Congratulations to Christopher Rouse, who will be the New York Philharmonic’s Composer in Residence in 2012-’13. The orchestra will be reviving his Phantasmata as well as Seeing (with piano soloist Emmanuel Ax). Rouse has also been commissioned to write a new work for Spring 2013. Here is the composer discussing this collaboration with Alan Gilbert, the NY Phil’s Music Director.
Here’s a clip of Gilbert conducting Rouse’s Rapture (2000).
Excited for tomorrow. Organist Joe Arndt is performing a free recital at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Included on the program are two of my Spiritual Variations for organ. Joe’s also playing works by 19th Century organist-composer Alexandre Guilmant. The show is at 4:30 PM. Hope to see some of you there!
On March 6th, Julia Holter is having a release party for her new release Ekstasis (out 3/8 on RVNG Intl.) at Le Poisson Rouge (show info here).
Check out the video for lead off track “In the Same Room” below.
Opening the show is Sequenza 21 friend and modern music pianist extraordinaire Sarah Cahill. Sarah’s performing a solo set entitled “The Mystical Tone,” -’exploring the work of composers who were inspired by Theosophy, Rosicrucianism, astrology, and Transcendentalism, among them Scriabin, Dane Rudhyar, Ruth Crawford, Henry Cowell, and Erik Satie.’ Indeed,that’s good curating: its mystical tone will be an excellent complement to Julia Holter’s otherworldly out pop.
Some of the arts organizations in New York are venerable establishments. Others may be relative newcomers, but take little time to install themselves as intrinsic parts of the music scene. It has only been here since the early aughts, but many of New York’s performers and concertgoers would have a hard time envisioning musical life here without the countless collaborations and imaginative programs brought to fruition at the modest-sized, yet mightily influential, Austrian Cultural Forum.
ACFbegins its tenth season with a celebration: a concert this Friday at Bohemian Hall: a more commodious space. At Bohemian Hall, they have an enlightened take on the acquisition of celebratory libations: according to the press release, ”Concert-goers can buy a glass of wine, liquor or Czech beer to enjoy at the performance. The bar at Bohemian National Hall will be open before, during and after the concert.” Beat that Avery Fisher Hall!
Bernhard Gander
Appropriately enough, the event spotlights three Austrian composers: Clemens Gadenstätter, Bernhard Gander, and Bernhard Lang. The program, which includes two US premieres, will be performed by the Talea Ensemble with guest vocalist Donatienne Michel-Dansac. Both Lang and Gander will be in attendance. They will join Columbia University professor George Lewis for an onstage discussion. And did we mention that this event, as well as the nine subsequent programs on ACF’s season, are free of charge?
For those of you unfamiliar with soprano Donatienne Michel-Dansac, she’s a highly regarded performer of European composers from the second moderns school. Check out the video clip below of her performing an excerpt of a work by Georges Aperghis.
Event Details
February 17, 8:00 pm: Talea Ensemble with soprano Donatienne Michel-Dansac
Bohemian National Hall at Czech Center, 321 E 73rd St., New York, NY
Program: Works by Clemens Gadenstätter (US premiere), Bernhard Gander (US premiere) and Bernhard Lang
On Saturday, the 2012 Avant Music Festival presents a program celebrating the John Cage Centennial. Our friends Loadbangjoin pianist Vicky Chow and other avant musicians in a performance of Cage’s Concert for Piano and Orchestra. It’s a piece that avoids the “O” in concerto by allowing the musicians considerable freedom in the performance of their parts. Thus, the soloist has to operate in a constantly shifting environment. It’s recently been done brilliantly by SEM, and in a hammy fashion by the New Juilliard Ensemble. Given the parties involved, one should expect nothing less than a thoughtful and exciting interpretation of the work.
For more information about the Avant Festival, check out Chris McGovern’sinterview with Randy Gibson.
Loadbang will also be giving another Cage concert at Greenwich Music House in March (details below).
One of their members, Andy Kozar, is fundraising through next Tuesday for a CD project featuring his compositions (and several appearances by Loadbang) via Kickstarter.
