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Sure, the recession has caused for cutbacks in the arts. But composers are a resilient bunch. This week, New York City will be the site for the first Composers Now festival. Coordinated by Symphony Space Associate Artistic Director Laura Kaminsky and composer Tania León, the festival involves a host of area venues and organizations.

The activities start Monday morning with a panel discussion and a marathon concert from 12-6. Tonight alone, there are events at Symphony Space, the Schomburg Center, the Morgan Library, the Jazz Gallery, and the Flushing Branch of the Queens Library.

Composers Now will run throughout the week – and so will our coverage on Sequenza 21. Steve Layton’s started things off with an interview of Michael Hersch. I’ll be posting an interview with Laura Kaminsky. We’d love to hear reports from attendees about the various Composers Now events: a truly ambitious undertaking that we hope lots of you will be able to enjoy.

For those readers who won’t be in the New York area this week: take heart. If all goes well, Composers Now hopes to create festivals in many more venues in years to come.

I met with composer Lou Karchin today to discuss his opera Romulus. A CD recording of this comic one act work is forthcoming on the Naxos imprint. I’ll be writing up the interview for the liner notes.

Composed in 1990, Romulus is a charming work. But like most contemporary operas, it took a while to find a company willing to produce it. In fact, Karchin waited seventeen years for a complete staging at the Guggenheim as part of its Works and Process series.

When I expressed surprise to Karchin at the length of time between composition and premiere, he replied,”Actually, a number of composers have had to wait seventeen years – or more- to see an opera to the stage.”

Opera composers have to be multi-talented, understanding both music and drama, and willing to multitask.  But today, Lou reminded me of something else: they have to be patient too!

Big news in the orchestra world. Starting next season (2010-’11), George Manahan will become the American Composers Orchestra’s Music Director. He will continue as Music Director at the New York City Opera.

In my view, this is good news indeed. Manahan is a superlative musician; he’s conducted some excellent performances of contemporary fare at NYCO. One hopes that his name will entice new audience members to check out the ACO.

Kudos as well to outgoing director Steven Sloane, who’s done an admirable job with the ensemble since 2002.

Thoughts on the shakeup? The comments section is open below!

Although he composed for a diverse set of genres, Lejaren Hiller(1924-94)  is best known as an early practitioner of computer music composition. Last night, however, it was his chamber music that was on display at the S.E.M. Ensembles 40th season-opening concert at the Paula Cooper Gallery. In addition to works by Christian Wolff and Petr Kotik (more on those later this week), the event featured Hiller’s String Quartet no. 5 ‘in quarter tones.’

Composed in 1962, the quartet features serial procedures using 24-note quarter-tone rows. Lest this give one the impression that precompositional process supervenes surface textures, Hiller also employs all manner of extended techniques and a kaleidoscopically shifting range of dynamics and tempi. The result is a fascinating ear-opener that’s also quite a formidable challenge for performers. Violinists Conrad Harris and Pauline Kim, violist Max Mendel, and cellist Greg Hesselink put in hours of practice time, reportedly meeting for more than twenty rehearsals, and their efforts showed. The S.E.M. musicians gave a dazzling performance that was truly the evening’s highlight.

There’s a recording of Hiller’s 5th SQ available – the Concord Quartet on the Vox label. But dare I hope that someone might give S.E.M. some funding to put their string players in the studio to record this?

Evan Parker

John Zorn’s The Stone is affording New York experimental and improvisation audiences an extraordinary opportunity this October. Saxophonist Evan Parker will play over twenty concerts in an extended residency at the new venue.

Parker is well known both for his solo concerts and for his work in a variety of group contexts. On June 30, he released Moment’s Energy, ECM’s fifth recording of the Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble, a group of more than a dozen improvisers from a number of disparate musical traditions.

Moment's Energy

Thus, if you’re not in the area, you still have a chance to hear some of his recent music-making. But if you’re in striking distance of NYC next month, one imagines there will seldom be so many opportunities to hear this vital and fascinating artist at work.

Evan Parker Residency at the Stone: Dates

10/1 Thursday 8 pm
Evan Parker Solo (soprano and tenor saxophone)
The legendary saxophonist begins his two week Stone Residency with his ear bending solo music.

10/1 Thursday 10 pm
Evan Parker & Richard Teitelbaum
Richard Teitelbaum (electronics) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophones)

