Devonté Hynes plays Julius Eastman

On the occasion of the exhibition "Julie Mehretu. Ensemble", which brings together a selection of more than sixty paintings and prints by the artist produced over a period of twenty-five years, Palazzo Grassi in collaboration with the Bourse de Commerce presents a musical programme evoking the themes that inspired the painter.

On 19 April, following a tribute to the American minimalist composer Julius Eastman (1940-1990) at the Bourse de Commerce in March 2022, in collaboration with Éditions 1989, the British composer Devonté Hynes, with a group of musicians, will offer a new interpretation of Eastman’s work, including the piece Femenine (1974) – one of the sources of inspiration for Julie Mehretu's cycle of paintings Femenine in nine.

A well-known figure of the New York musical avant-garde, Julius Eastman is a composer, pianist and singer born in 1940. His professional journey began at Ithaca College in New York State. Braving adversity penniless, yet with a few compositions in hand, in the 1970s he joined the experimental downtown New York music scene, collaborating with John Cage, Arthur Russell, Meredith Monk and Peter Maxwell Davies. In 1990, after seven years of "voluntary martyrdom" amidst psychotropic drugs and homeless wanderings, Eastman died and fell into obscurity.

African-American, Eastman used his art throughout his life as a shield against the racial tensions dividing the United States, selecting titles for his compositions (Evil N****r ; Crazy N****r ) to shake up morals. Partly inspired by Patti Smith’s anthem, these controversial titles were meant to honor Africans for their importance in the history of building the American economy and constitute one of the singularities of his work.

Devonté Hynes is a producer, multi-instrumentalist, composer, songwriter and vocalist. Raised in England, he started in the punk band Test Icicles before releasing two orchestral acoustic pop records as Lightspeed Champion. Since 2011, Devonté Hynes has released four solo albums under the name Blood Orange. He produced the music for the films Palo Alto (2013), Queen and Slim (2019) and Clair-obscur (2021). Hynes was recently nominated for two Grammy Awards for his classical music debut album, Fields.

Adam Tendler is a recipient of the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists and "currently the hottest pianist on the American contemporary classical scene" (Minneapolis Star Tribune), a "remarkable and insightful musician" (LA Times), and "relentlessly adventurous pianist" (Washington Post) "joyfully rocking out at his keyboard" (New York Times). An internationally recognized interpreter of living, modern and classical composers, and a pioneer of DIY culture in concert music, at age 23 Tendler performed solo recitals in all fifty states as part of a grassroots tour called America 88x50, the subject of his acclaimed memoir, 88x50. He has gone on to become one of classical and contemporary music's most recognized and celebrated artists, appearing recently as soloist with the LA Philharmonic and on the main-stages of Carnegie Hall and Brooklyn Academy of Music. Tendler recently released an album of Liszt's Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses on the Steinway Label, Robert Palmer: Piano Music on New World Records, and published his second book, tidepools. In 2022, he premiered 16 newly commissioned works by composers including Laurie Anderson, Devonté Hynes, Nico Muhly, Missy Mazzoli, Christopher Cerrone, Sarah Kirkland Snider, Timo Andres and Pamela Z as part of a project called Inheritances. Adam Tendler is a Yamaha Artist.

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