Month: July 2011

Concert review, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Electro-Acoustic, Experimental Music, Festivals, Improv, San Francisco

10th Annual Bay Area Outsound New Music Summit

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUO0_8D1yg0[/youtube] San Francisco Community Music Center, July 20 – 23, 2011  The first sound of the festival’s Wednesday night show was, perhaps appropriately, nothing. Theresa Wong started offstage, down front, with just a microphone. She circled it in front of her face, no sound coming out of her pursed lips. Fluid looping gestures, but no vocal to be heard for perhaps two minutes. Then, a “Woo.” Silence, the mic passing back and forth. “Hoo,” silence, then another and another. Hoots and cuckoos, then a low-flutter “Wo – wo – wo – wo” for thirty seconds, then putting the mic to

Read more
by Tom Djll
BAM, Books, Contemporary Classical, Electro-Acoustic, Festivals, File Under?

Think cool thoughts (Book Review)

Book of Ice by Paul D. Miller with an introduction by Brian Greene Mark Batty; 128 pages ISBN: 978-1935613145 Paul D. Miller is probably best known as DJ Spooky, out electronica artist. But he’s also an eloquent author about DJing and musical aesthetics in books such as Rhythm Science and Sound Unbound. Well versed in contemporary classical music, Miller has collaborated with and remixed music by Steve Reich, Iannis Xenakis, and Terry Riley. His latest project is perhaps his most ambitious and it involves one of the longest field trips and most far flung residencies an artist can make:  a trip to Antartica. In order

Read more
by Christian Carey
CDs, Chamber Music, Contemporary Classical, File Under?, Minimalism, New York

Debut: Artwork for Steve Reich’s WTC 9-11 CD

  I heard Kronos Quartet perform Steve Reich’s WTC 9/11 (2010) earlier this year at Carnegie Hall. For three string quartets (two were overdubbed in this live performance) and recorded voices taken from phone calls by first responders on September 11, 2001, as well as interviews with New Yorkers some years later, it doesn’t serve as a nostalgic remembrance. Rather, it’s a dramatic whirlwind of a piece, at times bracing and overwhelming. For those who’ve tired of the languid sentimentality and unfortunate jingoism that has too often been attached to  9/11 by those who’ve been witnesses from a distance, Reich’s response

Read more
by Christian Carey
Composers, Contemporary Classical, File Under?, The Business

Kickstarter as a successful fundraising tool

Maura Lafferty is one of the most astute and social media savvy publicists of classical music around. Since several of her clients have used Kickstarter as part of fundraising campaigns, we asked her to write a guest blog about the platform. Maura’s been kind enough to share some tips for our readers about how to best employ Kickstarter to fund their next project. I get a lot of questions about Kickstarter and funding commissions through this tool, and have chimed in on a number of Twitter conversations about its effectiveness. Kickstarter is a threshold giving system: for those unfamiliar with

Read more
by Christian Carey
Chamber Music, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, File Under?, S21 Concert, Scores

Sequenza 21/MNMP Concert Announcement

  We’re pleased to announce details for the 2011 Sequenza 21/MNMP Concert featuring the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME). The following entries from the call for scores have been selected for inclusion in the program:   James Stephenson (UK) – Oracle Night Robert Thomas (NJ) — Sixteen Lines Jay Batzner (MI) – Slumber Music Rob Deemer (NY) – Grand Dragon Sam Nichols (CA) – Refuge David Smooke (MD) – Requests Dale Trumbore (CA) –How it Will Go Laurie San Martin (CA) – Linea Negra James Holt  (NY) – Nostos Algea   The concert will be on October 25 at Joe’s Pub at 7 PM. It will

Read more
by Christian Carey
Books, CDs, Composers, Contemporary Classical, File Under?, Interviews

Interview with Composer Andrew Ford

Andrew Ford’s “Illegal Harmonies” “I’ve never had a grand plan. Never even had an ambition – I still don’t, beyond wanting to write better music,” says Ford. “So I’ve done things as they’ve come along. Of course I also say no to things. I got into writing music journalism because, in 1983 when I came to Australia, I wasn’t, over all, very impressed with the music journalism I read. My radio work really came out of being an academic and gradually replaced it totally.” Although born in England, Andrew Ford has become associated with his adopted homeland, Australia. He’s one

Read more
by Christian Carey
Bass, Chamber Music, Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Experimental Music, Festivals, Improv, Interviews, Piano, Premieres, San Francisco, Women composers

Let’s Ask Kanoko Nishi

San Francisco Bay Area composer/performer  Kanoko Nishi wraps up our series of interviews with composers who are premiering new works at the 10th Annual Outsound New Music Summit in San Francisco on Friday, July 22nd.  The Friday night concert, entitled The Art of Composition, starts at 8 pm at the Community Music Center, 544 Capp Street, San Francisco. Tickets are available online from Brown Paper Tickets, and you can also buy them at the door.  Listeners who don’t want to wait that long can get up close and personal with the composers, and learn about their creative process, at a free Monday night panel discussion at 7 pm on July 18th. Kanoko

Read more
by Polly Moller
Chamber Music, Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Electro-Acoustic, Experimental Music, Festivals, Improv, Interviews, Premieres, San Francisco, Sound Art, Women composers

Let’s Ask Krys Bobrowski

Krys Bobrowski is up next in our series of interviews with composers who are premiering new works at the 10th Annual Outsound New Music Summit in San Francisco on Friday, July 22nd.  The Friday night concert, entitled The Art of Composition, starts at 8 pm at the Community Music Center, 544 Capp Street, San Francisco. Tickets are available online from Brown Paper Tickets, and you can also buy them at the door.  Listeners who don’t want to wait that long can get up close and personal with the composers, and learn about their creative process, at a free Monday night panel discussion at 7 pm on

Read more
by Polly Moller