10/2 Friday 8 and 10 pm
Evan Parker, Okkyung Lee and Peter Evans
Okkyung Lee (cello) Peter Evans (trumpet) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/3 Saturday 8 pm
Evan Parker & Milford Graves
Milford Graves (drums) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/3 Saturday 10 pm
Evan Parker & George Lewis
George Lewis (trombone) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/4 Sunday 8 pm
Evan Parker, Mark Dresser and Gerry Hemingway
Gerry Hemingway (drums) Mark Dresser (bass) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/4 Sunday 10 pm
Gerry Hemingway, Mark Dresser, Evan Parker and Herb Robertson
Herb Robertson (trumpet) Gerry Hemingway (drums) Mark Dresser (bass) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/6 Tuesday 8 pm
Evan Parker & Sylvie Courvoisier
Sylvie Courvoisier (piano) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/6 Tuesday 10 pm
Evan Parker & Ikue Mori
Ikue Mori (electronics) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/7 Wednesday 8 pm
Evan Parker & Wu Fei
Wu Fei (guzheng) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/7 Wednesday 10 pm
Evan Parker & Henry Kaiser
Henry Kaiser (guitar) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/8 Thursday 8 pm
Evan Parker & John Zorn
John Zorn (sax) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/8 Thursday 10 pm
Evan Parker & Ned Rothenberg
Ned Rothenberg (reeds) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/9 Friday 8 pm
Evan Parker & Suzie Ibarra
Suzie Ibarra (drums, percussion) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/9 Friday 10 pm
Evan Parker & Cyro Baptista
Cyro Baptista (percussion) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/10 Saturday 8 and 10 pm
Evan Parker, Matt Shipp and William Parker
Matt Shipp (piano) William Parker (bass) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/11 Sunday 8 and 10 pm
IMPROV NIGHT—A STONE BENEFIT
Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone) John Zorn (sax) Ned Rothenberg (reeds) Okkyung Lee (cello) Ikue Mori (electronics) Sylvie Courvoisier (piano) Shanir Blumenkranz (bass) Eyal Maoz (guitar) and many special surprise guests.
Come out for this extra special Improv Night and help the Stone survive through its monthly Musical Rent Party—an East Village tradition!

10/13 Tuesday 8 pm
Evan Parker & Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell (bass) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/13 Tuesday 10 pm
Evan Parker & Chris Corsano (drums)
Chris Corsano (drums) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/14 Wednesday 8 and 10 pm
Evan Parker & Dave Holland
Dave Holland (bass) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/15 Thursday 8 and 10 pm
Evan Parker & Fred Frith
Fred Frith (guitar) Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)

10/16 Friday 8 pm
Evan Parker, Tim Berne and Earl Howard
Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophones) Tim Berne (alto sax) Earl Howard (alto sax)

10/16 Friday 10 pm
Evan Parker Solo
Evan Parker (soprano and tenor saxophone)
The legendary saxophone innovator ends his two week Stone run with another virtuosic solo saxophone concert.

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Anthony Tomassini wrote about Locrian in yesterday’s New York Times, focusing on their mandate to perform music less than a decade old.

Composer Vivian Fung

Margaret Leng Tan is a courageous pianist. She’s played Cage’s prepared piano works for Cage himself and does wonders with the toy piano. But Tan’s commissioned a new work that stretches her even further.

What’s harder than playing prepared piano? How about premiering a brand new piece that requires you to sing while playing prepared piano? For good measure, let’s try this outdoors on a hot summer night!

Canadian composer Vivian Fung is the beneficiary of these exertions. This Thursday in the Sculpture Garden at the Museum of Modern Art, Margaret Leng Tan will be premiering Fung’s Chant, a piece that features – you guessed it – chant-singing as well as prepared piano. Tan will also be playing pieces by Erik Griswold, Zhou Long, and Ge Gan-Ru.

Thursday, August 27^th at 7:00 PM

MoMA

11 W. 53^rd Street

NYC

More info about the concert/tickets can be found here.

“Tik” by Lokai is being used in a film by Gerald Zahn. A view from a single window in Iceland, the movie chronicles a day when those far north get nearly 24 hours of sunlight. The band’s album Transition is slated for release on 18 August.
Video: “Tik”
Meanwhile, Double Dagger is touring up a storm in support of their album More. They recently released a video for “Vivre Sans Temps Mort.”
 

MAKE YOUR OWN FIERY FURNACES VIDEO!

WNYC’s Soundcheck is holding a video contest starring none other than Brooklyn’s rock sibling duo, The Fiery Furnaces.  On June 23rd, Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger released their first single “The End is Near” from their new album “I’m Going Away” out on July 21st and now YOU get to try and make a video for the song.  You can download the track now, right here.
You can use any video editing program of your choice and you have until August 31st to create your masterpiece. The winning director will appear live on the show with Cordero and The Fiery Furnaces in September.

There are but a few simple requirements to submit your video.  Start by uploading your video to YouTube, then visit the Soundcheck Video Contest YouTube group page and click on “Join This Group”.  Once you have joined, click “Add Videos”.  Select the box next to your Fiery Furnaces video and click the “Add to Group” button, and that’s it, you’ve done it.  Be sure to include your contact information in either your YouTube profile or video description so you can be reached upon your win.

You have until August 31st to submit all entries.  Good luck!

Christina Courtin recently received her degree in violin from the Juilliard School; but she’s taking after Andrew Bird: singing while she fiddles and wowing audiences with crossover fare.

Courtin is performing at Le Poisson Rouge tonight. The date celebrates yesterday’s release of her self-titled CD on Nonesuch. You can download a song from the record, “Foreign Country,” on the label’s website (link below).

MP3: “Foreign Country”