New York

BAM, Bang on a Can, Brooklyn, Chamber Music, Classical Music, Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Events, Experimental Music, Minimalism, New York, Opera, Percussion

A Short Piece about Long Play 2024

Long Play …. Not long enough!

This year’s Long Play schedule is particularly dizzying. The annual festival presented by Bang on a Can in Brooklyn, now in its third year, seems to have crammed more events than ever into its three day festival, running May 3, 4 and 5. For instance, on Saturday, May 4 at 2 pm, you’ll have to choose between a new opera by the Pulitzer Prize finalist Alex Weiser with libretto by Ben Kaplan, called The Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language (at American Opera Projects) AND Ensemble Klang imported from the Netherlands playing works by the Dutch composer Peter Adriaansz (who has set texts from “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”) at BRIC Ballroom AND vocal sextet Ekmeles performing music by George Lewis, Hannah Kendall, and Georg Friedrich Haas (actually at 2:30, but I imagine you’d have to get to The Space at Irondale early for a seat). A choice as difficult as any I’ve had to make at Jazzfest in New Orleans (which incidently is also happening this weekend, albeit 1000+ miles from Brooklyn).

Fans of Balinese gamelan music are in luck. A rare confluence of events provides the opportunity to hear two different ensembles, both free, both in Brooklyn, on Saturday. At 3:30 at the BRIC Stoop, you can enjoy the Queens College Gamelan Yowana Sari, performing with the percussion ensemble Talujon, along with the composer / performer Dewa Ketut Alit. Alit has come halfway around the world from Indonesia to Brooklyn for the premiere of his new work commissioned by Long Play. And at 5 pm the ensemble Dharma Swara performs at the Brooklyn Museum. Note: The Dharma Swara performance is not part of Long Play – it is a Carnegie Hall Citywide presentation.

Once your head has gone to Indonesia, you may want to continue on an around-the-world trip at Long Play. On Sunday at 2 at the Bam Café, hear DoYeon Kim playing gayageum (a traditional Korean plucked zither with 12 strings) along with her quartet featuring some New York jazz and classical luminaries.

Stick around at Bam Café after Kim’s set for another musician with sounds of a far-flung continent: At 3 pm the master kora player Yacouba Sissoko from Mali is joined by percussionist Moussa Diabaté. Diabaté is an internationally acclaimed dancer, choreographer, drummer and balafon player and together the two bring the sounds and culture of West Africa to us.

Come to think of it, when was the last time you heard music by Philip Glass played on accordion? Might as well settle in at Bam Café for the 4 pm show on Sunday, then, to hear a rare performance of the Polish virtuoso Iwo Jedynecki. Jedynecki has created some inventive arrangements of Glass’ piano etudes for button accordion.

The pinnacle of Long Play comes Sunday evening at 8 at the BAM Opera House, when the Bang on a Can All-Stars along with a bunch of special guests perform a seminal work by Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians.

May 3, 2024 by Gail Wein

Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Downtown, File Under?, New York, Songs, Violin

Saturday, March 30th: Kafka Fragments at Tenri

On Saturday at 8 PM, Kafka-Fragmente by György Kurtág will be performed at Tenri Cultural Institute (43A West 13th Street,New York NY), by soprano Susan Narucki and violinist Curtis Macomber (tickets). Earlier this week, they performed it at another venue also abundantly supportive of contemporary classical music, Buffalo University.

Kafka-Fragmente is based on aphoristic texts by Franz Kafka from his diaries and correspondence. As is his practice, Kurtág brought the composition together gradually, collecting fragments over time and completing the piece in 1985. At seventy minutes in duration, until his opera Fin de Partie (2018), it was the composer’s longest piece. Not only are the forty movements based on brief texts, they are also miniature in design. The text-setting is exquisitely detailed, and the musical language is frequently dissonant and angular, drawing both from postwar modernism and Eastern European folk traditions of declamation and string performance.

Narucki and Macomber are both new music specialists. I have remembered a number of their performances with great pleasure, especially Narucki’s creation of the role of Mama in Elliott Carter’s opera What Next? and Macomber’s authoritative rendition of Mario Davidovsky’s Synchronism No. 9 for violin and tape.

To get acquainted with this distinctive music, listen below to excerpts from the soprano’s Avie CD The Edge of Silence, consisting entirely of vocal chamber works by Kurtág. It received a Grammy nomination in 2019, and demonstrates her command of the composer’s individual and demanding work.

Here is Macomber’s recording of the Davidovsky.

