Spring has definitely sprung down here in Houston; everything that looked dead just a few weeks ago is sprouting all kinds of new growth. And that goes for opera as well, seeing that this year’s iteration of Opera Vista begins this Saturday, March 20th, and runs through March 27th.
Opera Vista focuses on bringing contemporary opera to Houston and the Vista Competition is an international search for ground-breaking new works by modern composers.
“The Vista Competition is unique in that it gives composers the opportunity to have their works performed by professional singers and instrumentalists,” says Viswa Subbaraman, OV’s Artistic Director. “They have a wonderful opportunity to interact with many well-known people from the world of opera and classical music, but I think more importantly, they get an insight into how their work is perceived by the audience.”
In October, six semi-finalists (Lembit Beecher, Katarzyna Brochocka, Alberto García Demestres, Joseph Eidson, Jonathan N. Kupper, Catherine Reid) from three countries were selected, ranging from adaptations of a Japanese folk tale to a horror opera. Excerpts from each work will be performed on March 24th & 26th at the Czech Center Museum Houston (4920 San Jacinto, at Wichita), each night beginning at 7:30pm. A panel of judges, including world-renowned composer Daron Hagen (There will be an evening of chamber music composed by Hagen at 7:30pm on March 25th at the Czech Center) and Leslie Dunner of the Joffrey Ballet, will critique each excerpt, and the audience will vote to select which operas will advance. In the final round the winning excerpts will be performed again with a longer critique from the judges, but then the audience will get to directly question the composers. The audience then votes to determine the winner of the competition, which will be announced March 27th at the festival’s closing performance. The winner receives $1,500 and a full production of their opera at the next festival.
This year’s festival will also include the world premiere of the winning opera from the 2009 Opera Vista Festival, Anorexia Sacra by Line Tjørnhøj. Line couples the plight of a young woman suffering from anorexia with the writings of the 13th century nun Claire of Assisi. Anorexia Sacra will be performed at 7:30pm on March 20th and 27th at the Live Oak Friends Meetinghouse (1318 West 26th Street).
There’s also a bit of meet-and-greet with all the composers on March 23rd, 6-8pm, at Momentum Audi (2315 Richmond Avenue).
Whew! Tickets and more information can be found at the OV website, which also contains sketches of each of the composers, operas and judges.
I’ve written before about the one and only Alex Temple, late Yalie and NYC denizen, studious University of Michigan grad student, now currently working his thing in Chicago.
Well, Alex is back in New York for a moment, joined by fellow composers Brian Mark, Seth Bedford, Angélica Négron, and Jeremy Howard Beck. DETOUR presents works by all these up-and-comers, made to accompany archival films found in the Prelinger Archives, this Saturday, March 20th, at 9pm, at the Gershwin Hotel (7 East 27th Street, 9pm / Cover $10)
The videos range from airline ads to political propaganda. Some have been edited and others left intact. The music that’s been added to them covers a wide variety of styles and languages, from electronic soundscapes to live chamber music. Alex’s own offering is called A Presentation to the Board, and uses electronic music and a live speaker to turn a 1950’s public service announcement about life in the suburbs into a pitch by a representative of an evil conspiratorial corporation to a despotic government.
Alex has also been muy busy with other projects that involve both voice and smart deconstructions/meldings of pop and high culture. A recent favorite is Imogene, which lucky yous can hear in two different versions at Alex’s works page. Go ahead, try it, you’ll like it!
The awesome Ensemble Pi is performing the latest collaboration between artist William Kentridge and composer Philip Miller at Arts World Financial Center on March 21 and 22 at 8 pm
Sounds From the Black Box will feature the world-premiere live performance of Miller’s new compositions for Kentridge’s recent film animations. Joining Ensemble Pi will be the South African vocalist Tshidi Manye (who plays Rafiki in Broadway’s The Lion King) and Miller will also be onstage sampling sound clips to create the audio landscapes that are so integral to his scores.
