A REMEMBRANCE

PERFORMANCES AND WORKS BY: aALIY A. MUHAMMAD, KINAN ABOU-AFACH WITH BERGAMOT QUARTET & ELISA SUTHERLAND, JESSICA HECHT, ALEX STADLER, AND MORE

CURATED BY ALEX STADLER

SATURDAY, JUNE 15
3 PM

New York City AIDS Memorial
76 Greenwich Avenue, NYC

Kinan Abou-afach is an acclaimed cellist, oud player, composer, and recipient of the prestigious Pew Fellowship in 2013. The Syrian-born musician began his musical studies at the age of seven studying at the Arabic Institute of Music in Damascus, where he eventually joined the National Syrian Symphony Orchestra and performed with the Middle Eastern Ensemble. He holds a Bachelor’s Degrees in cello and oud performance from the Higher Institute of Music where he Studied the cello repertoire with Fayez Zahril-Din, Rasi Abdullaiev, and Valery Volkov, and a Master’s Degree in Cello Performance from DePaul University School of Music where he studied with Stephen Balderston.

Bergamot Quartet is fueled by a passion for exploring and advocating for the music of living composers with creative programming, community-oriented audience building, and frequent commissioning. Their 2023-24 season has included the premiere of an evening-length work at Lincoln Center by percussionist Samuel Torres for Bergamot and Latin jazz sextet, collaborating with The Crossing Choir for a premiere of David T. Little’s SIN-EATER commissioned by Penn Live Arts, a performance of Dan Trueman’s “Songs That Are Hard To Sing” with Sō Percussion at Public Records in Brooklyn, an evening exploring Hildegard von Bingen with the New York Choral Society, and a collaboration with composer/percussionist Susie Ibarra and her Talking Gong trio. Bergamot operates the monthly concert series “Bergamot Quartet Extended” as a medium to showcase their many inspiring collaborators. Based in New York City, Bergamot Quartet is Ledah Finck and Sarah Thomas, violins; Amy Tan, viola; and Irène Han, cello. Bergamot Quartet was the inaugural Graduate String Quartet in Residence at the Mannes School of Music 2020-2022, where they were mentored by the JACK Quartet.

Scholar, novelist, and poet Melvin Dixon (1950-1992) wrote the poetry collections Change of Territory (1983) and Love’s Instruments (1995, published posthumously) and two novels, Trouble the Water (1989), winner of a Nilon Award for Excellence in Minority Fiction, and Vanishing Rooms (1991). Influenced by James Baldwin, Dixon wrote extensively about the complexities of being a gay black man. Dixon produced scholarship on and translated writing by several African American writers, including Geneviève Fabre and Jacques Roumain. He was the recipient of a fellowship from the NEA and he taught at Wesleyan University, the City University of New York, Fordham University, Columbia University, and Williams College. He died from complications related to AIDS at age 42.

Jessica Hecht is an acclaimed stage actress and appeared most recently in Summer, 1976 opposite Laura Linney (Tony Nomination). Hecht's Broadway credits include The Price, Fiddler on the Roof, The Assembled Parties, Harvey Brighton Beach Memoirs, Julius Caesar, and A View from the Bridge (Tony Nomination). Off-Broadway, she has appeared in King Lear, Stage Kiss, Three Sisters, and at Lincoln Center Theater in Admissions for which she received an Obie Award. She received an Emmy Award nomination for her performance in the Netflix series Special. She is regularly seen on television in the series Super Pumped and The Loudest Voice and recurring roles in The Sinner, Dickinson, The Boys, and Succession. She is also recognizable to television audiences from Friends and Breaking Bad. She has just completed filming Eleanor The Great, Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut.

Cookie Mueller (1949-1989) was a legendary writer, actress, raconteur, and adventurer best known for playing leading roles in John Waters's classic cult films Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, Desperate Living, and Multiple Maniacs. She also chronicled downtown New York life, romance, and culture for the East Village Eye and Details magazine, performed in a series of plays by Gary Indiana. She wrote numerous stories that would only be published posthumously. The first collected edition of her stories, featuring the entire contents of her 1990 book Walking through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black, alongside more than two dozen others, was published by Semiotext(e) in 2022. Cookie died in New York City of AIDS-related complications at age 40.

aAliy A. Muhammad is a poz writer born/raised in Philadelphia. In their work they often problematize medical surveillance, discuss the importance of bodily autonomy and center Blackness. aAliy is the creator of Black Reverence Chair, a joy and affirmation ritual. With Dr. Lyra D. Monteiro, aAliy is a co-convener of Finding Ceremony, a descendant community-controlled process, restoring the lineages of care, reverence, and spiritual memory to the work of caring for our dead.

Alex Stadler is a multidisciplinary artist, author, illustrator, textile designer, and curator. At stadler-Kahn, his hybrid gallery/design laboratory in Philadelphia, he produced numerous exhibits over six years, featuring mid-career and emerging local artists and designers. He has curated shows at The Art Alliance, The Clay Studio, and The Independence Seaport Museum, as well as a pop-up shop at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, featuring work from 40 Philadelphia-based artists and designers. Stadler has created public artwork for Reading Terminal Market and Comcast Towers and for Saks 5th Avenue's flagship store in New York City. Stadler holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and can be found on Instagram @alexanderstadlerart.

Mezzo-soprano Elisa Sutherland gives detailed, stylistic performances of early and new music with “soul-infused expressiveness and unselfconscious joie de vivre.” Highlights from this upcoming season include a performance of Jacquet de la Guerre’s Judith with TENET Vocal Artists, a European tour with Ekmeles, and three appearances with Alkemie medieval ensemble. Ellie is a core member of Ekmeles, a sextet dedicated to exploring microtonal tuning and extended vocal techniques. She has appeared in art song recitals with the Brooklyn Art Song Society (BASS) and Philadelphia’s Lyricfest. In the realm of vocal chamber music, Ellie frequently appears with the top ensembles in the country including The Crossing, Roomful of Teeth, Lorelei, the Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Variant 6, and Seraphic Fire. 

A Remembrance will be held at the New York City AIDS Memorial, rain or shine.