Pop Channel Evan Ziporyn

• 1Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey05:03
• 2Ride Captain Ride05:04
• 3Woodstock05:30
• 4Along Comes Mary02:57
• 5Woodstock Improvisation / Villanova Junction06:39
• 6Shining Star02:16
• 7That's the Way of the World05:44
• 8Portrait of Tracy02:20
• 9I Live Above the Hobby Shop03:39
• 10Deadbeat Club04:09
• 11Strawberry Letter #2305:23
• 12Your Gold Teeth II04:03
• Total Runtime52:47

Info for Pop Channel

With POP CHANNEL, award-winning clarinetist and composer Evan Ziporyn does the impossible, taking us on a wild ride through iconic pop songs spanning 5 decades, all reimagined through his clarinet, or rather a compendium of clarinets – arranged, layered, and performed by Ziporyn. Pop Channel takes us through sonic landscapes from 45 years of pop music history.

Beginning with a tour-de-force reimagining of Paul McCartney’s psychedelic “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey,” Ziporyn progresses through a dizzying range of repertoire, from one-hit wonders (“Ride Captain Ride”) and iconic funk masterpieces (“Shining Star,” “Strawberry Letter #23”), to introspective meditations (Joni Mitchell’s solo version of “Woodstock”) and hidden B-side gems (Steely Dan’s “Your Gold Teeth 2”).

At the epicenter of Pop Channel is a fierce, virtuosic solo bass clarinet rendition of Jimi Hendrix’ incendiary live “Woodstock Improvisation,” with Ziporyn channeling Hendrix’ electric, blues-based expressivity through a unique combination of his extended techniques on the instrument and ferocious guitar distortion effects.

Charting new territories with Pop Channel, Ziporyn crates an exhilarating – and often mind-blowing – sonic celebration of some of the most iconic songs of the past fifty years.

Ziporyn is a multi-talented composer-performer with an eclectic resume that defies categorization. He is best known for his 20 years of touring and recording with the acclaimed Bang on a Can All-stars, and for his Nonesuch recording of Steve Reich’s New York Counterpoint. More recently, he founded the Ambient Orchestra to create and perform Bowie Symphonic: Blackstar (Islandia Music), a cello concerto for Maya Beiser, based on David Bowie’s final album. Ziporyn will debut POP CHANNEL on March 27 at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, where he’ll also give the first 21st century performance of Philip Glass’ 1968 Best Out of Three, a long-lost ‘missing link’ in Glass’ oeuvre, which has not been performed live in 54 years.

Evan Ziporyn, clarinet

Evan Ziporyn
Ziporyn's music has taken him from Balinese temples to concert halls around the world.

He has composed for and collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma, Brooklyn Rider, Maya Beiser, Ethel, Anna Sofie Von Otter, the American Composers Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Iva Bittova, Terry Riley, Don Byron, Wu Man, and Bang on a Can. In 2017, his arrangements were featured on Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s The Vietnam War, and on Silkroad’s Grammy-winning album Sing Me Home.

Most recently, his orchestral reimagining of David Bowie's final album, Blackstar, was recently released on Islandia Music, featuring Ziporyn conducting his own Ambient Orchestra with Maya Beiser, cello soloist. Since its 2017 premiere, Ziporyn has conducted the work in Boston, Barcelona, New York Central Park Summerstage, Australia's Adelaide Fringe Festival, Strathmore Hall, and numerous other national and international venues. 2019 also saw the world premieres of two new works, the drum concerto Impulse Control for the Bowling Green New Music Festival, and the gamelan/string hybrid Air=Water for Philadelphia's Network for New Music. Other recent works include the collaborative immersive installation Arachnodrone/Spider's Canvas with Christine Southworth, which premiered at Paris' Palais de Tokyo in 2018, and The Demon in the Diagram with visual artist Matthew Ritchie and choreographer Hope Mohr. Ziporyn studied at Eastman School of Music, Yale, and UC Berkeley with Joseph Schwantner, Martin Bresnick, and Gerard Grisey. He received a Fulbright in 1987, founded Gamelan Galak Tika in 1993, and composed a series of groundbreaking compositions for gamelan and western instruments, as well as evening-length works such as 2001's ShadowBang, 2004's Oedipus Rex (Robert Woodruff, director), and 2009’s A House in Bali, which was featured at BAM Next Wave in October 2010. He released two albums of his orchestral works with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, featuring tabla master Sandeep Das as soloist.

From 1992-2012 he served as music director, producer, and composer/arranger for the Bang on a Can Allstars, winning Musical America’s Ensemble of the Year award in 2005. He has also recorded and toured with Paul Simon (You're the One) and the Steve Reich Ensemble, sharing in the latter's 1998 Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance. In 2012 he formed the Eviyan Trio with Iva Bittova and Gyan Riley, with whom he recorded two albums. He has also released numerous albums on Cantaloupe Music, New World, CRI, Airplane Ears, and other labels. Other honors include a USA Artist Fellowship, the Goddard Lieberson Prize from the American Academy, Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship, and commissions from Carnegie Hall, Kronos Quartet, Rockefeller Multi-Arts Program, and Meet the Composer. As a conductor recent appearances include LA Opera (Keeril Makan’s Persona), Hamburg Elbsphilharmonie (Julia Wolfe/Bill Morrison’s Fuel), the Barcelona Symphony, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. At MIT he is Distinguished Professor of Music, Director of the Center for Art, Science and Technology, and currently Guest Director of the MIT Symphony Orchestra.

Booklet for Pop Channel