Chamber Music America has announced the following spring grant opportunities. · New Jazz Works: Commissioning and Ensemble Development offers support for the creation and performance of new chamber works by U.S. jazz ensembles. This program also funds activities that extend the life of the work and encourages the development of career-related business skills. Deadline: March 9, 2012 · Classical Commissioning provides support to U.S. ensembles and presenters for commissions of new chamber works. Grants are made for commissioning fees, copying costs and ensemble rehearsal honoraria. Compositions must be written for small ensembles (2 to 10 musicians) performing one to a

With so much of the new music buzz being (deservedly) sucked up by the Ecstatic Music Festival right now, I wanted to make sure that the S21 faithful know about what looks to be a great evening coming up on February 10 at 9 pm at Joe’s Pub, featuring three of “hottest” musician/composers around. Todd Reynolds, dubbed by ur…me, “the Eric Clapton of the electronically souped up violin,” will perform a few works from his album Outerborough, which was named Amazon’s Best Classical release of 2011, and also perform with the British cellist Peter Gregson,  who has collaborated with Tod

Don’t know what you folks are doing this coming Tuesday night, January 17, but I will be trekking uptown to Symphony Space to see the Gaudete Brass, a splendid Chicago-based chamber ensemble rarely seen in these parts, who will present a concert of still-hot-off-of-Sibelius contemporary brass chamber music, including the world premiere of a new work by S21 familiar Rob Deemer. “We were going to be traveling to New York to showcase at the Chamber Music America’s National Conference and while we were in town, we decided to present a concert that will mostly feature music we premiered this past

HK Gruber has a cold.  The nasal voice dripping into my telephone earpiece from his home in Vienna sounds more like an early-round contestant on Frog Idol than the celebrated Austrian composer and frequent chansonnier of Frankenstein!!, one of the most unusual and beloved pieces of contemporary music you’re likely to encounter.  In the chansonnier role, the performer is required to  sing  in cabaret, lieder and exaggerated operatic styles as well as speak, whisper and shriek at the top of his lungs.  All of which, Gruber does extremely well if you’ve heard a recording or seen him perform. Will his

                      She was 21. I was 22. We were in love. Nothing was impossible.

I’ve never been a Twitter fan.  Very few people have ever said anything worthwhile in 144 characters and I’m not one of them.  The chances are good that you aren’t either.  But, I LOVE Google+  Easy to share music and all kinds of neat stuff, have real conversations that you can actually follow, and an incredible filtering system for us passive aggressives.  For example, I “circle” everyone who circles me but the people I don’t really want to follow (relatives, people who might vote for Herman Cain, people who were home-schooled or sell real estate) I put in a circle

The nice folks at Exploring the Metropolis are trying  to find out where most of the city’s musicians are located within the 5 boroughs of New York City so  they can better serve them through their residency program.  To that end they have put together a super-short  (4 questions) anonymous survey for the Sequenza21 community.  These folks do a great job in finding resources for composers and musicians.  Hop over to Survey Monkey and GPS your bad self.

Well, slightly.  Steve Smith’s terrific review of the ACME/MNMP/Sequenza21 concert at Joe’s Pub Tuesday night is now up online.  And, if you’re arriving via the Times link, welcome.  Come back regularly.  We’ll find something to amuse you.