New York

Bang on a Can, Classical Music, Composers, Contemporary Classical, New York

13 Ways to Listen to Post-Ugly Music

Let’s go to the old mailbag and see what’s happening in the exciting world of new music.  Ah, here’s something.  Our friends at the American Music Center are launching Counterstream Radio, a showcase for new music by U.S. composers, on March 16 at 3 p.m. EST.  To mark the official station launch, Counterstream Radio will broadcast an exclusive conversation between Meredith Monk and Björk.  No word on who gets to wear the chicken suit.

Actually, the station is streaming right now so you don’t have to wait until the 16th to try it out.  Any chance of getting a popup player over here so people can listen while they’re reading S21?  Tech people?

Oh, wow.  On Bach’s 322nd birthday, March 21, 2007, C.F. Peters is celebrating the publication of a new set of variations, 13 Ways of Looking at the Goldberg, based on the Goldberg Variations theme, with a mini-concert and reception at Steinway Hall.  Blair McMillan will perform six of the twelve variations.  The composers are C. Curtis-Smith, Jennifer Higdon, Mischa Sarche Zupko, Stanley Walden, Bright Sheng, Derek Bermel, David Del Tredici, Fred Lerdahl, William Bolcom, Lukas Foss, Ralf Gothoni, and Fred Hersch.

And then there’s this. The NY Times web site is running a  group blog in March called “The Score” that will include writings by Glenn Branca, Alvin Curran, Michael Gordon and Annie Gosfield. They will also run audio excerpts from an exclusive interview with Steve Reich conducted in February.

In a March 5 piece, Michael Gordon attempts to answer the eternal question faced by all contemporary composers:  What Kind of Music is That Anyway? (My favorite answer–“Post-Ugly”–is attributed to his co-conspirator David Lang.)

Alas, the feature is on TimesSelect, which is a pay service that costs about $8 a month but they have a free two-week trial offer if you want to check it out.  Or, Michael sent me an e-mail copy…nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

by Jerry Bowles
Classical Music, Contemporary Classical, New York, Opera

The Good, the Bad, and the Anal

Gérard Mortier, who is famous for painting lipstick on corpses and taking them to the ball, will become general manager and artistic director of the New York City Opera after he retires from the Paris Opera at the end of the 2008-2009 season.   Mortier ran the  Salzburg Festival in the 1990s  where he mounted such customer-unfriendly provocations as Hans Neuenfels staging of  Die Fledermaus, in which Orlofsky was a drug dealer who sold cocaine, Nazi thugs appeared on stage and Eisenstein had incestuous children who commit suicide.   Can’t wait to see what he does with Lulu.

Reminds of one of my favorite lines, from Charles T. Downey in ionarts, a couple of years ago:  “I suppose that opera all comes down to that eternal question that must be answered: anal rape or elaborate wigs?”  Indeed.

by Jerry Bowles
Classical Music, Composers, Contemporary Classical, Metropolitan Opera, New York, Opera

What’s So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding?

The Metropolitan Opera announced that its co-production of Philip Glass’s Satyagraha with the English National Opera will debut next season on April 11, 2008.   The ENO is doing nine performances of Satyagraha this April.  Written in 1980, Satyagraha is based on Gandhi’s formative years in South Africa, as he developed his philosophy of nonviolent protest as a powerful force for change. It is the second work in the ”portrait” trilogy by Glass, which also includes Einstein on the Beach (1975) and Akhnaten (1983-84).  Satyagraha involves the director Phelim McDermott and the designer Julian Crouch, two of the three artistic directors of the visionary British theater company Improbable.

On the bad news front, the Met has dumped a scheduled revival of Tobias Picker’s honorable An American Tragedy in favor of Tan Dun’s terminally lame The First Emperor, apparently because it has a chance to take the production on the road to China. 

It’s great to see that Peter Gelb is going with artistic merit and not being tempted by the possibility of big crowds and big bucks.

by Jerry Bowles
Concerts, Experimental Music, Music Events, New York

When in the Bowery…

Because I find myself suddenly and inexplicably old I will not be attending the great two-band, no waiting show at the Bowery Poetry Club this Sunday night, featuring Industrial Jazz Group and Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society.  Well, the first episode of the new season of Rome on HBO is this Sunday so I probably wouldn’t be able to make it anyway.  But, if I were not suddenly and inexplicably old and if the new season of Rome were not beginning on Sunday night, I would definitely be there. 

The festivities commence at 8 pm with Industrial Jazz Group, followed at 9:30 by Secret Society.  Two bands, one price — $12.

by Jerry Bowles