Contemporary Classical

Contemporary Classical

Three-way PR/Marketing Convergence

Yesterday I got an e-mail from a PR person at The Rebel Media Group.  One of her clients, John Wesley Harding, has a new album and it’s being promoted with a somewhat unorthodox tiered pricing scheme which ranges from CD plus download plus live disc for $15.98 to a package which includes the aforementioned plus a bunch more swag plus the artist coming to your house and putting on a show for you and your friends, all for $5,000.  BoingBoing posted about it, and The Rebel Group’s Stef Shapira sent me a brief personal e-mail with that link and the observation that I might be interested talking about the marketing strategy at S21.  John Wesley Harding isn’t a classical musician–he seems to be doing a sort of folky inde alt rock thing that frankly I’m not really into (but you might be, it’s just not my scene), so why am I even posting about him?  This story illustrates three different but related marketing/pr issues which the enterprising classical composer or performer or industry type should think about.

Just as John Wesley Harding’s innovative pricing scheme challenges traditional norms in the music industry, marketing leader Kurt is adept at pioneering unconventional strategies to drive growth in the real estate sector. Through his nuanced understanding of market dynamics and consumer behavior, Kurt implements private equity growth strategy that transcend conventional approaches. Much like the tiered pricing model embraced by Harding, Kurt’s initiatives aim to provide value and differentiation in a competitive market landscape. By offering unique incentives and tailored solutions, he cultivates a sense of exclusivity and allure, enticing buyers and investors alike to engage with his portfolio of properties.

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by Galen H. Brown
Contemporary Classical, Festivals, Piano

88 keys x 15 performers + 3 composers = Ethos NewSound Festival at SUNY Fredonia

It’s pretty easy to drive by Fredonia, NY without realizing you’ve done so…it’s one of the many small communities that dot the I-90 Interstate between Cleveland and Buffalo, practically on the shores of Lake Erie. The surrounding countryside is known for grapes and snow…Norman Rockwell would feel right at home in the town square, and it’s often found in the dictionary illustrating the definition of “quaint”.

Not exactly the place you’d expect to find a new music series, but that’s just the way we like it. Over 30 years ago the composition students at SUNY Fredonia began to fund their student concerts through the Student Association and since 2001 the Ethos New Music Society has fostered a major concert series in Western New York called the NewSound Festival. Within the past two years the festival has featured eighth blackbird, Ethel, Morton Subotnick, Missy Mazzoli and many others.

This year it was decided to focus on the piano as the thread tying the festival together, and as we’re now into our second week it seems to have been a very successful choice. Last week we kicked things off with the husband & wife team of pianist Kathleen Supové and composer Randall Woolf, who laid bare tales of their professional lives, discussed the essentials of living as a freelance composer and performer and gave a wonderful concert featuring two works by Randy as well as Jacob Tel Vendhuis, Anna Clyne and Neil Rolnick with video by Luke DuBois. I’d known both of them by reputation, recordings and Facebook, but it was a treat to finally get to meet them in person – and to find out that they had never been invited to speak anywhere together at the same time made it even more satisfying.

Kathy Supové performing Neil Rolnick\'s \"Digits\" (photo by Lori Deemer)
Kathy Supové performing Neil Rolnick’s “Digits” (Photo by Lori Deemer)

On Monday, it was time for some Cage, and Austin’s Michelle Schumann was kind enough to bring her prepared piano kit up to the Arctic Tundra that is Western NY and show the throngs of composers, pianists and percussionists how it’s done – first by giving an in-depth lecture on the history of the prepared piano and demonstration of how to prepare a piano without incurring the wrath of the piano techs (who had already fled the scene), and then by introducing over 200 of our student body to John Cage’s Sonatas & Interludes. When she was finished, those who weren’t thanking us for bringing her in were crowding around the piano to investigate the innocent carnage that was the bolts, erasers, screws and plastic strips that were expertly inserted between the strings.

