Premiere of New Composition for Suzanne Deal Booth Centennial Pavilion, James Turrell Skyspace

Please join us on Thursday, March 2, 2023 for the premiere of a new sound and light composition by composer Yvette Janine Jackson.  Yvette’s new work will be presented every evening through March 19, after the sunset light sequence, from the structure’s embedded sound and light system. The experience is free and open to the public, no reservations or tickets are required. Visitors can check here for sunset times in Houston. 

Yvette Janine Jackson’s work brings attention to historical events and social issues through her electroacoustic radio operas. Her album Freedom, produced by the Fridman Gallery, debuted as Contemporary Album of the Month in The Guardian and its track “Destination Freedom” won the ZKM Giga-Hertz Production Award 2021 in Karlsruhe, Germany.  Her recent work for orchestra and electronics, Hello, Tomorrow! was co-commissioned by American Composers Orchestra and Carnegie Hall was premiered in 2022. Ms.  Jackson’s music has been presented across North America and Europe, including Carnegie Hall, the Venice Music Biennale, Stockholm Elektronmusikstudion, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and in collaboration with Vienna’s Museumsquartier Tonspur and the International Festival of Computer Arts in Maribor.  Yvette is an assistant professor in Creative Practice and Critical Inquiry in the Department of Music and teaches for the Theater, Dance & Media program at Harvard University.

This new work by Yvette Janine Jackson is the second in a series of four commissions by women composers for the Suzanne Deal Booth Centennial Pavilion, James Turrell Skyspace.  Interrupted by the COVID19 Pandemic, this series of commissions celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Women’s Suffrage Movement and the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920.  The four woman composers selected to compose new works for the Skyspace include: Elainie Lillios (Fall 2022), Yvette Janine Jackson (Spring 2023), Olivia Block (Fall 2023), and Kyong-Mee Choi (Spring 2024).

These commissions are made possible through a partnership with REMLABS, Rice University’s Arts Initiative Fund, Moody Center for the Arts,  and Nameless Sound.