The S.E.M. Ensemble Presents "For Philip Guston"

Morton Feldman For Philip Guston S.E.M. Ensemble Petr Kotik, flutes Joseph Kubera, keyboards Chris Nappi, percussion The S.E.M. Ensemble will perform Morton Feldman’s magnum opus “For Philip Guston,” on March 22nd. SEM has been associated with Feldman since the early 1970’s, while both were based in Buffalo, NY. Feldman composed “Instruments I” for Petr Kotik and the S.E.M. Ensemble in 1973 (Jan Williams, Julius Eastman and Petr Kotik were among the performers who premiered the piece). In 1987, Petr Kotik commissioned a new work by Feldman, but Feldman died in the fall of 1987 before he could compose this new work. Instead, in February 1988, SEM performed “For Philip Guston,” for the first time. The performers in 1988 are the same as they will be in 2019: Kotik, Kubera and Nappi. Alex Ross in the New York Times commented: “… the performance by the S.E.M. Ensemble is no less gigantic than Mahler's Eighth Symphony.” More Info below.