Composer’s Voice November 11th, 2012: Music to Get You Moving
On 11-11, a day considered to be magical by many, Composer’s Voice opens with a particularly bewitching Fifteen Minutes of Fame, fifteen one-minute pieces composed for a specific artist or ensemble, assembled and performed today by harpist Alyssa Reit.
Reit, a dexterous and adventurous musician, begins the set with In a Minor Groove by Bob Seibert. Highlighting a jaunty melody, this piece showcases Reit’s twinkling fingers, nimbly cavorting across the harp. Not just confined to traditional playing, Reit enthusiastically strikes the wooden frame of the harp during Malcolm Rector’s More Thoughts, and vocally invokes the gods of precipitation in Murray Gross’s The Rainmaker. While great fun, it also highlights Reit’s gusto. The penultimate composition, Goltrai, a meditative sway by Fionna Linnane, holds you rapt, while Robinson McClellan’s Victory Dance for Dread October, closes the set with an exclamation point.
It’s a delightful fifteen minutes as Reit demonstrates the harp’s remarkable emotional range. Each piece subtly shades some undisclosed, uncolored portion of you.
The second half of the program is devoted to longer compositions hand-picked by guest curator Randall Eng.
Daniel Sonenberg offers four pleasing pieces from his Seven Jarring Dances, which spotlights Maria Wagner on clarinets and the composer himself on guitar. Juxtaposing the clear transparency of the clarinet with the dulcet tones of the guitar, Sonenberg constructs charming rhythms that prove irresistible. From the honeyed melody of Lullaby Waltz to the boisterously unrestrained With Slavic Intensity and the purring expansiveness of Warmly, Lazily, clear aural pictures get your toes tapping.
Reunion, composed by Conrad Cummings, features Krista Martynes, a spirited performer, on clarinet, with Cummings and Eng sharing one, cream-colored piano. The piano, played by Cummings, grumbles, and the clarinet keens, until Eng thunderously joins in. A swirling, bubbling musical storm erupts, tormented, but tinged with a sweet wistfulness. Highlighting a heated dynamism, Reunion furnishes a direct, sucker punch straight to your gut.
Five excerpts from Florida, with music by Eng and text by Donna DiNovelli, conclude the concert. Presenting Amy Justman, a pert blonde soprano, and Eng on piano, this piece possesses a dense, aggressive, and angular character. Eng’s energetic playing occasionally obscures Justman’s vocals, which may cause you to lose the narrative thread. While Eng clearly brings ardency to his work, this piece feels ill suited as the closing selection. Requiring a tight focus and discerning ear from the audience, the acute intensity of Florida feels too taxing to be fulfilling at the end of a long program.
Did you know it was the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War of the United States? (That would be the one-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary.) If you are looking for a theme for a concert, this halmark aniversary won't come around for another 50 years.
It seems simple enough but it is the first and foremost thing most people do not do; hence, the constant reminder from everyone.
A great example of this was explained to me at a grant writing workshop expalining how one of the "rules" for a particular grant was to write a description in 600 words in Times Roman in 12 point font.
Seems ridiculous right? Well they explained the first round of reviews reading all the applications were done by volunteers 65 years in age or older. Font sizes any smaller could not be read by the volunteers and therefore immediately disqualifed.
Not following instructions is almost always instant disqualification regardless of reason. If the rule wasn't a discriminating factor it wouldn't be a rule or guideline.
By all means ask questions if you don't understand something. (I am a big believer of "there are no dumb questions.") Just understand that if the guideline says "Submissions should be 60 seconds or less in length." and you ask, "Can I send a piece 2 minutes long?" expect the answer to be, "Submissions should be 60 seconds or less in length." And by submitting something without following the guideline will frustrate the person receiving it and you will be disqualified without consideration.
All that you do by not following instructions is waste time, energy and resources.
November 20, 2012 - 5:00 pm
EDAU – Electronic & Digital Art Unit
University of Central Lancashire
St Peter’s Street, Preston
United Kingdom
Free Admission and Refreshments
The 60x60 Presenter’s Mix 2012 comprises of 60 one-minute compositions by 60 artists and composers which are heard over the course of one hour. The 60x60 project has had more than 250 performances in cities throughout the world. The venues have varied from concert halls, theater spaces, festivals, museums, art galleries, street window spaces, a renovated 1930’s Art Deco police station, churches, colleges, Universities, high schools, as well as bars and night clubs.
