Boston, Composers, Concerts, Conductors, Contemporary Classical, Criticism, File Under?, New York, Orchestras, Performers, Violin

Levine leaving BSO, but show goes on with Birtwistle premiere

We’re saddened to learn of James Levine’s cancellation of the rest of his appearances this season at the Boston Symphony Orchestra and his resignation from the post of BSO Music Director. Levine has been in that position since 2004, but has had to cancel a number of appearances during his tenure due to a variety of health problems. In an interview published today in the New York Times, Levine indicated that he will retain his position as Music Director at the Metropolitan Opera. Apparently, conversations between Levine and the BSO about a possible future role with the orchestra are ongoing.

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by Christian Carey
Concert review, Contemporary Classical, Improv, San Francisco

In Memory of My Feelings

Music is as much of a time art as reading or looking at pictures because its subject, as John Ashbery once said about poetry, is always somehow about time. And composers, like writers, whether consciously or not, are always playing a game with time. A long piece can sound short, and a short one, long. Time can seem heavy, as in Dostoevksy, or Wagner, or light as in Proust, or Earle Brown. The four pieces on sfsound‘s most recent concert at The San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s elegant hall managed to be about all these things at once. Anton Webern‘s

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by Michael McDonagh
Contemporary Classical

49 States to Go

On February 17th, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin declared 2011 the “Year of the Composer” in Vermont, the first such proclamation in the country. Getting the proclamation itself — little more than a prosaic document signed by a friendly politician — and getting something useful out of the proclamation are two separate stories, one still in the process of being written. The proclamation is a whereas-filled document that states, “the creation and presentation of newly composed music is fundamental to the history of Vermont and provides a basis for continuing growth of educational opportunities, progress in the our cultural leadership and

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by Dennis Bathory-Kitsz
Contemporary Classical

In the Year of the Chewable Ambien Tab…

…it behooves all composers and musicians to participate in a little supply-side bonhomie, if you know what I mean.  I’m talking self-promotion, growing your personal brand, reaching out and touching people who can do you some good. You’re in luck.  The next Chamber Music America First Tuesdays  workshop (which is next Tuesday) features music journalists Nate Chinen and Steve Smith who will give you the real skinny on  how artists and presenters can attract print-media attention for concerts and CD releases. The particulars: Workshop Title: Meet the Music Press Speakers: Music journalists Nate Chinen and Steve Smith When: Tuesday, March

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by Jerry Bowles
Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical

Orchestral Premieres from Michigan

Despite driving snow and slippery roads, an eager crowd gathered Sunday evening to hear Michigan’s University Philharmonia Orchestra deliver eight world premiere performances of works by student composers. The concert is one of the most highly anticipated of the year and is a culmination not only for the student composers involved but also for the student conductors responsible for bringing their pieces to life. This year was even more special than most because all the pieces on the programs were Masters Degree theses from the 2011 class. This fact made the evening more of a watershed event than usual as

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by Garrett Schumann
Chamber Music, Choral Music, Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Houston, Percussion, Performers, Piano, viola

Music for Rothko

(Houston, TX) On February 25th and 26th at 8pm and February 27th at 2:30 pm (the third date added due to popular demand), the Houston Chamber Choir and Da Camera present Music for Rothko, a concert program of contemporary music in one of Houston’s most unique performance spaces. All three performances are sold out. Presented in the interior of Rothko Chapel, the Music for Rothko program includes piano works by John Cage and Erik Satie, Tagh for the Funeral of the Lord for viola and percussion by Tigran Mansurian, and choral compositions by John Cage including Four. Feldman’s Rothko Chapel

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by Chris Becker
Contemporary Classical

CDE and the Machine Which Makes Art

Monday night, the galleries of the Univeristy of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) were filled with the music of Stephen Harkte, John Harbison and Julia Wolfe thanks to the University of Michigan’s Contemporary Directions Ensemble (CDE) under the direction of its energetic and accomplished conductor Christopher James Lees. UMMA opened its doors to CDE in a collaborative exhibition of the evening’s music and a piece by Swiss artist Mai-Thu Pirret currently on display at the museum. The connection drawn between Mr. Hartke, Mr. Harbison, Ms. Wolfe and Ms. Perret’s output comes from the creators’ influences: extra-musical inspirations for the composers

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by Garrett Schumann
Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Experimental Music, Festivals, File Under?, New York

Tuning in Tonight at the Armory

This week I’m going to be covering the Tune-In Festival at the Park Avenue Armory for Musical America. Earlier this month, the Armory made the news for another high profile arts endeavor. It was announced as the site for the New York Philharmonic’s performance of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Gruppen during the 2011-’12 season. Just as the venue’s large Drill Hall is ideal for a work such Gruppen – a spatial music extravaganza for three orchestras – it’s also ideal for a number of works on the Tune-In Festival that are conceived for unconventional venues. Tonight is the premiere of Arco, a

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by Christian Carey
File Under?

Out on the Town with Vijay Iyer, Rudresh Mahanthappa and Bunky Green

One of the great perks of living in Ann Arbor, Michigan is the University Musical Society (UMS), a community group that, for 132 years, has brought diverse programs of dance, music and theater to this Midwestern cultural center. This year’s schedule has allowed me many new experiences as an audience member – most notably my first dance concerts with the Paul Taylor Dance Company and Sankai Juku – and has given all of us in the area access to many of the world’s most praised musicians, such as Renee Fleming and Wynton Marsalis. This last Saturday saw the most recent

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by Garrett Schumann
Contemporary Classical

Music Now Festival 2011 at EMU

For those of you in the Southeastern part of Michigan and looking for something to do tomorrow through Friday, Eastern Michigan University is holding their 17th biennial Music Now Festival Feb. 16-18. Here is a link to the School of Music & Dance home page with more details about the program, which sounds pretty interesting (interesting enough for me to go tomorrow, at least). Thursday and Friday’s concerts feature the chamber and large ensemble works (respectively) of Dan Welcher and tomorrow night’s concert is a mixed bag, I’m looking forward to it.

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by Garrett Schumann