It’s Daniel Gilliam’s turn to be S21er in the spotlight this weekend. If you happen to be near Louisville, Kentucky at 4 pm this Sunday, drop by Central Presbyterian Church for the world premiere of Daniel’s Song of the Universal, a cantata for soprano solo, choir and piano, based on the text by Walt Whitman. Lacey Hunter Gilliam, Daniel’s wife, will be the soloist. Also on the program will be the premiere of O for Such a Dream for choir, soloist and piano, by Daron Aric Hagen, as well as new music by Louisville composer Fred Speck, and anthems by John Leavitt and Paul Halley.
Read moreTwo quick notes: First, the American Symphony Orchestra League is reporting that the full House Appropriations Committee has approved the major arts funding increases which the Interior Subcommittee had recommended on May 23rd. InsideHigherEd.com confirms the story, saying that “The House Appropriations Committee approved legislation Thursday that would increase spending on the National Endowment for the Humanities to $160 million in the 2008 fiscal year, up sharply from the $141.4 million that the agency is receiving this year. The bill, which finances the Interior Department and numerous other agencies such as non gamstop casinos, would also provide $160 million to the National
Read moreThe Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas concert at Rose Hall last night was one of those rare “what’s not to love” events that only occasionally grace New York stages. Take a program of thinking man’s bon bons (Gershwin’s Cuban Overture, Silvestre Revueltas’ Sensemayá, Ginastera’s barnburning Estancia), add a star turn by Latin music legend Paquito D’Rivera, and throw in an energetic and talented young orchestra led by a drop dead gorgeous conductor and you have a surefire receipe for fun. Many of the audience members came dressed for a post-concert gala which gave the evening a particularly elegant flair and provided a refreshing contrast
Read moreOur regular listen to and look at living, breathing composers and performers that you may not know yet, but I know you should… And can, right here and now, since they’re nice enough to offer so much good listening online: Stephane Ginsburgh (b. 1969 — Belgium) I first ran across this fine pianist a few years ago, while searching the web for information about Marcel Duchamp’s prescient, chance-based 1913 “compositions”, Erratum Musical — In 2001, Stephane recorded a number of his own interpretations of Duchamp’s score for the Sub Rosa label. A little of Stephane’s official bio: Born in Brussels,
Read moreThe Sunday evening concert explored the range of voices of a piano with four works for piano and orchestra, almost four concertos. Pierre-Laurent Aimard was pianist in three and merely a conductor in the fourth, Dialogues for Piano and Large Ensemble (2003) by Elliott Carter. One result of the differences in attitude (or fashion?) regarding contemporary music between northeast and southwest is that we hear much less of Carter’s music than do you in the more variable climates, so that hearing the work seemed both old and new. Tamara Stefanovich was given the chance to shine as soloist, and she did
Read moreAn evening joining the dots between music genres and digital art forms, and exploring the worlds of electronic music, contemporary classical practice and interactive visual arts, all taking place on a Cold War air base – that’s Faster Than Sound at the Aldeburgh Festival. It took place on Saturday, see more pictures of the event here, and read the background story here.
Read moreLast night’s concert introduced us to the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Douglas Boyd. The major work was Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, transcribed for a chamber orchestra by Schoenberg in 1921 for a chamber orchestra of 14, and completed by Rainer Riehn in 1983. I didn’t like this. At over an hour in length, it wasn’t a condensation. “Listen to all of Mahler’s pretty melodies without all those messy instruments getting too emotional.” (Yes, I recognize that Schoenberg’s motivation was to try to bring a contemporary work to a local audience, even if he had to strip
Read morePierre-Laurent Aimard is music director for this year’s Ojai Music Festival, and his program for last night explored music in which the piano is used as a percussion instrument, while also continuing the use of multiple pianos begun last night. With Saturday morning set for his solo program, his work yesterday evening was as a colleague. The percussion group Nexus played in all three works of the program, as did his colleague Tamara Stefanovich on piano. For the past several months Stefanovich has been Aimard’s fellow-player of choice, having filled in for another pianist who suffered what sounds like tendon
Read moreFrom today’s NYT: Newspapers Trimming Classical Music Critics Doesn’t mean they’re giving them free haircuts either. If only Paris Hilton could play the cello. (No piccolo jokes, please.)
Read moreThe 61st Ojai Music Festival opened last night. Helena Bugallo and Amy Williams, returning after their success two years ago in their performances of Nancarrow, gave us a great survey of modern works for two pianos with works by Stravinsky, Ligeti, Sciarrino, and this season’s featured composer, Peter Eötvös. (Us amateurs have trouble coming to a decision as to the best mispronounciation of his name.) But let me start with the featured composer, glad I can write the name and not try to speak it. The second half of the program opened with his Cricketmusic (1970) a tape of cricket
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