This performance at the Jan Hus Church demonstrates the many sounds and moods that can be coaxed from classical string instruments. Its Fifteen Minutes of Fame sequence—selected and deftly performed on viola by Conway Kuo—ranges from fluid melodies to jittery bursts to multi-tonal drones. The main program, guest-curated by Matt Frey, features highly diverse renderings on violin, viola, cello, piano, and bass—with a bit of clarinet and vocals for good measure.
Opening the proceedings, Kuo's Fifteen Minutes of Fame seems a study in contrast and surprise. Opening with Spryos Banos's "Epigram"—in which curvy phrases are punctuated by staccato plucked notes—it moves on to the back-and-forth verve of the aptly titled "Running Emptiness" by Elvira Muratore and the haunting melancholy of Jesse Alexander Brown's "Arioso." Similar shifts emerge between the unsettled angst of Brian D. Kelly's "Moment of Death," the aching tension of David Bohn's "The Gossamer Thread" and the sprightly melodic relief of "Viola," by Nuha Dolby (the youngest composer featured, at age 13). The most dramatic grouping is at the set's end, when the mysterious tone poem "Disappear" by Dafina Zequiri Nushi gives way to the jittery, dance-like "Sfizio n.5" by Pierluigi Tanzi—followed by the finality of Michael Gatonska's "Sinfornia Atomica," in which a bumble-bee ascension abruptly pauses and rests on wind-like string shimmers, then resolves in a major chord. Kuo bows and grins at the the difficult set's finish.
The remainder of the program was guest-curated by Matt Frey, who introduces the work as "a series of pieces by friends." The co-founder of the West 4th New Music Collective, Frey is a recent graduate of New York University, to which several of the performers and composers also have ties. Their familiarity with one another lends a relaxed air and a sense of cohesion to the set.
Before playing his composition "Von Einem Traum," pianist Matt Entwistle explains that the piece "sprang from a dream"—he didn't specify whether this was during a storm, but the recorded sounds of rain and thunder backdrop the descending chords of the intro. From this emerges a tinkling treble melody, which alternates and roils with thunderous bass chords, then alights in a more peaceful (perhaps REM?) section to finish.
Entwistle is then joined on stage by stand-up bassist Pat Swoboda and curator Matt Frey on clarinet, performing Kristin Kuraishi's "Flying Coach." Here a to-and-fro interplay between the three voices settles into a harmonious section of melodies and counterpoints, traversing several shades and moods along the way.
A quartet of violin (Maya Bennardo), bass (Pat Swoboda), tenor vocals (Ian Ng) and mezzo voice (Melody Loveless) performs the four-segment "Suite for Alice," with words and music composed by Melody Loveless. (The singers double on percussive tools such as triangles and blocks.)
This witty piece begins with a dissonant swirl of voices and strings that feels like the experience of waking in the morning; it's followed by a percussive "Can't Be Late!" section racing the clock. Part three is a zen-like oasis of calm; then the final segment progressing from a festive, party-like waltz into an uncomfortable conversation—"She is So Boring!"—that abruptly ends. While it seems a metaphor for A Day in the City Life, the piece is actually inspired by vignettes from Alice in Wonderland, according to Loveless.
Curator Matt Frey saved what's arguably the best for last—his own composition "Pulling Anchor," performed by andPlay, a duo featuring Maya Bennardo on violin and Hannah Levinson on viola. In lock step, the pair begins in low rumbling chords that churn and build into a racing dichotomy of competing phrases, like birds darting back and forth in the same patch of sky. The women play with the synchronicity of a pair that has rehearsed and performed many hours together.
The same familiarity—with many of the performers friends off-stage who have shared experiences in educational and musical circles—makes this installment of the Composer's Voice series both casual and musically precise. It's a fine combination on a Sunday afternoon at Jan Hus Church.
Duo pianists Betty and Nettie Pottle always marched to the beat of a different drummer. When their colleagues in the jazz band pooled their savings to buy a minivan to haul around their instruments, Betty and Nettie purchased a motor scooter, no matter there was room to only transport their piano one octave at a time. And when their band-mates pledged to never drink and drive, the sisters vowed just the opposite. Sure, their choice of libation was low in alcohol, however, its high detergency component played havoc with their lower gastrointestinal tracts, often rendering them unable to see a chart through to its final chords.
- David Gunn - www.davidgunn.org
Cleveland Composers Recording Institute
Application Deadline: Friday, March 22nd, 2013
Institute Dates: July 15th-19th, 2013
Institute Fee: $950
Seeking composer applicants aged 18-40 to participate in the 5th Annual Cleveland Composers Recording Institute, July 15th-19th at Cleveland State University.
Vox Novus is calling for one-minute soprano and piano duets composed for Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame honoring Eugène Van Itterbeek to be performed by Georgeta Stoleriu, soprano and Violetta Stefanescu, piano at the Romanian Athenaeum Bucharest, Romania. The one-minute pieces are to be written specifically for this project, which will be performed by Gergeta Stoleriu & Violetta Stefanescu.
