Los Angeles composer Sebastian Robin Craig and his chamber jazz trio Ascendant premiere a concert version of a new opera, the Dead Cows Song Cycle.
Craig’s musical influences range from Russian modernists to Chicago avant-gardists, and his compositions combine the melodic clarity of classical music with the improvisational freedom and forward propulsion of jazz. At Langton, Craig presents a concert adaptation of Dead Cows – an unstaged, intimate instrumental version of the opera where audience members may follow the plot through program notes.
Ascendant is a group of accomplished young improvisers from the Los Angeles area: Aaron Arntz, piano; Gabriel Noel, doublebass; and Aaron McLendon, drums.
Sebastian Robin Craig has received grants the Fleishhacker Foundation, the LEF Foundation, Meet the Composer, the San Francisco Arts Commission, Theater Bay Area, and the Zellerbach Family Fund. Born in Kentucky, he earned a BA in Dance and Fine Arts from the University of California, Berkeley in 1991. He lives in Los Angeles.
Cost: $8/$6 members, students, seniors