Roomful of Teeth

Music to sink your teeth into

NORTH ADAMS, MASSACHUSETTS — Roomful of Teeth, the ensemble of Grammy-winning vocal titans led by Williams College faculty member Brad Wells, returns to its summer home at MASS MoCA to create new works and hone techniques, culminating in a knock-out performance on Saturday, August 26, at 8pm, in the Hunter Center.

During the group’s eighth annual residency at the museum, Roomful of Teeth will spend two weeks in the Berkshires workshopping new music by seven composers, including acclaimed composer and song leader Alice Parker and vocal coach and metal singer Androo O’Hearn. The group will also visit new music by composer and singer-songwriter Ellis Ludwig-Leone (of the chamber-pop group San Fermin, which performed at MASS MoCA in 2015); composer and architect of the micro-timing technique Richard Beaudoin; composer and multi-instrumentalist William Brittelle; writer, composer, musician, and Guggenheim Fellow Rinde Eckert; as well as by Brad Wells himself.

Roomful of Teeth was pioneered in 2009 by Wells as an experimental vocal ensemble with the intention to “mine the expressive potential of the human voice.” The group is made up of eight vocalists, including Wells, whose vocal exploration knows no boundaries, resulting in a polychromatic sound that intertwines time-honored singing traditions with the world of contemporary classical music. Roomful of Teeth gathers annually at MASS MoCA to study with masters of Tuvan throat singing, Sardinian cantu a tenore, yodeling, Persian classical singing, and death metal, to name a few. The ensemble released its eponymous debut album in 2012 and a second studio album, Render, in 2015. Making its New York City premiere in 2016, the group performed The Colorado at the Met, a music-driven documentary film that explores water, land, and survival in the Colorado River Basin. The group’s other recent endeavors include collaborations with A Far Cry and Nick Zammuto of The Books; Tigran Hamasyan on a new piece commissioned by Carnegie Hall; appearances at new music festivals in the U.S., Canada, and Sweden; and partnerships with nearly two dozen higher education institutions across the country.

Roomful of Teeth has performed at Merkin Concert Hall, Lincoln Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, (Le) Poisson Rouge, National Sawdust, Town Hall Seattle, Carlsbad Music Festival, and Fusebox Festival, among others, and has received accolades from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, The Seattle Times, and The New York Times, which called the group’s performance of Caroline Shaw’s Pulitzer Prize winning Partita for 8 Voices “precisely, joyously done.”

Roomful of Teeth returns home to MASS MoCA for a two-week residency, including a pop-up performance of Ted Hearne’s Coloring Book in Nick Cave’s expansive installation Until on August 23 at 4:30pm, and a knock-out finale performance in the Hunter Center on Saturday, August 26, at 8pm. Dinner is available from Lickety Split before and during the show. A full bar serves up Bright Ideas Brewing beers and Berkshire Mountain Distillery spirits. The pop-up performance is free with admission to our galleries. Concert tickets are $16 in advance and for students, $22 day of, and $28 preferred. Tickets for all events are available through the MASS MoCA box office located on Marshall Street in North Adams, open 10am to 6pm every day, with extended evening hours to 7pm on Thursdays through Saturdays. Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 x1 during box office hours or purchased online at massmoca.org. All events are held rain or shine.

Images
High-resolution images of MASS MoCA’s summer 2017 events are available through this link.

About MASS MoCA
MASS MoCA is one of the world’s liveliest (and largest) centers for making, displaying, and enjoying today’s most important art, music, dance, theater, film, and video. MASS MoCA nearly doubled its gallery space in spring 2017, with artist partnerships that include Laurie Anderson, the Louise Bourgeois Trust, Jenny Holzer, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and James Turrell.
Gallery admission is $20 for adults, $18 for veterans and seniors, $12 for students, $8 for children 6 to 16, and free for children 5 and under. Members are admitted free year-round. The Hall Art Foundation’s Anselm Kiefer exhibition is seasonal and currently on view. For additional information, call 413.662.2111 x1 or visit our website.

Summer Hours (through September 4)
10am to 6pm, Sundays—Wednesdays
10am to 7pm, Thursdays—Saturdays

Download the Roomful of Teeth Press Release