Watch Party for the Video Premiere of Michael Gordon’s Sonatra Performed by Vicky Chow

On Sunday, March 7, 2021 at 2pm CST | 3pm EST, Bang on a Can presents the video premiere of Bang on a Can All-Star Vicky Chow’s performance of Michael Gordon’s Sonatra as a Watch Party. The program will include a Q & A about the work with Chow and Gordon, moderated by Ethan Iverson, also a pianist, composer, and critic best known for his work with the Bad Plus. Aside from Chow’s album release of the work (released February 23, 2018 on Cantaloupe Music), this new video made by Denver-based director, writer, and cinematographer Souki Mehdaoui, is the only other recording of the piece.

“It’s by far the most challenging piece of music I’ve worked on,” says Chow. “When I first looked at the score, I knew immediately that I’ll live with it for the rest of my life. Every few months, I slowly worked up each section, like chipping away at a slab of marble. I had to pace myself, push myself, and be sharp at every twist and turn, or else I’d trip and fall flat on my face.”

The Watch Party will include demonstrations of the work’s difficulty by way of brief excerpts performed by Chow in her home, alongside a display of the score.

In his original program notes for Sonatra, composer Michael Gordon writes that he conceived of the piece for solo piano as a sideways tribute to Frank Sinatra, but with the sonata form as an equal and opposite force that tugs at the music from within.

Learn more and get tickets here.