VooDoo in the Arkipelago
Besides helping out here at S21, composer Chris Becker has been racking up some excellent interviews at his own blog. One I wanted to share with you is his recent…
8bb competition to be revised
To say that there was a bit of discussion on the announcement that eighth blackbird was going to be hosting their first composition competition would be a gross understatement…let’s say…
Pat Metheny goes steampunk?
The orchestrion is a fairly old instrument, going back to the mid-19th-century. Pat Metheny and the mad scientists at the League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots have teamed up to…
Happy 100th Birthday Samuel Barber
“I was meant to be a composer and will be I’m sure. Don’t ask me to try to forget this unpleasant thing and go play football – please.” – by…
Annual Ensemble Pi concert for peace and civil rights, Cooper Union
Ensemble Pi is an unusual new-music collective, in that all its concerts have a socially-conscious bent and feature composers whose work seeks to open a dialogue between ideas and music…
Where there’s a will (and an iPhone) there’s a way
Back last December the New York Times highlighted the Stanford Mobile Phone Orchestra. The first link goes to the NYT video of the ensemble, but here’s a nicely quiet work…
Score One for Owen Pallett
Making the classical aspects of the burgeoning indie classical movement abundantly clear, crossover albums are now crossover marketing musical scores. Via his website, composer Owen Pallett has released a limited…
Composers
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Contemporary Classical
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San Francisco
Let’s Ask Gyan Riley
The 15th Other Minds Festival kicks off this evening, offering San Francisco a three-day immersion in contemporary music from around the world. One of the locals headlining this year is…
Three West Coast Pianists
I recently spent some time with three amazing pianists who are all based on the West Coast: Sarah Cahill, based in the San Francisco; Vicki Ray, based in Los Angeles;…
Iceman cometh to LPR
Daníel Bjarnason is brand new on the Bedroom Community label, which was founded by Valgeir Sigurðsson (Bjork’s producer/collaborator). Bjarnason is already a veteran of Iceland’s music scene at the age…