March 28, 2024March 28, 2024 by Christian Carey

Chamber Music, Classical Music, Composers, Concert review, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, New York

Takács Quartet Gives Birth to the Universe

Takacs Quartet at 92ny-March 13, 2024 - credit Joseph Sinnott — Takacs Quartet at 92nd Street Y on March 13, 2024 (credit Joseph Sinnott)

How does a composer write music? Whether she pulls interesting sounds out of the air, or creates an elaborate scheme of hieroglyphics – can an uninformed listener tell the difference? Sometimes not, as was the case Wednesday night at the 92nd Street Y where the incomparable Takács Quartet gave the New York premiere of Flow by Nokuthula Endo Ngwenyama.

Flow was backed up by an elaborate set of program notes that described inspiration ranging from the sound of the Big Bang to the breathing discipline “Pranayama”. Even with that knowledge in hand, for the most part I couldn’t detect the connection between concept and sound. Within the four-movement piece, I heard a heartbeat depicted by the viola’s pizzicato, observed sultry pitch slides in the second violin and enjoyed a wacky waltz where every measure seemed purposely just a little bit out of kilter. But the “outburst of energy and matter at the birth of our universe”? Not apparent at all. On the other hand, Flow ingeniously and successfully meshed extended technique with conventional sounds, and overall is a beguiling piece.

I’ve been a fan of the Takács Quartet for at least half of the group’s 49 years of ensemble-hood. This evening was the first time I heard them in their current lineup, with violinist Harumi Rhodes (joined in 2018) and violist Richard O’Neill (came on board in 2019), merging with first violinist Edward Dusinberre who has been with Takács since 1993, and the sole original member, cellist András Fejér.

This long-lived ensemble retained its aesthetic and its tight sound over the years and throughout its personnel changes. The Beethoven String Quartet in E Minor, Op. 59, No. 2 “Razumovsky” which made up the second half of the concert was so captivating that, in that moment, I felt like I would never want to hear any other quartet, ever. The group’s lightness and joie de vivre, dramatic attention to dynamics, and intonation and rhythmic accuracy so good, it might as well be a single instrument, all contributed to the quartet’s breathtaking performance. Their reading of the String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 76, No. 4 “Sunrise” by Franz Josef Haydn which opened the program was equally outstanding.

Flow by Nokuthula Endo Ngwenyama was commissioned for the Takács Quartet by Cal Performances and a consortium including 92NY. They’ll perform the work several more times in March and April 2024, in Philadelphia, Schenectady, Scottsdale, Buffalo, Ann Arbor, and Rochester, NY.

March 14, 2024March 14, 2024 by Gail Wein

Classical Music, Commissions, Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Events, Lincoln Center, Music Events, New York, Orchestral, Women composers

NY Philharmonic – Unpacking the Spring 2024 Season for New Music Lovers

A few months ago, I wrote an article that distilled the New York Philharmonic Fall 2023 season into enticing programs for contemporary music lovers.

“When you see New York Philharmonic’s glossy brochures and online ads, you might be hard pressed to spot the new music offerings that are in nearly every program. For instance, “Trifonov Plays Schumann” hides the fact that there is a work for strings by the Lithuanian composer Raminta Šerkšnytė, a composition which Gidon Kremer referred to as ‘the calling card of Baltic music.'”

Here is my annotation of Philharmonic concerts in Spring 2024 for the tiny niche of new music fans.

February 20, 2024 – Lunar New Year Hidden beneath Bruch and Saint-Saëns are two composers who are very much alive. The young Hong Kong-born composer Elliot Leung is making his mark in the Hollywood film scoring world, and the world premiere of his Lunar Overture leads the program. Grammy-nominated Chinese-American composer Zhou Tian is showcased with excerpts from Transcend, which was commissioned by over a dozen orchestras to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad’s completion.

February 22-24 – Emanuel Ax, Hillborg, and Rachmaninoff This one’s right there in the tease: Hillborg. It would be natural to assume that Mr. Ax would be playing Rachmaninoff, and we’d get a five-minute piece by the Swedish composer Anders Hillborg. Nope. Hillborg wrote a 22 minute concerto: Piano Concerto No.2 – the MAX Concerto for Emanuel Ax, and we get to hear the New York premiere of the piece. San Francisco Chronicle’s Joshua Kosman said it was “vivacious, funny, heroic, eloquent, plain-spoken, thoughtful and wholly irresistible”. Now, don’t you want to go hear it?

