Flotation Device 2023-06-18 - Death in Venice at 50

Flotation Device celebrates the 50th anniversary of Death in Venice, the last of Britten’s operas, and the only one that makes homosexuality an explicit theme. We revisit its score—notable for the gamelan-inspired percussion music that depicts the teenaged Tadzio, and for the severe and exceptionally chromatic music associated with his anguished infatuate Aschenbach—and position its libretto among operatic portrayals of gay sexuality from Lulu to Brokeback Mountain.

There's new music here as well, beginning a new triple-CD documenting the Fire Into Music quartet, with the late Jemeel Moondoc alongside Steve Swell, William Parker and Hamid Drake. We also survey new albums by Matt Mitchell, Illegal Crowns and Brandon Seabrook’s Epic Proportions, as well as the doyenne of French acousmatic music, Beatriz Ferreyra (featured for her 86th birthday). Creative and improvised music with host Michael Schell, from KBCS-FM Bellevue/Seattle/Tacoma.