Interviews Archives - Page 9 of 10

Composers, Conductors, Electro-Acoustic, Experimental Music, Festivals, Improv, Interviews, Music Events, Opera, San Francisco

Let’s ask Gino Robair

The San Francisco Electronic Music Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary this week. On the final festival night, Saturday, September 19th, the program will include a special all-electronic performance of the opera I, Norton, by San Francisco Bay Area composer Gino Robair. I, Norton is based on the proclamations of Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico, who lived during the Gold Rush era in San Francisco. The concert begins at 8:00 p.m. at the Brava Theater Center, 2781 24th Street, San Francisco. Tickets are available online from Brown Paper Tickets. Gino Robair has created music for

September 15, 2009September 15, 2009 by Polly Moller

Composers, Contemporary Classical, Interviews, Premieres

To the stars with mandolin!

It doesn’t seem all that long ago that I heard the world premiere of Blind Leaving the Blind. (Read about it here: S21 Review.) It was quite a night @ Zankel, St. Patrick’s Day 2007. Chris Thile has since recorded the work with the Punch Brothers, and made a duo album with Edgar Meyer. Now Thile is about to embark on another journey – a mandolin concerto, Ad astra per alas porci. This week he plays with The Colorado Symphony (September 17, 19, and 20, 2009; with Jeffrey Kahane), then six more chances to hear it, with the Oregon Symphony

September 14, 2009September 15, 2009 by John Clare

Cello, Chicago, Interviews, Performers, Podcasts

My Ears Are Open, Chicago. Part II.

Last week on the podcast: Cliff Colnot (download Cliff’s interview here). This week: Nicholas Photinos, cellist in eighth blackbird (download Nick’s interview here). Turns out that 8bb was just finishing up some studio sessions at the end of last month for Reich’s Double Sextet. Unfortunately, we will need to wait over a year until we actually get to hear it. (Incidentally, Galen has some commentary about how frustrating it is that we have to wait so long for these recordings here.) Anyway, I don’t know how many ensembles think about their programming in terms of a five-course meal, but these

September 13, 2009September 13, 2009 by James Holt

Composers, Electro-Acoustic, Experimental Music, Festivals, Interviews, Performers, San Francisco

Let’s ask Donald Swearingen

The San Francisco Electronic Music Festival (SFEMF) kicks off next week, and several of its original founders will be performing in celebration of the festival’s tenth anniversary. One of them, Donald Swearingen, will take the stage on Thursday, September 17th along with Maria Chavez, Mark Trayle, and Mason Bates. The show starts at 8 pm in the Brava Theater, 2781 24th Street, San Francisco. Tickets are available online or at the door. It’s hard to coax Donald Swearingen away from his many projects, but I did manage to get him to share some background and a few hard-to-find details about

September 10, 2009September 10, 2009 by Polly Moller

Chicago, Conductors, Interviews, Performers, Podcasts

My Ears Are Open, Chicago. Part I.

One of the simple rules for the podcast is that there is a new episode every two weeks. That rule was broken in July when all four members of ETHEL were featured. And, that rule is being broken again in September when four musicians based in Chicago will be featured. The month starts out with conductor Cliff Colnot (best known for his work with Contempo, Chicago Symphony’s MusicNow, ICE, and others). Cliff is a unique person in that he feels so strongly about notation and rehearsal efficiency, that he has produced documents outlining the way he likes to see things

September 7, 2009 by James Holt

Interviews, Podcasts

My Ears Are (Still) Open

Let’s just say that “life” has distracted me a bit lately from my updates here. But, for those of you who have been following, you know that the good times never ended and that podcast episodes have been arriving on schedule. So, where were we? July wrapped up Parts III-IV of interviews with the members of ETHEL. What did we learn here? Perhaps the cliché that a quartet is more than the sum of its parts? Am I the only one who is continually amazed that ensembles like string quartets even work? Can you imagine committing yourself to playing for

August 15, 2009August 15, 2009 by James Holt

Composers, Contemporary Classical, Hilary Hahn, Interviews

Hilary and Harold

The Hilary is Hahn, with her monthly installment of a video chat with a composer; the Harold is Meltzer, one of those composers with lots of great awards and commissions (finalist for the Pulitzer this year, no less), whose work always grabs my ear with interesting things unfolding, but whose recorded output is pitifully small! The awards and concerts are wonderful; but the few thousand who’ve had the chance to experience his inventive music could easily be multiplied by some factor of ten, with just a few more good recordings released. Here’s hoping… In the meantime, you can watch all

August 7, 2009August 7, 2009 by Steve Layton

Interviews, Podcasts, viola

My Ears Are Open, ETHEL. Part II.

As promised, today is Part II in my series of podcast interviews with the members of ETHEL. I’m happy to announce that violist Ralph Farris gets the My Ears Are Open “prize” for not only providing us with the longest episode to date, but I think it’s fair to say that he also has the most opinionated episode to date. It will be a 30-minutes well spent. If you would like to subscribe to the series you can do so here and/or here. And, as always, feel free to send comments, suggestions, and recipes to podcast@jamesholt.net If you missed Part

July 16, 2009 by James Holt

Interviews, Podcasts, Violin

My Ears Are Open, ETHEL. Part I.

I am excited to say that this month on the podcast I am featuring all four members ETHEL. I was able to spend some time with the band before their performance at the Bang on a Can Marathon and would like to thank them for being so generous with their time. It was difficult to decide who should go first, so I’ve decided to go alphabetical by last name (brilliant, right?!), which means that we’ll begin with violinist, Cornelius Dufallo. If you want to keep up with this series, I’d recommend subscribing in iTunes or through your blog-reader. Or, you

July 11, 2009 by James Holt

Composers, Contemporary Classical, Hilary Hahn, Interviews, New Amsterdam, Violin

Hilary Hahn’s enquiring mind wants to know

Hilary Hahn doesn’t need much introduction; as one of the leading violinists today, many of you have any number of her recordings or have been lucky enough to catch her in concert. Usually we put our stars up on some pedestal, always with that remove of the stage between us. But Hilary herself has a different idea of what a star should be up to in between wowing folks at those concerts. She happens to love to talk to people, especially other musicians, and is genuinely interested in what makes them tick. And she loves to share what she hears

July 2, 2009July 2, 2009 by Steve Layton