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CDs, Chamber Music, Classical Music, Composers, Contemporary Classical, Festivals, File Under?, Los Angeles, New York, Orchestras

Tonight at BAM: US Premiere of work by Enrico Chapela at Brooklyn’s Nuevo Latino Festival

Saturday night at 8 pm, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, under the direction of Michael Christie, gives the US premiere of Enrico Chapela’s Noctámbulos, a piece for rock trio and orchestra. Chapela will also participate in a panel discussion on Latin American Identity in Music at 4:30 (details below). Chapela is a composer on the rise; Boosey and Hawkes added him to their roster in 2008 and he’s recently received several high profile commissions. I spoke with him on Thursday about the BAM event and his other activities. Born in Mexico, he started out his musical career as a rock guitarist, playing

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by Christian Carey
Chamber Music, Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, File Under?

Be There or Be Ionian!

Have you heard the Locrian Chamber Players yet? If not, you’re missing out. The group has a unique mandate: they only play pieces less than a decade old. This results in stimulating, varied, and stylistically catholic programs. With members that include some of New York’s finest performers of contemporary music – pianist Emily Wong, flutist Diva Goodfriend-Koven, and violinist Calvin Wiersma among them – the music is exquisitely well-prepared. Admission: FREE. Locrian’s next show is this weekend, Saturday, January 31 at 8 PM, 10th Floor Performance Space, Riverside Church, and features these works: Milton Babbitt: Little Goes a Long Way

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by Christian Carey
Chamber Music, Composers, File Under?

Kirchner is 90: Claremont plays at Miller tonight

Miller Theatre at Columbia University continues its Composer Portraits series with a 90th birthday celebration for composer Leon Kirchner. The concert will include performances of a recent piece for flutist Paula Robison, the Claremont Trio playing Kirchner’s Trio No. 1, and the 1960 Double Concerto for violin, cello, winds, and percussion. The show starts at 8; there’s a talk onstage with the composer; tickets range from $7-$25. 

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by Christian Carey
CDs, Contemporary Classical, File Under?, Piano, Recordings

Veda Hille: Indie Pop = Hymnals plus Hindemith?

Veda Hille – Indie pop plus Hindemith!   Vancouver’s Veda Hille is an indie singer/songwriter who fashions classical instrumentation and catchy tunes into an erudite pop style. This Riot Life, her latest CD, draws on a wide assortment of influences. Its frequent eschatological references and cryptically, messianic-tinged lyrics (“Ace of the Nazarene,” “Book of Saints, ““Rose of Sharon”) represent a recent find: an old hymnal belonging to her grandmother. The harmonic sophistication and extended formal designs of her songs reflect Hille’s classical training, as does an unorthodox rendition of “The Moon,” a Shelley setting by Paul Hindemith. Prog-rock inflections are

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by Christian Carey
Choral Music, Composers, Contemporary Classical, File Under?

Holiday Tunes

A little palette-cleanser to shift our focus away from stimulating discussions of academe – after all, school is only out for a short while – what ‘holiday’ music do you admire? This week, I’ve been listening to Anonymous 4’s Wolcum Yule around the house, enjoying both the Renaissance pieces and Maxwell Davies’ “A Calendar of Kings.” A ‘guilty pleasure’ is Vaughan Williams’ Hodie.

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by Christian Carey
Boston, Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, File Under?, Orchestral, Orchestras, Photographs

Break a Leg?!?

Wendy plays Ken’s viola concerto with BMOP! Hear harmonies analyzed from Wendy’s ankle bone! Friday, November 14, 2008 / 8:00pm – 10:00pm Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory 290 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA The amazing violist Wendy Richman plays Ken Ueno’s concerto Talus, with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and the incomparable Gil Rose. Here’s the program: Martin Boykan Concerto for Violin and Orchestra / Curtis Macomber, violin Robert Erickson Fantasy for cello and orchestra / Rafael Popper-Keizer, cello Arnold Schoenberg Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra / BMOP Principals Elliott Schwartz Chamber Concerto VI: Mr. Jefferson / Charles Dimmick,

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by Christian Carey
Chamber Music, Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, File Under?

Quartet for the End of Time at Merkin on Tuesday

Charles Neidich and friends are performing Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time and music by Israeli composers. The program is below, and you can check out the notes over at my blog. Moshe Zorman – Hora Arnaud Sussmann, Violin; Vincent Balse, Piano  Menachem Wiesenberg – Like Clay in the Potter’s Hand Gal Nyska, Cello; Vincent Balse, Piano  Paul Ben Haim – Pastorale Variee Op. 31b Moran Katz, Clarinet; Vincent Balse, Piano  Olivier Messiaen – Quartet for the End of Time  Charles Neidich, Clarinet; Arnaud Sussmann, Violin; Gal Nyska, Cello; Vincent Balse, Piano

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by Christian Carey