Prague Quiet Music Collective

Dear Friends,

The Prague Quiet Music Collective has commissioned a new piece from me and four other composers for their concert “Five Uncertain Situations” on December 9 at the concert hall of the House U Kamenné zvonu in Prague. Each piece was inspired by a sculpture in the Prague Capital Gallery collection, mine of which was Stanislav Kolíbal’s work Vratká poloha (1968).

A little bit about the piece:

Unstable Position is a ten-section modular piece with open instrumentation inspired by Stanislav Kolíbal’s metal sculpture Vratká poloha. Any three — and up to ten — sections may be programmed for each performance with the option of playing them back-to-back or with other pieces in-between. This form is inspired not only by the delicately balanced three-dimensionality of the sculpture but also by the viewing process one so often experiences in a museum: glancing at many artworks in passing, paying more attention to some aspects of certain objects than others, and then perhaps (hopefully) returning to memorable artworks for additional time and contemplation.

for now,

Jordan

Vratká poloha by Stanislav Kolíbal

Musicworks Magazine Feature

Dear Friends,

The Canadian music magazine Musicworks has just sent me a copy of their Fall 2022 issue which includes a feature on my work as a composer of both concert music and music for media. The magazine has excellent design, comes with a CD — which includes 2 music cues from soon-to-be-released films, and has a number of nice photos that I haven’t shared with the world yet. Kurt Gottschalk penned this very thoughtful article which mostly stems from a 3 hour conversation he and I had back in April. It also includes an interview Kurt did with S.E.M. Ensemble leader Petr Kotik (who recently programmed my work Fathom Peaks Unseen alongside Alvin Lucier’s Navigation for Strings). Order the issue from their website or at a local Canadian bookstore.

for now,

Jordan

Bodega portrait by Gabe Long

Apartment House premieres “Globus”

Stocky, all ears.

Dear Friends,

Apartment House will premiere my new piece Globus (for violin, viola, clarinet, and piano) next Tuesday, September 6 at 8pm as part of their residency at Cafe Oto in London. The program is as follows:

Adrian Demoč ‘Ma fin est mon commencement’
Karlheinz Stockhausen ‘Bird of Passage’
Jordan Dykstra ‘Globus’
John Lely ‘Nocturne’
Karlheinz Stockhausen ‘Japan’
Ryoko Akama ‘melody’

for now,

Jordan

The Alvin Lucier Festival

Dear Friends (especially those in Baltimore and Washington D. C.),

Alvin Augustus Lucier Jr. (1931 – 2021)

The Alvin Lucier Festival is continuing with a few more concerts this coming Thursday and Friday and I will be performing once each day.

Thursday’s program — at 21 W Mt Royal Ave, Baltimore, MD 21230 at 7:30pm — includes Music for Snare Drum, Vespers, 13 Degrees of Darkness, Criss-Cross, Panorama, and Septet. Friday’s program — at 500 17th St NW, Washington, DC 20006 at 6pm and 8pm — includes Music for Piano with Slow Sweep Pure Wave Oscillators, Heavier Than Air, Music for Baritone with Slow Sweep Pure Wave Oscillators, Broken Line, and Trio for Cello, Clarinet, and Tuba (at 6pm) and then at 8pm: Theme, Key West, Still and Moving Lines of Silence in Families of Hyperbolas, and the piece Alvin wrote for Ordinary Affects Corner Church & High.

Photos and more info are on Instagram here and the program booklet is available online here.

For now,

Jordan

“Fathom Peaks Unseen” Performance in Brooklyn

Dear Friends,

The S.E.M. Ensemble (with conductor Petr Kotik) performing at the Willow Place Auditorium.

On Wednesday, April 6th at 7pm, the S.E.M. Ensemble will perform works for string quartet, double bass, percussion, and marimba. The program will combine music of the 1950s by Morton Feldman; the 1990s, by Frederic Rzewski and Alvin Lucier; recent works by Petr Kotik, Ana Sokolovic, and Jordan Dykstra, and a premiere by Daniel O'Connor. The concert explores musical relationships spanning seventy years, and puts forth pieces that depart from the concept of narrative drama popularized with early classicism. My piece “Fathom Peaks Unseen” (2016) — which was first released on my album The Arrow of Time by New World Records in 2020 — will be paired with Alvin Lucier’s “Navigations for Strings” (1991). The performance will take place at the Willow Place Auditorium (26 Willow Place, Brooklyn, NY) and tickets are free, but please RSVP here.