Here’s a two-minute preview clip of one of the films, Journey to the Moon:
I’ve been happily exploring all the free stuff available on Google Books, including complete runs of out of print magazines like Life. Check out what Igor Stravinsky used to do when he visited his buddy Charles Chaplin in 1937. Of interest, Stravinsky is described primarily as “the famous conductor,” although in all fairness to Life, they mention an upcoming concert in Manhattan where three of his ballet scores will be performed.
I realize how mercenary this sounds, but how about making art AND money? Ultimately I’m unclear how copyleft (or free culture in general) can maintain my middle class income. As far as I can tell, the current copyright laws are what do that.
All that being said, I’m actually a fan of Free. I give away content like crazy on my website…mp3 downloads…score of the pieces as PDFs, etc. I give away CDs, even commercial ones, like candy. I give away many (expensive to produce) printed scores. Because I do believe that giving away significant content–not just useless crap, but stuff people can use–in many ways does help create that “fan base” one hears the astute bands and rock stars talk about … those fans that downloaded the album for free, but who later on shell out 300 bucks to go to the tour show and buy the $25 t-shirts. Which right there crystallizes the line for the Free argument. You don’t see “Pay what you want” Radiohead (I’m a fan) letting their devoted following into the show for free. (Or do you? I don’t really know.)
So among this noise, some content is always controlled by the owner. It’s not all free, it’s just a question of what content is deemed not free. For me, it’s the performance materials. That’s the paper (maybe someday it won’t be, I’m looking at you iPads) musicians rehearse and perform from. I rent it, I sell it, I control it. Nothing drives me more bat-shit crazy than seeing other composers give away their stuff. A website full of scores and parts… “Come play my music! I won’t charge! I just want you to play it to Get My Name Out There!” Well, a) I hope you have another job, b) you just made mine a lot harder, and c) the end user (who, sure, now knows your name) thinks your stuff isn’t even worth the paper it’s printed on.
Besides helping out here at S21, composer Chris Becker has been racking up some excellent interviews at his own blog. One I wanted to share with you is his recent chat with brilliant, hard-to-classify musician Lawrence Sieberth. For the full interview just head to Chris’s blog (where you’ll also find a link to buy the Arkipelago CD, and a list of upcoming Sieberth concerts), but here’s the introduction and a sample:
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After moving from New Orleans to New York City, I managed to stay connected to keyboardist/composer Lawrence Sieberth thanks to the Internet and email, keeping him posted on my music activities. My first memory of Larry is hearing him on piano performing his 1995 tribute concert Booker and Black at the Contemporary Arts Center which celebrated the music of New Orleans musicians pianist James Booker and drummer James Black with projected visuals by artist Jon Graubarth (Jon created the artwork for my CD Saints & Devils). More recently, Larry emailed to say he thought I might dig his latest CD Arkipelago and could hear the whole thing streaming on his website www.musikbloc.com. I downloaded the mp3 version, eventually got a copy the CD, and for several weeks listened to Arkipelago at least once a day. I just couldn’t get enough of the music and the production which reminded me of Peter Gabriel’s So, Jon Hassell’s City: Works of Fiction, and other recordings that artfully combine (to quote writer musician Michael Veal): “…the traditional conception of “note-based” music and the potentials of sound recording as an aesthetic medium on its own terms.” Larry is firmly grounded in the piano playing traditions of New Orleans. And Arkipelago will surprise some fans of that music and expand their perception of what “New Orleans” music is and has the potential to be.
Chris Becker: Your CD Arkipelago combines synth programming, extended through-composed compositions that include sudden unexpected breaks and rhythmic changes, and real-time “in the moment” improvisation. The title track (featuring Joo Kraus on trumpet) and the track ‘Le Serpente Volant’ (featuring Ed Peterson on saxophone) are two examples of what I’m describing. Can you talk about how you recorded those two particular tracks? Did you provide any specific instructions to Joo or Ed before tracking their performances? Or was that not necessary given your familiarity with their each musician’s approach to improvising?
