File Under?

Rob Voisey sent along this about the upcoming Vox Novus concert at Jan Hus Church:

MARCH 28^TH, 2010 (NEW YORK, NEW YORK) Vox Novus in collaboration with the Remarkable Theater Brigade and Jan Hus Church is proud to present their monthly chamber concert series Sunday, March 28^th at 1:00.  This month’s special Women’s History Month concert features performances by Nadine Carey (voice), Jasmin Cowin (harp) Laura Jordan (marimba), Margaret Lancaster (flute), Milica Paranosic (voice, berimbau, electronics), Daisy Press (voice), Jody Redhage (voice, cello), Theresa Thompson (flute), Heesun Shin (violin), Mara Waldman (piano), and Sophia Yan (piano) performing the composition of Rebekah Driscoll, Emily Koh, Laura Koplewitz, Dorothy Rudd Moore, Milica Paranosic, Daisy Press, Jody Redhage, Faye-Ellen Silverman, and Molly Thompson.

One of Kyle Gann’s Favorite Women Composers of All Time, Milica Paranosic has also been portrayed: …”free-wheeling, performance-art-type cat “(Kyle Gann) …”a painter, a music Jackson Pollack”, (SEAMUS, Eric Somers) …  and her music: “amazing….astonishing…” (Jack Anderson, New York Times), and “edgily comical”  (Klaus Klingbeil, Der Lausitzer Rundschau, Germany). Allan Kozinn of The New York Times labeled her “Parabaraba,” a piece commissioned and performed by the New Juilliard Ensemble, the most captivating piece on the program.

The New York Times describes Molly Thompson’s music as “rhapsodic music with…jazzy outbursts and exuberant chaos.”

 The LA Times called her Draft of Shadows “a clever mash-up of tango, rock rhythms, and taped city noises, more party music than parlor music” and Spoleto Today called The Great Hush “eerie and lovely.”

“ Called an “adventurous cello songstress” (Time Out New York), cellist, composer, and vocalist Jody Redhage is “a new music dynamo…Redhage is cultivating a repertoire of indie art songs that breaches genre boundaries and makes for stirring listening” (MusicWorks Magazine). Her dual passions for chamber music and new music have led her to participate in an array of cutting-edge projects.

More info: robvoisey@voxnovus.com

Hailed as “our leading exponent of the avant-garde flute” (Kyle Gann, Village Voice), Margaret Lancaster has built a large repertoire of new works composed for her that employ extended techniques, dance, drama, multi-media and electronics. She has recorded on New World Records, OO Discs, Innova, Naxos and Tzadik, and was selected for Meet the Composer’s New Works for Soloist Champions project.

Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times writes of pianist Sophia Yan, “…the music literally pulls her off the piano bench; she ranges up and down the keyboard so quickly and with such ferocity that mere sitting will not do.”

Composer’s Voice Concert Series is an opportunity for contemporary composers to express their musical aesthetic and personal “voice” created in their compositions. Started in 2001, the “Composer’s Voice” concert series is presenting its 46^th concert Sunday March 28th.

Composer’s Voice concert

Sunday March 28^th, 2010

1:00PM

Jan Hus Presbyterian Church

351 E 74th St

New York, NY 10021-3798

Free Admission

www.janhus.org

This announcement just in from NJAC’s director, Darren Gage:

new jersey arts collective
presents

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
CLASSICAL BRUNCH

Sunday, October 11, at Noon
FITZGERALD’S 1928
13 Herman Street, Glen Ridge, NJ

This all-inclusive package features world-class chamber music interspersed with a sumptuous brunch at Glen Ridge’s hot upscale tavern, FITZGERALD’S. New York string players OLIVIA DE PRATO (violin) and JODY REDHAGE (cello) will perform vibrant, exhilarating classical music from Eastern Europe in the warm, friendly atmosphere of the restaurant. FITZGERALD’S will serve fresh fruit, a choice of four entrees, and coffee/tea. The package costs only $35 per person, and includes gratuity and even a complimentary mimosa or bloody mary. It’s an intimate classical concert and a great meal in one!

