Tonight, we saw Into the Woods at McCarter Theatre in Princeton. To a person, the cast can’t sing their roles. Why would they think that Sondheim’s songs, however resilient as material, would be suitable for them? Produced by Fiasco Theater, an aptly named company founded by a group of Brown grads who appear to enjoy mis-casting themselves, this is one to avoid at all costs.
Love this post-minimal string track by Arcade Fire’s Sarah Neufeld. Album out in August via Constellation.
Moby and Mark Lanegan recently joined forces to record a single for Record Store Day. Perhaps a bit of an odd musical pairing, but it works. Video for “The Lonely Night” below.
Iron and Wine’s Ghost on Ghost is out now via Nonesuch. Check out the lovely video for album track “Joy,” directed by Hayley Morris, via the embed below.
On Tuesday, April 30 at 8 PM at Merkin Hall, the Orchestra of the Next Century, conducted by Gary Schneider, presents a concert of 20/21 music as a tribute to conductor/patron Paul Sacher (1906-’99). The program features Michi Wianko as the soloist in the Northeast premiere of Margaret Brouwer’s Violin Concerto and Yael Manor as piano soloist in the Martinu Double Concerto. Paul Moravec’s Morph and Stravinsky’s Concerto in D round out a bill sure to banish any leftover case of the Mondays.
Sara Noble and I judging student works in Montclair.
Yesterday, Carl Patrick Bolleia, Sara Noble, and I judged entries by pre-college and college composers to the Pictures 2013 Competition at Montclair Art Museum. Produced by NJ Arts Collective, the event (now in its ninth year) encourages student composers from New Jersey to respond to the visual arts by writing a composition based on a piece in MAM’s collection. This year, NJAC selected Manierre Dawson’s Wharf Under Mountain (1913). The concert will also include a 4-hands rendition of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring which, like the Dawson painting, celebrates its centennial this year, and other works from 1913. I’ll be creating a new vocal piece for Sara and Carl based on poetry from 1913. Almost sounds like thematic programming, doesn’t it?
The winners will be announced soon and will get to hear their works premiered in a concert given by Sara and Carl on June 6th at the museum.
Carl Patrick Bolleia and I.
Today, I am judging Pictures 2013: a composition competition sponsored by the Montclair Art Museum and NJ Arts Collective. I am thrilled to be working with these organizations again, and to be writing a new work for soprano Sara Noble and pianist Carl Patrick Bolleia for the upcoming Pictures 2013 Concert (based on the painting above). The concert of winning works and other selections will be on June 6 at the museum (details below).
Event Details
Pictures 2013 Concert
Listen to the embed below and then head on over to Celer’s Bandcamp for a digital or physical copy. Thanks to Steve Smith for pointing this one out. Fresh back from a trip to Iceland, he already beat me to the good stuff!
