Tuesday, April 24, 2007
This and That.
Recently, I had the pleasure of participating in a masterclass given by the Rome Prize winner, Ken Ueno. The masterclass was part of the two day Integrales New Music Festival at the University of Southern Mississippi. My flute work, Figment No. 3 "Euterpe", was given a wonderful performance by the USM faculty member, Danilo Mezzadri.
Ueno had only encouraging words about my music. And later on. after his jet lag had waned and we feasted on good creole food/beer we hung out and talked music for much too long. I think he may have been surprised to find a group of die hard new music fans in south Mississippi, especially at a university where new music has been frowned on for much too long. That is starting to change though. I wouldhope so after hearing Ken Ueno perform a twenty minute piece for throat/overtone singer and MAX/MSP.
By the way, Ueno has the coolest bio pic.
Recent Play list:
Ken Ueno – Kaze-no-Oka
Beat Furrer – Fama
Salvatore Sciarrino – Piano Sonati #2-5
Philippe Hurel – Pour Luigi
Iannis Xenakis - Kuillenn
Helmut Lachenmann - String Quartet #2 “Riegen seliger Geister” (Thanks, Jacob!)
Bjork - Earth Invaders (in eager anticipation of her Volta.)
posted by Everette Minchew
8:47 PM
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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.
CONTACT INFORMATION
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