For now,

Jordan

Plot to Overturn the Election

Dear Friends,

I did not make the music for the trailer :)

I am pleased to announce I have made the score for the first episode of the 2022 season of FRONTLINE called “Plot to Overturn the Election.” The episode will air on Tuesday, March 29 on your local PBS station and will be streaming on their website, as well (their YouTube page will also archive the full documentary). The episode was written and directed by Sam Black and the correspondent A. C. Thompson — who I the opportunity to work with on the Documenting Hate episodes — is the journalist and interviewer. I think it will have wide appeal, as it carefully examines the myth of “the big lie” (that Trump actually won the 2020 election). From the FRONTLINE website:

A year after President Joe Biden’s inauguration, around two-thirds of Republican voters believe his election was illegitimate, and the idea that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump is now a defining issue of the Republican Party. Yet the story of how lies about election fraud made their way to the center of American politics has not been fully told.

In a new investigative collaboration, FRONTLINE and ProPublica trace the hidden sources of misinformation about the 2020 election, demonstrating how a handful of people have had an outsized impact on the current U.S. crisis of democratic legitimacy.

For now,

Jordan

P. S. I’m sharing some snippets from the score below!

March 29 update: But I did make the music for the opening :)

“Out of Our Hands” LP with Alvin Lucier

Dear Friends,

The time has finally come to announce the release of Out of Our Hands on LP/digital by Alvin Lucier and myself. Important Records pressed special red vinyl which you can pre-order now before the official release on Friday, March 18. This project began back in 2018 when I asked Alvin if I could commission a piece by him for the ensemble Ordinary Affects, a group I play viola in, to go alongside my new piece “32 Middle Tones.” He agreed and wrote “Corner Church and High” for string trio and 2 vibraphones (the title is in reference to the location of the house where he recorded his famous work “I am sitting in a room”). The debut recordings of both compositions were made in 2019 at the World Music Hall at Wesleyan University, my alma mater and where Alvin taught for many decades, by Luke Damrosch (who also played percussion on the two pieces). The photograph used for the cover was taken by Shelli Weiler in August of 2019 in his backyard in Middletown and on the back cover you can see the Alvin’s cherished aspen tree — a tree which somehow survived with the help of Alvin whispering his blessings to it each day. And, of course, it was performed by Morgan Evans-Weiler (violin), Jordan Dykstra (viola), Laura Cetilia (cello), J. P. A. Falzone (percussion), and Luke Damrosch (percussion).

Alvin lived until he was 90 (!) but passed away last December and is already missed by so many. I could say a lot about my time with Alvin — eating lobster, stories about Bob and Morton, recording airplanes, listening to bats, driving all over the place — but, for now, I will pass on this statement I wrote late last year.

“With Alvin’s recent passing I was overwhelmed with messages and calls from friends, collaborators, and his former students. Everyone had a heavy heart, no doubt, but were grateful for the memories and their gift to be around Alvin during his lifetime of prolific dedication to the arts, his fascination with poetic storytelling through scientifically-inspired minimalism, and his calm and warmhearted spirit. In his last few years on earth, Alvin was busier than ever — brainstorming new ideas, creating new pieces, and planning big things. While he was here, he was alive, and may his music — and spirit — live on forever, spreading from his corner of Church and High (where he recorded his seminal piece I am sitting in a room) to every corner, concert hall, and loudspeaker in the world.”

For now,

Jordan

“GG” Documentary

Dear Friends,

I am very happy to share a documentary from the performance of my piece “GG” last October in Brooklyn, NY. The film was put together by Gabriel Jace Long with assistance from Oscar de La Torre Suárez. Please enjoy!

To learn more about the piece — which was performed synchronously along each of the G train’s 21 platforms, twice (!) — please visit this page.

For now,

Jordan

GG

Dear Friends,

On Friday afternoon (October 15) I will be joining 20 other performers to premiere my new piece GG. The 45’ work is designed for one performer at each of the G train line’s 21 platforms to methodically improvise on a melodica through an interaction with playback from a small speaker. GG will be performed twice — first from 6 to 6:45pm and then again from 7 to 7:45pm — to reach peak ridership along the line but also to give additional listening time for riders who are commuting later during the evening.

I’ve made a webpage for the GG and event here — which includes the performer list, links to the score, form, and a press release — with more information, including this description: Inspired by the history and ridership of the G train (the only local train in the MTA system that doesn’t go through Manhattan), musical games, Charles Mingus’ sonic interactions with the GG train along with subway improvisation culture, and the subterranean culture of the online gaming world, GG explores the possibility of microtonal listening and macro-spatial relationships on a local and geographically complex level while “musicking” within the realm of normally unheard — and underground — sounds.

