Elysium Furnace Works is proud to present as part of our reinvigorated 2021 season in Beacon, NY the cross-disciplinary ensemble The Dead Lecturers, featuring tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, poet/spoken word artist Thomas Sayers Ellis and viola player Melanie Dyer. This performance is co-sponsored by Binnacle Books, Beacon, NY's premier independent bookseller. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door — advance tickets are on sale now at https://deadlec.bpt.me/. Founded in 2012 by James Brandon Lewis and Thomas Sayers Ellis, three years before their larger ensemble Heroes Are Gang Leaders, The Dead Lecturers is an improvisational exchange between units of sound and units of language with the goal of stimulating, within the listener, new ideas of action and non-passive living. Ellis and Lewis have a unique chemistry of agreeing and disagreeing with one another while delivering potent, creative messages that extend the Black Literary Oral Tradition. Joined by viola player and HAGL member Melanie Dyer, their classroom of sound has been extended to include the musical signifying of a soulful syllabi, mature ruckus and experimental refereeing. Elysium Furnace Works' 2021 roster embraces a fiercely independent, eclectic diversity, featuring exceptional artists from a wide array of musics.