Image by Sara Driver

Concerning The Entrance Into Eternity is an extraordinary new collaboration between Dutch lutenist Jozef Van Wissem and American filmmaker & guitarist Jim Jarmusch. Jarmusch’s previous collaborations with Van Wissem have not prepared the eager listener for the expressivity and emotional depth of his playing on these duets. Respectful of one another’s space the pair weave layers of melody and waves of feedback while acoustic guitar and lute wrap together with a subtle depth expemplifying an austere understanding and compatibility. Jarmusch’s guitar work is metaphysical, at times sounding like a hurdy gurdy and at other time sounding as if it is responding to the calls of the lute. The final piece, He Is Hanging By His Shiny Arms, His Heart An Open Wound With Love, finds Jarmusch accompanying a solo lute composition with a reading from St. John Of The Cross. With three titles named after Christian mystic Emanuel Swedenborg’s work, this record is extraordinary, new and arcane at the same time, modern but timeless.

Chamber Music Month is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

We’ve posted some photos from last week’s final concert in the Old American Can Factory, featuring Talibam!, Jonathan Kane’s February, and Tony Conrad & MV Carbon. It was a surreal experience, with giant eyeball projections, minimalist blues, no-school rap, and an hour-long drone set (by which time most of us were sitting on the floor) to close out an amazing four years in our beloved Gowanus Can Factory.

But we’re looking ahead: this week, we’ve brought one of the top international contemporary music festivals to New York for the first time, in Gaudeamus Muziekweek New York. These artists straddle electronic, chamber, orchestral, and conceptual music with pieces involving everything from 100 metronomes (Gyorgy Ligeti’s “Poème Symphonique,” performed by Iktus Percussion) to Yannis Kyriakides’s audiovisual compositions, juxtaposing projections of text with music performed by his own Ensemble MAE with the International Contemporary Ensemble.

There’s still time left to become a member and receive two free tickets to any Gaudeamus Muziekweek New York concert, in addition to the usual two free tickets, discounts, and other thank-you gifts we’re offering toward membership. So don’t delay – check out the great benefits of a membership to ISSUE Project Room.

Photos from the final Can Factory concert are after the jump!

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