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Composer Everette Minchew (born 1977) is consistently active in the creation, performance, and promotion of contemporary music. Moderately prolific, his catalogue includes small chamber pieces for violin, piano, various wind instruments, harpsichord and electronic music. Current commissions include a string trio and an opera based on an 11th-century crusades tale.
His earliest musical training came at the age of eleven when he began playing alto saxophone; it wasn?t long until he began his first attempts in composition.
He received a Bachelor?s Degree in Music History from the University of Southern Mississippi, where he studied saxophone under world-renowned soloist, Lawrence Gwozdz.
Fearing that traditional university training would hinder his development as a progressive composer, he abandoned the idea of formal lessons in favor of an intense private study of modern masterworks.
Minchew's works are characterized by their intense timbral explorations and brutal dissonance. That is not to say, however, that the compositions are devoid of beauty. In the first of the Two Brief Pieces, for example, the harpsichord chimes stringent yet haunting chords evoking a sense of loss.
Other pieces, like the Figment No. 2 "Juggler's Fancy" play upon the kaleidoscopic interaction between timbres and tones. The rapid alternation of pizzicato, arco bowing, and extreme glissandi remind the listener of Xenakis coupled with a Berio Sequenza. Minchew's Invention "Two-Part Contraption" for piano owes much to Ligeti's etudes and boogie-woogie jazz.
His music has been performed around the United States, and he was the featured composer at the 2005 Intégrales New Music Festival in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
He currently resides in Hattiesburg, Mississippi with his wife, Cheryl.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Opera.
I have always thought that opera storylines are a bit over dramatic, but I think the format requires it. Recently I saw an article on Andante about a new Tonya Harding/ Nancy Kerrigan opera? I think it is a little … Continue reading
Wow! THE Helmut Lachenmann?!
I was browsing around the wonderful information super highway when I decided to go to Wal-mart.com and look at CD’s. In the past I have actually found a few (very few)new music CD’s there. I began a search for recordings … Continue reading
Webern Day.
Tomorrow is Webern Day. It is the 60th anniversary of Webern‘s death. BBC Radio 3 is celebrating with a Webern-palooza event. His complete works, in chronological order, will be broadcast throughout the day. (So that means approximately one work every … Continue reading
Happy Birthday.
“Great art presupposes the alert mind of the educated listener” Arnold Schoenberg(1874-1951)
Katrina and the Waves
One of my ealriest memories is of Hurricane Frederick in 1979. I was standing on my front steps watching the tall pines sway in the first winds of the storm. A gust of wind came up and knocked me off … Continue reading
“When I am king, you will be first against the wall.”
Thanks Alex Ross, for letting us know. Thom Yorke of Radiohead is now blogging.
Mississippi Burning.
Yesterday, Jerry has announced the coming of Autumn in NYC, but down here in Mississippi we are still hovering around 100 degrees. (We don’t really have Autumn down here, but we do have a few different seasons: shrimp season, crab … Continue reading
odd inspiration.
The other day I had a conversation with composers Al Theisen and Marc Ballard about inspiration. We began talking about weird noises or happenings that have inspired us. My story of odd inspiration: I was shopping with my wife when … Continue reading
Blogger Counter Theory. —– nothing about music here.
I have come to the conclusion that the blogger comment counter works similarly to our Electoral College. I have decided that each blog is allocated x-number of comment numbers. For our discussion let’s say there are only 435 comment numbers … Continue reading
Two Quotes.
People whose sensibility is destroyed by music in trains, airports, lifts, cannot concentrate on a Beethoven quartet. -Witold Lutoslawski Extraordinary how potent cheap music is. -Noël Coward