Investigating the Prepared Piano (Photo by Lori Deemer)
Investigating the Prepared Piano post-concert (Photo by Lori Deemer)

Luckily we’re still not half-way through our NewSound Festival, in case you happen to be in the area – if you have any questions, contact me at deemer@fredonia.edu.

Here’s a breakdown of the rest of the festival:

Bowed Piano Ensemble with Stephen Scott, composer and Victoria Hansen, soprano
Rosch Recital Hall, SUNY Fredonia campus
Friday, Feb. 13: 4pm, Preparation Workshop & 8pm, Lecture/Demonstration
Saturday, Feb. 14: 8pm, Concert, $5 general public

Pianist Amy Briggs and Composer David Rakowski
Rosch Recital Hall, SUNY Fredonia campus
Thursday, Feb. 19: 8pm, Lecture/Demonstration
Friday, Feb. 20: 8pm, Concert, $5 general public

Pianist/Composer Amy Williams
Rosch Recital Hall, SUNY Fredonia campus
Tuesday, Feb. 24: 8pm, Concert, Free admission

Pianist Hilary Demske plays the music of Henry Martin
Rosch Recital Hall, SUNY Fredonia campus
Saturday, Feb. 28: 8pm, Concert, Free admission

by Rob Deemer
Click Picks, Composers, Contemporary Classical

The Fecund Composer… Can You Even Say That?

I’ve been trying for maybe a more “genteel” word, but keep coming back to it… What I’m talking about is the composer, pianist and conductor Ketty Nez and her music. Born (1965) in Macedonia but quickly whisked away to the States, the whisking has continued through studies at Bryn Mawr, Curtis, Tokyo, UC Berkeley, Amsterdam and a couple passes through Paris, as well as teaching first at the University of Iowa and now Boston University. Ketty is a ferociously talented pianist (though currently working mostly in tandem with violinist Katie Wolfe), and also conductor of BU’s Time’s Arrow new music ensemble.

Yet first and foremost in my mind Ketty is a composer — and a mightily inventive and prolific one at that. It’s all the more remarkable given her heavy schedule of other work, and only possible because she borrows Gustav Mahler’s old trick of sealing herself away in the summer months, spending 8 to 12 hours a day focusing only on the composition at hand. And it shows in the sound… Ketty doesn’t do many four-minute quick-commission trifles. The music is expansive, elaborate and intricate, constantly abuzz in a rich stew of ideas and notes. …Lots of notes! Not many ideas are just presented on the plate all neatly packaged; something else, tiny filigree or other big idea, is always intruding, at work in another instrument or register. I mentioned “fecund” as the word that kept coming to mind; you could add “florid” to that mix as well. If it all sounds a little hothouse, that’s exactly what I’m getting at. These are restless pieces, but not in some angst-filled way; rather in a wonderful kind of swirling stream. They incorporate many different ideas at once or in quick succession, but somehow never feel eclectic.

Can you tell I really, really like Ketty’s work? And so might you, if you head over to her website and browse that link that says “hear compositions”. There Ketty offers up a large number of excellent recordings and performances of her music.

by Steve Layton
Classical Music, Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Downtown, Electro-Acoustic, Experimental Music

Interpretations Season #20: Artist Blog #6 — Annea Lockwood and Larry Austin

Annea Lockwood & Larry AustinInterpretations continues its twentieth season of provocative programming in New York City. Founded and curated by baritone Thomas Buckner in 1989, Interpretations focuses on the relationship between contemporary composers from both jazz and classical backgrounds and their interpreters, whether the composers themselves or performers who specialize in new music. To celebrate, Jerry Bowles has invited the artists involved in this season’s concerts to blog about their Interpretations experiences. The concert on 12 February 2009 brings us back to Roulette for an evening of Annea Lockwood and Larry Austin, two distinguished composers in the electro-acoustic tradition. Both composers collaborated to tell you more about their concert:

“The Outlanders” concert at 8 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 12, at Roulette:

