On Ten Years Alive and The Afterlife…
There is nowhere in New York City that I feel more at home as an artist than Issue Project Room, and it's great pleasure that I bring my ensemble to the new Issue space today for an encore performance of Tonalization (for the afterlife). The work is dedicated to Issue's visionary founder Suzanne Fiol who's sudden and tragic demise unfolded during the months I was composing the work. It was eventually premiered at the Old American Can Factory space in March 2010, six months after her passing and performed a second time in February of 2011.
Suzanne was a strong supporter of my music, as she was for so many of us, and she invited the ensemble to perform at each of the previous spaces – East 6th Street in April 2005, and the Carroll St. silo June 2006. Taken as a whole the Issue performances have been far and away the most memorable of all Dan Joseph Ensemble concerts, and it is in large measure due to her open-minded and nurturing spirit that the ensemble has continued to devlelop.
And so it is that Issue Project Room continues to develop, following her vision and keeping alive the flame she ignited, and now celebrating Ten Years! Thank you Suzanne and thank you Issue for being a home to those of us who need you. Today I pay tribute to the past while also looking ahead to the future, to Suzanne's "afterlife" on the Infinite Plain." ♡ ∞
Images from past Issue performances by Chris Woltmann, Kevin Ryan and anonymous.