Steve Smith, writing this morning in the Center of the Universe Times: During a panel presented recently at the National Performing Arts Convention in Denver, the American Music Center and the American Composers Forum reported preliminary findings from “Taking Note,” a survey of American composers. The study was undertaken to help those organizations better serve their constituencies. According to its findings, the average American composer is a highly educated 45-year-old white male. Update: Judith Zaimont has more from the study on her MusicMaker blog.
Read moreA little while back on S21, I mentioned the good news that the indomitable / indubitable / inscrutable / incontinent Kalvos & Damian were bringing back an online-only version of their (ASCAP Deems Taylor) award-winning broadcasts. Though the name has changed from New Music Bazaar to In The House, The show retains all of its trademark off-the-wall storytelling, banter, and enthusiasm for sharing the music and thought of all kind of interesting NON-POP musicians at work today. Our duo may be out in the wilds of rural Vermont, but there isn’t anything backwoods about their awareness of the new-music scene. Each
Read morePeabody faculty member David Smooke sent this along for your delectation: Summer’s just beginning and Hybrid Groove Project, the genre-bending new music duo from Baltimore, is already heating things up with their number one summer jam, “HGP Anthem.” In the grand tradition of the great hip-hop conflicts like Tupac v. Biggie Smalls, Dr. Dre v. Eazy-E, and 50 Cent v. Kanye West, “HGP Anthem” brings some much needed antagonism to a new music genre more accustomed to passive aggressive behind-the-back battiness than brive-bys and street corner stompings. “By droppin’ this track we’re showing all these new music fakers who the
Read moreBenjaim Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic, has become a hot ticket on the corporate leadership circuit. Here’s why:
Read moreDavid V. Foster, whose management firm Opus 3 Artists represents many top performers, conductors and Osvaldo Golijov, has come up with an idea for an annual festival at Carnegie Hall that will recognize leading orchestras for the the “creativity and distinctiveness” of the programs they propose to perform. Called Spring for Music, the festival is scheduled to begin in May 2011, at Carnegie Hall. According to the Center of the Universe Times: The Festival of North American Orchestras, as the organizing entity is called, will rent the hall and handle production and marketing, and the orchestras will bear their
Read moreHi everybody. Just a quick reminder that the deadline for score submissions for consideration in the upcoming Sequenza21 concert is fast approaching. All submissions must be postmarked by July 16th. Here‘s a link to the original posting of the guidelines and its comments thread. To submit scores, get David Salvage’s e-mail address from the masthead and send him a message. He’ll give you a mailing address and answer any questions. As a quick reminder, the performances will be on December 4th at the Walz Astoria Cafe in Queens and on the 5th at the Good Shepherd Church in Manhattan. This
Read moreYou know how you like to put on an Erroll Garner CD sometimes and lie back on the sofa and imagine you’re somewhere–I know–that cool little bar with the piano downstairs at Blake’s in London–and you sit down and launch into “I Got the World on a String” and when you’re finished the killer Sloane Ranger at the far table walks over and asks you to play “Misty” for her? Or, maybe you’re at a Norwegian Christmas party and you’ve had a few Linjes and Elephant chasers and the band is really great except for the guitar player and you
Read moreBen Rosen, former Board Member of the Met, has a fascinating post at his blog about the Met’s turnaround under the leadership of Peter Gelb. (Thanks to Alex Ross for pointing it out.) The whole essay is worth reading if you have any interest in the future of the classical music business or in the fortunes of the Met, but I want to highlight one passage in particular, concerning the marketing of Philip Glass’s opera “Satyagraha.” Apparently, prior to Gelb’s arrival the Met had no marketing team–marketing wasn’t seen as necessary with the number of sold-out performances they were playing.
Read moreTrack three of Lullaby for my Favorite Insomniac, the latest album from the Ahn Trio, is a piano trio arrangement of “My Funny Valentine;” track sixteen is also “My Funny Valentine,” but this time with electronica beats and Korean rap thrown in. Track eleven is “This is not America” by David Bowie, Pat Metheny, and Jürgen Dahmen; so is track fifteen, but Superdrive calls it “This is America Mix.” There’s also some Susie Suh, Astor Piazzolla, Michael Nyman, and three new pieces by Kenji Bunch. The album is casual, eclectic, and cool–but don’t call it “crossover:” according to the group’s
Read more…what would you do? Okay, you get as long as you want to write the piece, but it can only last 30″. That’s the concept behind the Microscores Project, which started at CalArts and has performed all over the place. Over the years, they’ve garnered some fascinating pieces by folks like Harold Budd and Pauline Oliveros (who wrote hers on a plane). Just before he died, James Tenney wrote them a gorgeous bagatelle. As part of their appearance at ARTSaha! 2008, the Microscores Project are putting out a call for new music. Anyone can send them a score for violin and
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