This Monday night (July 27), 7PM the 701 Center for Contemporary Art in Columbia, South Carolina hosts a concert devoted to a potent movement active on the fringes of (or maybe quietly threading its way all through?) the current classical scene: the Wandelweiser Group. Described as “the evaluation and integration of silence(s) rather than an ongoing carpet of never-ending sounds,” Wandelweiser was formed in 1992 by Dutch flautist Antoine Beuger and German violinist Burkhard Schlothauer. Their ranks have slowly grown over the years, and include Swiss clarinetist Jürg Frey and pianist Manfred Werder, American guitarist Michael Pisaro and trombonist Craig
Read moreI’ve only been living in New York City for a few years, but I already feel like there are times when I just simply take the city for granted. Or worse, I don’t take advantage of all that it has to offer. But I think what makes living here so exciting is the opportunity to accidentally stumble onto incredible events, or to go places expecting one thing and end up (pleasantly) at something totally and completely different. This is exactly what happened yesterday afternoon as I wandered in to the World Financial Center Winter Garden during the third hour of
Read moreAs promised, today is Part II in my series of podcast interviews with the members of ETHEL. I’m happy to announce that violist Ralph Farris gets the My Ears Are Open “prize” for not only providing us with the longest episode to date, but I think it’s fair to say that he also has the most opinionated episode to date. It will be a 30-minutes well spent. If you would like to subscribe to the series you can do so here and/or here. And, as always, feel free to send comments, suggestions, and recipes to podcast@jamesholt.net If you missed Part
Read moreIf you thought there couldn’t possibly be any more we could tell you about Bang on a Can events the past couple months, you’re so so wrong! Starting today and running to the end of the month, The “Banglewood” summer festival at Mass MoCA is underway in North Adams, Massachusetts. (Mass MoCA is the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art there, and the fest’s co-sponser.) Head on up to find public performances, workshops for participants in everything from Balinese music to improvisation, master classes, music business seminars, and more. Festival events open to the public this year include daily gallery recitals
Read moreReceived this from reader Richard Mitnick as a comment on another post: Sorry- I searched all over S21 for a place to simply ask a question. I want to know if there will be any response from S21 on WNYC taking over WQXR. What I think I posted at my own weblog, http://richardmitnick.wordpress.com. But, I am not a professional. It would seem to me that WNYC, John S., David G., and certainly Nadia S. would be very important for New Music; anything smacking of the mediocrity of WQXR should be anathema. So, will there be any comment? Sorry to put
Read more
Chamber Music, Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Electro-Acoustic, Experimental Music, Improv, Music Events, San Francisco
San Francisco’s Mission District, home of so much that is cool, is a natural neighborhood for the arts. The San Francisco Community Music Center located at 544 Capp Street is the the Bay Area’s oldest community arts organization and San Francisco’s largest provider of low-cost, high quality music education. In 2008, 2,300 students of all ages, ethnicities and income levels enrolled in Music Center programs and over 16,000 people enjoyed musical performances at no or low cost. Starting this Sunday, the SFCMC will host the eighth annual Outsound New Music Summit, a festival which for all its success and longevity
Read moreSir Edward Downes, one of Britain’s most distinguished orchestra conductors, flew to Switzerland last week with his terminally-ill wife and joined her in drinking a lethal cocktail of barbiturates provided by an assisted-suicide clinic. He was not ill. I wish I had that kind of courage.
Read moreYes, it’s Proms season again here in the UK/GB (see link for the differences.) The “worlds greatest music festival” kicks off on Friday and I thought I would put together a vaguely ‘contemporary’ programme for those so inclined. Included are composers who are still alive regardless of ‘style’, and a few 20th century composers I thought relevant (excuse my subjective and rather fuzzy criteria; Stravinsky and Bartók are included for instance, Debussy, Ravel and Shostakovich are not; feel free to berate me in the comments section.) All the concerts listed will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and will
Read moreI am excited to say that this month on the podcast I am featuring all four members ETHEL. I was able to spend some time with the band before their performance at the Bang on a Can Marathon and would like to thank them for being so generous with their time. It was difficult to decide who should go first, so I’ve decided to go alphabetical by last name (brilliant, right?!), which means that we’ll begin with violinist, Cornelius Dufallo. If you want to keep up with this series, I’d recommend subscribing in iTunes or through your blog-reader. Or, you
Read moreSummertime in the Steel City brings forth some pretty damn good concerts from the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, one of the best new music ensembles in the country, every year and this year isn’t any different. This summer PNME will be performing over twenty new works, including two commissioned world premieres by Houston’s Pierre Jalbert and Chicago’s Stacy Garrop, over the next four weekends under the direction of their executive artistic director, Kevin Noe. They had their first concert last night, but you can still catch them this evening at the City Theatre (1300 Bingham St.) for an 8pm concert,
Read more