Contemporary Musical Arts: The Music of David Bowie

NEC’s CMA department presents an evening dedicated to the music of David Bowie. A leading figure in the music industry, he was regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, particularly for his innovative work during the 1970s. His career was marked by reinvention and visual presentation, and his music and stagecraft had a significant impact on popular music. This program is curated by Lautaro Mantilla in collaboration with Eden MacAdam-Somer and Anthony Coleman.

Kimmy Lola Cunningham, David Bowie
M Berry, lighting design
Grace Wilson, set design/video

“I always had a repulsive need to be something more than a human. I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.” – David Bowie

For 50 years, David Bowie created a body of work that expanded the boundaries of pop culture, musical styles, gender, sexuality, social justice, protest, and fashion. In a unique way, Bowie’s music is shocking and yet very familiar, glamorous, and yet tasteless, peaceful, and yet dynamic and violent, joyful and yet horrific and confusing. In his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction speech, David Byrne described David Bowie as “a shrink and a priest who welcomes us to a brave new world.”
Working on this music and introducing the students to David Bowie’s language has shown us the continuous state of flux and movement in his work, some sort of “perpetual frontier” of his artistic search, creativity, and curiosity. As soon as something felt like an arrival, Bowie found his way out of comfort and transgressed his own norms to find a new way out.
We filtered this music in our own way, took risks, got lost, found some answers, got lost again. Like in a labyrinth, we will continue looking for new doors, new sounds, new answers during tonight’s concert. We hope you find Bowie’s spirit in our search and respectfully apologize to you (and to Bowie) if you were here to hear “the classics” the way they were written.
This concert would not be possible without the financial support of the CMA Department and the Lowell Mosaic Grant. Also we would like to recognize the work of Lisa Nigris (and her team), Bob Winters (and his team), M Berry, Grace Wilson, Kimmy Lola Cunningham, Ginny Cummings, Ted Reichman, Eden MacAdam-Somer, Anthony Coleman, John Mallia and especially all the CMA students that with commitment, hard work, and love have prepared this night of music for you and have believed in this project.
– Lautaro Mantilla

This is an in-person event only.

Berlin Trilogy
arranged by Lautaro Mantilla and the CMA Orchestra

Low (1977)
Heroes (1977)
Lodger (1979)

Program note
This piece is a collection of excerpts from 15 different tracks of the three albums recorded in Berlin between 1977-1979. It highlights the collaboration of David Bowie with producer and composer Brian Eno and artist Iggy Pop. For this arrangement we are also including isolated Bowie vocal tracks.

CMA Orchestra
Pitiki Aliakai , Morgan Brookman, Rosario Rivas, Maggie Zang, voice
Yoona Kim, ajaeng
Itay Dayan, Jake Wise, clarinet
Michele Zimmerman, Bella Navarro, violin
Sofia Beiran, viola
Karl Henry, cello
Andy Meisser, Stella Sokolwski, guitar
Beth Ann Jones, Jamie Eliot, bass
Michael Yang-Wierenga, piano
Elfi Shi, vibrophone
Skyler Lim, congas
Paul Joseph, drums

Lautaro Mantilla, director

ENSEMBLES
CMA Orchestra
The Man Who Sold the World
from the album The Man Who Sold the World
arranged by Roman Barten-Sherman

ARTISTS
Roman Barten-Sherman, guitar, voice
Philip Rawlinson, viola
Noah Mark, drums
Fame
from the album Young Americans (1975)
arranged by Jamie Eliot

Program note
Fame (co-written by Carlos Alomar and John Lennon) is a reaction to Bowie’s newfound stardom after the release of his album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. It articulates his dissatisfaction with the exploitative practices of the music industry, and he later admitted that he wrote it with “a degree of malice.” He also called it his least favorite track on his album, Young Americans, and in a 1990 interview with Q Magazine, stated, “I’d had very upsetting management problems, and a lot of that was built into the song. I’ve left all that behind me, now… I think fame itself is not a rewarding thing. The most you can say is that it gets you a seat in restaurants.”
– Jamie Eliot

ARTISTS
Pitiki Aliakai, voice
Sofia Beiran, viola
Michael Yang-Wierenga, piano
Jamie Eliot, bass
Moonage Daydream
from the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust (1972)
arranged by Joyce

ENSEMBLES
Joyce
ARTISTS
Yifei Zhou, voice
Kai Burns and Evan Haskin, guitar
Noah Mark, drums
Duo with Bowie I
arranged by Jake Wise

Collaboration project to interact with a track (or a series of tracks) of Bowie’s catalog, modifying it, altering it, or recomposing it. The performer is invited to play along with the material by using traditional instruments or electronics. Student Edition

Program note
When Lau showed us Please Mr. Gravedigger and described his project, I took inspiration from the environmental soundscape at the beginning of the piece and thought I could recreate or adapt it using some electronic tools I had been working with. That is not what I ended up doing, however; as my piece is a “Play-With” Bowie, I created a playback score from several of the tracks on Lau’s Duo-With-Bowie playlist and developed a clarinet solo to go with it. In this way, my clarinet solo and the playback piece added to Lau’s video form a trio.
– Jake Wise

ARTISTS
Jake Wise, clarinet, electronics
Changes
from the album Hunky Dory (1971)
arranged by Anthony Coleman and Survivors Breakfast