For now,

Jordan

“If you wanna get to Greenpoint at a medium pace” (take the G train)

In Better Shape Than You Found Me

Dear Friends,

I am honored to announce the fantastic label Elsewhere has released In Better Shape Than You Found Me — a one-hour piece jointly composed and realized by Koen Nutters and myself. It has been released on CD and high quality digital download via the Elsewhere website and Bandcamp page. Some text from the Elsewhere page about the release:

“Sparsely created minimal sounds from various instruments and electronics intersect and move organically in a geometric pattern, linearly or ascendingly, while retaining calmness and a sense of spatial expansion over the subtle presence of field recordings, occasionally hovering at the edge of harmonies or assimilating into silences.”

The work was premiered at KM28 in Berlin in August of this year but we hope to program the piece (at least) in Amsterdam and New York City during the next few months. Please reach out to me if you’d like to hear this piece near your home town. Finally, Koen and I did a Q&A with Yuko Zama — the label’s curator and fantastic album designer — about our collaboration process, approach to harmony and ensemble writing, and the album in general, which has been published here.

For now,

Jordan

*11/05 UPDATE: IBSTYFM was selected as one of Bandcamp’s best Contemporary Classical Albums of October 2021 and reviewed here!

Elsewhere018: cover photo by David Sylvain, design by Yuko Zama.

Sleepover with Ensemble Spectrum

Dear Friends,

I am so happy to be included in an amazing 9 hour sleepover concert which Ensemble Spectrum (artistically led by Matej Sloboda) is planning on September 14 at Nová Cvernovka in Bratislava, Slovakia. With the world premiere of my piece A Known Unknown last month in Ostrava, Czech Republic I am extremely grateful to share the piece again, this time with the Slovak people. For those interested, tickets are available here. The fantastic program is as follows:

Julius Eastman - Joy Boy
Morton Feldman - Why patterns?
Julius Eastman - Buddha
Alvin Lucier - Tribute a James Tenney
James Tenney - In a large open space
Alvin Lucier - Music for piano and two swelling oscillators
James Tenney - Having never written a piece for percussion
Morton Feldman - Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello
Alvin Lucier - Music for piano with magnetic
Phill Niblock - Disseminate
La Monte Young - Composition 1960 # 7
Ulrich Krieger - The Void
Julius Eastman - Femenine
Yves Klein - Symphonie “Monoton.Silence”

For now,

Jordan

Looks dreamy…

A Known Unknown (world premiere)

UPDATE: This performance has been moved to Friday August 27, 2021 at 16:00 at the Jiří Myron Theatre

Dear Friends,

A quick note to mention the world premiere of my piece A Known Unknown (2015/16) which is happening this coming Friday at the Jiří Myron Theatre as part of the 2021 Ostrava Days in the Czech Republic. The work will be performed by Kateřina Blažková (piano), Miklos Holló (percussion), and Mikulas Mrva (electronics and programming). A huge thanks to Petr Kotík and the great number of people at the Ostrava Center for New Music (OCNM) who impressively undertook the challenge of making a(n urgently needed music) festival during this confusing time. Bravo!

For now,

Jordan

Rehearsing at the Janáček Conservatory in Ostrava, CZ.

Two Performances in Berlin

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to share two performances — both world premieres — with an audience at KM28 (Karl-Marx-Str. 28, 12043 Berlin) this coming Friday and Saturday evenings. The first evening will present the piece, titled “Sunrunning in Reverse,” a lecture-performance about self confidence, the transformation from Villain to Hero (as well as the reverse), and the game of poker. It will be performed by the phenomenal Jessie Marino and myself with electronic playback and objects. The second evening will hold the premiere of a piece Koen Nutters and I co-composed called “In Better Shape Than You Found Me” (which is slated for a late-September CD release on Elsewhere Music) performed by a fantastic ensemble of Manuel Pessoa de Lima (piano), Lucy Railton (cello), Hannes Lingens (crotales, vibraphones), and myself (melodica), also with electronic playback.

It would be a pleasure to see you there!

For now,

Jordan

MPL/JD/KM

I am sitting in a room: Issue Project Room celebrates Alvin Lucier at 90

Dear Friends,

Beginning Thursday, May 13 at 20:00 Issue Project Room is celebrating Alvin Lucier’s 90th birthday (!) by streaming 90 artists’ iterations of his iconic work “I am sitting in a room.” I am extremely honored to be included in the event which has an exceptional line-up of performers; see below for full schedule. The text we read, which is recorded and then carefully filtered over time by playing the original recording back into the space it was first recorded in (and allowing the room to physically shape the resultant audio), is as follows:

"I am sitting in a room different from the one you are in now. I am recording the sound of my speaking voice and I am going to play it back into the room again and again until the resonant frequencies of the room reinforce themselves so that any semblance of my speech, with perhaps the exception of rhythm, is destroyed. What you will hear, then, are the natural resonant frequencies of the room articulated by speech. I regard this activity not so much as a demonstration of a physical fact, but more as a way to smooth out any irregularities my speech might have."