February 29 – March 1 – Émigré The concert program title “Émigré” could mean just about anything. Here, it is the name of a “semi-staged musical drama” that weaves the true tale of German Jewish brothers who fled Nazi Germany and wound up in Shanghai. It was performed in Shangai in the fall, and the New York Philharmonic and conductor Long Yu give us the first American performances. Music by Aaron Zigman and lyrics by Mark Campbell.

March 7-9 – Sol Gabetta, Elim Chan, and Scheherazade Sure, cellist Sol Gabetta is great, and I’ll look forward to seeing the conductor Elim Chan who is making waves in Europe. The part of the program I am especially excited about is the world premiere by the Chickasaw composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate. Pisachi, Tate’s tribute to Hopi and Pueblo Indian music, was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic. I’ve been a fan of Tate since a National Symphony premiere performance knocked my socks off 20 years ago.

March 21-24 – Mendelssohn, Tan Dun, and Joel Thompson A rare instance in which the new music is all in the program title. Joe Alessi plays the New York premiere of Tan Dun’s Trombone Concerto: Three Muses in Video Game. The thought of hearing it makes my heart go aflutter. Music by the Atlanta composer Joel Thompson seems to be everywhere lately, and the world premiere of To See the Sky (a NY Phil co-commission) is on this program.

April 4-6 – Alice Sara Ott Performs Ravel He’s dead, but you’d probably want to know that Anton Webern’s Six Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6 is on this program. With any luck, the orchestra will play these shorties twice. Also dead: Scriabin. But as I recall, his Poem of Ecstasy is pretty trippy.

April 12-14 – Beatrice Rana Plays Rachmaninoff In addition to heavy hitters Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky, we get to hear the New York premiere of a new work by Katherine Balch, co-commissioned by the Philharmonic.

April 18-20 – Olga Neuwirth and Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony Okay, Olga Neuwirth’s name is front and center. The US Premiere of Keyframes for a Hippogriff — Musical Calligrams is settings of texts by Ariosto, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Friedrich Nietzsche, graffiti artists, and Neuwirth. Brooklyn Youth Chorus sings. This is one of the NY Phil’s Project 19 commissions.

April 20 – Young People’s Concert: Composing Inclusion Yes, it’s a concert for kids, and the hall will be full of families. Show up to hear world premieres by Andrés Soto and Nicolás Lell Benavides, co-commissioned by the Philharmonic.

May 10 – Sound On This one is probably on your radar already. Another Project 19 commission, the world premiere of an as yet unnamed work by Mary Kouyoumdjian. Kwamé Ryan conducts.

May 23-28 – The Mozart Requiem and Sofia Gubaidulina’s Viola Concerto Finally. The title says it all.

January 26, 2024February 16, 2024 by Gail Wein

Classical Music, Concerts, early music, New York

The Chevalier: New York Premiere

The Chevalier: The Life & Music of Joseph Bologne brings together two concepts that are hot today: music theater (or, theater with music), and recognition of figures in classical music other than white European males (Bologne is two out of three, if you count his place of birth).

The subject is Joseph Bologne, also known by his title Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a Black bon vivant who was born in 1745 on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. Formally educated in France, his talents for violin playing and composition shone (along with fencing and dancing) and he was also a military colonel and an abolitionist. As a composer, the guy was no hack: he wrote at least one hundred works from string quartets to operas.

What was his life as a Black man in courtly 18th century Europe like? We may never know for sure. Bill Barclay’s play dramatizes episodes of his life, with live performances of his music woven into the story. Barclay, by the way, is also the artistic director of Music Before 1800, the New York early music institution. MB1800 co-presents the performance, along with Concert Theatre Works (of which Barclay is also artistic director, and which supplied the actors for this production), and the Harlem Chamber Players (whose instrumental talents will be in full display on stage, along with solo violinist Brendon Elliott).

If you are even the slightest bit piqued by this description, the venue should put you over the top. The United Palace (4140 Broadway in the Washington Heights neighborhood of upper Manhattan) is a must-see all by itself. The brilliantly gorgeous and excessively ornate decor of this 1920’s one-time movie theater will take your breath away. It’s one of New York City’s largest theaters, with 3400 seats.

The performance is on January 21, 2024, at 4 pm (get there early so you can gawk at the “eclectic Orientalia with Moorish-Rococo influence” of the hall). Tickets at unitedpalace.org. The performance will be captured on video, and will be available for on-demand streaming in February (tickets via mb1800.org).

