$15 (General Admission)
7:00pm Show
Gifted pianist/composer Ben Cosgrove makes his Berlin debut with support from Rainfields (Liz Draper on bass, Chris Hepola on drums, and Crystal Myslajek on keys).
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Ben Cosgrove is a traveling composer-performer whose music explores themes of landscape, place, and environment. Described by the Boston Globe as “a sonic plein-air painter,” Cosgrove has performed in every U.S. state except for Delaware; collaborated with rock bands and research scientists; contributed music to several radio and film projects (including the recent Ken Burns documentary, The American Buffalo); and held residencies and fellowships with institutions including NASA, Acadia National Park, White Mountain National Forest, Isle Royale National Park, Harvard University, Middlebury College, the New England National Scenic Trail, the Schmidt Ocean Institute, the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife & Fish Refuge, the Connecticut River Museum, and the Sitka Center for Art & Ecology.
Cosgrove’s music has been called "beautiful and fascinating" (The Maine Edge), "deeply impressive" (Independent Clauses), and "immediately evocative and fully arresting... brim[ming] with technical mastery and emotional capital" (Seven Days). Yankee Magazine calls his music "quintessentially American, omnivorous, and democratic," and Sound of Boston has described him as "an expert at painting sonic portraits of curious, unexpected places." His latest album, Topograph, a collection of sixteen new pieces inspired by land-shaping processes around the country, was released in January.
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Bassist Liz Draper has played with everyone from Sub Pop's Grammy-nominated slowcore band Low to the Balkan folk group Orkestar Bez Ime, Righteous Babe artist Pieta Brown, Grammy Award-winning Okee Dokee Brothers, and Smithsonian recording artist folk troubadour Charlie Parr. Draper grew up playing jazz and has a degree in classical bass performance. Her improvising led her to Brooklyn's SIM (School for Improvised Music 2003). Draper is a 2019 Giant Steps Fellow (San Francisco). She is a 2021 American Composers Forum awardee for her solo work, which can be described as "classicaldoomfolkjazz." Draper is currently touring with two-time Grammy-nominated songwriter Iris DeMent.
Chris Hepola is a drummer, pianist, and songwriter based in Minneapolis. He organizes many ensembles—including the House on Fire Band and The Real Chuck NORAD—and creates musical environments that allow for open improvisation and personal expression.
Crystal Myslajek is a multi-instrumentalist, sound artist, and collaborator. She explores deep listening, the embodiment of sound, and connection through music. Inspired by minimalism; improvisation; field recordings; and pop, post-classical, jazz, and ambient musics, she creates emotive dreamscapes and songs with spectral vocal loops and textural piano sketches.