This weekend, the Austin New Music Co-op celebrates its 10th year of wild music with two nights of concerts. The programs will function partly as a retrospective on those years, reprising some of their most ambitious and unique projects, like last year’s massive US premiere of Cornelius Cardew’s “The Great Learning” (excerpted now with the Texas Choral Consort). Other group milestones on the program include: Two of Morton Feldman‘s chamber works “de Kooning” and “The Viola in my Life” Alvin Lucier‘s “Still and Moving Lines of Silence in Families of Hyperbolas” for vibraphone and sine waves, as well as an
Read moreMichael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony are visiting Ann Arbor this week as part of their American Mavericks Festival, a celebration of 17 living and passed American composers ranging from Mason Bates to Charles Ives. The orchestra is giving four concerts starting this Thursday (3/22) and Sunday (3/25) and will be joined along the way by incredible soloists like Jeremy Denk, Jessye Norman, Joan La Barbara, Emmanuel Ax and others. Ann Arbor is one of three stops in the Symphony’s centennial tour (the others being Chicago and New York), and their residency coincides with the University of Michigan’s
Read moreSixty Postwar Pieces to Study Recently, a couple of the undergraduate composers in the program at Westminster Choir College asked me for lists of postwar pieces to study. Given the vocal and choral emphasis in our program, I’ve compiled the list below to provide a different vantage point. Hence the emphasis on instrumental music and a preponderance of post-tonal composers that they might not encounter when learning their own recital repertoire. Given a different student population, composers like Jennifer Higdon, Christopher Theofanidis, and Donnacha Dennehy could just as likely appear on a listening list such as this. And, of course, it
Read moreOur friends (and the performers on the last Sequenza21 concert) ACME appeared at All Tomorrow’s Parties last week. Quite a coup for the indie classical group, which is enjoying increased crossover success. Below check out video footage of them performing Gavin Bryars’s “Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet” live at ATP. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWapzwPAxmU&feature=related[/youtube]
Read moreWhen I was notified of my participation in last year’s highSCORE Festival in July 2011 , I had no idea how pivotal this would be for my prospects as an aspiring young composer. The highSCORE Festival attracts very high caliber composer participants representing leading music educational institutions throughout North America and Europe. The faculty of the highSCORE Festival 2011 included Giya Kancheli, Christopher Theofanidis, Paul Glass, Giovanni Albini and Amy Beth Kirsten, to name but a few. In addition to several private lessons and group master classes, we had the opportunity to hear our music performed in wonderful medieval church
Read moreTonight, Hotel Elefant makes its debut concert at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music (a venue that’s just celebrated its one-year anniversary). The concert features two works by David T. Little. Sequenza 21’s own James Holt will be on hand to host the event; he’ll conduct an onstage interview with Little. Below, check out one of several preview videos from the ensemble’s YouTube channel (there’s interview footage with several of the program’s composers): composer Leah Maria Villarreal and violinist Andie Springer discuss preparing a new multimedia work entitled “The Warmth of Other Suns.” [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdbA8NI_h_s&context=C4314331ADvjVQa1PpcFNz3zMqRTkDBl6aFxh7lVlR6vZXMo72GbY=[/youtube] Event Details Thursday, March 15, 2012
Read moreAt a dinner party in the Hamptons attended by your correspondent many years ago, the late and legendary editor Willie Morris averred–this was at a point in the evening when his beverage had been refreshed several times–that “things would have been a lot different if the South had won the war.” I assumed he was being ironic but the notion came back to me other night during the first of two concerts organized by the Library of Congress in tribute to Dina Koston, a prominent force in DC classical music for many years who died last year and– along with
Read moreLife is competitive and composers are as competitive as anyone else–sometimes even more so. This thought came forcibly to mind when I heard two of the three composers–Stefan Cwik and Neil Rolnick (the third, Philip Glass, wasn’t even mentioned)–discussing their pieces with New Music Ensemble artistic director and conductor Nicole Paiment minutes before she and her musicians played three of their pieces as the concluding event of the BluePrint Transcending Senses Series at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. When it comes to cattiness, composers often make the Beverly Hills Housewives look like fluffy little kittens. Which is not to
Read moreCookies (and other Goodies) for a Cause On Sunday March 11, 2012 from 4 PM to Midnight, a plethora of organizations gather at Roulette in Brooklyn for the Third Annual New Music Bake Sale. Ten bucks gains you entry to the event plus a raffle ticket. There’s music being performed every hour on the hour by artists such as Newspeak, Gutbucket, the Janus Trio, and more. Check out the event’s website for a complete listing of performers, sponsors, and organizations manning the tables. Dessert, plus music, plus prizes? Sounds like this third installation of the Bake Sale is triply pleasurable!
Read moreComposer/vocalist Sabrina Lastman, whose duo SoCorpo is also a great fixture of the performing arts, is involved in another wonderful project. The Sabrina Lastman Quartet (and they also perform as the Sabrina Lastman Trio sans the drummer) are offering up the tantalizing combination of jazz and world music. Their CD The Candombe Jazz Sessions has been issued this month and was accompanied by a CD release show at Joe’s Pub in NY. They will be also appearing on March 10th at Pregones Theater in the Bronx. Sabrina had a few minutes to spare for a small chat.
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