Marco Antonio Mazzini is a Peruvian clarinetist with an Italian name who lives in Belgium and plays with a Czech orchestra called the Ostravska Banda which–as fate would have it–is joining the Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble for a good-looking program (Brown, Wolpe, Stockhausen, Xenakis) of modern music at Zankel Hall Monday night. There will be a preview performance Sunday night at the Willow Place Auditorium in Brooklyn Heights. Marco would be up for organizing a Sequenza21 concert in Ghent sometime if we have some Euro-interest.
Read moreOne of the treats of the Los Angeles Philharmonic programming in recent years has been a series of related concerts on a particular theme of 20th and 21st century music. The theme might be a composer (Schoenberg, Stravinsky), or it might be a style (minimalism). This year’s special theme has been “Shadow of Stalin”: music of the Soviet Union before, during, and after the controls placed on music style and content. A nice range of programs has been established: five programs by Philharmonic musicians; a symposium; two films; an all-night re-mix with visuals; contemporary underground pops; and a youth orchestra concert.
Read moreOur West Coast colleagues at Other Minds marked what would have been Lou Harrison’s 90th birthday on Monday by relaunching radiOM.org, their amazing, free treasure trove of streaming audio and video programs that span the history of new music. The still expanding Other Minds Archive contains 4,500 hours of recorded materials, which includes 3,500 hours of audiotape recordings from the KPFA Radio Music Department collection; highlights from past Other Minds Music Festivals; materials from the private archive of composer George Antheil; selected programs from the Cabrillo Music Festival, and other rare and unusual recordings of classical music, jazz, and experimental forms. This unparalleled collection of
Read moreA tip of the fedora to Peter Mueller for this handy little link.
Read moreMay 14th, 2019 CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) – President Bush looked tired as he sat down one last time in his famous beige easy chair in the Green Room of Lone Star Auditorium. His mind seemed elsewhere, and he was silent for a few minutes. Slightly impatient to begin our interview, however, I gently pointed out he was still holding his baton. “Oh!” he said, giving it a fond look and setting it aside. “It’s gonna be hard to let go.” Crawford audiences feel the same way. No one knew exactly what George W. Bush was going to do after two terms
Read moreWe’ve gotten a lot (actually, three) requests for a “media kit” from potential advertisers recently. We don’t actually have such a thing because we don’t actively look for advertising (the Lincoln Center folks and a couple of record companies sometimes contact me when they want to promote something and I charge them a few bucks–if I remember to send an invoice). Sequenza21 is my hobby, my love and–thanks to all you nice folks who create an enormous amount of entertaining content in your comments, posts and forums–it is a remarkably inexpensive and low maintenance undertaking. It occurs to me, though, that if we were a little
Read moreThis Mother’s Day, show her you care. Nothing says “Thanks Mom” like a high-octane concert of Lachenmann, Ades, Nono, Alex Mincek, and Kyle Hillbrand. And — just your luck — such a beast is roaring our way with David Hanlon’s Hold the Applause concert at Gallerie Icosahedron this Sunday at 5:30pm. Of course, if you don’t love your Mom — or you live outside the Eastern timezone — your presence can be excused. Otherwise, troops, forward march! The various links will give you all the details you need.
Read moreHouston, we have a problem… We’re sweating like pigs in your fair city! …OK, OK, it’s not nearly so bad (yet), though the humidity definitely hangs in the air most of the time. But the sky’s blue, the city’s BIG, the food’s good. Things are a’building everywhere; other things are falling apart everywhere, and usually right next to each other. In places it’s hard to tell whether what I’m looking at is renaissance or apocalypse. But if apocalypse, it’s a pretty friendly one. Just a quick link to honor our new home: Susan Alcorn (b.1953 — US) Susan plays a
Read moreOkay, the person with the secret was John Cage. And, the title refers to the game show on CBS, broadcast in 1960. Yes, there was once a time when a figure like John Cage appeared on TV, on CBS, and performed one of his works. Outside of South Park and the Simpsons, when have you seen major composers on TV.?(Glass appears, as an animated character [not his voice] in South Park, and is mentioned a few times on the Simpsons.) Anyway, back to Cage: you can see it here. Enjoy!
Read moreYes, you read that right. Two men got into a fistfight at the Boston Pops, which apparently knocked over chairs left one of them shirtless. With the obvious caviat that we should use our words to resolve our differences and that violence is generally bad, this is great news for the classical world. I wish it had been a regular BSO concert. Conductor Kieth Lockhard apparently took the fracas in stride. According to one audience member “he just stood there, you know, quiet.”
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