Elliott Carter turns 101 today. By all accounts, he’s hale, hearty, and busily composing!
Read moreIt’s hard enough delivering an orchestra commission when you’re hale and hearty; but despite losing most of his vision during the course of its lengthy gestation (2001-06) York Höller managed to complete his work Sphären. His efforts amidst considerable adversity have garnered him the 2010 Grawemeyer Award. Although now almost completely blind, Höller continues to compose. Abetted by assistants, samplers, and a new software called Jaws, he is soldiering on. One hopes that the Grawemeyer’s $200,000 prize will assist in this endeavor. So, composers, next time you’re planning to tell your commissioner why the piece isn’t done, you’ll need a pretty
Read moreThe New York Times Arts Beat has details about a $10 million dollar gift the New York Philharmonic recently received from equity manager Henry Kravis. A gift earmarked for new music, the money will underwrite composer residencies and commissions for the orchestra. For those disheartened by the NYPO’s sometimes tepid commitment to new music during the 90s and 00s, this is a welcome sign that things may be changing for the better under the tenure of their new Music Director Alan Gilbert. Magnus Lindberg will be the orchestra’s Composer-in-residence for the ’09-’10 and ’10-’11 seasons. New York audiences will get
Read moreOn Saturday at 2:30, Tanglewood’s Festival of Contemporary Music continued with its second concert. The FCM performances contain generous helpings of music. While established composers such as George Benjamin, David Rakowski, and John Corigliano were included Saturday, curator Augusta Read Thomas programmed a great deal of music by the “emerging” generation and by composers underrepresented on US concerts. Some highlights: Jacob Bancks’ Rapid Transit, for mixed chamber ensemble, received its premiere. A TMC commission, the piece started out slowly, alternating nervous percussion flurries with chorale-like pan-modal verticals. Eventually, the winds picked up the percussion’s rhythmic ideas, and the ensemble was
Read moreThe opening concert on Tanglewood’s 2009 Festival of Contemporary Music on Friday featured several works by established composers and a TMC commission. This year’s festival is curated by Augusta Read Thomas. Rather than creating a unified theme for the five days of performances, Thomas has put together a varied group of offerings. In her opening remarks in the TFCM program booklet, she emphasizes,”This is not a festival with a house style.” Instead, what has thus far unified the proceedings are well-prepared, dedicated performances by youthful yet artistically focused musicians. Christopher Rouse‘s percussion ensemble piece Ku-Ka-Illimoku is a great curtain-raiser: splashy,
Read moreA friend recently asked me to come up with a list of music. He wanted a ‘starter’ kit to introduce friends and family to contemporary classical. The constraints are as follows: he wants to fill a 1 GB MP3 player to give as a gift. Actually, the 1 gig threshold is a challenging one for classical repertoire, requiring a streamlined list. I thought it might be fun to open this up to the Sequenza 21 community. Suggestions? Lists?
Read moreWednesday night was the debut of the Orchestra of the League of Composers/ISCM — an improbable eighty-five years after the organization’s founding. As Jerry pointed out earlier, the NY Times included strangely sweeping and sadly misinformed coverage leading up to the concert. However, this did little to dissuade an enthusiastic audience from attending the performance. They were treated to quite an evening. Below are a few highlights: -Lou Karchin: An excellent choice as conductor. Lou did a fine job leading the orchestra in a varied and challenging program. -Musicians: Anyone acquainted with new music in New York was apt to
Read moreNew New Paths in Music presents An Hispanic Festival Elebash Recital Hall Graduate Center – CUNY New York On Friday June 5th, New Paths in Music presented a concert of composers from Mexico, Argentina, and Spain: two of each. While the program centered around national identities, it contained music in disparate styles and for varying forces. DAVID ALAN MILLER, conductor of the Albany Symphony, led the New Paths Ensemble, a chamber orchestra of crackerjack contemporary players from the New York area. ENRICO CHAPELA’S “Irrational Music” was a perfect curtain-raiser. The piece is based on Chapela’s explorations of irrational numbers; but
Read moreI was saddened to learn today that John Kreckler passed away earlier this week. John was probably best known to composers, performers, and new music audiences as the co-director of the Locrian Chamber Players, a New York-based ensemble that performs exclusively music less than a decade old. I’d just seen John at the Locrian concert last week. Diva Goodfriend-Koven was performing two of my solo flute pieces. The atmosphere was light and friendly. He sat with me at the dress rehearsal, and joked that I should have given Diva more corrections after the run through (I hadn’t had much to say –
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Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Experimental Music, Festivals, File Under?, June in Buffalo
Two of the happiest experiences I’ve had as a composer were back to back summers (’98 and ’99) at JUNE IN BUFFALO. Held at SUNY Buffalo in upstate New York, the weeklong festival is a chance for ‘emerging’ composers to hear their music performed by top notch musicians and to have it critiqued by master composers. By the end of the festival, they’re likely to have gotten a good tape of their piece, met performers and new music ‘movers and shakers,’ listened to nigh a hundred hours of contemporary fare, gathered tons of ideas for new works of their own,
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