Place

Introduction

"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 smoothhie.

Composers

Music by Ted Hearne Libretto by Saul Williams (Part 2-3) and Ted Hearne (Part 1) 'Place' conceived by Ted Hearne, Saul Williams and Patricia McGregor

Creative Team

Ensemble - 18 instruments and 6 singers Duration - 75 minutes Libretto - Saul Williams and Ted Hearne Directed and co-conceived - Patricia McGregor Scenic design - Sanford Biggers Video design - Tim Brown Lighting design - Pablo Santiago Commissioners - LA Philharmonic, The Barbican Centre, and Beth Morrison Projects Finalist - Pulitzer Prize 2021 GRAMMY Award Nominations - 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) 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 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

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Programme

  • Track Listing

    No. 1, Balloons No. 2, Boundary No. 3, Interview No. 4, Maps (Appropriation) No. 5, Breakup Letter No. 6, Guilt No. 7, Is it OK to say? No. 8, What About My Son? No. 9, Displacement Bloop No. 10, This Land Was Worth Every War No. 11, The Tales You Tell Your Children No. 12, New Faces No 13, Running to Us All (written for hands over mouths) No. 14, Hallalujah in White No. 15, A Thought No. 16, The Guilt That I Feel Is Freedom No. 17, You Were Never Comfortable With Intimacy No. 18, Beneath the ruins are older ruins. No. 19, Colonizing Space

Video

Photos

Press

  • Place: Quarantine Edition

    Jun 2020

  • Place: CD Release

    Sep 2020

    • Now, in a time that feels more revolutionary than any other point in my lifetime, Williams is still here, alongside radical composer, Ted Hearne, with Place, an orchestral, operatic contemplation of white supremacy and fatherhood. Hearne, a composer by training, leads us through a composition that certainly strays away from my normal hip hop beat, but I have to recommend it. It is discordant, operatic, haunting and strange, but in the end... Place is incredibly compelling.

    • This big, bold, bombshell of an album builds on seeds Hearne and Williams planted on last year's remarkable Hazy Heart Pump, driving further into an intersection of chamber music, electronic, R&B, spoken word, jazz, hip hop, and progressive rock, only to arrive in a uniquely addictive spot. There are powerful ideas here, too, thoughts about gentrification, family, masculinity, social justice, and more, but they never outweigh the music. The collage-like blend of sounds and voices comes together through the blazing artistry of the singers and players, caught here in an incandescent performance that is at least partially live (the booklet is short on details). I could as easily write a haiku or a book about this rara avis of a record. It truly must be heard to be believed.

    • With Place, composer and Pulitzer prize-finalist Ted Hearne joins forces with the extraordinary poet Saul Williams to tackle the topic of gentrification in contemporary America. The piece, which is split into three parts, combines lyrics from Hearne and Williams, synthesizing their ideas into a work that refuses to shy away from the complexity and rage behind its underlying story. The resulting music is eccentric and arousing, moving through glitchy choruses and fiery motives to form a piece that bursts with boundless energy.

    • As the narrative coalesces, his critique of how gentrification has devastated the neighborhood takes on a withering focus. Charles Mingus is cited as an influence, although that’s through a glass, darkly. This is Hearne’s most psychedelic rock-influenced album to date, and in that sense, his most accessible...