This event coordinated by Patricia Walsh
60x60 (2012) Presenters Mix
Liana Alexandra, Ricardo Arias, Dennis Bathory-Kitsz, Rich Bitting, Benjamin Boone, Scott Brickman, George Brunner, Paul Clouvel, Zlatko Cosic, Douglas DaSilva, Brad Decker, Paul Dibley, Erin Dougherty, Leonardo Duerto, Chris Flores, Douglas Geers, Josh Goldman, Melissa Grey, David Gunn, Bruce Hamilton, Dorothy Hindman, Yoko Honda, Lynn Job, Aaron Krister Johnson, Tova Kardonne, Juraj Kojis, Patrick Liddell, Elainie Lillios, Moises Linares, John Link, Blake Martin, Charles Norman Mason, Mike McFerron, Jeff Morris, Serban Nichifor, Rich O'Donnel, Michael James Olson, David R Peoples, Kala Pierson, Christopher Preissing, William Price, Gene Pritsker, Robert Ratcliffe, Robert Sazdov, Jacky Schreiber, Nivedita ShivRaj, Alan Shockley, Juan Maria Solare, Adam Sovkoplas, Adam Stansbie, Allan Strange, Eldad Tsabary, Katerina Tzedaki, Jeremy Van Buskirk, Robert Voisey, Patricia Walsh, Andrew Walters, Rodney Waschka, Aaron Word, and Sabrina Pena Young
2014 AGO/ECS PUBLISHING AWARD IN CHORAL COMPOSITION Fourteenth
Biennial Competition $2,000 cash prize provided by ECS Publishing,
performance at the 2014 AGO National Convention in Boston, and publication
by ECS Publishing. Instructions for Competitors Composers are
invited to submit an original setting of the Kyrie (in Greek or English),
no longer than 8 minutes in duration. The work must be SATB without
divisi, and the organ must play a significant role. The composition should
show the composer’s ability to write idiomatically for both choir and
organ.
CALEFAX COMPOSERS COMPETITION 2012 Composers competition
expanded! For the 5th consecutive year Calefax organizes a competition
for people of all ages who compose music for the instrumentation of
Reed Quintet. Following the tradition of the past years, the winning
composition will be premiered during the PAN Festival in Amsterdam
which will take place on December 28, 2012. On top of that Calefax is
happy to announce that three other Reed Quintets (see below) have
committed themselves to performing the winning work
With the announcement of the 12th International Composition Competition
2012 the Institute of Music of the Carl von Ossietzky University and the
Oldenburg Chamber Choir directed by Johannes von Hoff, intend to lay the
foundation for a repertoire of pieces of a medium degree of difficulty. It
aims at bringing together amateurs, pupils and students from different
stylistic genres in a collective musical activity.
The competition provides three prizes and a promotion prize for young
composers (aged max. 25).
‘FRANCO DONATONI’ INTERNATIONAL MEETING FOR YOUNG COMPOSERS www.divertimentoensemble.it DEADLINE 30
NOVEMBER 2012
THIRD EDITION JUNE 2014 MUSIC FOR ENSEMBLE, DANCE AND LIVE
ELECTRONICS Divertimento Ensemble and its artistic director Sandro
Gorli are pleased to announce the third edition of the “Franco
Donatoni” International Meeting for Young Composers, which will be held
in Milan in the first two weeks of June 2014. Applications to take
part in the Meeting can be submitted by composers born after 1st
January 1977; nationals of any country can apply by sending one or
The Fifth Annual Texas Tech Trombone Choir Composition Contest
The TTU Trombone Choir Composition Contest Committee is requesting
original works for trombone choir with the following characteristics:
Duration 4 – 6 minutes in length
Instrumentation 8 parts
Type of Work: Stand Alone Concert Piece
Suggested Material: Motives/themes from video game music
NOTE: Works are meant to be Original Compositions, NOT arrangements or
medleys. The new works should be crafted to fit the timbre and
characteristics of the trombone choir.
