Month: September 2009

Chicago, Flute, Interviews, Podcasts, Violin

My Ears Are Open, ensemble dal niente

pre-season_party.jpg.w300h400I thought it might be nice to close out the month of interviews from Chicago by featuring a couple musicians from dal niente.  The ensemble has some great concerts planned for October, but I caught violinist Austin Wulliman and flutist Shanna Gutierrez back in June.

Austin’s episode is worth listening to just to hear him say, “I love me some Scelsi”.  You don’t hear that very often, but it’s true, oh so true.  Shanna talks a little in her episode about interesting experiences with composers, but the real value is in the seemingly endless list of resources she mentions if you are writing for flute, or are just thinking about writing for flute.

Listen to Austin’s interview here and Shanna’s here.  Subscribe to the podcast here.

Ensemble dal niente begins their season on Friday with what they are calling OKTOBERFest.  You can find all the details on their website.  How many groups are pairing Franco Donatoni with John Luther Adams, or Bach with Rihm, or Helmut Lachenmann one week and Arvo Pärt the next week?  They are doing it all in October – I wish I could be there!

Friday, October 2 – 7:30pm ($10/5)
Columbia College Concert Hall, 1014 S. Michigan Ave.

Sunday, October 4 – 3 pm ($5)
Sherwood Conservatory of Music at Columbia College, 600 S. Michigan Ave.

Sunday, October 18 – 2:00pm ($5)
Green Mill Cocktail Lounge, 4802 N. Broadway Ave.

Sunday, October 25 – 3:00pm (FREE!)
Preston Bradley Hall at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.

Concerts, Contemporary Classical, jazz, Performers

Legacy in progress

imani

Imani Winds decided some time ago to make their tenth anniversary special, by commissioning ten new works from ten very different composers of color. Titled the Legacy Project, each new work not only gets premiered, but added to Imani’s rolling repertory as they perform across the country and beyond. So far they’ve taken on pieces by Wayne Shorter, Roberto Sierra, Alvin Singleton, Daniel Bernard Roumain, and Jason Moran; Danilo Perez, Jeff Scott and Simon Shaheen (and I suppose a mystery 10th composer) are in the wings.

harrisBut just now the latest offering is stellar jazz vibraphonist Stefon HarrisAnatomy of a Box (A Sonic Painting in Wood, Metal and Wind). Imani already showed it off this past week at Iowa State and Penn State; now they’re about to give the West Coast their chance, with concerts Oct. 2, 8:00PM  at Cal Poly Arts (Spanos Theatre) in San Luis Obispo, CA; and Oct. 4, 7:00PM at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco. Imani Winds has always put their impressive chops at the service not only of the ‘official’ canon, but also pieces that reach out to someplace in the wider world beyond the typical classical concert stage. Hey California, come and hear for yourself.

Classical Music, Conductors, Los Angeles, Media, Online, Orchestras, Websites

Forget the “Maestro” and “Dudamel”, just call me Gustavo

Received a blurb from the LA Phil the other day, which in all caps proudly declares “LA PHIL LAUNCHES MICROSITE CELEBRATING INCOMING MUSIC DIRECTOR GUSTAVO DUDAMEL”  … Kaboom!… Here’s the relevant bit (my bolds):

On September 24, 2009, the LA Phil launched a microsite celebrating the arrival of incoming Music Director Gustavo Dudamel. Introducing audiences worldwide to Gustavo in new and engaging ways, the comprehensive microsite, located at http://www.laphil.com/gustavo, features videos such as Gustavo’s first rehearsal with the YOLA Expo Center Youth Orchestra, the LA Phil’s video tribute “Welcome Gustavo,” and the press conferences unveiling Gustavo’s inaugural season and appointment as 11th Music Director of the LA Phil.  Visitors can also take a multimedia journey through Gustavo’s life with tiling photographs, video and biographical text.  The latest Gustavo-related news and newly recorded audio and video content will be added to the microsite as Gustavo’s exciting inaugural season progresses.

The Gustavo microsite prominently features a brand-new interactive online game and iPhone application, Bravo Gustavo, designed by Hello Design to simulate the experience of conducting an orchestra.  The Bravo Gustavo online game invites users to interact with Gustavo and the LA Phil performing Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique (music courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon).  The Bravo Gustavo iPhone application adapts the mobile device into a conducting baton, utilizing the accelerometer to directly affect the overall tempo and note duration of the music – just like a real conductor.

Wow, conductor as new “my best friend forever”, and it seems like the only thing missing from the package is the action figure. I suppose if the classical world had been cool enough to do a “Bravo Herbert” or “Welcome Antal” back in the day, the crowds would never have left.

Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Events, Festivals

All Points Bulletin

A few great concerts you might be able to catch, or might be missing:

Carlsbad, CA:  (25-27 Sept.) Sure, everybody goes here, about midway between LA and San Diego,  just for Legoland California… But for the next few days, everyone should forget Legoland and instead head to the sixth annual Carlsbad Music Festival. The Calder Quartet and California EAR Unit will be playing all kinds of new music, including pieces by John Luther Adams, Daniel Wohl, Keeril Makan, Matt McBane, Ryan Brown, and Yannis Kyriakides. Premieres abound! And the weekend is given over to these ensembles supporting their special guest, guitarist extraordinaire Fred Frith. All that and a nice stretch of beach to boot! Full details on schedules, prices and directions are there on the website.

Columbia, SC: (Friday, 02 October at 7:30PM, the Univ. of SC School of Music Recital Hall, 813 Assembly Street, Columbia, SC) The award-winning Southern Exposure New Music Series presents a performance (and world premiere) by the dynamic ensemble Real Quiet. Composed of percussionist David Cossin, cellist Felix Fan, and pianist Andrew Russo, Real Quiet is dedicated to hard-edge acoustic and electric music that often blurs the borders between genres.

The concert will feature the music of Marc Mellits, with the composer in attendance. Also on the bill are the world premiere of Jacob ter VeldhuisThings Like That, a work that weaves together both live performance and fragments of recordings by jazz legend Anita O’Day); Annie Gosfield’s Wild Pitch, inspired by the 2004 World Series; Phil Kline’s Last Buffalo, a tribute to Hunter S. Thompson; and Lou Harrison’s Varied Trio, a piece influenced by music from Indonesia, India, and the European pre-Baroque.

United Kingdom:  (25 Sept- 12 Oct) Guitarist Simon Thacker and his group The Nava Rasa Ensemble (Carnatic violin virtuoso Jyotsna Srikanth, Birmingham-based tabla master Sarvar Sabri, Scotland’s string quartet the Edinburgh Quartet, Brazilian bassist Mario Caribé and multi-percussionist Iain Sandilands) will be touring their concert titled “Inner Octaves”. Their website will give you full information on all the dates, times and venues.

The concert includes Terry Riley (b.1935, USA): Cantos Desiertos (1996); Tabla solo by Mr. Sabri; Nigel Osborne (b.1948, UK): Chamber concerto, (new commission); Tan Dun (b.1957, China): Eight Colors for string quartet (1988); Shirish Korde (b.1945, India/Uganda): Chamber concerto (new commission).

Providence, RI:  (24 Sept- 11 Oct) Rhode Island’s FirstWorks Festival hosts Pixilerations [v.6], a series of new media arts installations, concert performances and film/video screenings. This Friday and Saturday there are two free concerts in the URI Shepard Auditorium (80 Washington St.): Friday at 8PM Matthew Peters-Warne plays a gourd-based digital controller to transform Portuguese and Umbundu languages into music; Todd Winkler makes an immersive audio/video  environment, Kristen Volness has a piece for laptop and string quartet; Peter Bussigel creates a “shivers-inducing audio journey”; Alex Dupuis works the guitar and electronics; bedtime stories (with video) from Lucky Leone; Alex Kruckman in an  audio-visual feedback loop; and Ed Osborn creates an “audio microworld” with  live electronics and table-top guitar.  Then on Saturday, also at 8pm, “In elements/response Aesthetic Evidence explores 600 spoken human voices through audio, visual and traditional percussion. The intersections continue with: computer-as-instrument with traditional Chinese string instrument (Jing Wang), percussionists with robots (David Bithell), and vocalist with computer musician (Christie Lee Gibson and Arvid Tomayko-Peters). Also performing equally mysterious work: asynchronous stochastic cloud structures from Shane Turner in Crash Test.”  There’s  plenty more good (including Pauline Oliveros next week), so give the website a good look.

Eganville, Ontario:  Those of you tired with the same old venues could do worse on Saturday the 26th, than strike out from Ottawa and find the Bonnechere Caves. Deep inside, at 5PM and again at 7PM, Katelyn Clark and Xenia Pestova will provide their consummate playing on toy pianos while Toronto composer Erik Ross provides the electroacoustic soundscape.

Broadcast, Contemporary Classical, Radio

They heard you

Apropos our earlier news about the cutbacks to Marvin Rosen‘s “Classical Discoveries” and “Classical Discoveries goes Avant-Garde” programs on WPRB radio:  I’ve just received the good word from Marvin himself that — due in large part to all your messages of support —the station has decided to keep “Classical Discoveries goes Avant-Garde” in the schedule, each Wednesday from 11AM until 1PM ET. Marvin also writes: “I’ve been asked by the Classical Director to let you all know how WPRB feels. Please see her quote to me below”:

“Please thank your listeners for me and for the whole of WPRB management, for letting us know what they think and for showing support for the programming they love. It’s well-deserved.”