Wild Project – February 11th, 2012 8PM
loadbang performs John Cage’s Living Room Music, plus Concert for Piano and Orchestra with Vicky Chow as part of the Avant Music Festival
195 East 3rd Street, Manhattan
$15/$10 at door, $12/$8 presale online
Greenwich House – March 8th, 2012 8PM
John Cage: A Portrait in 5 Parts: loadbang celebrates Cage’s centennial
46 Barrow Street, Manhattan
$15/$10 students, tickets at door
On Monday, we mentioned that the Miner’s Hymns, for which Jóhann Jóhannsson composed the score, was screening Downtown in NYC. Jóhannsson has a live appearance scheduled tonight on the United States’ opposite coast.
Joined by the Formalist Quartet, Jóhannsson will give a retrospective concert at the Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery on February 8th. The composer was also featured last night on KCRW’s program Morning Becomes Eclectic (Listen here).
Event Details
Wednesday, February 8th – Los Angeles, CA
@ The Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery – 8PM, $25
Jóhann Jóhannsson performs music spanning his entire career with the Formalist Quartet
Cellist Maya Beiser and pianist Pablo Ziegler appear at Le Poisson Rouge on Wednesday, February 1st at 7:30 (doors open at 6:30). They are performing Canyengue, the Soul of Tango, a program that features the works of Astor Piazzolla.
From 1978-’88, Ziegler was a member of Piazzolla’s band. His arrangements for cello and piano translate Piazzolla’s compositions, such as Libertango and Adíos Nonino, to a more intimate medium, but retain the genre’s vibrant spirit. The duo will also perform several pieces by Ziegler, and Beiser will take a solo turn, performing Osvaldo Golijov’s Mariel.
Below, hear a stream from File Under ?’s Tumblr page of the duo playing Fuga Y Misterio, a somewhat lesser known piece by Piazzolla, arranged by Ziegler.
Le Poisson Rouge is located at 158 Bleecker Street (between Thompson and Sullivan), in the West Village, NYC. Tickets are $15, available through the club’s website, www.lepoissonrouge.com, or call 212/505-FISH (3474).
Out on 2/13 in the UK (and everywhere else on 3/6/12), “Jerk Driver” is the lead off single from Gabriel Prokofiev’sCello Multitracks, a CD that is his latest genre-bending release for the Nonclassical imprint. It features cellist Peter Gregson, a noteworthy genre bender in his own right, playing all nine cello parts, creating a swath of overdubbed strings that is then subjected to remixes by Paul Miller (DJ Spooky), musician/producer MaJiKer, and composer Marcas Lancaster. Check out a sample embedded below.
As Jerry Bowles points out on the homepage, Gregson and Prokofiev will be presenting the piece at Joe’s Pub in New York on 2/10. More US events are listed below: some of them include Prokofiev’s concert music; others, his work as a DJ!
The Israeli Chamber Project performs at Weill Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 1. In addition to warhorses of the chamber music repertoire by Brahms and Shostakovich, the group performs two Twentieth Century pieces that are less frequently heard on New York stages as well as one from the cusp of the millenium, Night Time (2000),a duo by Sebastian Currier.
Below is a video of the ensemble performing Matam Porat’s “Night Horses” at a 2008 concert in Tel Aviv: an evocative and unerringly paced work that they play superlatively.
The Israeli Chamber Project Carnegie Hall Debut
February 1, 2012 at 7:30 pm
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
Shostakovich Trio for Piano, Violin, and Cello in C minor, Op. 8
Sebastian Currier Night Time for Harp and Violin
Martinů Chamber Music No. 1
Paul Ben Haim Three Songs Without Words (arranged for clarinet and harp)
Brahms Trio for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano in A minor, Op. 114
Last weekend, mezzo-soprano Megan Ihnen and violinist Joseph Kneer premiered a new version of “He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven” (2011) on the Federal Hill Parlor Series. They are going to perform the piece again on Saturday in York, Pennsylvania. Below is a YouTube video of the 1/25 performance (the first I’m aware of that features one of my compositions).
The Federal Hill Parlor Series:the enormity of small things
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