Modesty of the Magic Thing
Description:
Composer, harpist, and improviser Zeena Parkins was joined by her close collaborator, percussionist William Winant, for a concert in the Grand Luxe Hall. Together they performed work from Parkins’s album Modesty of the Magic Thing (Tzadik Records, 2025), and the composition LACE II (2023).
Composed by Parkins for harp, percussion, and electronics, Modesty of the Magic Thing pays tribute to American visual artist Jay DeFeo and her series The Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1989). These drawings iterate a seven-sided shape derived from a pink cup gifted to DeFeo by sculptor Ron Nagle, rendered in charcoal and metallic powder to create a meditative field of mysterious power. This central form becomes the conceptual core of Parkins’s composition, providing a framework for its line, rhythm, texture, and form. In her project LACE, Parkins translates intricate textile patterns and lace-making techniques into musical scores.
The pieces were performed on acoustic harp, wooden bows, tracer microphone, metal percussion, and several just-intoned instruments, including a unique metallic tubophone designed by Lou Harrison and played by Winant. The instrumentation also included microtuned bells, a hanging cymbal, a giant tam-tam, and a balloon. Together, the instrumentation melded to ring with unexpected rubbing, resonance, and reverberation.
The concert was followed by a short talk back with Parkins facilitated by Western Front executive director Susan Gibb.
Presented with support from the Government of Canada.
Captions:
- Zeena Parkins and William Winant, Modesty of the Magic Thing, video documentation, May 9, 2026. 50 min. 51 sec. Camera by Lilith Charlet.
- Zeena Parkins and William Winant at Western Front, photo documentation, May 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
- Zeena Parkins and William Winant at Western Front, photo documentation, May 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
- Zeena Parkins at Western Front, photo documentation, May 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
- William Winant at Western Front, photo documentation, May 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
- William Winant at Western Front, photo documentation, May 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
- William Winant at Western Front, photo documentation, May 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
- Zeena Parkins and William Winant at Western Front, photo documentation, May 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
- Zeena Parkins and William Winant at Western Front, photo documentation, May 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
- Zeena Parkins at Western Front, photo documentation, May 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
- William Winant and Zeena Parkins at Western Front, photo documentation, May 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
- William Winant and Zeena Parkins at Western Front, photo documentation, May 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
- William Winant and Zeena Parkins at Western Front, photo documentation, May 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
- Zeena Parkins at Western Front, photo documentation, May 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
- William Winant at Western Front, photo documentation, May 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
- William Winant at Western Front, photo documentation, May 9, 2026. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
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Western Front is a non-profit artist-run centre in Vancouver.
We acknowledge the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations as traditional owners of the land upon which Western Front stands.