Boxing and chamber music combine in ‘Strike!’
Performance in DUMBO Set for April 25
The International Street Cannibals (ISC) — a collection of seasoned musicians and composers directed by Dan Barrett — will join forces with young boxers from the legendary Gleason’s Gym in DUMBO for another round of “Strike!” — a special performance on Saturday, April 25 at 8 p.m. (77 Front St.)
The event will bring together the art of boxing with the art of chamber music to highlight the close kinship existing between these two highly disciplined practices. Drawing its players from groups such as Orpheus, The Orchestra of St. Luke’s and the Absolute Ensemble, “Strike!” was founded in 2005 as a laboratory for ritual and artistic expression that defies assumptions regarding performance spaces and audiences.
Part of an ongoing educational youth series created by Dan Barrett and facilitated by Technical Directors Tyler Learned and Charles Moses, “Strike!” interprets sport and music as sister art forms. It brings together the formal and rigorous training of each discipline, allowing them to combine in surprising partnerships while engendering new artistic forms. New music compositions from some of today’s most dexterous composers as well as classical masters will be heard in the unfamiliar, yet disciplined environment of the boxing ring. Ten- to 15-minute sets of 3- to 4-minute chamber works will alternate with 8-minute bouts of boxing, three rounds each. Sixty-second thematic musical interludes will be performed in between the teen pugilists’ rounds. Performances will take place in the three main rings of the gym, contributing to a theater-in-the-round effect, with the audience progressing from one ring to another.
