musicians
By-By Huey (2014, 10 min.)
sextet (fl, bcl, vln, vc, pno, perc)
"The Cage" Variations (2014, 20 min.)
6 instruments (fl, cl/bcl, vln, vc, pno, perc) with baritone solo
Crispy Gentlemen (2012, 15 min.)
7 instruments (fl/picc, cl/bcl, vln, vla, vc, pno, perc)
But I Voted for Shirley Chisholm (2012, 8 min.)
11 instruments+tape
Randos (2012, 8 min.)
7 instruments (L'Histoire septet)
Cutest Little Arbitrage (2011, 12 min.)
6 instruments (2 sax, trombone + rhythm section)
Is it Dirty (2010, 8 min.)
16 instruments with 2 singers
versions for 10 instruments and 6 instruments
Eyelid Margin (2009, 12 min.)
10 instruments (brass quintet + 5 double-reeds)
Snowball (2008, 6 min.)
8 instruments (bcl, tpt, tbn, vln, acc, egtr, pno, dr)
version for 7 instruments (bcl, bn, tpt, tbn, vln, db, perc)
Illuminating the Maze (2008/2016, 15 min.)
6 instruments (tpt, hn, tbn, egtr, pno, dr)
version for 11 instruments
Music from "Body Soldiers" (2008, 10 min.)
5 instruments + singer
Cordavi and Fig (2007, 8 min.)
13 instruments
Antiphon (2003, 8 min.)
9 instruments (3 cl, bcl, 3 tpt, tbn, pno)
CHORAL MUSIC
In The Language of Truth (2022, 10 min.) SATB choir with string quartet
Texting With Your Dad in the Anthropocene (2019, 12 min.)
Animals (2018, 9 min.)
Fervor (2018, 3 min.)
What it might say (2016, 5 min.)
Coloring Book (2015, 30 min.)
Consent (2014, 7 min.)
Ripple (2012, 10 min.)
Privilege (2009, 14 min.)
Mass for St. Mary’s (2008, 10 min.)
Music for youth choir:
The Definition of Crisis (2020, 2-5 min.)
Room for Something (2011, 8 min.)
Away (2010, 6 min.)
Because (2006, 6 min.)
Murder on the Road in Alabama (2003, 6 min.)
SONG AND SOLO VOICE
Freefucked (2022)
voice and solo cello, with vocal processing and fixed electronics
Translation: Two Cigar Butts (2021)
two singers with electronics (optional piano and/or bass)
In Your Mouth/Dorothea (2019)
voice and ensemble; voice and piano
To Be the Thing (2017, 10 min.)
voice, electric guitar and percussion, with live electronics
Intimacy and Resistance (2010, 5 min.)
voice and piano
Charleston Songbook (2008, 20 min.)
voice and piano w/ lead sheets
I Remember (2007, 8 min.)
for three sopranos, or one soprano with electronics
I Carry Your Heart (2007, 5 min.)
voice and piano
Warning Song (2006, 7 min.)
voice and cello, with electronics
COLLABORATIVE WORKS
Taylor Mac’s A 24-Decade History of Popular Music [orchestral version] (2022)
We Are Radios (2018)
Miami in Movements (2017)
The Answer to the Question That Wings Ask (2016)
Hand Eye (2015)
New Dances for the League of David (2014)
You're Causing Quite a Disturbance (2013)
R WE WHO R WE (2013)
Histories (2012)