Finally, today The New York Times published an article diving a bit deeper into the history of “I am sitting a room” and Alvin’s legacy — read it here.

For now,

Jordan

Line-up for the event:

May 13th
Alvin Lucier - 20:00
Amanda Lucier - 20:19
Abigail Levine - 20:39
Aki Takahashi - 20:48
Akiko Hatakeyama - 21:09
Alec McLane - 21:26
Andrea Miller-Keller - 21:45
Anna Pangalou - 21:56
Anthony Burr - 22:13
Barbara Bloom - 22:30
Bernhard Rietbrock - 22:42
Bob Bielecki - 22:59
Charles Curtis - 23:12
Christian Wolff - 23:35
Christina Kubisch - 23:56
May 14th
Claire Chase - 0:16
Cleek Schrey - 0:31
Conrad Harris - 0:52
Daniel Fishkin - 1:07
David Behrman - 1:26
Dave Scanlon - 1:40
David Toop - 1:46
Dina Maccabee - 2:02
Douglas Simon - 2:22
Ernest Braun - 2:42
Evan Ziporyn - 3:01
George Lewis - 3:22
Georgia Hubley - 3:38
Gordon Monahan - 3:57
Hauke Harder - 4:14
Heidi Senungetuk - 4:34
Ira Kaplan - 4:55
Irvine Arditti - 5:13
Isabelle Bozzini - 5:34
James Peter Falzone - 5:50
James Fei - 6:09
James McNew - 6:35
Jan Thoben - 6:53
Jane Alden - 7:10
Jennifer Hadley - 7:29
Intermission (15 minutes)
Jessie Marino - 8:00
Joan Jordi Oliver Arcos - 8:17
Joan La Barbara - 8:38
Joe Kubera - 8:58
Jordan Dykstra - 9:17
Jung Hee Choi - 9:36
Kata Kovács - 9:53
KCM Walker - 10:13
La Monte Young - 10:31
Laura Cetilia - 10:48
Lucy Railton - 11:03
Lynn Bechtold - 11:23
Marian Zazeela - 11:38
Intermission (15 minutes)
Mark Slobin - 11:54
Matt Sargent - 12:26
Matt Wellins - 12:40
Matthew Evan Taylor - 12:50
May Klug - 13:09
Meredith Monk - 13:29
Michael Steinborn - 13:49
Mimi Johnson - 14:02
Minoru Sato - 14:17
Nestor Prieto - 14:37
Nic Collins - 14:55
Nina Katchadourian - 15:09
Olga Bell - 15:26
Oren Ambarchi - 15:42
Paula Matthusen - 15:58
Pauline Kim Harris - 16:10
Peter Ablinger - 16:21
Petr Kotik - 16:38
Robert Wilson - 16:53
Ronald Kuivila - 17:14
Ron Shalom - 17:31
Seth Cluett - 17:52
Seth Kim-Cohen - 18:12
Steve Reich - 18:28
Steven Drury - 18:45
Sumarsam - 19:02
Susan Leigh Foster - 19:19
Terri Hanlon - 19:37
Thomas Buckner - 19:52
Thurston Moore - 20:11
Tom Hamilton - 20:32
Tom O'Doherty - 20:51
Trevor Saint - 21:11
Valentine Michaud - 21:28
Viola Rusche - 21:44
Warren Enström - 22:01
Wendy Stokes - 22:17

Alvin Lucier at the Brandeis Electronic Music Studio in Waltham, Massachusetts in the late 60s. Unnamed University Photographer.

Long Live Live Music, New Reel

Dear Friends,

I have great news: Live public music performances are beginning to return to the world, at least in my local Brooklyn community. At a rehearsal of my string quartet “Three Lines & Chevron (Another Algorithm for Unification)” yesterday with the S.E.M. Ensemble I was overwhelmed with the sounds of coming from these wooden boxes with horsehair being pulled across their strings — truly music to my ears. The piece will be debuted on Saturday, April 3 at 2:30pm in 25 Columbia Place in Brooklyn Heights; more information — including an RSVP form — can be found on the their website.

I am also pleased to finally share an updated film music reel (video version); the audio-only version can be found here.

For now,

Jordan

I’m a composer and I’m serious(ly enjoying the sunshine in this handball court in Fort Greene). Photo by Gabe Long.