Program note
Turn and face the strange.
– Anthony Coleman

ENSEMBLES
Survivors Breakfast
ARTISTS
Alexis Boucugnani, voice
Jake Wise, clarinet
Gabriel Boyarin, guitar
Michael Yang-Wierenga, piano
Beth Ann Jones, bass
Anthony Coleman, director
Starman
from the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust (1972)
arranged by Almost Olive

ENSEMBLES
Almost Olive
ARTISTS
Jacqueline Armbruster, guitar, voice
Karl Henry, cello, voice
I’m Afraid of Americans
from the album Earthling (1997)
arranged by Lautaro Mantilla and the Contemporary Rock Ensemble I

Program note
Bowie collaborated with numerous artists including Queen, Lou Reed, Tom Waits, Rolling Stones, John Lennon among many others. This piece highlights his collaboration with Trent Reznor from NIN and presents his social and political views of American culture in the late 90s.

ENSEMBLES
Contemporary Rock Ensemble I
ARTISTS
Morgan Brookman, voice
Yifei Zhou, voice, electronics
Kai Burns, guitar
Philip Rawlinson, viola
Noah Mark, drums
Lautaro Mantilla, director
Rebel Rebel
from the album Diamond Dogs (1974)
arranged by Finn Lippard, Bella Navarro, and Andy Meisser

ARTISTS
Finn Lippard, voice, guitar, toy piano
Bella Navarro, violin, voice
Andy Meisser, guitar, voice
Duo with Bowie II
arranged by Ted Reichman

Collaboration project to interact with a track (or a series of tracks) of Bowie’s catalog, modifying it, altering it, or recomposing it. The performer is invited to play along with the material by using traditional instruments or electronics. Faculty Edition

ARTISTS
Ted Reichman, electronics
Even a Fool Learns to Love (1968) | Jacques Revaux (Lyrics by David Bowie)

Program note
These are the original lyrics that David Bowie wrote after being commissioned by Frank Sinatra in 1968. These lyrics were rejected by Sinatra who went to Paul Anka’s version entitled My Way. Later, in several interviews, Bowie expressed his frustration for the rejection.

ARTISTS
Pitiki Aliakai, voice
Tara Hagle and Maxwell Fairman, violin
Philip Rawlinson, viola
David Bowie (1967) / Blackstar (2016)
arranged by Lautaro Mantilla and the Contemporary Rock Ensemble II

Program note
David Bowie recorded 26 studio albums over an almost 50 year musical career. By collecting and reorganizing 9 different tracks from his first and last album we wanted to highlight his musical journey and the evolution of his language over the years.

ENSEMBLES
Contemporary Rock Ensemble II
ARTISTS
Itay Dayan, clarinet, voice
Jacqueline Armbruster, guitar, voice
Michele Zimmerman, violin, voice
Sofia Beiran, viola, voice
Karl Henry, cello, voice
Maiyu Zhang, piano
Paul Joseph, drums
Lautaro Mantilla, director
Lazarus
from the album Blackstar (2016)
arranged by Stella Sokolowski

Program note
Lazarus is a beautiful song from Bowie’s final album, Blackstar, which was released just a few days before his death in 2016. In this album, Bowie meditates on his impending death and looks back on his life, career, and experience of fame. Beyond that, Lazarus evokes a state somewhere between life and death. It is the narrative of a man looking down at himself from outside of his body, remembering his past and contemplating his future after death. In his life, Bowie discussed the idea of “future nostalgia”: memories of future events that could have been and that might still be, even if in another life or universe. I believe that the narrator of this song is situated outside of time. He is observing the life he has lived; the life he might have lived; and his life after death with both fear and longing..
– Stella Sokolowski

ARTISTS
Stella Sokolowski, voice, guitar
Life on Mars
from the album Hunky Dory (1971)
arranged by Aurora, Adrian Chabla, Lautaro Mantilla, and the CMA Orchestra

Program note
This final piece of our concert includes 2 movements. The first one is an interpretation of the iconic song Life on Mars but as it was filtered first by the artist Aurora and then by our own lenses. The second movement is an abstract representation of what this concert has been and what will be left after it is over.

“All art is unstable. Its meaning is not necessarily that implied by the author. There is no authoritative voice. There are only multiple readings. The only art I’ll ever study is stuff I can steal from.”
– David Bowie

i believe we have been given a power that is like glass / and it is like sugar when u hold somebody to tell them that they belong. It is hard and has edges and keeps things in and keeps things out. When we crack, we can use our bodies to bleed people dry. This song has taught me there is always a choice, to splinter or to hold. Stung or Sweet . Will you use your skin to catch the glass, or will you watch from inside as blood drips onto you?
– Adrian Chabla

CMA Orchestra
Pitiki Aliakai , Morgan Brookman, Rosario Rivas, Maggie Zang, voice
Yoona Kim, ajaeng
Itay Dayan, Jake Wise, clarinet
Michele Zimmerman, Bella Navarro, violin
Sofia Beiran, viola
Karl Henry, cello
Andy Meisser, Stella Sokolwski, guitar
Beth Ann Jones, Jamie Eliot, bass
Michael Yang-Wierenga, piano
Elfi Shi, vibrophone
Skyler Lim, congas
Paul Joseph, drums

ENSEMBLES
CMA Orchestra
ARTISTS
Adrian Chabla, voice, keyboard