Lawrence Sieberth: If I can backtrack a bit it will help help explain the way this project materialized. Over the last couple of decades I’ve been part of ‘free’ improvisational collaborations with other musicians, dancers and visual artists – the driving force of these performances has sometimes been spontaneous, a response to visual imagery or prerecorded tracks. There is a range as to what the word ‘improvisation’ implies – playing ‘changes’, manipulating the form, responding to the moment, etc. are all ways of perceiving the options inherent in improvisational music – all idioms and musical combinations of personalities have a built in set of expectations, manifest as compositions, styles, forms, tonal centers, etc. even when it is not predetermined. When the musician is faced with the option to create something new without preconceptions the creative mind is opened, allowed to connect with a communal state of being as opposed to reaching into the bag of tricks that our intellect builds – not to throw away that bag of tricks but to transcend it – for me, these situations have been some of the most joyful musical experiences of my career. This is not to say that I haven’t enjoyed arranging and composing in the traditional sense. I like the balance between the two extremes – in truth, however, it can be self-indulgent and not something I want to listen to all the time. The ‘quality’ of the music, albeit quite subjective, can range from ‘totally happening’ to ‘totally boring’ whether I’m a musical participant or just a listener – it’s hard to convey why some ‘noise’ can be inspirational.
Arkipelago is the result of many performances of an ever changing group I assembled over several years called VooDooTek – the objective was to start with a blank canvas and draw upon the talents of the musicians assembled at the time – the idea was for everyone to contribute musical ideas to the direction of the music – responding and being open to the unexpected – whenever I felt the music had run its course I would abruptly change the musical context or mood. With electronics it is easier to cut through the volume of sound. The one prerequisite of the musicians was listening – for me a most important quality of musicianship. All the tracks on the CD started off as through composed synth soundtracks – soundscapes might be a better analogy – a combination of textures, industrial loops, otherworldly sounds – sometimes empty space – very sculptural – the charts are diagrams with emotional directives, sometimes a bass line, sometimes a tonal center – an integral part was the click that signaled sections and tempos that was removed – the core group, myself on more synths, Doug Belote on drums, Nori Naraoka on bass and Makuni Fukada on guitar, played with the prerecorded tracks – it was important for them to perceive those tracks as part of the improvised structure rather than a composition – since I was also incorporating more synth sounds and textures it was naturally impossible to separate what was virtual and what was live – so the whole track seems improvised but compacted due to its composition directives – most takes were the second take. Joo Kraus added his part in Germany and sent it back to me in New Orleans – I had played with him at a jazz festival and we really hit it off. I gave him no directions and the track you hear is virtually edit free.
To say that there was a bit of discussion on the announcement that eighth blackbird was going to be hosting their first composition competition would be a gross understatement…let’s say that it did not go unnoticed or unheard. To that point, it seems that such discussions can carry some weight, because eighth blackbird has just announced that the competition has been postponed and will be undergoing a re-work:
eighth blackbird announced its new composition competition in early February. The initial response was positive and enthusiastic, but over time aspects of the competition began to attract scrutiny. While some of the negative reactions took us by surprise, we did recognize the legitimacy of much of the criticism.
As a result of the many constructive and informative comments we’ve received, we have decided to postpone the competition.
We remain committed to this venture, and intend to relaunch it by June. In the meantime, we will continue exploring how to create an event that is accessible, equitable and exciting for all involved. Any works that are currently being written will remain eligible for the relaunched competition, and any application money already submitted will be refunded.
Thank you very much for your patience and support as we determine how best to proceed.
Ensemble Pi is an unusual new-music collective, in that all its concerts have a socially-conscious bent and feature composers whose work seeks to open a dialogue between ideas and music on some of the world’s current and critical issues. The ensemble’s Dancer on a Tightrope will take place at The Cooper Union’s Great Hall on Saturday, March 13 at 8 p.m. Cooper Union is located at 7 East 7th Street at Third Avenue, NYC. Tickets are $15 ($10 for students and seniors). For more information, call (212) 362-4745 or visit their website. We asked for a little background on the concert, and recevied some words from the ensemble’s founder and two of the evening’s composers:
Idith Meshulam (pianist and founder of Ensemble Pi):
Composer John Harbison expressed Ensemble Pi’s mission for the Peace Project best when he wrote that performing these pieces “is not a protest or a moral lesson. These would require little bravery. Instead it seeks music in a moment when words can fail.” Ensemble Pi offers music in conjunction with other arts and ideas as an alternative to the constant clash of angry and frustrated voices that need to be heard.
