Classical Music

Classical Music, Contemporary Classical, S21 Concert

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?

Judd Greenstein and Kimball Gallagher are looking for a few good proposals for the 2007-2008 season of VIM: TRIBECA.  Proposals may be submitted by performers (instrumental and vocal), composers, ensembles, or mixed-art groups that include music. VIM: TRIBECA is centered around music in the Western classical tradition, Greenstein says, but proposals may be made by any musicians whose work pushes the boundaries of genre, or whose work is affiliated with other traditions.  Download a pdf file with details here. And get out there and push a genre today.  Just don’t be too noisy. Our buddy Marvin Rosen will be joined by American

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Classical Music, Concerts, Contemporary Classical

The Times They Are a Changin’

Okay, so nobody wants to discuss A3.  How about C4, the terrific choral collective championed by S21 regular Ian Moss?  The talented boys and girls are doing a concert about the always-popular subject of love tonight at 8 pm at the Norwegian Seamen’s Church, 317 East 52nd Street (between 1st and 2nd Avenues).  On the bill are new works by C4 members Jonathan David, David Rentz, Moss, Malina Rauschenfels and Karen Siegel, plus stuff by a bunch of other people.  Lykke til!  Further evidence of the deaggregation of classical music distribution; our friends at Naxos have launched an online boutique called NaxosDirect. Best film score ever.  Discuss.

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Classical Music, Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical

Don’t Stop Believin’

It’s Daniel Gilliam’s turn to be S21er in the spotlight this weekend.  If you happen to be near Louisville, Kentucky at 4 pm this Sunday, drop by Central Presbyterian Church for the world premiere of Daniel’s Song of the Universal, a cantata for soprano solo, choir and piano, based on the text by Walt Whitman.  Lacey Hunter Gilliam, Daniel’s wife, will be the soloist.  Also on the program will be the premiere of O for Such a Dream for choir, soloist and piano, by Daron Aric Hagen, as well as new music by Louisville composer Fred Speck, and anthems by John Leavitt and Paul Halley. 

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Chamber Music, Classical Music, Composers, Contemporary Classical

A Report From Prague

Greetings S21ers: The OgreOgress gang has been having a swell time in Old Bohemia for the past month.  Last night I had the honor of recording John Cage’s Three with the multi-talented and very humorous German-born (and Amsterdam-based) recordist Susanna Borsch at the facilities of the Prague State Opera. If you’re interested in the recorder I would encourage you to check out Borsch’s activities and be in contact. Of particular note to those in the US of A (apologies to Borat), Susanna’s eclectic new music “girl band” Electra will be in the Massachusetts area to perform Louis Andriessen in July and I am certain

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Chamber Music, Classical Music, Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Festivals

You Don’t Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows

First Jeff Harrington, then David Salvage, and now our very own Lawrence Dillon is feeling some end-of-the-season love on the concert circuit.  This very evening (Thursday), at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina,  violinist Piotr Szewczyk will perform Lawrence’s Mister Blister and a movement from Fifteen Minutes as part of his Music in Time – Violin Futura program.  Szewczyk will also perform works by Mason Bates, Moritz Eggert, Daniel Kellogg, Jennifer Wang, and others as part of this program of new, short, innovative solo violin pieces. And, on June 15 at the International Double Reed Society Conference in Ithaca, New York, bassoonist Jeffrey Keesecker will

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Chamber Music, Classical Music, Contemporary Classical, New York, North/South

Viva Max!

For the past 27 years, the Mexican-born pianist and composer Max Lifchitz has been a tireless and resourceful promoter of new music (including his own) through live performances and recordings with the North/South Consonance Ensemble, the chamber group of the non-profit North/South Consonance organization. Many young composers, particularly those of the Neoclassic or New Romantic temperment (Larry Bell comes immediately to mind), have gotten a career boost from Lifchitz’s annual programs and recordings, which now number nearly 50.  I mention all this because North/South Consonance’s  final concert of the current season is coming up on Sunday afternoon June 17 at 3 PM and will

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Classical Music, Contemporary Classical, Covent Garden

If I Swallow Anything Evil, Put Your Finger Down My Throat

Not quite sure what to make of this, but the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in London has bought Opus Arte,  a leading for-profit maker and producer of performance DVDs.  The economics of high music culture have changed and more and more music groups of all sizes are moving toward control of production and distribution of their artistic “products,” as traditional avenues like record labels go belly up.  Where is our friend Pliable on this one?   Here’s an update on David Salvage’s piece at the Harvard Club on June 11.  Starting time is 7pm, not 7:30 as we reported here yesterday.  The requirement to dress “spiffy”

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Chamber Music, Classical Music, Composers, Contemporary Classical

David Does Harvard

Attention Boston (and NY) shoppers!  The world-premiere run of David Salvage’s String Quartet No. 2 is at hand.  The Arcturus Chamber Ensemble will do the honors, starting this Friday, June 1, at 8pm, at Adams House JCR, Harvard University.  They’ll do it again on Saturday night at 7:30 at the First Religious Society, Carlisle and, just to be on the safe side, one more time on Monday, June 11 at 7:30pm, at the Harvard Club, here in the Center of the Universe.  There will be other works on all the programs, probably by dead white guys.  The concerts are free and open to the public although the Harvard Club

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