With 'Waterlines,' Present Music evokes an America coping with floods

Almost presciently, Present Music begins its new season Friday with music about the devastating impact of flooding on American soil.

Guest conductor David Bloom will lead the concert, which features Christopher Trapani's "Waterlines," a song cycle about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 that draws on hymns and blues of the period. Trapani, a New Orleans native, started composing it in the months following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Mezzo-soprano Lucy Dhegrae will sing "Waterlines" with the PM ensemble.

Other music on this program employs repetition, such as Julius Eastman's "Stay on It," and audience participation, including Pauline Oliveros' "Heart Chant" and Meredith Monk's "Panda Chant II."

Speaking of audience participation, PM will perform this concert on the river-level space at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, 273 E. Erie St. Audience members can play pingpong and pool before the show. 

"It's not just that we do new music," said artistic director Kevin Stalheim, articulating Present Music's distinctive niche in the local musical ecosystem. "We do more American composers, more living composers, more women composers, more composers outside of the European tradition, than any classical music in town."

For example, he noted that on its Thanksgiving program, PM is performing Iranian-American composer Sahba Aminika's "Warp and Weft," premiered by the Kronos Quartet, a musical reflections of the lives of carpet weavers. 

Here's a look at the rest of the Present Music season: 

Nov. 19: PM's annual Thanksgiving concert includes "Grace," a world premiere from composer Ingram Marshall, which will use both a string quartet and a vocal quartet and draw on traditional hymns. As has become tradition, the Bucks Native American Singing and Drumming Group will open and close the performance. Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, 812 N. Jackson St. 

Feb. 22-24: Under the clever title "Give Chance a Piece," PM will perform music about war and peace and music based on serendipity. Mary Kouyoumdjian's "Children of Conflict" was inspired by Chris Hondros' photographs of children in war zones. With chance in the title of the program, you know PM will play something by John Cage, too. A full list of venues for these concerts will be announced later, but will include the Women's Club of Wisconsin and Marine Terminal Lofts. 

March 24: Guest conductor David Bloom leads a program featuring music of composers who overlap the pop and new-classical worlds. Minnesota singer-songwriter violist-composer Sarah Goldfeather guest-stars. UWM Zelazo Center, 2419 E. Kenwood Blvd.

June 23: PM returns to the Lynden Sculpture Garden, 2145 W. Brown Deer Road, River Hills, for a program that will take advantage of the many large sculptures on the grounds. 

For tickets and other info, visit presentmusic.org.