Sunday, April 17, 2005
Impending premieres
The concert for the inaugural year of the Integrales New Music Festival will take place on the night of May 1st at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, MS. I will be the featured composer at the event, and two of my latest works will be premiered. I will be making the trek to Mississippi to go to a few rehearsals and attend the premieres.
The first of my works on the program is Figment No. 2 “Juggler’s Fancy” for violin alone. Every now and then I hear promising remarks from the violinist, Samantha Neal that Juggler’s Fancy is coming along rather well. I am excited about hearing Juggler. When I was asked to compose a work for solo violin it became a little bit of an experiment to see how many of my favorite violin “tricks“ I could use for example, slap pizzicato and constant glissandi (á la Mikka by Xenakis). I confess that I love slap pizzicato; you can never have enough slap pizzicato. Right?
The second work to be performed will be Hydra. It is scored for alto saxophone and wind quintet. (It is actually more of a wind sextet, because it isn’t really a work for alto saxophone solo with wind quintet accompaniment.) I got word, from the conductor Alan Theisen, that tonight was the first rehearsal for Hydra. The performers have had their parts for a few weeks now and tonight they surfaced to rehearse my latest monstrosity. Al acknowledged that Hydra was one of the most aggressive works he has ever heard. I replied with, “Thank you.” The title alone should denote a tinge of hostility or conjure up ideas of aggression.
I guess channeling Xenakis during the composition process worked!
I was assured that the performers of both works are playing very well; some of them even had compliments about Hydra. (I kind of find that hard to believe knowing the conservativism that reigns supreme over the musical tastes of the musicians at USM.) But there are some very good performers at USM and I can not wait to hear all of the music on the Integrales concert.
Other works to be performed at the concert:
Four Songs - Berg (This isn’t really new music, but it is cool and there were performers eager to perform it.)
Sequenza for Flute - Berio (I can’t remember which number it is.)
Sequenza VIIb for Soprano Saxophone - Berio
Sic Mea Fata for a capella choir - Theisen
Variations for two antiphonal saxophone quartets - Ballard
It is going to be a long concert. I think I still forgot to mention a work or two.
It is two weeks until Integrales; I am getting more excited and nervous everyday.
posted by Everette Minchew
10:41 PM
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Composer Everette Minchew (born 1977) is consistently active in the creation, performance, and promotion of contemporary music. Moderately prolific, his catalogue includes small chamber pieces for violin, piano, various wind instruments, harpsichord and electronic music. Current commissions include a string trio and an opera based on an 11th-century crusades tale.
His earliest musical training came at the age of eleven when he began playing alto saxophone; it wasn’t long until he began his first attempts in composition.
He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Music History from the University of Southern Mississippi, where he studied saxophone under world-renowned soloist, Lawrence Gwozdz.
Fearing that traditional university training would hinder his development as a progressive composer, he abandoned the idea of formal lessons in favor of an intense private study of modern masterworks.
Minchew's works are characterized by their intense timbral explorations and brutal dissonance. That is not to say, however, that the compositions are devoid of beauty. In the first of the Two Brief Pieces, for example, the harpsichord chimes stringent yet haunting chords evoking a sense of loss.
Other pieces, like the Figment No. 2 "Juggler's Fancy" play upon the kaleidoscopic interaction between timbres and tones. The rapid alternation of pizzicato, arco bowing, and extreme glissandi remind the listener of Xenakis coupled with a Berio Sequenza. Minchew's Invention "Two-Part Contraption" for piano owes much to Ligeti's etudes and boogie-woogie jazz.
His music has been performed around the United States, and he was the featured composer at the 2005 Intégrales New Music Festival in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
He currently resides in Hattiesburg, Mississippi with his wife, Cheryl.
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