January 18, 2024 by Gail Wein

BAM, Classical Music, Composers, Concert review, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, New York, Opera, Strings, viola, Violin, Vocals

“Angel Island” by Huang Ruo at the Prototype Festival

Prototype: “Angel Island” photo credit: Maria Baranova

The special sauce that has made Prototype, the annual opera/theater festival, a success for over a decade is a straightforward formula: socially relevant, edgy vocal works that are high on drama. Angel Island, a theatrical work with music by Huang Ruo, fits that description.

The speck of land in the middle of San Francisco Bay known as Angel Island served as an immigration port in the first half of the 20th century

. Hundreds of thousands of hopeful migrants from Asia were interrogated and detained, some of them for years, in the decades from 1910 to 1940. It’s not a great leap of imagination to relate today to this story of migration, discrimination, prejudice and downright hatred of certain citizens from abroad.

These immigrants came here of their own volition, but did they have any idea of the strife that awaited them as they stepped off the boat? Like so many Americans whose families came from abroad over the past four centuries, they were only looking for a better life. The promise of streets paved with gold (especially after word of the 1849 Gold Rush spread) was tantalizing.

The Chinese-American violist Charlton Lee, a member of the Del Sol Quartet suggested the story to the Chinese-born composer Huang Ruo. In a New York Times article, Lee said that many people “don’t know about the plight of these immigrants who were trying to come here, start a new life and were just stuck.”

The work is in eight movements, alternating between narration and singing. The text for the sung portions were taken from some of the 200 poems that were found in the barracks on Angel Island, etched into the walls by the detainees. Each narrated section consisted of text taken directly from news accounts and other historical texts, depicting the Chinese Massacre of 1871, The Page Act of 1875 (legislation denying Chinese women entry to the United States), and the story of the lone Chinese survivor of the Titanic.

The Del Sol Quartet performed the score on stage, along with members of the Choir of Trinity Wall Street whose acting talents were employed throughout the performance. The instrumental parts were often intensely rhythmic and emphatic chords, which were dramatic but sometimes monotonous. There wasn’t much in the way of melody for the instrumentalists or the singers, but the harmonies were lushly gorgeous and beautifully sung, belying the darkness and trauma of the texts. Bill Morrison’s film, often with images of the ocean, was mesmerizing, especially when the choir huddled together and swayed as if on an undulating boat at sea.

In general, each element of the production on its own wasn’t exciting — but when combined, the hypnotic film, the adagio movements of the singers clustered on stage as directed by Matthew Ozawa, and the rather minimalist music — all worked together to be incredibly effective. This is a work much greater than the sum of its parts. Dramatic peaks, such as sequences with two solo dancers, and the insistent sounding of a gong throughout the final movement were that much more compelling in contrast.

Angel Island brings attention to a story of United States immigration that is much less familiar than the Statue of Liberty-adjacent Ellis Island.

The New York premiere of Angel Island was performed at the Harvey Theater at BAM Strong on January 11-13, 2024 (I attended on January 12). It was produced by Beth Morrison Projects in association with Brooklyn Academy of Music.

January 14, 2024 by Gail Wein

Classical Music, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Lincoln Center, Music Events, New York, Orchestral

NY Philharmonic: Unpacking the fall season for new music lovers

When you see New York Philharmonic’s glossy brochures and online ads, you might be hard pressed to spot the new music offerings that are in nearly every program. For instance, “Trifonov Plays Schumann” hides the fact that there is a work for strings by the Lithuanian composer Raminta Šerkšnytė, a composition which Gidon Kremer referred to as “the calling card of Baltic music.”

I mentioned this in passing to a staffer at the Philharmonic, and referred to it as a slam on marketing. I immediately regretted uttering that phrase, because it’s not really about that. Marketing managers do what they need to – it’s their job to sell tickets. Schumann sells, Šerkšnytė does not.

Here is my annotation of this fall’s Philharmonic concerts for the tiny niche of new music fans.

September 29-October 1, 2023 “Joshua Bell, Copland, and The Elements”

This program description does in fact put the featured player of the new work front and center. On the other hand, you have to dig deeper to discover the fact that “The Elements” is a US premiere, and is a compilation of new works by five living American composers (Jake Heggie, Jennifer Higdon, Edgar Meyer, Jessie Montgomery, and Kevin Puts).

Footnote: brought to my attention by the illustrious Steve Smith in his Night After Night newsletter, you can watch a video of the world premiere of this work, available til October 1, here (courtesy of The Violin Channel’s VC Live).

