Today is the 20th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s death. He would be 92 if he were still alive. His son, Alexander, has written a nice tribute published at dot429 this morning: It seems impossible that twenty years have passed since my father (Leonard Bernstein) died. Or perhaps, I should write, I haven’t seen my father for twenty years! Sometimes I feel as though he is on tour again and will be back at any time now… My father traveled a great deal. When he was home, though, he was really home. As a composer, he didn’t have an office to
Read moreThe music season has definitely kicked into gear all across the country. Sure, I will always love and find inspiration via New York City; I just received a great CD from a new friend in Brooklyn and the other night skyped for the first time with another NYC friend and collaborator who helped lead Burnt Sugar in a recent musical tribute to James Brown at the Apollo Theater (Salon Series at the Apollo is looking really, really cool. Miller Theatre, you have been warned…). But I’m excited by the music new I’m reading from all the coasts (and Midwest). Here’s
Read moreRemixers start your … laptops. Some hot-off-the-presses news about a contest beginning at noon TODAY! Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Steve Reich, Nonesuch Records, and Indaba Music have launched a search for collaborators to remix the third movement from Reich’s 2×5. Paired with his Pulitzer prizewinning Double Sextet, the work appears on Reich’s new Nonesuch CD. For four weeks beginning October 12, 2010 at noon, remixers can visit Indaba’s website to create their own version of the movement. From November 9 to 23, fans and a panel of judges including Reich will review the submissions. Winners will be announced on December
Read moreWhen Christopher James Lees (pictured to the right), conductor of the University of Michigan Contemporary Directions Ensemble (CDE), challenged the literal meaning of “contemporary” before the group’s concert last Wednesday, he imbued the performance with special significance. The concert, dubbed “homage to the masters”, aimed to explore certain works’ and composers’ relevance, chronology notwithstanding, and featured Morton Feldman’s Madame Press Died Last Week at 90 (1970), Toru Takemitsu’s Air (1995), George Perle’s Six Celebratory Inventions (1995), Benjamin Lees’s Piano Trio no. 2 (1998) and Gyorgy Ligeti’s Chamber Concerto (1970) (additionally, Elliott Carter’s Gra (1975) was supposed to be played but
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Composers, Concert review, Conductors, Contemporary Classical, Experimental Music, File Under?, New York, Orchestras
My tweet right after the concert on Thursday: “Magnus Lindberg’s Kraft: some very beautiful passages + intriguing spatial effects amidst a joyously chaotic maelstrom of sound.” It’s a fascinating piece and a gutsy one for the New York Philharmonic to present. I do question the wisdom of programming it alongside Joshua Bell playing the Sibelius Violin Concerto. It threw some of the more conservative ticket-holders a curveball, as they had no idea (unless they’re checked out the promo videos on YouTube) what the Lindberg had in store for them. There were far more than the “handful” of walkouts Anthony Tommasini
Read moreIt’s a cliché to say Texans like things BIG although a mid morning drive on Houston’s freeways will do little to dispel this notion. However, many incredible opera companies in Houston presenting cutting edge programming and embracing fresh approaches to audience outreach are relatively small operations. But that doesn’t mean these companies and their ambitions aren’t growing. Viswa Subbaraman is the Founder and Artistic Director of Opera Vista, Houston’s innovative contemporary opera company. October 15, at 8pm at Zilkha Hall (located in the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts) maestro Subbaraman and company present the world premiere of composer and
Read moreI was supposed to run a contest promoting the premiere of Magnus Lindberg’s Kraft tonight at the NYPhil but I forgot (that’ll teach them to do business with a card-carrying member of the Medicare set) so this is a makeup. I have tickets for the October 12 performance for the first person who can tell me the name of American composer whose Second Symphony is based on a single lyrical motif and explain what in the hell this has to do with Magnus Lindberg. I also have a pair for the first person to correctly identify the Helsinki hotel at
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 moreThere are a couple of posts over at our new sister ship Chamber Musician Today that cry out for comment. Alas, the folks who visit there so far seem to be a bit more shy than the S21 gang so I’d like to recruit some of you to run over and stir up some trouble. In New Rules for Classical Musicians, violinist Marjorie Kransberg-Talvi argues that it is unrealistic to expect struggling big city music organizations to pay the same salaries and maintain the same work rules they’ve had in better times. The Detroit Symphony strike, she says, is simply hastening
Read moreThe founders of Bang on a Can have been busy, and it looks like the fall season is starting in a big way for David Lang, Michael Gordon and Julia Wolfe. Below are some concerts coming up in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Palo Alto and Cleveland, which are all worth checking out. Sunday, October 3: Music of Julia Wolfe performed by Robert Black and the Hartt Bass Band, JACK Quartet, and Matthew Welch at Le Poisson Rouge. Wait, that was last night, sorry – whoops. Well, even though it’s too late to check out that concert, I wanted to
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