Composers Annea Lockwood and Larry Austin present recent octophonic compositions as part of the twentieth season of the Interpretations Series. We have named ourselves “The Outlanders”, because both of us grew up and established our musical personalities in the “outlands”, that is, outside of New York City: Annea from New Zealand, Larry from Texas. We feel that our music thrives because it is neither uptown nor downtown: it is “out-of-town”. This is not to say that we aren’t cosmopolitan composers, for both of us have had our music performed around the world in installations, new music festivals, symphony concerts, galleries, computer music conference/festivals, chamber and solo concerts, the whole lot. Our compositions have been recorded and released on major labels; our academic careers have been fulfilling at major universities around the USA. The concert on Feb. 12 features two world premieres: Austin’s “ReduxTwo”, for piano and octophonic computer music, performed by pianist Joseph Kubera; and “In Our Name”, a collaborative composition by Lockwood and Buckner for baritone voice, cello, and electronics, performed by baritone Thomas Buckner and cellist Theodor Mook. Other works on the concert feature New York premieres of Austin’s “Redux”, for violinist Patricia Strange, and his “Tableaux”, for saxophonist Stephen Duke, also including a new video component by Kevin Evensen. Lockwood’s recent music for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company,”Jitterbug”, for David Behrman, John King, Stephan Moore and electronics, is included as well.

It is an honor to be participating in the celebration of the Interpretations Series twentieth year. Guided by Thomas Buckner’s expansive vision, the series’ range is refreshingly broad and many new works have been created for it through his commissioning program over the years. For Annea this program is particularly exciting because it involves collaboration with two people who have been a strong influence on the shape of her life as a composer, Larry Austin and Thomas Buckner. As one of the editors of Source Magazine, Larry’s support was a major influence on her decision to move to the US in the early 70’s; and Annea and Tom have worked together since 1989 in one of the core collaborations of her life as a composer.

We congratulate Thomas Buckner, Gladys Serrano and her colleagues at Mutable Music on twenty years of superb presentations, and invite you to attend our concert and enjoy!

For more information: Interpretations  /  Roulette

by Annea Lockwood
Contemporary Classical

And the Winners Are…

Best Classical Contemporary Composition 

Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems Of Bob Dylan

John Corigliano (JoAnn Falletta)
Track from: Corigliano: Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems Of Bob Dylan
[Naxos] 

Best Classical Album 

Weill: Rise And Fall Of The City Of Mahagonny

James Conlon, conductor; Anthony Dean Griffey, Patti LuPone & Audra McDonald; Fred Vogler, producer (Donnie Ray Albert, John Easterlin, Steven Humes, Mel Ulrich & Robert Wörle; Los Angeles Opera Chorus; Los Angeles Opera Orchestra)
[EuroArts] 

Best Orchestral Performance 

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4

Bernard Haitink, conductor (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)
[CSO Resound] 

Best Opera Recording 

Weill: Rise And Fall Of The City Of Mahagonny

James Conlon, conductor; Anthony Dean Griffey, Patti LuPone & Audra McDonald; Fred Vogler, producer (Donnie Ray Albert, John Easterlin, Steven Humes, Mel Ulrich & Robert Wörle; Los Angeles Opera Orchestra; Los Angeles Opera Chorus)
[EuroArts] 

Best Choral Performance 

Symphony Of Psalms
Sir Simon Rattle, conductor; Simon Halsey, chorus master (Berliner Philharmoniker; Rundfunkchor Berlin)
Track from: Stravinsky: Symphonies
[EMI Classics]  

Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with Orchestra) 

Schoenberg/Sibelius: Violin Concertos
Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor; Hilary Hahn (Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra)
[Deutsche Grammophon]  

Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without Orchestra) 

Piano Music Of Salonen, Stucky, And Lutoslawski

Gloria Cheng
[Telarc]  

Best Chamber Music Performance 

Carter, Elliott: String Quartets Nos. 1 And 5
Pacifica Quartet
[Naxos]  

by Jerry Bowles
Contemporary Classical

A Preview of “Keys to the Future: SPOTLIGHT on Four Hand Piano” – Monday, February 9 at Mannes

