Month: January 2012

Contemporary Classical

Gaudette Brass Presents Music That is So Last Year

Don’t know what you folks are doing this coming Tuesday night, January 17, but I will be trekking uptown to Symphony Space to see the Gaudete Brass, a splendid Chicago-based chamber ensemble rarely seen in these parts, who will present a concert of still-hot-off-of-Sibelius contemporary brass chamber music, including the world premiere of a new work by S21 familiar Rob Deemer.

“We were going to be traveling to New York to showcase at the Chamber Music America’s National Conference and while we were in town, we decided to present a concert that will mostly feature music we premiered this past fall including works by New Yorker Adam Reifsteck, David Sampson and Stacy Garrop and we added the new piece that Rob wrote for us,” says Scott Tegge, the group’s tubist.

The concert starts at 7:30 pm but I’ll be there at 6:30 for a pre-concert discussion with the composers featured on the program, led by the estimable Frank J. Oteri.

“One of the wonderful things that has happened this year is that we have gotten to know the composers individually throughout the year not just through their music, but from actually spending time with them,” says trombonist Paul Von Hoff.  “This experience has produced amazing works that really reflect the strengths of the quintet and its members.”

The quintet will present David Sampson’s seventh and newest brass quintet, Chicago Moves as well as Helios, Stacy Garrop first brass quintet.  In addition to these new pieces, the concert will also feature the GBQ’s take on five part Italian Madrigals by Giaches de Wert and Joan Tower’s monumental composition, Copperwave.

Get yourself some tickets here and come on up.  See you there.

by Jerry Bowles
CDs, Choral Music, Contemporary Classical, Contests, File Under?, New York

Karl Jenkins CD Giveaway

On Monday, January 16 at Carnegie Hall, Distinguished Concerts International New York brings together over three hundred musicians to give the world premiere of The Peacemakers by Karl Jenkins. The composer will conduct this work for choir, orchestra, and instrumental soloists. It is the first world premiere of one of his large-scale works to take place in New York.

TICKETS: www.carnegiehall.org or 212-247-7800 or in person at the Carnegie Hall Box Office.

The recording of The Peacemakers just came out this past Tuesday on EMI Classics. It  features the strings of the London Symphony Orchestra and three choirs: the City of Birmingham Youth Choir, Rundfunkchor Berlin, and the 1000-strong Really Big Chorus.

EMI is offering a free download of a track from the album here.

The label’s also been kind enough to offer us several copies of the limited edition version of The Peacemakers for a CD giveaway. Interested parties should email me here.

I’ll use a Cageian (random) method to determine the “winners.” The contest is open until Monday, 1/16 at midnight.

by Christian Carey
Bass, Composers, Contemporary Classical, Deaths

Stefano Scodanibbio 1956-2012




Breaking news from Cuernavaca, Mexico–Stefano Scodanibbio has passed away, a tremendous bassist, a fearless improviser, and a gifted composer. Faced with ALS, he decided to spend his last days in Mexico, a country he loved. I haven’t found any reports in English, but for those of you who speak Spanish, here’s the report. Google translation (not too bad) here.

by Christian Hertzog
Composers, Contemporary Classical, Electro-Acoustic, Experimental Music, Interviews, Women composers

Zoë Keating: An Interview

Photo courtesy of Andre Penven for Coilhouse Magazine

Zoë Keating (Wow, what can I say??) has definitely cultivated a very respectable place in the new music and indie music circles. After rethinking a classical concert career as a cellist for working a tech job, she was intervened to perform with various friends, played in the band Rasputina, eventually went solo with a gorgeously layered, rhythmic cello sound. Zoë went on to sell over 40,000 copies of her CDs without distribution, a record label or management. And she has over one million Twitter followers. The internet loves her!

Besides her solo career, her other projects include music collaborations with various dance companies (Apex Contemporary Dance Theatre, American Repertory Ballet, Digby Dance), film scoring (or soundtrack performances; Warrior, The Secret Life of Bees, The Conspirator), scoring for varied TV programs and other medias, and makes guest appearances alongside artists such as Amanda Palmer, Paolo Nutini, Imogen Heap, and many more. (more…)

by Chris McGovern
Bang on a Can, CDs, Contemporary Classical, Downtown, File Under?

BoaC shares free DL of new recording

Bang on a Can is celebrating twenty-five years of music making in generous fashion. Between now and Jan. 25th, you can download their new album, Big Beautiful Dark and Scary, via bangonacan25.org. In exchange, they ask for an email address and a memory of a BoaC moment: the former is kept confidential, the latter is published in a scrapbook commemorating the album.

Think this is marketing against one’s own self-interests? Probably not. The iTunes version is for sale from 1/31, and features a bonus track of the ensemble performing Philip Glass’s Closing, with Glass, live. When the physical streets on 2/28, it will be a double disc of premiere recordings that will also feature films of the ensemble. So, instead of a “loss leader,” I tend to think of this release as downtown’s answer to Radiohead’s In Rainbows. In the meantime, Happy New Year, and happy downloading, all!

by Christian Carey