Is that a vocal score in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
The 2009 Opera Vista Festival and competition just finished up down here in Houston. Line Tørnhøj of Aarhus, Denmark was voted by the audience as the winner with her opera…
Sloppy Seconds
I’m late getting to this but one of our regulars called my attention to an article in last Sunday’s New York Times about the League of Composers titled Modernists Commission…
“First, do no harm”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YD6uu7dJ7I[/youtube] Mauricio Kagel‘s 1984 “Der Eid des Hippokrates” (“The Hippocratic Oath”), for piano 3-hands. Kagel wrote: This aphoristic composition was inspired by the publication in January 1984, in a medical…
New Paths: An Hispanic Festival
New New Paths in Music presents An Hispanic Festival Elebash Recital Hall Graduate Center – CUNY New York On Friday June 5th, New Paths in Music presented a concert of…
Sonata for Piano and Dirt Bike
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb50kHf7Tw0[/youtube] Carles Santos has been a force on the Spanish “downtown” scene (taking musicians like Santos, Llorenç Barber and Maria de Alvear in opposition to the “uptown” likes of Cristobal…
Balliett House, San Antonio TX
Monday last week I headed over to San Antonio to hear a house concert hosted by composer and San Antonio Symphony bassist Doug Balliett. The program included two new pieces…
Force of Nature – Frederic Rzewski Solo Piano UC Davis
It’s sometimes said that composers are either German or French, and American vanguard one Frederic Rzewski, with his much vaunted admiration for Beethoven, is clearly on the German side. But…
June in Buffalo starts Monday
Two of the happiest experiences I’ve had as a composer were back to back summers (’98 and ’99) at JUNE IN BUFFALO. Held at SUNY Buffalo in upstate New York,…
New, Newer, Newest Notations
Last year I mentioned seeing an exhibition here in Houston, “Every Sound You Can Imagine“; a compilation of all kinds of newer musical manuscripts and scores. Then just yesterday I…
New Music in Morelia
Morelia (in the State of Michoacan, Mexico) will be hosting its Fifth Contemporary Music Festival from June 1-6. Although relatively young, the festival has gathered prestige and generated enthusiasm in…