About

Art of Franza, Inc. is a 501c3 nonprofit organization developing, supporting, and producing experimental arts projects. Founded in 2001 by artistic director Andrea Kleine.

Art of Franza, Inc. has received support from:
New York State Council on the Arts
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council
Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation
Chashama, Inc
Materials for the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, NYC Department of Sanitation, NYC Department of Education

Board Members:
Deborah Atherton
Andrea Kleine
Geoff Peck

Artistic Director:
Andrea Kleine

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Upcoming Event: Bobby Previte: Diorama. Jan 6-7, 2012

BOBBY PREVITE
DIORAMA
A SOLO CONCERT PERFORMED FOR ONE LISTENER AT A TIME

@ Chashama 266, New York, NY
Friday, January 6, 5-7 PM and 8-10 PM
Saturday, January 7, 1-4 PM and 8-10 PM
Tickets are free, but reservations required:
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/216009

Chashama and Art of Franza, Inc. present Bobby Previte: Diorama, a solo drum set concert performed for one listener at a time at Chashama 266, an empty storefront in midtown Manhattan.

In Previte’s Diorama, each listener enters a small room and sits directly behind the drum set. Unaware of their identity, Previte plays an improvised 10-minute piece for his solo audience member. The strange, heightened intimacy of the interaction and the publicly exposed space create a concert of extremes and oppositions.

“Not unlike a sex scene in a Milan Kundera novel…a totally weird experience.” –New Music Box

TICKETS ARE FREE, but reservations are required. You will first arrive at a waiting area before going to Chashama. Complete information and directions will be given to you when you make your reservation and will also be listed in your confirmation email.

RESERVE TICKETS: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/216009

excerpts from Bobby Previte’s TERMINALS at Merkin Hall, New Sounds Live, Ecstatic Music Festival. 2011.

TERMINALS on WNYC radio

Bobby Previte’s TERMINALS featuring SO Percussion, Zeena Parkins, Jen Shyu, DJ Olive, and John Medeski will be broadcast on WNYC’s New Sounds this Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 11PM.

Tune in to WNYC 93.9 FM or listen in at http://www.wnyc.org/shows/newsounds/

Upcoming event: TERMINALS, May 27, 2011

Bobby Previte’s TERMINALS will be presented in Boston, MA at the ICA.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Featuring: So Percussion, Jen Shyu, Zeena Parkins, Elliott Sharp, John Medeski, and Bobby Previte.
Tickets and info

Bobby Previte’s TERMINALS will premiere on March 28, 2011 at Merkin Concert Hall, NYC. Part of The Ecstatic Music Festival and WNYC’s New Sounds Live. Buy Tickets

Donate to Bobby Previte’s TERMINALS



Hello everyone, I respectfully request your attention.

On March 28, 2011, WNYC’s New Sounds Live will premiere my newest behemoth, TERMINALS, a piece I have been working on for four years. TERMINALS is a series of five concertos for some of my favorite soloists, pitted against my favorite modern ensemble, the SO Percussion Ensemble. The concert will be held at Merkin Concert Hall in New York City and recorded by WNYC for broadcast. In this new work, the precise and unflappable percussion ensemble meets the uncontrollable master improviser in the concerto, a schizophrenic word meaning “to come together” in Latin and “to fight” in Italian. Indeed.

SO Percussion has rightly rocketed to the top of the new music world with their stunning realizations of works by Steve Reich and Iannis Xenakis, as well as being longtime collaborators with important artists like Matmos. The soloists I have chosen to get into the ring with them are: Zeena Parkins, the dominant improvising harpist in the world, John Medeski, the Hammond organ superman of Medeski, Martin, and Wood; DJ Olive, someone who is as likely to throw up a deep groove as he is to float a Ligeti clarinet line over it; Jen Shyu, a mesmerizing vocalist who travels to remote East Timor mountaintops recording extended vocal techniques; and a certain drummer who decided to write a concerto for himself. That would be me.

Big surprise, we are short on funds for this première. There are a zillion percussion instruments to rent, airline tickets to buy, and I would love to pay these fine musicians something near what they are worth. Well, I would at least like to pay them.

I am asking for your help, any level of which will be accepted and appreciated. No tote bags, or “gold circle” stuff. You will just have to make-do with inner satisfaction (and my undying gratitude).

TERMINALS is a sponsored project of Art of Franza, Inc, a 501c3, non-profit organization, and any donation you make is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

I thank you a thousand times,

Bobby Previte



More info on TERMINALS

Welcome to Art of Franza’s new web site

Welcome to Art of Franza’s new web site