Author: Steve Layton

Readers who are reasonably close to Hattiesburg, Mississippi may enjoy two outstanding performances (including a world premiere) happening this week, involving the music of Edwin Penhorwood (Thursday, April 8 at…

Helmut Lachenmann, 75 years old this year. How does the news strike us? If a composer in Europe, a better than 60%-70% chance that this is an important milestone. If…

Saturday, March 27th at 7:30pm CDT, anyone in driving range of Birmingham, Alabama should be paying UAB’s Hulsey Recital Hall (950 13th Street South) a visit. Back last year, Meet…

No, not that one… This one, with trusty bass in hand… Phil Fried is a composer long known to me as a regular,  astute — and often very funny —…

Spring has definitely sprung down here in Houston; everything that looked dead just a few weeks ago is sprouting all kinds of new growth. And that goes for opera as…

I’ve written before about the one and only Alex Temple, late Yalie and NYC denizen, studious University of Michigan grad student, now currently working his thing in Chicago. Well, Alex…

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…

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…

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…

Columbia’s own Southern Exposure New Music Series and xMUSE (University of South Carolina’s Experimental Music Studio, directed by Reginald Bain) combine forces once again to present an evening of genre-bending…