Contemporary Classical

Concert review, Contemporary Classical, Electro-Acoustic, Experimental Music, Festivals, Los Angeles

Electroacoustic Concert in Santa Monica

The City of Santa Monica was the scene Friday, May 2, 2014 of HEAR NOW Goes Electroacoustic, the first in a series of three consecutive concerts featuring music by contemporary Los Angeles composers. Presented by HEAR NOW and People Inside Electronics the six works in the program all included some kind of electronic accompaniment. The Miles Memorial Playhouse was filled and the cozy, Spanish Colonial style performance space with its wooden ceiling beams and stucco walls provided good acoustics and excellent viewing. This concert was dedicated to William Kraft and the composers offered a few remarks prior to the performance

May 5, 2014November 25, 2023 by Paul Muller

Chamber Music, Contemporary Classical

The Donald Sinta Saxophone Quartet’s 2014 Composition Competition

Hey composers! Dan Graser, the soprano saxophonist of the award-winning Donald Sinta Saxophone Quartet, asked me to help announce the group’s 2014 Composition Competition. This looks like a very exciting opportunity! Here are the basic facts (taken from the group’s online posting): Eligibility: All student composers enrolled in the United States as of Spring 2014. Piece requirements: An un-premiered work for SATB saxophone quartet, 6-10 minutes in length. Application fee: None! Prize(s): One first-prize winner will receive $500 and have their piece premiered at the quartet’s Carnegie Hall recital in November, 2014. Five composers receiving honorable mention will have their

May 3, 2014 by Garrett Schumann

Contemporary Classical

Speaking of Christopher Rouse…

Sign up for the New York Philharmonic’s eNews for a chance to win a pair of tickets to hear the New York Philharmonic in a concert featuring the World Premiere of Christopher Rouse’s Symphony No. 4 and Violinist Midori on your choice of Thursday, June 5, 2014, at 7:30 PM or Saturday, June 7, 2014, at 8pm at the first-ever NYPHIL BIENNIAL! 2 winners will be selected on May 31, 2014. The winners will be notified by the email address provided on the form. One entry per email address. Register here. Read about the concert here. Read about Christopher

May 1, 2014May 2, 2014 by Jerry Bowles

Contemporary Classical

American Minimalists Concert at Cal Lutheran

The Minimalist Jukebox set up shop at Cal Lutheran on Sunday, April 13, 2014 for a concert titled ‘American Minimalists’, featuring Gloria Cheng and the Areté Vocal Ensemble. The Samuelson Chapel was comfortably filled for this event, which is connected with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Green Umbrella concert series. This performance was also designated the CLU Suzanne Freeman Memorial New Music Concert. The concert opened with Knee Play I (1976) by Philip Glass from his iconic opera Einstein on the Beach. The Knee Plays are short interludes devised to cover scenery and costume changes during the opera but each contains

April 20, 2014 by Paul Muller

Commissions, Concert review, Concerts, Conductors, Contemporary Classical, Experimental Music, Los Angeles, Minimalism

Maximum Minimalism at Disney Hall

On Tuesday April 9, 2014 downtown Los Angeles was the scene of the centerpiece concert for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Minimalism Jukebox series. Over four hours of music was presented from eight composers, including ten different works, two world premiers and dozens of top area musicians. Wild Up, International Contemporary Ensemble, the LA Philharmonic New Music Group and the Calder Quartet all made appearances. The Green Umbrella event was curated by John C. Adams and Disney Hall filled with a mostly young audience. The evening began with a pre-concert panel discussion moderated by Chad Smith, VP of Artistic Planning. He was

April 12, 2014April 12, 2014 by Paul Muller

Chamber Music, Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Electro-Acoustic, Houston

Houston Composers Salon’s Spring Concert

(Houston, TX) On Sunday, April 27, 2014 the Houston Composers Salon presents its Spring Concert, featuring works by Houston-based composers Hsaio-Lan Wang, Stephen Yip, Ryan Gagnon, and Eric Fegan. All four composers will be in attendance to introduce their compositions and answer questions from the audience. The concert takes place at 6:00 PM at 14 Pews, a popular venue for independent film screenings, visual art, and experimental and contemporary music performances. The eclectic and provocative program includes Wang’s Houston Duet, a collaboration with video artist Daniel Zajicek with an electro-acoustic score by Wang, Gagnon’s Three Duets for flute and vibraphone,

April 12, 2014April 13, 2014 by Chris Becker

Concert review, Contemporary Classical, Festivals, Los Angeles

Music of David Byrne, Philip Glass in Santa Monica

On Saturday April 5, 2014 Jacaranda presented The Knee Plays by David Byrne along with music by Philip Glass. This concert was one of the Minimalist Jukebox Festival concerts of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and also part of the tenth anniversary season of the Jacaranda series. The venue was the First Presbyterian Church, whose ample and comfortable sanctuary was almost completely filled for the occasion. The Lyris Quartet, the Calder Quartet, Jacaranda Chamber Ensemble and the Vintage Collectables brass band with drummer M.B. Gordy provided the musical forces. Actor Fran Kranz was the narrator for The Knee Plays and Mark Alan

April 7, 2014April 7, 2014 by Paul Muller

Concert review, Contemporary Classical, Los Angeles

Reinier van Houdt Performs in Los Angeles

On Saturday, March 22, 2014 Dutch pianist Reinier van Houdt appeared at the Wulf in downtown Los Angeles for a night of experimental music that was intended, according to the concert notes, “… to question the act of composing.” A capacity crowd of the knowledgeable gathered to hear a series of eight piano works by European and local contemporary composers that lasted over 2 hours. This was the second local appearance in as many days for van Houdt – who had performed just the night before at the RedCat venue in Disney Hall. The concert opened with Radio + Piano

March 31, 2014March 31, 2014 by Paul Muller

Contemporary Classical

Weill Concert of New Choral Works Proves Promising

On Friday, March 21, Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) presented “a cappella NEXT,” in which three choirs performed a fascinating line-up of contemporary choral music in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Included were four world premieres, and many of the composers represented on the program were present in the sold-out audience, making for an evening vibrant with the vitality of new music. First up was the University of California, Berkeley Chamber Chorus under the direction of Marika Kuzma. They opened with the short fanfare “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord” from Requiem: a Dramatic Dialogue, composed

March 24, 2014 by James Knox Sutterfield

Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Los Angeles, Review

A Concert by Gnarwhallaby in Pasadena

On Wednesday, March 5, 2014 at the Neighborhood Church in Pasadena, the group Gnarwhallaby presented a concert of music by Klaus Lang, Andrzej Dobrowolski, Edison Denison and three contemporary Los Angeles area composers. Gnarwhallaby consists of Brian Walsh on clarinet, Matt Barbier on trombone, Derek Stein playing cello and Richard Valitutto at the piano. The sanctuary of the church was mostly full and provided a comfortable venue that encouraged concentration by virtue of being completely dark, save for the lights on the music stands of the performers. The first piece was Die Kartoffeln der Königin (1999) by Klaus Lang. The title translates to roughly “The

March 10, 2014 by Paul Muller