sawdust-opening

National Sawdust opens this week: James Murphy, Cibo Matto, Nels Cline & more added to first night festivities

National Sawdust

National Sawdust, the former Williamsburg sawdust factory on N. 6th St. that has been turned into a multi-use facility containing a chamber hall, a recording studio, and a restaurant (three years and $16 million in the making), will finally open its doors this week. Thursday’s opening night (10/1) features two “Discover the Space” show. The early show (7:30 PM) has Nico Muhly performing a new piece with Bryce Dessner and violist Nadia Sirota, Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq, National Sawdust Executive Director and composer Paola Prestini and more (sold out).

Then the late show (11 PM) has Cibo Matto performing with Nels Cline. They’re playing a set from “National Sawdust Curators & Artists” which includes steel pan performer and composer Andy Akiho, cellist Jeffrey Zeigler, and poet Roger Bonair-Agard, and also a DJ set from James Murphy. tickets are still available and you can save 25% with coupon code: ARTISTLED.

Friday night (10/2) has two shows: Tanya Tagaq (performing a live score to Nanook of the North (tickets); and also pianist and keyboardist Leo Genovese who will present Legal Aliens, “a new set of compositions for a large ensemble comprised of musicians from around the world” (tickets).

There’s also the start of the Terry Riley festival on Saturday (10/3) with Matmos, John Zorn, Roomful of Teeth, and more (tickets). Zorn gets his own festival starting next week, and other October events include Hess is More and Low City on 10/17 (tickets), and Montreal’s Majical Cloudz and She-Devils on 10/21 (tickets). In November there’s producer/remixer/video artist Shura on 11/6 (tickets) and Real Estate’s Martin Courtney on 11/20 (tickets) and both of those shows are presented by Billy Jones of Baby’s All Right and Elvis Guesthouse.

There’s lots more coming up at National Sawdust, check out their calendar for details.