BBC Radio3 Interview

Dear Friends,

I hope this finds you well.

I recently spoke about my piano piece “The Arrow of Time” with Tom Service at BBC Radio3 for the New Music Show. The episode was just broadcast and is streamable for the next 30 days at the BBC website. I have made an edit of the interview below as well, for ease sake. During the course of the interview we talk a bit about how the piece uses a hand-crank siren in addition to the grand piano, Walter Marchetti, Maurice Ravel’s “Piano Concerto for the Left Hand,” the cultural phenomena of sky quakes, and finally the origins of the title: the physics term “the arrow of time” which observes time to work in forward motion just as much as in reverse.

“Jordan Dykstra: making time slow and stop — and seem to run backwards as well as forwards.” (Tom Service, BBC Radio3)

For now,

Jordan

With an ease only he possesses, pianist Reinier van Houdt — seen here at Splendor in Amsterdam — effortlessly navigates the piano and hand-crank siren double-duty for “The Arrow of Time.”

Concertzender Feature

Dear Friends,

I hope this finds you well.

Screen grab from Concertzender.nl homepage. Click image to listen…

I wanted to let you know about a feature on Dutch radio station Concertzender — a broadcaster which happens to be one of my favorite outlets for music in all the world (wide web). I am very grateful to Mark van de Voort for his kind words, producing the show, and contextualizing the pieces from my recent album The Arrow of Time within the sonic worlds of three my mentors Alvin Lucier, Michael Pisaro, and Jürg Frey.

The program was broadcasted live tonight in the Netherlands and is archived (link on image to the right) for future streams.

For now,

Jordan

Blow the Man Down

Dear Friends,

I hope this finds you well.

After almost a year since Amazon began streaming the film, the soundtrack to Blow the Man Down — which I co-composed with Brian McOmber — has been released! The album is published by Editions Verde on CD/MP3 and is streaming on all major platforms worldwide. Here are some links: Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, YouTube.

The soundtrack — which was mixed by Ben Greenberg and mastered by Alan Jones — features instrumentalists Michael Pestel (flutes), Thollem McDonas (piano), and Malcom Parson (cello). And just in time for the internet’s insatiable craze over sea shanties, of the 26 tracks on the album four are traditional sea shanties sung by David Coffin and friends. We all worked super hard on the music to help make this film really come to life; I hope you enjoy it! Blow the Man Down was recently included on the list of best movies of 2020 from The Washington Post and Robert Abele at the Los Angeles Times wrote: “The story’s sharp turns are nicely echoed, too, in the jig-like, clattery score from Brian McOmber and Jordan Dykstra, with the atmosphere often punctuated by professional shanty singer David Coffin (seen on screen as one of those fishermen) occasionally warbling the ominous sea tune 'Blood Red Roses.'”

For now,

Jordan

Go on now: click above 👆to preview the Blow the Man Down soundtrack

Year End Best-Of Lists

Dear Friends,

I hope this finds you well.

I was recently elated to find my album The Arrow of Time (New World Records) on both Bandcamp’s Best Contemporary Classical Albums of 2020 and The Wire magazine’s Top 10 Modern Composition Albums of 2020 (see right). Both lists feature an esteemed group of composers and performers so, needless to say, I am extremely honored!

Preview and purchase the CD/digital through the New World Records website.

For now,

Jordan

Screenshot from Bandcamp’s Best Contemporary Classical Albums of 2020

Screenshot from The Wire (issue available January 2021)

“A Known Unknown” Broadcast via Radiophrenia

Dear Friends,

I hope this finds you well.

I’m excited to share that Radiophrenia — the amazing temporary 24/7 art radio station — is returning November 9-22 for it’s fifth edition. The program this year, which will be broadcast live from the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow, includes my piece A Known Unknown (2016) which streams on November 11 from 11:00pm - 12:00am (GMT), or 6:00pm - 7:00pm (EST).

Anna McLauchlan writes: “Radiophrenia is an accumulation, rather than an overarching theme or idea, brought together through a common medium: live events, produced commissions, live studio performances, compilations of short works, long form works, documentaries, field recordings, experimental music, sound art, drama, poetry and (perhaps mostly) lots of material that lies in between or beyond. At times recordings blend together, at others they are punctuated by an announcer’s voice. Ongoing and literally refreshing, becoming anew with each work, each space of reception.” Unfortunately this year, due to Covid-19, the in-studio live broadcasts from the CCA Theater cannot happen but the curators have commissioned a number of additional projects which look exciting.

For now,
Jordan

Spotted at North St. at Argyle St. (image courtesy of Radiophrenia)