Elsie Driggs’ Queensborough Bridge, 1927. Pictures 2009 Concert: New Jersey students explore the intersection of music and visual art. Sunday, April 26, 2pm (Pre-concert Panel at 1:30pm) Montclair Art Museum/NJAC 3 South Mountain Avenue, Montclair, NJ $15 Adults / $10 Students / Online Tickets Available here. For the fourth annual edition the Pictures Composition Contest, New Jersey students were asked to compose music inspired by visual art exhibited in the Montclair Art Museum. EXIT 9 Percussion Group will perform quartets written by the students. In addition, they will premiere the 2009 Ionisation Commission, SPAN, by Darren Gage.
Read moreSwiss oboist/composer/conductor extraordinaire Heinz Holliger will be in New York City for two concerts on April 21st and 22nd, honoring both his 70th birthday and the recent 100th birthday of Elliott Carter . The concerts are at the 92nd Street Y. Wednesday’s show features a “preconcert” concert at 6:30 with several recent shorter works by Carter. To celebrate Holliger’s 70th (which occurs May 21st), ECM will release Romancendres on May 19th. Two important Holliger pieces, both of them inspired by Robert Schumann, are combined with a chamber work by Clara Schumann. They all intersect in the year 1853, when 20-year-old
Read morePeople have been wondering for years when Steve Reich would finally be given a Pulitzer prize. He has been a finalist three times (for You Are (Variations) in 2005, for Cello Counterpoint in 2004 , and for Three Tales in 2003) and this year he finally won. The piece is Double Sextet, and it was premiered March 26, 2008 in Richmond, VA. The New York premiere was on April 17th. Here’s a video of Eighth Blackbird in a recording session for the piece: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60Rji3yhRs8[/youtube] The jury for the music Pulitzer this year was John Schaefer (WNYC), Dwight Andrews (Emory University)
Read moreApropos this Wednesday’s Michael Gordon Trance performance mentioned just a few posts previously: Besides the pre-concert talk and videotaping, we’ve got a bit more fun for you all… Along with the good folk at Bang On A Can and Cantaloupe Records, Michael Gordon himself had the idea of offering the tracks to Cantaloupe’s Trance CD, performed by Icebreaker, as free downloads for you all. The only catch: Each of the seven tracks are hosted at a different blog, and it’s up to you to follow the clues to find all seven. Besides the music itself, there’s a further reward for the quick: the
Read moreSunday afternoon was the final concert provided by Esa-Pekka Salonen as Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has consistently said that he’ll be back with us on a regular basis, but before the start of the concert, the administrative management and the Board came on stage to announce to us the Salonen now has the title of Conductor Laureate and will return on a regular and “significant” basis in the future. The nature of the continuing role was not announced, but it is consistent with how well the Phil (and Salonen) have handled this transition that the details
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Chamber Music, Composers, Contemporary Classical, Experimental Music, Interviews, Music Instruments, New York, Percussion, Performers, Podcasts
It’s hard to imagine a percussionist that you would want to perform your music more than Alex Lipowski. Alex has a passion for the new, the challenging and the unusual and I find him to be one of the most inspirational musicians I’ve ever met. He spent much of our time together explaining how important it is to take risks and to find new and innovative sounds — good advice. You can see Alex and the Talea Ensemble on April 28 at the Players Theatre, 115 Macdougal Street, NYC. Looking ahead, there will be three episodes in May and I’ll be devoting the
Read moreThe spring festivals are underway; here are three you should know about. 1) In Boston, the new Beeline Festival (curated by Evan Ziporyn and Christine Southworth) continues tonight with performances by Ensemble Robot and The Loud Objects. The final concert will be Sunday, with performances by Gamelan Galak Tika and Dewa Ketut Alit. With Beeline it seems that Boston finally has a new music festival with more of a Downtown slant. 2) Tonight in Brooklyn, the first annual New Music Bake Sale runs from 7PM to midnight, featuring music from So Percussion, Lisa Moore & Martin Bresnick, Lukas Ligeti, Newspeak, ACME,
Read moreMichael Gordon‘s huge and hugely wonderful, 50+ minute riff- and throb-fest Trance, composed in 1995, is being dusted off for what promises to be a memorable performance by the ensemble Signal, 7:30pm April 22nd at Le Poisson Rouge. The fun and games begin at 6:30 pre-concert in the bar, however; Gordon himself, along with Ronen Givony (from Wordless Music and Le Poisson), Signal director Brad Lubman, bandmate/composer Ken Thomson (who also does duty in Gutbucket) and others, will talk about producing and performing new works with emphasis on the whys and whats of a piece after their first presentation. Trance was premiered
Read moreFrom the Ojai Music Festival blog comes word of the latest twist on an old scam: We can’t really believe that this is happening. Last week, someone started calling the offices claiming to be Steven Mackey – the great American composer, and featured performer on the 2009 OMF lineup. His story was pretty complicated, but the gist of it was this: poor fellow got stuck in Jamacia over spring break, and now needs our producer to wire him money to get home. Our producer works remotely for most of the year, so after speaking with “Steven,” we called her. She
Read moreApril 18, 2009 is National Record Store Day. Despite the embattled state of the “brick and mortar” retail record business, dozens of shops are planning a host of events, including in-store performances, giveaways, and the sale special products (including limited edition 7” vinyl singles) to celebrate the day. A website has been set up, listing participating stores and events occurring on the 18th. Last year, Kay and I had a grand time on Record Store Day in New Jersey, visiting Vintage Vinyl, Princeton Record Exchange, and Jack’s. This year, we’re planning to check out the aforementioned, plus Sound Station in
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