Like the New Music Bake Sale, there’s another great Brooklyn tradition beginning to happen. On Friday, July 8, 7:00 pm to midnight at the Invisible Dog Art Center, Dither will be hosting their second annual “Extravaganza.” This year they will be featuring an array of experimental sounds, presented by composers and performers notorious for carving out unique musical niches. In addition to Dither, the lineup includes renowned guitarist Marc Ribot, powerhouse quartet So Percussion, Ches Smith and These Arches (an all-star line-up including Mary Halvorson, Andrea Parkins, and Tim Berne), Ted Hearne and Philip White’s raucous noise group R We
Read moreThere is another fantastic all-day new music marathon happening and tomorrow it’s Seattle’s turn for the good-times. Sunday, May 1st, from noon-10pm is the Second Annual May Day! May Day! marathon at Town Hall in Seattle. This 10-hour performer- and composer-driven celebration of contemporary music is produced by artistic director Paul Taub (of Seattle Chamber Players fame) and is curated by eclectic composer and pianist Wayne Horvitz, pianist Cristina Valdes, and Jarrad Powell (composer and artistic director of Gamelan Pacifica). This years marathon features 25 sets by local ensembles and soloists, including: Seattle Modern Orchestra, Michael Lim, Melia Watras, Christopher
Read moreThis Sunday, April 3rd, 2-10pm, the Switchboard Music Festival will present their fourth annual 8-hour music marathon at the Brava Theater in San Francisco (a new venue to accommodate the overflowing crowd they had at last year’s sold out event!). Switchboard’s goal is to bring together bands, composers, and other musicians whose work combines genres in interesting, organic ways. They place a special emphasis on music from the Bay Area, but always with an eye on the larger scene and bring in at least a few out-of-towners. This year’s festival features up-and-coming indie band Birds & Batteries, fresh off a
Read moreHere in New York we are on the cusp of another great week of concerts. Check out as many of these as possible. Sunday, December 5th – Two concerts at Galapagos: 1) at 4:30 the Chiara Quartet will play Gorecki’s 2nd quartet, Quasi Una Fantasia, and will premiere a new piece by Huang Ruo, Calligraffiti, which features projected video art by Seattle-based video artist Juniper Shuey. 2) and at 7:00, American Opera Projects and Opera on Tap present a show titled Sex, Cigarettes and Psychopaths (a Night of Laughs). There will be scenes from Matt Marks’ serial killer song-cycle The
Read moreThis Friday, December 3rd, is the second concert of the season by the American Composers Orchestra at Zankel Hall. This concert “explores composers’ reactions to specific moments, pinpointed and analyzed, which have inspired them to create something entirely new.” The program is titled A Time & Place and includes four world premieres commissioned by ACO. There is a new piece by Douglas J. Cuomo entitled Black Diamond Express Train to Hell that features cellist Maya Beiser as soloist. The Fire at 4 a.m. is Jerome Kitzke’s homage to both the creative and ceremonial fires he has tended. Christopher Trapani explores
Read moreThe Paul Dresher Ensemble’s Electro-Acoustic Band will be performing this coming Friday and Saturday (Nov. 12-13) at the ODC Theater in San Francisco. More information and tickets can be found here. The full program is below and features two world premieres, one of which is by Ryan Brown. I was able to talk with Ryan and Paul separately on the phone about this new piece. You can listen to a recording of their phone calls spliced together here. Gangbusters – Ryan Brown (world premiere) For Joe Z – Bruce Pennycook (world premiere) Chromatic Quadrachord – Paul Dresher (concert music premiere)
Read moreA lot of important ensembles have been coming out of places like Oberlin (Eighth Blackbird), Yale (So Percussion, Now Ensemble), and Eastman (Alarm Will Sound, JACK Quartet, Signal) over the past 10+ years. Well, it looks like there is another one trying to break through from Eastman called Eastman BroadBand. BroadBand is preparing for a tour of Mexico that will culminate in a performance at the Festival Internacional Cervantino in Mexico City, but before they leave they will stop in New York City on Monday to pick up their visas at the Mexican consulate and perform at Columbia’s Miller Theatre
Read moreI just wanted to make sure everyone knew that tonight in Chicago the International Contemporary Ensemble will be paying tribute to an amazing violist, Omar Hernández-Hidalgo. They have commissioned three new pieces in his honor which will be premiered at 7:30 at the Museum of Contemporary Photography. Back in early June, Steve made us all aware of what happened and the response from the community was quick and memorable. On a personal note, I was fortunate to be part of the Indiana University New Music Ensemble while Omar was there and I’ll always remember the day he walked in to
Read moreThere are a few more concerts happening in New York this week that you should know about, and then I’ll give the concert updates a rest for a while. Promise. Tonight (Tuesday, October 12), is your last chance to see the New York premiere of Kraft by Magnus Lindberg. 7:30pm, New York Philharmonic, Avery Fisher Hall. If you somehow haven’t heard about this, you can read the s21 posts about it here, here, and here; the New York Times articles and videos here, and here. You can even find some info over at Huffington Post. Check on ticket availability here,
Read moreFinally, it’s almost here, after over a year of waiting, the east coast premiere of Evan Ziporyn’s new opera A House in Bali. Our friends in Boston get to check it out first this weekend: Friday and Saturday, October 8th and 9th, at the Cutler Majestic Theater (219 Tremont Street). The good folks at Bang on a Can have even made a special offer available for these two shows – just click here for the offer. Then, the next weekend, the whole production is coming down to NYC for performances at BAM, October 14-16th, as part of the 2010 Next
Read more