DAY It’s been said (probably by Robert Craft) that Stravinsky was the last composer whose work could survive a one man recital. At yesterday’s performance of the complete Sequenzas at the Rose Theater, I heard that mantle happily passed by 14 brilliant advocates to Luciano Berio. In his introductory remarks for yesterday’s performances composer & host Steven Stuckey said that when Berio wrote the Sequenza I for flute in 1958 he didn’t know that he was starting a dynasty. I wonder. By 1958 Berio was already fashioning an approach to composition consciously modeled, down to the smallest detail, on the
Read moreQuick–whodunnit? Classical music; in the twentieth century; with the… twelve-tone row? PhD? Rock music? New York Phil? Wrong!!! (The corpse he’s mistaking for classical music is in fact his idea of what classical music was. I say: Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!) And go support our pal Jeffrey Phillips tomorrow. His Cadillac Moon Ensemble is making their NYC debut at the Nicholas Roerich Museum. They will be rendering works by Berio, Christian Wolff, and some guy named Jeffrey Phillips. Hmm…
Read moreHello Jerry Bowles and Sequenza21, I am writing from the office of Bang on a Can in Brooklyn. We are currently beginning a search for a new cellist to be a member of the Bang on a Can All-Stars. In order to reach the broadest possible pool of applicants, we would love to list this job opening on the Sequenza21 website. Attached is a description of the position and the application procedure. Please reply to jeremy@bangonacan.org, or call the office at 718-852-7755 and ask to speak with me or our executive director Kenny Savelson. Best, Jeremy Thal Bang on a
Read moreUBUWEB is playing online host to an excellent hour-long WDR documentary on Mauricio Kagel. Of course it’s in German, but don’t let your lack of the lingo stop you from clicking over there and watching. Scenes of Kagel rehearsing his Divertimento with the Schönberg Ensemble & Reinbert de Leeuw at the 2006 Donaueschinger Musiktage are intercut with footage of Kagel and a number of his earlier works from the 60s and 70s. There’s plenty of Kagel’s love of theater and the absurd, careful fascination with all kinds of sound and action in music, and just plain play on show in this one.
Read moreA meeting of the San Juan Island Book Club, pictured here, convened immediately upon my return from Seattle, where Alex Ross and Kyle Gann had curated a truly remarkable new music festival for the Seattle Chamber Players Icebreaker series, with SCP’s artistic director Elena Dubinets at the helm. An inspiring line-up of emerging and emerged composers were on hand this past weekend to discuss their music, Alex and Kyle presented their books, and the concerts each evening were wonderful. You can read about the terrific event here. It was particularly fun to meet people I had until now known solely
Read moreLast year, many of us saw a posting regarding the VIM:Tribeca concert series. The organizers, Judd Greenstein and Kimball Gallagher, wanted to put on concert series of mostly new works; the composers were responsible for providing performers. The concerts were to be put on in the Gallerie Icosahedron (I’m deliberately not linking to them, for reasons that will be apparent soon!). The first indication of trouble to us should have been the delays, imposed by the gallery, regarding scheduling and, we found out later, the renting of a piano. The first public sign of trouble was the sudden announcement that
Read moreSunset at Montclair by George Inness New Jersey Arts Collective and the Montclair Art Museum are sponsoring Pictures 2008, a composition competition for high school and college students residing or studying in New Jersey. The winning works will be performed on May 9th at the Montclair Art Museum by the Halcyon Trio (www.halcyontrio.com). The museum has also commissioned a piece from Christian Carey for the concert. A Composers Forum on April 4th at 3:20 PM at Westminster Choir College will feature readings and a masterclass with the Halcyon Trio for the competition winners. Last year’s Pictures jury: Frank Ezra Levy, Christian Carey
Read moreCheck out this video of Tom Cruise talking about Scientology, apparently leaked from the Scientology organization (they got it pulled from YouTube, but copies are kicking around the internet). The ideological content is pretty wierd, and it’s Tom Cruise, which make it interesting enough. But check out the Minimalist use of the “Mission Impossible” theme as underscoring.
Read moreLast.fm is a social-network/music site out of London, whose visitors play a huge part in creating their vast database on musicians, their recordings, their popularity, and music of related interest. Users contribute by providing hard information, photos, opinions, and even “tags” that end up linking like-to-like across the spectrum. But many also download a bit of software as well, that keeps track of what they listen to on their computer. This information is used to build a profile of a listener’s likes, and lets Last.fm steer them towards other new music they’re likely to enjoy. If you’re a musician with recordings out there
Read moreAndrew Cyr writes: Hi Jerry, I just wanted to give you a heads up about a couple of things: Avner Dorman, the composer we just cut an album with (in editing mode now), had some incredible news in Germany, which I think is potentially worthy of a post. His new percussion concerto was just premiered in Hamburg a few weeks ago, and was just added in a rare surprise programming shift, with Munich Symphony — when was the last time you heard an American symphony do something like that! Check out the press release, which I received from his publisher,
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