Our friends at Cedille Records, the Grammy Award-winning, Chicago-based classical record label, are about to embark on their 20th year. Launched two decades ago in a student apartment on Chicago’s South Side by James Ginsburg, then 24, son of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is a pretty prominent lawyer in Washington, DC, Cedille (that’s say-DEE to you) made its debut in November 1989 with its first CD release, a program of solo piano pieces performed by Chicago-based Soviet emigre pianist Dmitry Paperno. Since then, Cedille’s catalog, which features world-class musicians in and from the Chicago area, has grown and diversified, while
Read moreHere are a few concerts worth checking out if you’re near New York City. Friday, December 4th: Newspeak celebrates their 5-year anniversary at Public Assembly in Williamsburg, 6:00-9:00pm. Also on Friday night in the West Village, Forecast Music spends the evening performing new works for voice at Greenwich House, 8:00pm. Saturday, December 5th: NYsoundCircuit is presenting an evening of “continuous music, food, visuals, drinks, and fashion” at the Brecht Forum, 8:00pm. Sunday, December 6th: The Knights are performing at the Church of St. Ann & the Holy Trinity in Brooklyn Heights, 3:00pm. And I always like to mention shows happening
Read moreThis month kicks off the New York Philharmonic’s Contact! series. Concerts in December and April feature seven composers and seven premieres, played first at Symphony Space and then a day or two later at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Phil tells us that “performances will include personal introductions to the music from the composers themselves, in a less formal and more intimate setting.” The list is a really great mix of styles and careers from a few different continents: The December 17 and 19 concerts feature music by Marc-André Dalbavie, Arthur Kampela, Lei Liang and Arlene Sierra, conducted by
Read moreLast night’s Green Umbrella concert was programmed as part of “West Coast, Left Coast”, and it certainly sounded as if almost all of the 1500-or-so of us had as much fun as I did. The program ended on a high with five selections from Frank Zappa‘s The Yellow Shark album (1992), conducted by John Adams, our festival curator (and conductor, and occasional composer, and friendly guide). You can read Adams’ comments made during rehearsals here (just read the second half of yesterday’s entry and then scroll down to the November 25 entry). The concert ended with a riotous (orgasmic?) performance
Read moreIt’s hard enough delivering an orchestra commission when you’re hale and hearty; but despite losing most of his vision during the course of its lengthy gestation (2001-06) York Höller managed to complete his work Sphären. His efforts amidst considerable adversity have garnered him the 2010 Grawemeyer Award. Although now almost completely blind, Höller continues to compose. Abetted by assistants, samplers, and a new software called Jaws, he is soldiering on. One hopes that the Grawemeyer’s $200,000 prize will assist in this endeavor. So, composers, next time you’re planning to tell your commissioner why the piece isn’t done, you’ll need a pretty
Read moreDoes anyone remember the early August announcement that the American Composers Orchestra was going to begin a partnership with LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton to “Commission and Premiere New Music by Emerging American Composers”? Well, whether you can wrap your head around that pairing or not, the first concert is happening on Monday night (November 30th) in Zankel Hall with Erin Gee’s Mouthpiece XIII: Mathilde of Loci, Part 1. Erin is the lucky recipient of the first commission through this new partnership. There are two other world premieres on the program: 1) Donal Fox: Peace Out for Improvised Piano and
Read morePhilip Glass always does the unexpected. Or, as he said to me when we were talking on the phone about his subsequently Oscar-nominated score for Errol Morris’ 2003 The Fog of War, “I’m a bad person to interview because I never stay on the subject.” Well, yes and no. Yes, because Glass’s focus on the work in front of him is unflinching, and no, because his instincts always lead him to surprising solutions. His two-act 155 minute intermission-less new opera Kepler is yet another example of Glass’s wandering, yet disciplined, mind. Premiered at the Linz Opera by American conductor Dennis
Read moreViolinist Jennifer Koh has, since even before this past Spring showed its face, been pretty much living out of a suitcase or two. Crisscrossing this country and a couple other continents, She’s been playing everything from Antonio Vivaldi to John Zorn. Just last week she was beautifully acquitting herself at Miller Theatre, in a performance of Kaija Saariaho’s Graal Theatre. December is about all the break she’s getting, too, before it starts all over again. In the middle of all this came her newest CD on Cedille, Rhapsodic Musings, a collection of solo violin music almost all composed within the
Read moreWord has reached us that NYC’s long-running MATA new-music festival is looking for an new Artistic Director, and maybe it could just be you: The position requires a broad knowledge of contemporary musical practices and communities (local, national, and international), strong organizational and interpersonal skills, and a clear, inclusive artistic vision. Key to the AD position is the ability to maintain high visibility in the music community as both a participant and audience member. Attention will be paid most closely to applicants who are currently active in the New York music community as a composer and/or performer. Along with the
Read moreThe Los Angeles Master Chorale gave the Phil’s West Coast, Left Coast Festival the opening it deserved: a joyous statement, a vibrant concert, and a rousing end that left us wanting more and looking forward to our next event. Regrettably, last night’s concert wasn’t the opening, but the second event. The opening occurred Saturday night in a hodge-podge concert that just drained away. But more on that, later. It’s much more fun to talk about the good things. Grant Gershon and the LAMC put together a program of four works by four composers (all alive, present, and introduced at the
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