The Saturday evening performance is SOLD OUT.

Due to popular demand, Astra is presenting an additional performance of Gay Guerrilla on
SUNDAY AUGUST 4 at 5PM. Click ticket link above!

What I am trying to achieve is to be what I am to the fullest – black to the fullest, a musician to the fullest, and a homosexual to the fullest.
- Julius Eastman 

Peter Dumsday, Joy Lee, Georgina Lewis, Christopher Nankervis, pianos
Judith Dodsworth, voice
singers from The Astra Choir
directed by Andrew Byrne

Program:
EVIL N*****  (1979), four pianos (Australian premiere)
PRELUDE TO THE HOLY PRESENCE OF JOAN D'ARC (1981),  solo voice
JOY BOY (1974), voices and high instruments (Australian premiere)
GAY GUERRILLA (1979), four pianos (Australian premiere)

Julius Eastman (1940-90) is increasingly recognised as one of visionary composers of 20th-century music. As a gay Black man, Eastman faced exclusion and even hostility from multiple sides in the US musical community. However, he channelled that adversity into a music language of searing intensity.

Eastman's music is a bold fusion of the avant-garde and political activism. His works bear provocative titles like Evil N***** and Gay Guerrilla,  defiantly affirming his identity as an African-American and as a gay man. Yet it is Eastman's gripping, propulsive musical language, combining minimalism with punk sensibility, that commands attention.

In recent years, interest in Eastman's work has surged after a period of obscurity following his untimely death. This concert marks the Australian premiere of several of his significant compositions, offering audiences an opportunity to experience the raw power and emotional depth of Eastman's music.