Nicole Mitchell, flute

Tyshawn Sorey, piano and percussion
 

Original works by Nicole Mitchell (b. 1967):

   Blue Mountain

   Engraved in the Wind

   Dadwee

   Cave of Forgotten Spring

   Glacier Wall

   Boiling River

   Fireflies and Mischief on Dada B's Porch

   Forest Family

   Mutuality Suite

Nicole Mitchell’s appearance is made possible in part by Verne Q. Powell Flutes.

Admission: Free to NYFC members, $25 for non-members, $15 for students and seniors (65+)
at the door.

Program subject to change.

Nicole Mitchell is a creative flutist, composer, bandleader and educator.  As the founder of Black Earth Ensemble, Black Earth Strings, Ice Crystal and Sonic Projections, Mitchell has been repeatedly awarded by DownBeat Critics Poll and the Jazz Journalists Association as “Top Flutist of the Year” for the last four years (2010-2013). Mitchell’s music celebrates African American culture while reaching across genres and integrating new ideas with moments in the legacy of jazz, gospel, experimentalism, pop and African percussion through albums such asBlack Unstoppable (Delmark, 2007), Awakening (Delmark, 2011), and Xenogenesis Suite: A Tribute to Octavia Butler (Firehouse 12, 2008), which received commissioning support from Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works.

Mitchell formerly served as the first woman president of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), and has been a member since 1995. In recognition of her impact within the Chicago music and arts education communities, she was named “Chicagoan of the Year” in 2006 by the Chicago Tribune. With her ensembles, as a featured flutist and composer, Mitchell has been a highlight at festivals and art venues throughout Europe, the U.S. and Canada. 

Ms. Mitchell is a recipient of the prestigious Alpert Award in the Arts (2011) and has been commissioned by Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, the Ravinia Festival, the Chicago Jazz Festival, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), the Chicago Sinfonietta Orchestra and Maggio Fiorentino Chamber Orchestra (Florence, Italy).  In 2009, she created Honoring Grace: Michelle Obama for the Jazz Institute of Chicago. She has been a faculty member at the Vancouver Creative Music Institute, the Sherwood Flute Institute, Banff International Jazz Workshop and the University of Illinois, Chicago. Her work has been featured on National Public Radio, and in magazines including Ebony, Downbeat, JazzIz, Jazz Times, Jazz Wise, andAmerican Legacy.

Nicole MItchell is currently a Professor of Music, teaching in "Integrated Composition, Improvisation and Technology," a new and expansively-minded graduate program at the University of California, Irvine. Her recent composition, Flight for Freedom for Creative Flute and Orchestra, a Tribute to Harriet Tubman, premiered with the Chicago Composers’ Orchestra in December 2011 and will be presented again with CCO in May 2014.  She was also commisisoned by Chicago Sinfonietta for Harambee: Road to Victory, for Solo Flute, Choir and Orchestra in January 2012.  

Read Nicole Mitchell's interview by Nicole Camacho in the November 2014 NY Flute Club Newsletter.

Tyshawn Sorey (b. Newark, 1980) is a composer-performer, educator, and scholar working across an extensive range of musical idioms. Sorey performs (percussion, trombone, and piano) nationally and internationally with his own ensembles, as well as with such artists as Muhal Richard Abrams, Steve Coleman, John Zorn, Misha Mengelberg, Vijay Iyer, Wadada Leo Smith, Anthony Braxton, Steve Lehman, Tim Berne, and Myra Melford. As a composer, Sorey has received commissions from Roulette and the International Contemporary Ensemble, with whom he also performs. In 2012, he was selected as an Other Minds Composer. Sorey regularly teaches composition and improvisation at the New School for Social Research and the School for Improvised Music. He has taught at the Banff Centre, International Realtime Music Symposium (Norway), Hochschule für Musik Köln, Musikhochschule Nürnberg, Rhythmic Conservatory (Denmark), Birmingham Conservatory of Music, Conservatorium van Amsterdam, Cité de la Musique (Paris), and Vallekilde Højskole (Denmark). Sorey has had works premiered at the Issue Project Room, Walt Disney Hall, the Bimhuis, Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, the Jazz Gallery, and Roulette.

Photos from Nicole's NYFC Concert

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