Tickets available exclusively online at:
www.brownpapertickets.com/event/82893

Amy X Neuburg’s latest: Singer + Three Cellists

Amy X Neuburg's new CD with the Cello Chixtet

Amy X Neuburg & the Cello Chixtet

The Secret Language of Subways

MinMax Music

As I mentioned last week in File Under?, WNYC’s Spinning on Air recently devoted an episode to singers accompanied by cello. In addition to  a set by Jody Redhage’s new group Fire in July, the episode also devoted coverage to Amy X. Neuburg, a composer/singer/percussionist who’s partnered with three cellists on her latest recording The Secret Language of Subways.

Neuburg and the Cello Chixtet are a compelling ensemble. The arrangements make use of the full range of the cello, never feeling bottom heavy. Neuburg’s voice is a true crossover instrument, encompassing musical theater belting and soaring operatic high notes. The material is correspondingly diverse. “Closing Doors” recalls Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, with a layered vocal coda that recalls Freddie Mercury! “Someone Else’s Sleep” is a lovely alt-pop number, with dovetailing cellos and sumptuous support vocals. “Difficult” brings things closer to experimental terrain, mixing slashing cellos with patter song and drumstick percussion.

YouTube: “Difficult”

More “legit” sounding is “This Loud,” which makes use of both cello and vocal layering, set over jittery, propulsive rhythms. Primarily originals, the CD includes one memorable cover, “Back in NYC” from Genesis’ The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Here, both the Neuburg and the Chixtet are in fine fettle, mixing neoprog and classical signatures to create an effective and thematically unifying closer.

Jane Kenyon

Program Note: “Song;” “Otherwise”

Jane Kenyon’s poetry speaks, sometimes in the same breath, of coping with life’s struggles and marveling at its beauties. “Song” is one of her many poems that extols the beauty of nature, of the everyday and commonplace, and of romantic love.

It was first performed by Jody Redhage at my wedding to Kay Mitchell, less than a month ago, in Princeton, New Jersey.

During their marriage, both Kenyon and her husband, the poet Donald Hall, battled cancer (Kenyon ultimately succumbed to the disease in 1995). One of her late poems, “Otherwise” is a meditation on “walking in the valley of the shadow,” yet abiding and enjoying what life still offers.

It was premiered by Jody Redhage at San Francisco’s Red Poppy Art House in 2008.

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NY Magazine called Songstresses from the Edge one of its top picks for the week.

Jody Redhage will perform in Songstresses from the Edge

Jody Redhage will be performing two of my songs  in Brooklyn this coming Saturday.

The program is called Songstresses from the Edge. 

Jody’s set for voice, cello, and electronics:

Christian Carey- “Song” and “Otherwise” (words Jane Kenyon)

Lainie Fefferman- “Slash Plus” for voice, cello, & clarinet

Daniel Felsenfeld- “From Sleepless Nights” (words Elizabeth Hardwick)

Missy Mazzoli- “A Thousand Tongues” (words Stephen Crane)

Molly Thompson- “Rhapsody’ (words Cynthia Huntington)

Also on the program is a set of original duo compositions by Daisy Press & Jody (duos for voices, cello & electronics), sets by Molly Thompson and Kamala Sankaram, and a guest appearance by clarinetist Eileen Mack.

SONGSTRESSES FROM THE EDGE

Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009

8:00 pm

First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn

124 Henry Street

Brooklyn, NY  11201

www.fpcbrooklyn.org

2/3 to Clark St. is the closest train

$10

With performers Jody Redhage, Daisy Press, Molly Thompson, Kamala Sankaram & Eileen Mack

Music by Redhage, Press, Thompson, Sankaram, Christian Carey, Lainie Fefferman, Daniel Felsenfeld, & Missy Mazzoli.

Time Out New York previewed Songstresses from the Edge  here.

This weekend, the WNYC show Spinning on Air featured singing cellists, including Jody Redhage. Host David Garland played some of Jody’s music, including her band Fire in July and their new album Ancient Star.