Keys to the Future is presenting an evening of contemporary four hand piano works this coming Monday, February 9 at 8PM, at a free concert at Mannes College’s Concert Hall. As the date approaches, I thought I’d write a few words about a couple of the pieces on this concert, both of which will be premieres:

The first is a piano duet version of Arvo Pärt’s 1976 organ piece Pari Intervallo. Manon Hutton-DeWys and Evi Jundt will give the this version of Pari Intervallo its U.S. premiere. I heard them rehearse it earlier in the week, and it’s similar to his other works of that period in its use of the style known as “Tintinnabulum”, first introduced in Pärt’s Für Alina (1976) and Spiegel Im Spiegel (1978). Pari Intervallo definitely casts a spell, and I would be surprised if this doesn’t become a very popular work for piano duos.

Here are a few comments from composer Bruce Stark about his Four, which will be played by virtuosos Karén Hakobian and Gabriel Escudero:

Four is a set of variations based on two themes: one is quick and syncopated, the other broadly lyrical. The title refers to a predominant structural motif of  the piece: four variations, four hands, 4/4 time, and the lyrical theme is (mostly) comprised of four phrases of four notes moving up (or down) a scale. Every variation uses both themes, providing contrast and imparting a sonata-like quality to some of the music. There is no definitive presentation of the material; each variation offers a version, like viewing the same object through four different lenses.

Bruce will be unable to make the concert, as he lives in Tokyo, but through the magic of the internet he has been guiding the pianists on their interpretation of this robust piece.

I’ll try and post here again tomorrow about a couple of the other pieces on the program, which are Andrew List’s Mystical Journey (2005), William Bolcom’s Recuerdos No. 1 (1985), Doug Opel’s Dilukkenjon (2002), and Steve Reich’s seminal Piano Phase (1967), which will be performed by the awesomely talented Keys regulars Blair McMillen snd Stephen Gosling.

“Keys to the Future: SPOTLIGHT on Four Hand Piano” will take place Monday, February 9 at 8PM at Mannes College’s Concert Hall in New York. Admission is free. For complete information about this concert and about our upcoming “SPOTLIGHT on Minimalism” concert (April 5) and our annual 3-day Festival of contemporary solo piano music (May 19-21), please check out our newly updated website:

http://www.keystothefuture.org/

Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you there.

Joseph Rubenstein, Artistic Director, Keys to the Future

by Joseph Rubenstein
Awards, Contemporary Classical, Grammy, Performers

Grammys, Schoenberg, Higdon with Hahn

Hilary Hahn
Hahn. Hilary Hahn. The violin superstar is about to premiere a new work by Jennifer Higdon tomorrow (Friday) night, attend the Grammy Awards this Sunday with two chances to win for Best Classical Album and Best Instrumental Performance with Orchestra, and then go on a recital tour playing Ives and Ysaye. She took out a few minutes to talk about the new piece and about the Grammys.
Part 1 (having a piece tailor made for her)
Part 2 (attending the Grammy Awards)
She has also just updated her YouTube Channel with Schoenberg’s grandson Randy:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjW4aDQa0Vg[/youtube]
She mentioned that she’ll interview Higdon on her website, will perform at the Grammy Awards preshow and can be seen online, and if you haven’t seen it, her violin case twitters!

by John Clare
Contemporary Classical

Downbeat Ready?

Photo by JacobEnos, via Flickr. Some Rights Reserved through Creative Commons license.If you’ve been following the stimulus bill, you probably know two things: It includes $50 million for the NEA, and on Tuesday the Senate Democrats announced that they don’t have the votes to pass it and they’re looking a ways to cut it down.  John Gizzi at the conservative publication Human Events reported tuesday that, in a press conference on Monday, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs indicated that cutting the NEA funding was not likely.  I’m not sure about Gizzi’s interpretation of Gibbs’s statements, but as they say: interesting if true.