For the sixth installment of our Peace Project, we wanted to address the courage and compassion necessary to fight for one’s belief with works celebrating life as risk and art as flight into another existence. As a commemoration for the invasion to Iraq, we open with a short video of the historical society of Iraq, showing the irreversible damage to the historical buildings in Baghdad. The concert will then begin with two works commissioned by Ensemble Pi: Karim Al-Zand’s Swimmy, the famous children story by Leo Lionni with projection of Dave Channon; and Kristin Norderval’s A Remarkable Failure – a setting of prominent Israeli journalist and author Amira Hass’s acceptance speech for the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Women’s Media Foundation. The evening also features the New York premiere of Frederic Rzewski’s Whangdoodles (1990) as well as Sofia Gubaidulina’s Dancer on a Tightrope (1993), and Behzad Ranjbaran’s Shiraz (2006).
When we started planning the concert, we naively thought we would be out of Iraq by March 2010. We still felt we needed to commemorate the destruction and pain inflicted upon the Iraqi people, so we kept the commemoration of in March we Remember, and expanded it into a human rights concert. Our disappointment and frustration on the current situation is best expressed in A Remarkable Failure — Kristin Norderval’s homage to Amira Hass, who is one of my heroes. The piece addresses “the frustrations of not getting the real stories behind the stories” in the press. The second commission is the setting of a children masterpiece, that we hope will inspire and charm people of all ages.
The performers for this concert will include Kristin Norderval, voice; Airi Yoshioka, violin; Idith Meshulam, piano; Monique Buzzarté, trombone; Florent Renard-Payen, cello; Carol McGonnell, clarinet; and Nathan Davis, hammered dulcimer.
Swimmy is scored for narrator and ensemble (a quartet of piano, clarinet, violin and cello) and is based on the picture book of the same name by Leo Lionni. As a child I knew Lionni’s book and its poignant story, and now my own children have come to know it as well. It’s the story of a little fish who discovers the beauty of the ocean around him and manages to confront his adversaries through ingenuity and resourcefulness. Like many of Lionni’s books for children, Swimmy can be appreciated on several levels, something which has made it interesting to return to as an adult. My setting tries to complement Lionni’s elegant and colorful artwork with music which supports but doesn’t overwhelm the story’s simple narrative. The clarinet is the most prominent of the instruments and its quick-moving lines represent, in a way, the main character, Swimmy. Lionni’s story is a parable really, a tale which illustrates the power of cooperation and of collective effort.
“A remarkable failure” is the phrase that the Israeli journalist Amira Hass used to describe her work when accepting the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Women’s Media Foundation for her reports from Gaza. Why? Because she felt she had failed to get the media and the public to use “correct terms and words which reflect reality”. Her words could not compete with language adopted by the mass media which she felt was used to “disportray” reality. Listening to Hass’s speech I was struck by the parallels with Harold Pinter’s Nobel Lecture in 2005 – “Art, Truth and Politics” – another dissection of the Orwellian speech used by politicians and the mass media to cover up illegal actions and unpleasant truths. A Remarkable Failure for voice, trombone and laptop uses excerpts from the awards speeches of both Hass and Pinter, and explores the way corrupted and euphemistic language has been embedded in the mass media and seduced us into accepting torture, murder and war crimes as inconvenient necessities that need not be investigated nor prosecuted.
Back last December the New York Times highlighted the Stanford Mobile Phone Orchestra. The first link goes to the NYT video of the ensemble, but here’s a nicely quiet work from the actual concert:
But that’s not quite the earliest reference to this new ‘instrument’ and kind of ensemble. Michigan actually brought their own Mobile Phone Ensemble to last November’s SEAMUS proceedings, and there’s a video of (admittedly much less musical) a group of London tech geeks taking on the theme from Dr. Who much earlier in the year, at the Yahoo Open Hack Day.
