RUSSELL: 24 to 24 Music
Wild Up

GRAMMY-nominated orchestral collective Wild Up presents Arthur Russell’s minimalist disco masterwork 24 to 24 Music as part of the To the Fullest festival. Performed a number of times during Russell’s life, this open-form jam for ensemble, percussion, keyboards, and voices bridges the seeming chasm between the new music community of Downtown New York and the popular dance music of the Loft. Premiering at The Kitchen in 1979, the performance included Julius Eastman as performer and assistant to Russell — who also appeared on the later studio recording. Taking a cue from the unexpected dancing that broke out at the premiere, these performances will be presented in a transformed REDCAT theater that evokes the large-scale dance parties of Downtown New York as audiences are encouraged to dance and experience this work fully. 

Wild Up
Darian Donovan Thomas, violin / electronics
Sidney Hopson, percussion
Max Jaffe, drums
Jodie Landau, voice/percussion
Marlon Martinez, upright bass
Lewis Pesacov, guitar
Christopher Rountree, synths / voice / conductor
Derek Stein, cello
M.A. Tiesenga, saxophones
Brian Walsh, saxophones
Mitchell Yoshida, keyboards

Produced in collaboration with Wild Up
Artistic Director and Conductor for Wild Up, Christopher Rountree
Production Director for Wild Up and additional lighting direction by Brian Sea
Executive Producer for Wild Up, Elizabeth Cline

Special thanks to writer and historian John Brackett and his work Performing Arthur Russell’s 24 to 24 Music: Historical and Critical Notes, which serves as the foundation for Wild Up’s interpretation of 24 to 24 Music.

“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

The music of legendary collaborators Julius Eastman and Arthur Russell is singular and boundless. These are expansive, quintessentially queer pieces, in which every moment is full of choice. Their profound and personal sounds demand that performers become unabashedly themselves, merging and getting lost in the notes and rhythms, finding themselves again and again, and emerging whole and newly committed to self. This intrapersonal endeavoring is matched externally with musical structures that create profound belonging within a group.

This project represents a landmark collaboration between LA Phil Insight, REDCAT, and Wild Up uplifting the legacies of these maverick artists.

Related To the Fullest Festival  Programming
March 15 - May 4, 2025    World of Echo