David Lang, who you will recall won this year’s Pulitzer with his piece The Little Match Girl Passion, will be submitting himself to the hard-hitting S21 interview next week. I’ll be asking him what he plans to do about the financial meltdown, the war in Iraq, and whether he stands by his selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate. Or something–I haven’t written the questions yet. In the meantime, those of you who live in New York may want to know that Wordless Music is presenting a concert of Lang’s music next Wednesday, November 5th, at Le Poisson Rouge
Read moreFor those of you who, like me, have been wondering whatever happened to the once ubiquitous S21 familiar Ian Moss but have been too forgetful to ask around, we have news of two upcoming concerts and an explanation for his absence. The first concert is a surprise (well, I guess we gave it away) reunion show on Thursday night with Ian’s jazz/metal/awesomeness band, Capital M which will be playing a set of 100% improvised music at the old Knitting Factory Tap Bar, one of the legendary venues for experimental music in New York and, alas, another historic spot getting ready to flee
Read moreCharles Neidich and friends are performing Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time and music by Israeli composers. The program is below, and you can check out the notes over at my blog. Moshe Zorman – Hora Arnaud Sussmann, Violin; Vincent Balse, Piano Menachem Wiesenberg – Like Clay in the Potter’s Hand Gal Nyska, Cello; Vincent Balse, Piano Paul Ben Haim – Pastorale Variee Op. 31b Moran Katz, Clarinet; Vincent Balse, Piano Olivier Messiaen – Quartet for the End of Time Charles Neidich, Clarinet; Arnaud Sussmann, Violin; Gal Nyska, Cello; Vincent Balse, Piano
Read moreCorey Dargel sings “All Other Sounds (for Brian from Molly)” from his new album Other People’s Love Songs, which will be officially released on Wednesday. Video directed by Oleg Dubson. (Correction from Corey: “The concert is tomorrow, but the album is released today (Tuesday) and is available from newamsterdamrecords.com as well as iTunes and eMusic, etc. Yay!” [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2CsQrg031s[/youtube]
Read moreDon’t tell me you’ve forgotten already! Also: S21 concert update: The S21 concerts in December are the 1st at Waltz–that’s a changed date, yo–and the 5th at Good Shepherd Church (152 W 66th). On the program: Samuel Andreyev, Rusty Banks, Galen Brown, Rodney Lister, Alex Kotch, Jeremy Podgursky, me, and Samuel Vriezen. (Hope I didn’t leave anyone out.) Later, er, today I’m handing in the second draft of my dissertation. It’s about Kurtag.
Read moreHi Jerry, We’re opening up a search for pianists for the Bang on a Can All Stars. Please see the ad below . We’d appreciate this if you can make a post about this on Sequenza21. Thanks! Annie Bang on a Can All-Stars Seek Pianist “The Bang on a Can All-Stars present new music the way it should be presented — with passion, precision, dynamism, stylistic authority and a welcoming informality.” – NEWSDAY “A fiercely aggressive group, combining the power and punch of a rock band with the precision and clarity of a chamber ensemble.”/- NEW YORK TIMES The
Read moreSo with all pleasures of life. All things pass with the east-flowing water. I leave you and go—when shall I return? Let the white roe feed at will among the green crags, Let me ride and visit the lovely mountains! How can I stoop obsequiously and serve the mighty ones! It stifles my soul. His Dream of the Skyland – A Farewell Poem. Li Po (Li Bai) (~701-763 CE) is universally recognized as one of the greatest Chinese poets of the Tang period, or for that matter, of the entire Chinese literary tradition. His poetry shows the influences
Read moreJacaranda Music opened its sixth season last night, but not in their usual home. Instead, they opened in Santa Monica’s lovely new Broad Stage, a 500-seat venue at the grounds of the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center. The opening concert was given the title “Tipping the Scales” for works by Harrison, Cage, and Partch. The opening half of the concert comprised four late-period works by Lou Harrison, the period in which his core work explored use of the gamelan, implementing the sounds, textures, and scales into his music. The 12-person CalArts Gamelan Ensemble (see them in this short video
Read more[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TEWQZ5tLD0[/youtube] Some people like to think that music is always somehow about something… usually them. My bad love affair, the world will never understand me, much less remember me. And lots of music — from the troubadours with their songs of courtly love to the meditations and dramas of the romantics to the skitterings and upheavals of the New Vienna School — have been a kind of narrative of this beleaguered self, or if you will, the audience’s identification with the composer’s ups and downs. But the New York School of Earle Brown (1926-2002), Christian Wolff (1936- ), John Cage
Read moreThat famous Irishman Frank J. Oteri tells us that the Contemporary Music Centre Ireland, which is basically the Irish equivalent of the American Music Center, is producing its first-ever New York concert featuring a wide range of contemporary Irish composers at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall tomorrow night (Friday, October 17, 2008). New Music – New Ireland aims to showcase a selection of the best of today’s Irish composition played by top-level young New York- and Irish-based performers in this prestigious venue. The ConTempo String Quartet, Galway’s Ensemble-in-Residence, will be joined by New York-based clarinetist Carol McGonnell and pianist Isabelle O’Connell, both
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