La Commedia or, my dinner with Louis
Thursday, April 15 marked the New York premiere of Louis Andriessen’s latest opera, La Commedia at Carnegie Hall. I was lucky enough to make it up to New York for…
NYPO’s Contact! at Symphony Space
The New York Philharmonic has made significant strides to renew its commitment to contemporary classical music this season. Curated by composer-in-residence Magnus Lindberg and conducted by music director Alan Gilbert,…
Countdown to Contact!
The New York Philharmonic presents its next set of performances in the Contact! series next Thursday and Friday (4/16 and 4/17). Here’s a flip-cam video of featured composer Matthias Pintscher…
Monday Night with Dr. Phil
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 —…
Take this detour
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…
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…
Composers Now: An interview with Laura Kaminsky
Composer, arts administrator, educator, and now, festival curator, Laura Kaminsky is exactly the type of advocate contemporary music needs to ensure its survival. Until recently a dean at the Conservatory…
Week long Composers Now Festival starts today!
Sure, the recession has caused for cutbacks in the arts. But composers are a resilient bunch. This week, New York City will be the site for the first Composers Now…
Intimate epics: Michael Hersch’s “Last Autumn”
There was a fair amount of buzz a couple years ago (including here at s21), when composer Michael Hersch‘s enormous piano canvas The Vanishing Pavilions was released on CD. What…
Better than expected?
Alex Ross gives a rundown of upcoming seasons at both the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras. There’s a fair amount of contemporary work on the bills from both…