Many of our regular s21 readers should be familiar with Amsterdam’s own Samuel Vriezen, both as a visitor here on these pages, as well as a composer selected to be on both of our past s21-produced concerts. Samuel’s always been a highly active explorer, whether in his own or others’ music, poetry, concert production, cross-continent discussions with artists of all stripes, you name it. With a strong interest in Language Poetry, it’s not surprising that his explorations have led him to what I might call “Language Music”. No composer could better typify this kind of piece than ex-pat American (and
Read moreMany of us can recall a time, back in the day, when we brought cups of strong coffee to class and heard a professor tell us about the distant early days of “new music”. Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away (Italy), Luigi Russolo created his hand-cranked noise intoners – the intonarumori – and wrote his treatise, The Art of Noises, which would ultimately inspire a marvelous British new-wave band to contribute their song, Moments in Love, to a zillion compilations of makeout music. But I digress. Here in San Francisco we are fortunate enough to have a
Read moreImani Winds decided some time ago to make their tenth anniversary special, by commissioning ten new works from ten very different composers of color. Titled the Legacy Project, each new work not only gets premiered, but added to Imani’s rolling repertory as they perform across the country and beyond. So far they’ve taken on pieces by Wayne Shorter, Roberto Sierra, Alvin Singleton, Daniel Bernard Roumain, and Jason Moran; Danilo Perez, Jeff Scott and Simon Shaheen (and I suppose a mystery 10th composer) are in the wings. But just now the latest offering is stellar jazz vibraphonist Stefon Harris‘ Anatomy of
Read moreA few great concerts you might be able to catch, or might be missing: Carlsbad, CA: (25-27 Sept.) Sure, everybody goes here, about midway between LA and San Diego, just for Legoland California… But for the next few days, everyone should forget Legoland and instead head to the sixth annual Carlsbad Music Festival. The Calder Quartet and California EAR Unit will be playing all kinds of new music, including pieces by John Luther Adams, Daniel Wohl, Keeril Makan, Matt McBane, Ryan Brown, and Yannis Kyriakides. Premieres abound! And the weekend is given over to these ensembles supporting their special guest,
Read moreThis week, the Dallas Symphony premieres a new concerto written for cellist Nina Kotova. Christopher Theofanidis is teaching at Yale and about to embark on two new operas for Houston and San Francisco. He took some time out last week to let me know more about the work and what he’s been up to! Listen to the conversation: mp3 file Tomorrow, a post with the soloist, who also composes…
Read moreWhen I finally struck out for the Kansas City airport on Sunday afternoon, Kyle Gann was about 45 minutes into a very chilled-out performance of his heroic four-and-a-half-hour transcription of Dennis Johnson‘s November–a piece which inspired La Monte Young’s The Well Tuned Piano and was the first minimalist piece to employ a diatonic scale, repetition, and to stretch for multiple hours. November probably would have been lost to history had Kyle not undertaken the work of rescuing it. Sarah Cahill was going to take over from him at some point that afternoon, and the final notes of that performance were
Read moreI won’t be able to make it to most of these events, but hopefully you will. Moving from the west coast to the east coast, here is some of what’s happening in September – mark your calendars. Berkeley, CA. Saturday, September 26 at 8pm and Sunday, September 27 at 7pm. The American premiere of Evan Ziporyn’s new opera A House in Bali. The Bang on a Can All-Stars, Gamelan Salukat, Balinese Dance Artists and Western operatic and Balinese singers come together in this staging of Colin McPhee’s 1947 memoir. Pre-concert talk with composer and director, September 19 at 7pm. Audio
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Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Electro-Acoustic, Film Music, Opera, Premieres, San Francisco
San Francisco-based composer, conductor, writer, educator, and filmmaker Jack Curtis Dubowsky is a very busy man. This Wednesday night, September 9th at 7:30 p.m., he’ll take the stage along with the Jack Curtis Dubowsky Ensemble in San Francisco’s Meridian Gallery, located at 535 Powell Street, convenient to Powell Street BART. Next month, he has a new opera premiering. But fortunately, he wasn’t too busy to talk to me. S21: How does it feel to be leading off the Meridian Gallery’s 11th season of Composers in Performance? JCD: It’s an honor to be selected to be a part of the Meridian
Read moreThe Barracuda is swimming a little farther afield now, so I think it’s safe for all you liberal arty types to venture up… to Alaska! It’s time once again for the minor miracle that is the CrossSound Festival (28 Aug – 6 Sep). Alaska native, Harvard grad and Asian zither performer extraordinaire Jocelyn Clark is the driving force behind this truly unique yearly series; concerts that not only bring living contemporary music into this far corner, but as well building bridges between Eastern, European and American musics and performers. This is the festival’s 10th year — no mean feat and
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Cello, Chamber Music, Concerts, Electro-Acoustic, Exhibitions, Experimental Music, Music Events, San Francisco
That’s what early settlers said about the wild mint growing all over the peaceful hills and oceanside that would one day be paved over and known as San Francisco. In fact, for many years starting in 1835, that’s what the settlement was called, only in Spanish: Yerba Buena. History lives on in the name of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, located on 3rd Street between Mission and Howard. YBCA’s New Frequencies performance series, curated by Performing Arts Manager Isabel Yrigoyen, is well underway, and offers a couple of intriguing choices in coming days. First on Saturday evening, August 22,
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