Ne(x)tworks joins forces with JACK Quartet for these world premiere performances of composer, multi-instrumentalist, and electric harp pioneer Zeena Parkins’s latest work, Spellbeamed.

Commissioned by Ne(x)tworks, Spellbeamed takes inspiration from literary critic Walter Benjamin’s Archive, a published trove of images, texts and ephemera collected by the author. For Parkins’s new composition, quotidian materials collected by each musician are utilized to form an animated score developed in collaboration with visual artist Cynthia Madansky.

The resultant sound is further enhanced with live-processing by Preshish Moments and the composer, creating an ecology of inter-relationships developed between improvisers and readers, sound and score, objects and instruments. Both evenings begin with the premieres of three additional works by Ne(x)tworks composers Joan La Barbara, Miguel Frasconi and Chris McIntyre.