Zeena Parkins and William Winant perform Modesty of the Magic Thing at Western Front, May 9

Album pays tribute to American visual artist Jay DeFeo’s 1989 series “The Seven Pillars of Wisdom”

SPONSORED POST BY Western Front

William Winant (left, photo by Dennis Letbetter) and Zeena Parkins (photo by Jeff Preiss).

 
 

Western Front is presenting a concert by composer, harpist, and improviser Zeena Parkins with her close collaborator, percussionist William Winant. On May 9, they will perform work from Parkins’s album Modesty of the Magic Thing, released through Tzadik Records in 2025.

Composed by Parkins for harp, percussion, and electronics, Modesty of the Magic Thing pays tribute to American visual artist Jay DeFeo and her 1989 series “The Seven Pillars of Wisdom”. These drawings iterate a seven-sided shape derived from a pink cup gifted to DeFeo by sculptor Ron Nagle, rendered in charcoal and metallic powder to create a meditative field of mysterious power. This central form becomes the conceptual core of Parkins’s composition, providing a framework for its line, rhythm, texture, and form.

The work will be performed on acoustic harp, wooden bows, tracer microphone, metal percussion, and several just-intoned instruments, including a unique metallic tubophone designed by Lou Harrison.

Purchase tickets through Western Front.


Post sponsored by Western Front.

 
 
 

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