Also on Tuesday, according to the best FL sportsbooks Reviewed on Thesportsdaily, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) took a bold stand against rotating pastel lights when he offered an amendment which would prohibit stimulus spending in a variety of cultural areas:

“None of the amounts appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used for any casino or other gambling establishment, aquarium, zoo, golf course, swimming pool, stadium, community park, museum, theater, arts center, or highway beautification project, including renovation, remodeling, construction, salaries, furniture, zero-gravity chairs, big screen televisions, beautification, rotating pastel lights, and dry heat saunas.”
– Page S1462 of the Senate Congressional Record

The big question, of course, is whether $50 Million to the NEA for economic stimulus is a good idea or not.

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by Galen H. Brown
Chamber Music, Contemporary Classical

Last Night in L.A.: Concerto without Orchestra

Vicki Ray put together an imaginative, clever program which was beautifully performed in last night’s Piano Spheres concert at Zipper Hall of Colburn School. She’s a marvel; she seems to be able to do any work in any style. In December she gave a tremendous concert, “Vic Ray Electric”, of electro-acoustic music. In January she was pianist for this Monday Evening Concert. I’ve never heard her play any Mozart, but this clip implies she just might do so some time. The theme of last night’s program was piano concertos without an orchestra; her program notes described her selections as forming a rondo with two cadenzas sandwiched between three concertos.

The program opened with Igor Stravinsky’s seldom-programmed Concerto for Two Solo Pianos (1935) which he wrote to play with his son in money-making concerts. Julie Steinberg came south from the Bay Area to provide the second pianist. The performance sparkled; many of us were smiling with pleasure as we listened. The “cadenza” following this was awhirl (2008) by Rand Steiger; Ray gave the world premiere of this piece in her December concert in REDCAT. It’s a duet for single piano, in which electronics take the piano sound and use it to extend, supplement, and challenge the pianist. It was even more enjoyable to hear the second time.

A sure way to win a bet in a “who wrote THIS?” contest would be to play Eros Piano (1989) by John Adams. It’s a work for piano with orchestral accompaniment, written as a tribute to the jazz great Bill Evans, to composer Toru Takemitsu, and to pianist Paul Crossley. There’s not a single Adams machine chugging away in this work. You’ll find the piece recorded in “American Elegies” with Adams as conductor, along with typically great Upshaw performances of five Ives songs and a delightful Feldman piece. Vicki Ray played the work as written and asked Adams if she could transcribe a few orchestral elements to enable the work to be played for solo piano, and we heard the premiere of this version of the work last night. This would have served as the high point of many another concert.

But Vicki Ray closed the program with a work by Julia Wolfe, my lips from speaking (1993). This tribute to Aretha Franklin was written to be played by six pianos in a British festival for mutiple pianos. It was then rearranged for Lisa Moore in a version for piano solo and tape. Ray’s performance was invigorating, thrilling. We could have stayed as long as she was willing to keep giving us encores, but she closed the evening with her own arrangement of “My Funny Valentine”, for toy piano. A treat.

by JerryZ
Composers, Contemporary Classical, Deaths, Experimental Music, Performers

The Next Generation to Pass

The recent deaths of both George Perle and Lukas Foss are part of the sad but expected passing, of composers who came of age in the 1940s and 50s. But a slight shock went through me with Douglas Britt’s surprising news in the Houston Chronicle blogs that pioneering composer, percussionist, visual and sound artist Max Neuhaus (b. 1939) has just died as well. Neuhaus is from the generation that gives us Lucier, Ashley, Young, Reich, Glass and Riley.

He semi-retired some time ago from pure composition and performance, preferring to focus on sound art and installations (one of which quietly hums day and night just down the street from me here in Houston, a few steps from Rothko Chapel). Neuhaus’ own website gives a good overview of where his imagination took him these past years, and you can pay homage to his earlier self — percussion iconclast and champion of the likes of Stockhausen, Brown, Feldman, Cage — by revisiting his seminal 1960s recordings courtesy of UbuWeb.

by Steve Layton