In Fall 2012, composer/conductor Victoria Bond’s opera Mrs. President premieres at Anchorage Opera in Alaska. Its “out of town” tryout is on Monday July 9th … in New York at Symphony Space. The opera’s subject is Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for president. Woodhull’s campaign in 1872 predates women’s suffrage. It was mired in controversy and scandal which, as we all know, makes it ideal material for an opera! I was particularly pleased to learn that dramatic soprano Valerie Bernhardt is playing Woodhull. Val and I both sang at the Chatauqua Institute back in 1992. Her voice was
Read more[Ed. note: Composer and Peabody Institute faculty member Judah Adashi has this appreciation of Ralph Jackson, retiring after 10 years at the helm of music-rights organisation BMI.] I met Ralph Jackson in June 2001, when I received a BMI Student Composer Award. As the head of BMI Classical (and later President of the BMI Foundation), Ralph knew this to be a momentous event in a young composer’s life, not least because he himself had been a two-time recipient of the prize. One of the memorable charms of that initial encounter, as the winning composers gathered for dinner on the eve of the
Read moreOn Tuesday, the New York Philharmonic celebrates French composer Henri Dutilleux, the recipient of the orchestra’s first Marie-Josée Kravis Prize for New Music. Dutilleux has decided to use the prize money to commission three composers to write works for the Philharmonic in his honor. He’s already selected one – Peter Eotvos. Who would you recommend to Mr. Dutilleux as the other two commission recipients? Alan Gilbert will conduct and Yo-Yo Ma is the featured guest soloist. Program Métaboles (1964) Ainsi La Nuit for String Quartet (1976) Cello Concerto — Tout un monde lointain (A whole distant world) (1970) [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhVe4V0cKwA[/youtube]
Read moreMeeting someone out of cyberspace can be fun. And so it was after a flurry of e- mails that San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Ballet double bassist and composer Shinji Eshima and I met on a brisk April Sunday just before his 2 pm curtain for its Balanchine Masterworks Program, to talk about his SFB commission RAkU which the company tours to Hamburg, 26-27 June, and to London’s Sadler’s Wells on 19, 20, 23 September, and to DC’s Kennedy Center 13-18 December. Eshima is immediately cordial–“you’re on time”–and leads us through the underground maze of The War Memorial Opera
Read moreYou know it’s going to be an exciting evening when one of the performer’s bios states that, among other things, she has performed, “with robots locked inside a Van de Graff generator at Boston’s Museum of Science.” From that moment on, I was sold. Ear To Mind produced the evening’s concert, at the Leonard Nemoy Thalia theatre at Symphony Space. Ear to Mind is a New York City based arts organization that “strives to present innovative programs that allow the public to experience contemporary music in non-traditional context.” What was heard on this evening was a truly remarkable display of modern art
Read moreThis week, one of the topics being avidly discussed on the blogosphere is a post written on the All Songs Considered blog by NPR intern Emily White (read here). There have been a number of passionate replies to her suggestion that those in her age group simply are not buying music: they’re too accustomed to “appropriating” it. David Lowery (of the band Camper Van Beethoven) provided an in depth and thoughtful response (a must read at the Trichordist here). One can also read Ben Sisario’s article for the NY Times here and Jonathan Coulton’s blog post here. All caught up? Good.
Read moreLast year I decided to try my hand at liveblogging the Bang on a Can Marathon concert and had so much fun doing it, I figured I’d come back and do it again. Held in the World Financial Center, the marathon will begin at noon and last till midnight and is FREE, so y’all have plenty of time to get here, find a spot to sit, and enjoy the huge lineup of performers and composers the Marathon is bringing forth today (the day’s schedule can be found here). If you attend, I’ll be sitting in the front row corner in
Read moreDavid T. Little is stepping down as MATA executive director this fall to focus more fully on his compositional life and to pursue other professional endeavors. MATA is looking for a new ED. Says David: “It can be a really rewarding position, with excellent colleagues, and can provide a one of a kind opportunity for a composer or performer to really learn the ins and outs of arts administration, while still being very connected to composition and new music, or for an arts administrator with a passion for new music and love of composers.” The position application deadline is August
Read more
Cello, Chamber Music, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Downtown, Electro-Acoustic, Festivals, File Under?, New York
We’re pleased to introduce cellist Maya Beiser’s performing the Michael Harrison composition “Just Ancient Loops,” with film by Bill Morrison, which will receive its premiere at the Bang on a Can 25th Anniversary Marathon this coming Sunday in NYC. [vimeo]http://vimeo.com/43002580[/vimeo] This is just one of many performances that will occur over the marathon’s 12 hours of free live music-making: check out the complete schedule online here. Congrats to the can bangers – may you have many more seasons of marathoning!
Read more
Concert review, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Experimental Music, Festivals, Ojai, Percussion, Photos, Post Modern, Premieres
They say a picture is worth a 1000 words, so consider this photo album a 26,000 word review until I file my story. Inuksuit was one of the most extraordinary pieces of music I’ve heard since–well, John Luther Adams’ orchestra and tape work, Dark Waves. (On Sunday, we’ll hear JLA’s two-piano version of Dark Waves.) Do read Paul Muller’s account of this concert and Thursday evening’s concert. To give you some idea of what the performance was like, here are some crude videos I made on my not-designed-for-filming camera. The mike on the camera did a reasonable job of capturing
Read more