“P.S. – I would like to remind you all that the WPRB Listeners Survey is still on until the end of this month.  This is your opportunity to express your preferences in the programming and give your opinion. I would like to thank Sequenza 21 readers for overwhelming  support.  It is incredible to see the power of the written word. These 2 extra hours for more modern works is exciting news for me and hope for everyone else!” — Marvin Rosen

Go team go! Way to make a difference. (The show resumes next week, and remember that even if you can’t listen through the air you can still catch it anywhere in the world with WPRB’s live internet audio stream.)

Cello, Composers, Contemporary Classical, Orchestral, Performers, Premieres

Cellist Composer Model

ninakotovaNina Kotova premieres a new work by Christopher Theofanidis this weekend in Dallas. In the second part of looking at the new work, I spoke with the soloist about the piece, and learned more about how the piece came into being. Listen to our conversation:

mp3 file
The concert takes place Thursday, Friday & Saturday – and more performances coming up in Asia & Europe.

Contemporary Classical

Archipelago

Our New York based readers may want to check out the opening concert of Archipelago, the new concert series by New Amsterdam Records, at Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn.  It’s this Friday, September 25th, and will feature performances by violist Nadia Sirota and percussion quartet Line C3.  Music by Nico Muhly, David T. Little, and Carl Schimmel, with premieres of pieces by Marcos Balter and Our Lady J.

Doors open at 7, and the show starts at 8.  Tickets and more information here (use discount code “NEWAM” for online ticket purchases).

I haven’t been to Galapagos since they moved to DUMBO, but the photo tour on the website makes it look great.

Cello, Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Interviews, Orchestral, Premieres

There’s always room for Cello

Chris Theofanidis

This week, the Dallas Symphony premieres a new concerto written for cellist Nina Kotova. Christopher Theofanidis is teaching at Yale and about to embark on two new operas for Houston and San Francisco. He took some time out last week to let me know more about the work and what he’s been up to!
Listen to the conversation:

mp3 file
Tomorrow, a post with the soloist, who also composes…

Broadcast, Contemporary Classical, Radio

From Marathon to No Moreathon

Wasn’t it just a couple weeks ago we were singing praises to WPRB’s Marvin Rosen for his annual all-day, all-modern radio marathon — not to mention how great his year-round advocacy for promoting new and lesser-known music in general was?

So imagine the shock to learn just this week, that WPRB is suddenly cutting Marvin’s regular Wednesday 5:30AM to 11:00 “Classical Discoveries” show to run only from 6:00 to 8:30, and deleting his afternoon “Classical Discoveries Goes Avant-Garde” program altogether!

For more than a decade Marvin has been sharing his wide listening experience and deep enthusiasm with all kinds of listeners; not only in New York, but through internet streaming with fans from Seattle to Singapore to Seville. And with some room in the airspace to be able to range fairly freely, offering up things like guest composers in the studio, and deeper explorations of everything from “Music of Jewish Insipration” to “The Negro Speaks of River – Music for Kwanzaa” to “Spotlight on Women Composers”. His own connections with the classical community are strong; this is the guy after all, that just two days ago spent the morning with composer Derek Bermel, and that afternoon had George Crumb in the studio for an 80th-birthday celebration! To think that a public radio station would trim all that good work connecting living music with its audience to little more than a shadow seems more than misguided.

I know there are a lot of you out there, who at some time or other have encountered something truly wonderful thanks to a regular or even chance listen to Marvin’s show. WPRB is still a public radio station, reliant on your opinions (and your dollars). If you’re one of those many who’ve been on the receiving end of the good that Marvin spreads, maybe make a little effort on his behalf and write directly to the station and make your voice heard: whether to the Program Director (program@wprb.com) or to the Station Manager (manager@wprb.com), let them know how you feel.

In Marvin’s own words from his website:

“I try to prove on every show that there is much beautiful music of our time that deserves to be heard. Composers are working hard today. Their works deserve to be presented to the public. Listeners often tell me that they didn’t know that new music could be so melodious and beautiful. Although I play recent works by well-known composers I emphasize the little-known ones that are recorded on the small record labels. I will periodically invite various composers to be guests on my program. Sometimes a program will have a particular theme as, for example, ‘Music by Turkish Composers’ or ‘Music composed in the 1990s’. ‘Classical Discoveries’ seems to be the answer for all who are just simply tired of the boredom that appears on so much classical radio today. Personally, I feel, that this type of programming may be the answer if classical radio is to survive in the future. Classical music is a great thing. It should not be allowed to go to pot.”

No it shouldn’t Marvin, no it shouldn’t.