October 5-7 “Beethoven’s Emperor, Schubert’s Unfinished, and Steve Reich”

Here we DO get a clue right away about Steve Reich. Yay! Only needs a bit of clicking to learn that it’s a world premiere co-commissioned by the NY Phil.

October 11 -14 “Trifonov Plays Schumann”

The aforementioned “calling card of Baltic music” is on offer: “De profundis” by the Lithuanian composer Raminta Šerkšnytė.

October 19 – 21 “Bronfman, Brahms, and Ligeti”

Ligeti makes it onto the headline, yay! But deeper in the description is the fact that we get to hear Yefim Bronfman plays the New York premiere of a concerto written for him by the Russian-born Elena Firsova.

October 26 “Kravis Nightcap: Apollo’s Fire”

Jeannette Sorrell directs the Philharmonic in the Handel epic, “Israel in Egypt” – – and also brings her great early music band Apollo’s Fire to a late night show. I’m pointing this out because – while its not contemporary music, their unusual program explores music of ancient Jewish and Arabic origin with virtuosos on violin, Middle Eastern flute, oud, zither, and percussion.

October 27 “Sound On: Zorn, Azmeh, Chaker, and Chin”

If you’re hot on new music, you’ve already got this on your calendar. Music by John Zorn and Unsuk Chin, and a NYP co-commission by Kinan Azmeh and Layale Chaker.

November 2-4 “Mälkki Conducts Pictures at an Exhibition”

We can count Ligeti as new music, right? He’s only been gone for 15 years. This year, everyone including NYP is celebrating his centennial. And so now you know you’ll hear his Piano Concerto played by Pierre-Laurent Aimard.

November 4 “Kravis Nightcap: Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Joachim Kühn”

PLA teams with jazz pianist Joachim Kühn, and they’ll use Ligeti’s Études as a jumping off point for improvision.

November 7 “Artist Spotlight: Pierre-Laurent Aimard”

Since we’re counting Ligeti above, here’s PLA playing the Etudes, “juxtaposed with works reflecting their cultural inspirations” (not sure what exactly that means, but I’m sold).

November 9 – 12 “Szeps-Znaider Plays Beethoven’s Violin Concerto”

The thirty-something composer Carlos Simon is one hot item lately, and you’ll get to hear his “Fate Now Conquers”, which was inspired by something Beethoven wrote in his journal.

November 16 – 18 “Paavo Järvi Conducts Britten and Prokofiev”

You’ll get to a chance to determine whether Veljo Tormis (who died in 2017) lives up to the reputation of excellence in Estonian composers, when you hear his Overture No. 2 on this program.

November 22 – 25 “The Planets and Atmosphères”

Though she died 50 years ago, we hardly ever get to hear music by the African-American composer Julia Perry. You will on this program (her Stabat Mater). Also, more Ligeti (I’m not complaining!).

November 30 – December 02 “Strauss, Rachmaninoff, and Bryce Dessner”

Bryce Dessner makes it onto the headline! The NY premiere of his concerto for 2 pianos, written for, and played by the Labèque sisters.

September 28, 2023September 28, 2023 by Gail Wein

Classical Music, Contemporary Classical, Events, Music Events, New York

Where’s the Music? A Guide (New York Edition)

At a TIME:SPANS concert at DiMenna Center this summer, I sat next to a gentleman who asked me, “How do you find out about concerts like this one?”

It used to be easy, but…..over the past decade or so we’ve seen the demise of New York Times’ “Guide to the Lively Arts”, Time Out New York‘s extensive performing arts listings, and The New Yorker’s classical and opera Goings On Around Town section decimated to a mere one or two events per issue.

I have long wanted to create a classical events calendar for New York City, but my own limited resources (time, money) have made that project impractical. What I CAN offer is this list of terrific sites:

Live Music Project – LMP launched in 2014 as a Seattle-only classical calendar service, and expanded a couple of years ago to cover the entire United States. It is largely events that are posted by the presenters or artists themselves, so its level of comprehensiveness depends on the community.
New Music Calendar – launched and maintained by composer Todd Tarantino. A no-frills but fairly comprehensive listing of contemporary classical music events in New York
Extended Techniques – Co-founded by musicologists Oksana Nesterenko and Alex Minkin, the main purpose of the site is a podcast series about contemporary music, but the well-maintained monthly concert listing is the most informative part of the site
New York Classical Review – Primarily a site with well-written concert reviews, NYCR also posts a curated, linear list of events
New Music USA – A user-posted events calendar of new music around the country
Club Free Time – A listing of free performing arts events in New York, as well as films, walking tours and other free things to do. Detailed information is by subscription.
Go Out! The List: A highly curated weekly performing arts list, heavy on new music, distributed by subscription newsletter (there are both free and paid versions). Each event listed is paired with a bar or restaurant recommendation.

