Starting Wednesday night, the ICE is going to be all over town like it’s no one else’s business. Among the considerable damage they’re rendering is our own Evan Johnson’s piece Supplement for clarinet and electronics. Gareth Davis will be doing the honors at Rosenberg+Kaufman Fine Art this Friday. The folks at Linked Musicians have been recognized as an “Official Honouree” by the “Webby” awards. Membership to Linked Musicians, which is free, enables you to find jobs, bands, and just generally link up with others dedicated to live music. And they tell me a Webby is a big deal. So —
Read moreArchitect Jean Nouvel has won a competition to design the new Philharmonie de Paris building at Parc de La Villette in the French capital. The 2,400 seat auditorium is due to open in 2012. Sure looks like Boulez has some influence on the design. Check out the Flash show at the architect’s web site.
Read moreIt seems somehow fitting after a week of inexplicable madness that Julia Wolfe’s My Beautiful Scream will get its New York premiere tomorrow night when the Kronos Quartet joins the Brooklyn Philharmonic for a concert called Kronos+Cosmos. Wolfe describes My Beautiful Scream as a kind of non-concerto for string quartet. The work is a gradual unfolding and unraveling of a slow motion scream: the quartet aspect of the music is quiet and fine while the orchestra aspect is violent and menacing. Co-commissioned by the Orchestre Philharmoniue de Radio France, the Basel Sinfonietta, and the Brooklyn Philharmonic, My Beautiful Scream was originally premiered in February
Read moreOur regular listen to and look at living, breathing composers and performers that you may not know yet, but I know you should… And can, right here and now, since they’re nice enough to offer so much good listening online: Gilbert Artman and Urban Sax (France) Urban Sax is a long-running ensemble / musical extravaganza founded by the French musician Gilbert Artman. It was was formed in 1973, when Artman organized a concert by a group of eight saxophonists at a classical music festival in the south of France. In subsequent years, the number of players grew to 12, 20,
Read moreCNN: Internet Radio Broadcasters Dealt Setback Full story here. Oy.
Read moreOur pal Frank Oteri has written a contribution for Take A Friend to the Orchestra, and it’s up today. Frank describes taking his friend Joe Ornstein to the ACO concert at Zankel Hall a few weeks ago. Ornstein is smart and funny and pulls no punches–it’s a good read. “People who go to the three-B concerts are snobs generally speaking. And if they aren’t, I don’t know what the hell they’re doing there.” I actually met Joe at that concert and we had a lovely chat during intermission. My own essay on the structural differences between the popular music experience and
Read morePlace your bets! And the winner is: Awarded to “Sound Grammar” by Ornette Coleman, recording released September 12, 2006. Other finalists: Also nominated as finalists in this category were: “Grendel” by Elliot Goldenthal, premiered June 8, 2006 by the Los Angeles Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, libretto by Julie Taymor and J.D. McClatchy, and “Astral Canticle” by Augusta Read Thomas, premiered June 1, 2006 by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (G. Schirmer, Inc.). Also: A posthumous special citation to composer John Coltrane for his masterful improvisation, supreme musicianship and iconic centrality to the history of jazz.
Read moreDelighted to report that our regular Cary Boyce was among five composers selected from a field of 128 entries representing 35 states to participate in the May 2007 Essentially Choral reading session–an annual program co-sponsored by American Composers Forum and VocalEssence with the support of the Jerome Foundation. Essentially Choral provides an opportunity for emerging composers from across the country to develop their skills in writing for choral ensemble. The selected composers are: Cary Boyce (Bloomington, IN): “The Magi” Kitty Brazelton (New York City): “Love, I Know, Beyond a Doubt” Gao Hong (Northfield, MN): “Coming of Spring” Aya Nishina (New York City): “Sleeping in Dew”
Read moreNice piece by Anne Midgette in today’s Times about Ingram Marshall whose work I happen to like a lot. Put him down for your new “Underrated” column, Trevor.
Read moreJulius Eastman’s Crazy Nigger (1978? 1979?) was given its West Coast premiere last night at REDCAT. Three members of California EAR Unit gave up their usual instruments (flute, cello, percussion) for the piano to join their pianist Vicki Ray in giving the work its four-piano interpretation. While the score doesn’t specify a particular instrumental combination, it was recorded by Eastman with four pianos, and this recording was the one that brought the work to the public. It would be interesting to hear Crazy Nigger in a different configuration, but it would certainly take more than four musicians to give the sonorities
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