Sunday, May 15, 2005
Audience response.
Hydra by Katy Etheridge
The above artwork was created by a good friend of mine in honor of my sextet, Hydra.
Well I have been meaning to make another post for about two weeks now, but instead I was put out of commission by spring allergies. Damn flowers!
After the Integrales concert, I had the chance to speak with three audience members about the performances. None of them make a habit out of listening to classical music much less do they take the time to listen to new music, yet all three thoroughly enjoyed the Integrales concert. All three of them were really surprised about how much they enjoyed the music.
Here are some things to think about......
Could it be that when presented with something new and different audiences may actually enjoy it?
Why do so many performers or ensembles refuse to program new music?
Are these ensembles and performers really catering to a conservative audience, or is it a refusal by performers to accept the demands put on them by the composers of new music?
posted by Everette Minchew
1:06 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.
CONTACT INFORMATION
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