Composer/keyboardist/producer Elodie Lauten creates operas, music for dance and theatre, orchestral, chamber and instrumental music. Not a household name, she is however widely recognized by historians as a leading figure of post-minimalism and a force on the new music scene, with 20 releases on a number of labels.
Her opera Waking in New York, Portrait of Allen Ginsberg was presented by the New York City Opera (2004 VOX and Friends) in May 2004, after being released on 4Tay, following three well-received productions. OrfReo, a new opera for Baroque ensemble was premiered at Merkin Hall by the Queen's Chamber Band, whose New Music Alive CD (released on Capstone in 2004) includes Lauten's The Architect. The Orfreo CD was released in December 2004 on Studio 21. In September 2004 Lauten was composer-in-residence at Hope College, MI. Lauten's Symphony 2001, was premiered in February 2003 by the SEM Orchestra in New York. In 1999, Lauten's Deus ex Machina Cycle for voices and Baroque ensemble (4Tay) received strong critical acclaim in the US and Europe. Lauten's Variations On The Orange Cycle (Lovely Music, 1998) was included in Chamber Music America's list of 100 best works of the 20th century.
Born in Paris, France, she was classically trained as a pianist since age 7. She received a Master's in composition from New York University where she studied Western composition with Dinu Ghezzo and Indian classical music with Ahkmal Parwez. Daughter of jazz pianist/drummer Errol Parker, she is also a fluent improviser. She became an American citizen in 1984 and has lived in New York since the early seventies
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Thursday, August 31, 2006
Elimination Rituals 2
This article was posted some time ago, but I feel it is timely at this very moment, so I am posting it again with some minor changes.
Elimination is very popular right now, in the media, as well as in real life. A large number of the popular television shows focus on the process of elimination of a set of candidates, a set of Donald Trump potential employees, a set of aspiring singers auditioning for the top spot, a set of so-called ‘survivors’ whose game is to decide every so often on who will be eliminated. Other popular television shows focus on crime, starting with the eliminated victim, and continue on to how to eliminate the perpetrator from society.
The elimination rituals are unforgiving. Whoever is best at following a set of rules and at getting rid of the competition by whatever means wins. They reflects the realms that are most valued in our society: the world of sports competition and the world of business competition. Whether these should be applied to the arts and entertainment however, is questionable. Over-emphasizing competition caters to negative feelings of selfishness, jealousy and greed. It does not offer an ideal or ethic, but only the survival of the fittest. The elimination rituals are a throw back to primitive human sacrifice.
In real life, the elimination ritual is part of a workplace where a good job performance is no guarantee of continued employment, where chaotic decisions and irrational situations brought about by abuse of power or hostile take-overs are the rule rather than the exception.
For composers, the elimination takes place at every funding organization, based on cronyism, politics, or narrow focus. Eliminated from the world of commissions, the shrinking job market also eliminates us because of prohibitive requirements or various forms of unrecognized discrimination.
I wonder whether the war has something to do with it. During war time, guys seem to get all the breaks, while the skirts get shorter and the fashions sillier. After all, wars are a process of elimination. But right here, in America, there is another war: the war against culture. I live with the sense that my very survival as a human being is threatened, not to mention my creative survival as a composer. When I came to New York in the early seventies with one suitcase and $50 in my pocket, I though I found the cultural Mecca of the time. Unfortunately, from the mid-eighties to the present, the culture has continually declined. I have made my home here, and I am not about to go back to Europe - I could only go through this kind of drastic change once in my lifetime. And here I stay, watching us, the creators, being slowly eliminated in this giant but apocryphal cultural genocide.
posted by Elodie Lauten
1:40 PM
Composing in Context
Dear readers, where art thou? For you, I prepared a detailed listing of my previous blogs – in case you need to find a piece on a particular subject in the archive, this will save you time. They are organized in four categories: cultural viewpoint, composing, feminism and event-related.
