Saturday, August 19, 2006
collaborative effort
I apologize for my unintended hiatus from S21. But I have had an extremely hot and busy summer here in Hattiesburg. Like Jerry, I also suffer from asthma and this conflagration known as summer is not so fun for us.
Anyway, a couple months ago I participated in the Integrales New Music Festival here in town. I had two works performed this year and a previous post mentions my solo flute work which was performed. The second piece was an electronic work, In Pursuit of Mythical Beasts. The work was created as an electronic ballet which was choreographed by USM student, Nicole Marquez. I think the work was one of the best pieces at the festival this year (of course my opinion is completely without bias).
This piece was the first collaborative effort I have worked on. It was very exciting to work with someone that shared such an enthusiasm for their art. Also it was thrilling to have someone else understand my work upon the first listening of the piece. With each rehearsal we had leading up to the performance that understanding seemed to increase by leaps and bounds. The collaboration was a big success and the ballet was the most satisfying performance I think I have had of one of my works. The success of this work has definitely made me want to work on a collaboration again in the future.
An mp3 is now located in the Sequenza21 Listening Room for your listening enjoyment. Soon I will have a video of the performance on my myspace account.
posted by Everette Minchew
11:35 AM
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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.
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