November 8-9
Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum

ONE WEEKEND ONLY

As Seen In

Michael Gordon’s “Travel Guide to Nicaragua” has been praised by The New York Times for its profound exploration of memory and identity. I Care If You Listen describes the performance as an "immersive soundscape that transports listeners through time and space," creating a deeply engaging experience for the audience.

Experience the profound journey of Michael Gordon's Travel Guide to Nicaragua at the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum, where music becomes a powerful tool for uncovering hidden histories and lost identities.

Listen

Michael Gordon

Michael Gordon’s Travel Guide to Nicaragua is a deeply personal and evocative work that explores themes of memory, displacement, and identity through a unique musical lens. The piece is structured as a tapestry of vocal and instrumental elements, with the renowned The Crossing and cellist Maya Beiser having premiered the music. The music is characterized by its layered textures and the interplay between voices and cello, which together create an immersive soundscape.

What To Expect

🎭 Beyond the Conventional Concert Experience

  • Immerse yourself in a multi-sensory journey that blends music, storytelling, and visual elements.

  • Engage with the complexities of identity and inheritance as Gordon's personal story unfolds through innovative musical techniques.

🤝 Reflecting on Shared Histories

  • Join a post-performance discussion with Michael Gordon and the performers, delving deeper into the themes of cultural rediscovery and family legacy.

  • Connect with fellow audience members to share your own stories of hidden histories and cultural intersections.

✨ A Transformative Musical Experience

  • Allow the evocative composition to guide you through a process of reflection on your own family history and cultural identity.

  • Be part of a communal experience that celebrates the power of music to heal, connect, and transcend generational and cultural boundaries.

  • Sung in: English and Spanish

  • Subtitles in: English

  • Runtime: 1hr  10minutes

  • No Intermission

  • The entire concert is seated

Michael Gordon

Michael Gordon is known for his monumental and immersive works. Decasia, for 55 retuned spatially positioned instruments (with Bill Morrison’s accompanying cult-classic film) has been featured on the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Minimalist Jukebox Festival and at the Southbank Centre. Timber, a tour-de-force for percussion sextet played on amplified microtonal simantras has been performed on every continent, including by Slagwerk Den Haag at the Musikgebouw and Mantra Percussion at BAM. Natural History, a collaboration with the Steiger Butte Drum of the Klamath tribe, was premiered by the Britt Festival Orchestra and Chorus on the rim of Crater Lake (Oregon) by conductor Teddy Abrams and is the subject of the PBS documentary Symphony for Nature. Gordon’s vocal works include Travel Guide to Nicaragua, an autobiographical choral work for The Crossing; the opera What to wear with the legendary director Richard Foreman; and the film-opera Acquanetta with director Daniel Fish. Recent recordings include Clouded Yellow, Gordon’s complete string quartets performed by the Kronos Quartet.

REFLECTION: Travel Guide to Nicaragua

Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum

November 8-9, 2024, 7:30 pm

Directed by Sam Brukhman

Music and text by Michael Gordon

Projections designed by Laurie Olinder

REFLECTION is sponsored, in part, by:

AT&T Performing Arts Center, City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture, Dallas Free Press, EarthX, Lightware Labs, National Endowment for the Arts, Resonate Intermedia, TACA, and Texas Commission on the Arts

Travel Guide to Nicaragua (2022) by Michael Gordon

  1. Go (after Gen 12:1)

  2. My father’s father

  3. The most famous Nicaraguan

  4. Goldie

  5. After my father was left in Poland

  6. Cuando quiero llorar (from Rubén Darío “Canción de otoño en primavera”)

  7. The story of our sister

  8. I remember

Verdigris Ensemble

Conductor

Sam Brukhman

Solo Cello

Jennifer Choi

Sopranos

Julie Bowdren

Danielle Harrington

Rachel Jones

Jacki Miller

Briana Salas

Claire Worrall

Altos

Katrina Burggraf

Meredith Hinshaw

Sabatina Mauro

Kassidy Montán

David Stanley

Maiya Williams

Tenors

Sam Ary

David Bone

Johnny Brown

Kadin Eleadora

Barrett Radziun

Samuel K. Sweet

Basses

Conner Allison

Brian De Stefano

Connor Lidell

Zachary Rohwer

Avery Sanderlin

Dean Willis

Projection Design: Laurie Olinder
Lead Audio Engineer: Joshua Nguyen
Audio Engineer: Lindsey Hartfelder

Verdigris Ensemble Staff

Sam Brukhman Kyle Igneczi

Founding Artistic Director Executive Director

Sam Melnick

Development Manager

Verdigris Ensemble Board of Directors

Keith Mankin President

Patricia Yakesch      Vice President

Farah Padamsee Secretary

Jonathan Hess Treasurer

Teresa Bond - Micaela Bottari - Scott Branks del Llano - Angela Carrales - Keshav Dimri - Carson Dorsey - Taylor Hawks - Kamal Khan - Kita McCray - Jacki Miller - Ashley Sage - Sonali Ved - Jamie Winholtz