Not that you need the halls of academia to get this creative; here’s the Hong Kong band RedNoon taking right to the subway:
Just a few weeks after the NYT feature with Stanford, CNN got into the act, also in Hong Kong, interviewing my composer-pal Samson Young about his own iPhone Orchestra. Samson, a Princeton grad student, put together his own performance at the January Hong Kong/Shenzhen Biennale. This one’s my personal favorite:
Making the classical aspects of the burgeoning indie classical movement abundantly clear, crossover albums are now crossover marketing musical scores. Via his website, composer Owen Pallett has released a limited edition score for the music on Heartland, his latest Domino recording.
Joined by the Czech Symphony Orchestra and a host of guests (including composer Nico Muhly) Pallette has crafted his most consistently engaging music to date. In some critical circles, indie classical has, rightly or wrongly, been under the microscope for making pop into a ‘longhair’ genre, robbing it of its immediacy in favor of overt sophistication. I’d submit that this vantage point doesn’t give enough credit to indie audiences, who seem to be just fine grappling with orchestral arrangements by Pallett and electronic experiments by Animal Collective alike.
What’s more, recordings like Heartland amply demonstrate that one can, if they’re talented, craft sophisticated music that has just as many catchy hooks as a three-chord, three-minute anthemic single. A case in point is the loop-laden and jaunty “Lewis Takes off his Shirt;” the music, and the video below, suggest that pop can indeed combine sophistication with immediacy, and that its orchestral incarnation can be downright cheeky!
For those of your with a case of ‘artifact avarice,’ the full orchestra score for Heartland is $46 and has been printed in a limited run of 300. In addition to the music it also provides lyrics and a chart of diagrams of patches for the ARP 2600.
Owen Palett’s touring a bunch in support of Heartland. Here are some dates:
04-08 Toronto, Ontario – Queen Elizabeth Theatre
04-10 Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall
04-11 Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater
04-12 Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall
04-13 Columbus, OH – Wexner Center
04-14 Pittsburgh, PA – Andy Warhol Museum
04-15 Washington DC – Black Cat
04-18 Indio, CA – Coachella Festival
04-20 Boston, MA – Institute of Contemporary Art
04-22 New York, NY – Webster Hall
04-24 Baltimore, MD – Metro Gallery
04-25 Philadelphia, PA – First Unitarian Church
04-27 Atlanta, GA – The Earl
04-29 Dallas, TX – Granada Theater
04-30 Austin, TX – The Mohawk
05-05 San Francisco, CA – The Independent
05-08 Seattle, WA – The Crocodile
05-09 Vancouver, British Columbia – The Vogue Theatre
05-10 Victoria, British Columbia – Alix Goolden Hall
05-11 Portland, OR – Aladdin Theater
05-13 Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court
05-14 Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge
Spring has definitely sprung down here in Houston; everything that looked dead just a few weeks ago is sprouting all kinds of new growth. And that goes for opera as well, seeing that this year’s iteration of Opera Vista begins this Saturday, March 20th, and runs through March 27th.
This year’s festival will also include the world premiere of the winning opera from the 2009 Opera Vista Festival, Anorexia Sacra by Line Tjørnhøj. Line couples the plight of a young woman suffering from anorexia with the writings of the 13th century nun Claire of Assisi. Anorexia Sacra will be performed at 7:30pm on March 20th and 27th at the Live Oak Friends Meetinghouse (1318 West 26th Street).
I’ve written before about the one and only 
In reaction to a roundtable 
After moving from New Orleans to New York City, I managed to stay connected to keyboardist/composer Lawrence Sieberth thanks to the Internet and email, keeping him posted on my music activities. My first memory of Larry is hearing him on piano performing his 1995 tribute concert Booker and Black at the Contemporary Arts Center which celebrated the music of New Orleans musicians pianist James Booker and drummer James Black with projected visuals by artist Jon Graubarth (Jon created the artwork for my CD 
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