This little clean-up was prompted by my upcoming talk on Composing in Context at the NYU Composer Forum, coming up on September 26 at 7 PM (it is of course free, and all are welcome). The Composer Forum takes place at the Pless Building Black Box Theater, University Place and Washington Square Park. Please note that I will not selfishly talk only about my music but instead focus on synergies with other 21st century composers!
Guest speakers on this season's NYU Composer Forum include:
Dr. Jason Eckard (NYU faculty) Tuesday, September 5
Dr. Pedro da Silva (NYU Faculty) Tuesday, September 12
Herschel Garfein Tuesday, September 19
Elodie Lauten Tuesday, September 26
Mark Adamo Tuesday, October 24
ARCHIVES:
1. CULTURAL VIEWPOINT
I blog therefore I am 6/4/06
On not being a critic 3/21/05
Ethics of Blogging 8/3/05
Moved by art 3/12/06
Downtown in deep cover 2/26/06
To Sell Or Not To Sell 2/11/06
The Future of the Music Business 2/5/06
Impressions d'Afrique 2/1/06
The Tao of Duh 12/30/05
Paris flashes 10/17/05
Get poor and survive trying 10/30/05
Success revisited 6/20/05
Wolfganging Uptown 5/13/05
Underground Nostalgia:
Beautiful Ugly 2/28/05
Underground Economics 3/26/05
Music Underground’s Oldie Top 13 5/6/05
A scandal rocks the East Village 8/4/06
Subculture 7/11/05
Not for Sale 7/7/05
Passion or prejudice 6/13/05
Elimination Rituals 7/20/05
The myth of stress 5/19/05
The Cult of Tech 5/24/05
2. COMPOSING
Titles, subtext and content 6/30/06
Oh no, not another paradigm shift 7/17/06
Cents on the value 4/30/06
Contrast versus stasis 4/8/06
Non-Linear Models 6/6/05
Refracting Reality 7/18/05
State Your Purpose 11/14/05
The Spontaneous Creation Paradox 3/15/05
Chi and the art of orchestral maintenance 2/20/06
The taming of the orchestra 11/26/05
Orchestral Maneuvers 6/2/05
Misinterpretations of 4’33? 12/4/05
Music in the 21st Century 10/2/05
Context Composition Serial 9/27/05
Style Is Out 8/29/05
The end of stylistic dominance 4/2/05
Masterminds of absurdity 5/13/05
Exploding music:
do and don’ts of the musical anarchist 5/6/05
Ten reasons to stop composing 4/18/05
Composers Anonymous 9/2/05
3. FEMINISM
This diva is 93 3/27/06
Chat with Martha Mooke 3/18/06
In praise of women
you' ve never heard of 2/20/06
Women in March 2/19/06
Big Time Woman at NYCO 11/19/05
DMP’s Socialist Uptown 11/14/05
Few and far between 10/24/05
4. EVENT-RELATED
Hollywood dominates the new opera scene 7/7/06
My night at the opera 12/18/05
The composer-director model 3/8/06
Operas in Progress 11/07/05
Micro Classics 3/4/06
New music of the spheres 7/28/05
Bolotowsky resuscitates a flute 8/21/06
Unusual Flutisms 12/13/05
Harp music makes a comeback 6/27/06
Uptown previews 8/14/06
Piano saga 4/14/06
New names in Brooklyn 2/11/06
SEM Ensemble free tonight 12/20/05
Handicap or advantage:
a talk with Petr Kotik 12/09/05
Choose your other music carefully 1/4/06
Plugged and Unplugged 12/30/05
The Scene according to NMC 10/9/05
LaMonte Still Young 9/11/05
Composing with data: a new form of art 10/31/05
Wild and wacky summer downtown 8/20/05
Mixed Bag at Miller 8/9/05
Carnegie Hall Revamped 8/1/05
ASO goes retro 6/27/05
Upcoming downtown & uptown 6/13/05
Under and Above Ground 2/15/05
Underground Snapshot January 05 2/1/05
A slighly slanted reading of the
Calendar for New Music 3/6/05
posted by Elodie Lauten
1:38 PM
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