I hope these resources get you to where you want to go this season.

Have I missed any major calendars? Let me know in the comments section below.

September 4, 2023September 4, 2023 by Gail Wein

Chamber Music, Classical Music, Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Festivals, New York, Strings, Violin

TIME:SPANS Hits Calder and other hard surfaces August 12-26, 2023 at Dimenna Center

*Earle Brown’s* Calder Piece performed at the Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, August 1967

I don’t know when else you’d have a chance to see expert musicians interact with a sculpture by one of the most iconic American artists of the 20th century. This rare event, on August 20 at the Dimenna Center in New York, is part of the annual TIME:SPANS festival.

In Earle Brown’s Calder Piece the artist’s mobile is an essential part of the piece. The artwork will “conduct” the Talujon Percussion Quartet as its sections sway from their pivot points. And, yes, you will also get to see the instrumentalists “play” the sculpture, though the artist himself initially expected a more forceful display. “I thought that you were going to hit it much harder—with hammers,” said Calder after the first performance in the early 1960s.

Calder Piece is “the focal point and central hinge of this year’s festival,” according to the introduction in the festival booklet by Thomas Fichter and Marybeth Sollins, executive director and trustee respectively of The Earle Brown Music Foundation Charitable Trust which produces and presents TIME:SPANS. But it is by no means the only highlight of the dozen concerts in the festival.

Talea Ensemble, JACK Quartet, International Contemporary Ensemble, Argento…..once again, since 2015, some of the most acclaimed contemporary music ensembles in the country descend on the Dimenna Center for this late summer aural spectacle. Performances are nearly every night August 12 – 26, chock full of 21st century concert music in a myriad of styles.

It seems almost impossible to pick out highlights from the dozen performances – there are so many intriguing programs. In addition to the Calder event, here are a few that I am particularly looking forward to:

JACK Quartet playing Helmut Lachenmann (August 13) – my mind was blown the first time I heard Lachenmann’s music performed live. He calls his compositions musique concrète instrumentale, creating other-worldly sounds through extended techniques.

Ekmeles performing Taylor Brook, Hannah Kendall and Christopher Trapani (August 22) – though vocal music isn’t my first choice genre, I am drawn to a cappella ensembles, especially when they are as high quality as Ekmeles. Trapani’s music is always a treat to hear, and his End Words lives alongside music by the equally deserving Kendall and Brook.

Ensemble Signal’s program on August 15 is brought to you by the letter “A”: music by Anahita Abbasi, Augusta Read Thomas. Aida Shirazi, Agata Zubel. I’ve been following Abbasi ever since she won an ASCAP composer award about eight years ago. Her music, though not always easy to listen to, is intense and visceral. I predict it will be a great contrast to Read Thomas’s more tuneful style.

Information and tickets at https://timespans.org/program/

August 11, 2023August 11, 2023 by Gail Wein

Composers, Contemporary Classical, Deaths, Electro-Acoustic, File Under?, Metropolitan Opera, New York

Kaija Saariaho (1952-2023)

Kaija Saariaho (1952-2023)

Sequenza 21 is saddened to learn of Kaija Saariaho’s passing at the age of 70. The cause was cancer. Despite the toll taken by the disease, she continued to compose nearly to the end of her life. Hush (2023) for Finnish jazz trumpeter Verneri Pohjola, was her last piece.

Saariaho was one of the greatest composers of her generation, and a pathbreaker who encouraged composers in the next. She composed for nearly every genre of concert music and made electronic music at top flight studios, including IRCAM.

The composer had an international career with champions throughout the world. A signature example is her opera Innocence (2018), a group commission by Finnish National Opera, The Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Dutch National Opera and San Francisco Opera. Saariaho has had a significant presence in the United States as well. Oltra mar was premiered by the New York Philharmonic to celebrate the Millenium. Her opera L’Amour de loin (2000) was the first by a female composer to be performed at the Metropolitan Opera in over a century.

Generous tributes from all corners of the musical community, ranging from prominent composers, conductors, and performers, to admiring students and listeners, have been pouring out since this sad news was announced. Saariaho was not only a respected creator, by all accounts she was a keen collaborator and kind person. She will be missed by many, and her music will live on.

-Christian Carey

June 3, 2023June 3, 2023 by Christian Carey