No longer so newlywed Molly Sheridan has a new baby…well, actually, it’s a blog, but it’s almost the same thing. Check it out.
Read moreMarvin Rosen has a very special program coming up this Wednesday on his always brilliant radio program. John Psathas, one of New Zealand’s leading composers, will join Marvin live in the WPRB studio on April 23, 2008, from 8:30 am ET until 11:00 am ET during a special extended edition of Classical Discoveries. The entire five hour program starting at 6:00 am ET is titled: “In The Land Of Kiwi” will be totally devoted to music from New Zealand. The program can be listened to on line at www.wprb.com Quick, without looking it up, name 5 New Zealand composers. Here’s a video of
Read moreToday is National Record Store Day. Music sellers throughout the country are celebrating in a variety of ways, from special sales and promotions to instore performances. Given the challenges that have faced “brick and mortar” record stores in recent years – internet retailers, digital downloading, and plummeting CD sales among them – I’m glad there’s a day to celebrate with the people who’ve helped me find many musical treasures. To find out if your local retailer is participating, visit www.recordstoreday.com.
Read moreby Patrick Durek Since its inception in 1985, Cygnus Ensemble has been at the forefront of chamber groups dedicated to expanding the repertory. Generating works for subsets of its unorthodox instrumentation—two guitars, cello, oboe, flute, and violin—has been its primary mission, and while premieres by well-known composers (Charles Wuorinen, Meyer Kupferman, and Milton Babbitt) have been given, it is the group’s championing of works by up-and-coming composers that has perhaps been most significant. Robert Martin, Jonathan Dawe, and Robert Pollock have all written multiple works for Cygnus Ensemble and are now firmly rooted in the Northeastern milieu that Wuorinen, Kupferman,
Read moreAnybody seen the new Met production of Satyagraha? [youtube]sMtDI539bvI[/youtube]
Read moreBy Ralph van Raat Usually, when thinking of contemporary classical music, one thinks of the rather abstract and cerebral music of the decade right after the Second World War. Some of this so-called serial music in my opinion is very exciting, sometimes purely beautiful, and sometimes incomprehensible. However, one cannot deny that, for the listener, there seem very few similarities or references to any other kind of music, making it hard to appreciate modern music without some thorough study. In a revolt against the lyricism and romanticism of pre-war classical music, young composers such as Boulez and Stockhausen broke with
Read moreThis past Friday, Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey hosted a masterclass for the Pictures 2008 project. This competition, sponsored by NJ Arts Collective and the Montclair Art Museum, invited NJ high school and college students to compose works based on a painting in the museum’s collection: Sunset by George Inness (1892). The winning works, as well as my new trio Innesscapes, will be presented on a concert given by the Halcyon Trio at the museum on May 9th at 8 PM. The event also features a pre-concert talk with Inness scholar Adrienne Baxter-Bell at 7:15. At the masterclass,
Read moreI heard Gabriel Kahane at Joe’s Pub Wednesday night. If Billy Joel and Paul McCartney can write “classical music”, why can’t composers write “pop music”? 1. Gabe Kahane is a good singer, great pianist and out of this world showman. His wry and wonderful wit comes through his music and lyrics. Wednesday night Kahane shared his sounds with humor, humility and always in an entertaining way. 2. Ensemble with the four man band, including: piano, banjo, violin, clarinet, bass clarinet, drums, guitar, electric bass, toy piano and a melodic, was generally tight and toe tapping. Less stellar was the drummer
Read moreTim Risher is a composer that I bumped into a long time ago on this here web thingy. His illustrious career has taken him from making new music in Florida, to a long stint producing radio in Germany, to currently doing — well, something or other — in deepest, darkest Durham, North Carolina. One of Tim’s latest personal ventures involves the wildly-popular virtual world of Second Life. There, people seem to carry on just like they do out here in the real world, except they get to make it — and even themselves — into anything they can dream up. Like the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic,
Read moreOkay, listen up. This is important. The American Music Center (AMC) and American Composers Forum (ACF) have teamed up with Columbia University’s Research Center for Arts and Culture to conduct the first major study of living composers. Since many Sequenza21 readers are, in fact, living and do write music, that means you. The study, they say, aims to gather important data to guide their efforts in better serving and advocating for composers of all styles and backgrounds. If you are a composer, you can be a part of this important research by filling out the online survey at the link
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