NEW YORK— Whitney Live hosts the Wordless Music series each Friday in June at the Whitney Museum of American Art, presenting four shows pairing innovative rock and electronic music with adventurous contemporary classical chamber music. Rock and electronic music by The Berg Sans Nipple (June 6), A Sunny Day in Glasgow (June 13), Prefuse 73 (June 20), and Times New Viking (June 27) will be matched with chamber music selections by composers John Adams, Jefferson Friedman, Ingram Marshall, Kevin Volans, and Chen Yi, performed by the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME).

At the Whitney’s invitation, Wordless Music selected four groups for the series -- with styles ranging from lo-fi indie rock to “shoegaze”, electronica, and glitch-hop -- to play alongside musicians from the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME). The repertoire for ACME’s performances was carefully tailored for each concert, drawing inspiration from the featured band's sonic and musical influences.

“Beyond just presenting amazing music (which oh my god it does!), Wordless Music actually says something about music that’s important to us and our audience,” said WNYC’s Jad Abumrad. “It strikes a certain attitude: that if you’re curious, generous, discerning…maybe a little idealistic…you shouldn’t care about the borders between musical genres because they don’t really matter.”

Click here for the complete schedule. Events take place in the Whitney's indoor/outdoor Lower Gallery and are free with pay-what-you-wish admission to the museum on Friday evenings from 6 to 9 pm. Each concert is at 7 pm.

Wordless and the Whitney
The Wordless Music Series is devoted to the idea that the sound worlds of classical and contemporary instrumental music share more in common than conventional thinking might suggest. Wordless Music concerts create a distinctive experience for curious music fans eager to explore similarities between musical genres rarely heard side-by-side.

This collaboration between Whitney Live, the Whitney Museum's ongoing performance series, and Wordless Music founder Ronen Givony continues the Museum's history of showcasing important voices in contemporary music of all forms. Whitney Live represents the Whitney's abiding commitment to music by representing new trends, reinterpreting American traditions, and resonating with the Whitney's exhibitions and permanent collection. In the 1960’s and ‘70’s, the Whitney presented artists such as Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins, Cecil Taylor, Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, Steve Reich, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Duke Ellington, Meredith Monk, Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, and included premieres of some of these composers’ most groundbreaking work. Since 2005 Whitney Live has featured performances by So Percussion, Matmos, Alarm Will Sound, Text of Light, Nico Muhly, The Books, DJ Scientific, Dirty Projectors, Lucky Dragons, J.G. Thirlwell, Marissa Nadler, Dan Deacon, and Tristan Perich.

For more information about Wordless Music, visit www.wordlessmusic.org.

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