Submission guidelines:
The music and lyrics will be based on this poem of Eugène Van Itterbeek:
BIENTOT
Bientôt j'abandonnerai mon corp
S Je te remettrai mon âme
telle que tu me l'as donné
The Foundation Destellos, call for works for the sixth Competition of Electro-acoustic Composition and Visual Music, open to composers and artists of any nationality, age and gender.
The objectives of this competition are the promotion and development of the artistic creation in relation with new technologies. Likewise, it is an intention of the Foundation Destellos to stimulate the creativity of the young generations of artists and to provide them new routes of diffusion of their works.
RULES: The John Sanders Memorial Competition : 2013 Page 1
THE JOHN SANDERS MEMORIAL
COMPETITION FOR YOUNG COMPOSERS
2013
Judges
Dr. Christopher Robinson, Bob Chilcott, Adrian Partington,
and Tim Rogers (Encore Publications)
Rules of the competition
1. Young composers are invited to submit an accompanied (organ) or unaccompanied
choral composition of up to 8 minutes in length.
2. The composition should have been specifically created for the 2013 Sanders Society
competition. Any previously-composed composition is liable to disqualification.
60x60 Dance Toronto
Presented by Tova Kardonne & Vox Novus and Al Green Theatre
Sunday, March 10 - 8:00pm
60x60 Dance links 60 composition/ dance works by 60 different composer/ choreographer pairs, each 60 seconds long, and presents them continuously in a one-hour performance.
In this one-of-a-kind performance, each minute of the hour features a new composer and a new choreographer. The 60x60 Dance collaboration has been performed in more than 7 different cities in 3 different countries, featuring more than 500 choreographers and thousands of dancers. 60x60 Dance Toronto 2013 features all Canadian composers of every genre (from classical to spoken word and everything in between) and choreographers from every imaginable movement discipline (including mime, aerial dance, breakdancing, Kurdish Folk dancing, Flamenco, Ballet, circus, stiltwalking, modern dance, tap, and many more) Directed by the award-winning Viv Moore, and including pieces by Toronto glitterati such as the Kaejas, Malgorzata Nowacka, and Dave Wilson, this mind-expanding mix of concentrated, haiku-like musical and dance statements span the ridiculous and the sublime in one continuous hour of pure inspiration.
Sunday, March 10 - 8:00pm
Al Green Theatre,
Miles Nadal JCC
750 Spadina Avenue,
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
M5S 2J2
$20 Single tickets
To purchase tickets click here or purchase at the door (cash only)
60x60 (2011) Canada Mix
The 60x60 (2012) Canada mix was coordinated and "macro-composed" by Eldad Tsabary
Composers in the 60x60 (2011) Canada Mix Inlcude:
Kenneth Babb, Zoe Bacchus, Michael Baker, Adam Basanta, William Blakeney, Eric Boivin, Rose Bolton, Daryn Bond, Sarah Boothroyd, Ede Cameron, Peter Cavell, Gustav Ciamaga, Caleb Cobell, Yifat Cohen, Teresa Connors, Guillaume Cote, Jackson Darby, Michael Davis, Jonathan Desjardins, Pierre Desmarais, Max Evans, James Finnerty, Georges Forget, Soressa May Gardner, Victor Manuel Garibaldi, Neil Griffith, Mark Hannesson, Jeremy Hiebert, Irfon, Tova Kardonne, David Kettle, Yota Kobayashi, Steve Lalonde, Sebastien Lavoie, Paradise Lust, Sylvi MacCormac Heeves, Samuel Macklin, Kye Marshall Choir, Florence Masson, Alexander Matthew, Keri Matthews, Paul McFetridge, Meat Cove, Steven Naylor, Emilie Payeur, Ambrose Pottie, Mark Prier, Brian Quaye, Matthew Reid, Stephen Rieck, Nicholas Dorian Schofield, Scott M2, Luke Scriver, Anthony St Pierre, Edan Scime Stokell, The Dry, ilkim tongur, Eldad Tsabary, Vulva Underground, Mescaline Worms, and Nimalan Yoganathan
Composer’s Voice Presents Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: Anne Goldberg, English Horn: 15 one-minute pieces by 15 composers from around the world, writing specifically for this project and performer to be premiered on this concert! This international collaboration will present the music of Sergey Badalov, Julius Bucsis, Jack Horowitz, George Kontogiorgos, David Lien, Fiona Linnane, Iain Matheson, Daniel Mihail, Alex Nohai-Seaman, Admal Parwez, Richard Pressley, Jose Jesus de Aevedo Souza, Greg A Steinke, Luca Vanneschi, and Jean Pierre Vial.
Praised by the Boston Globe for her performance of Cage's Rioanji, her "bent-note aphorisms with prerecorded shadow drifted off into the predawn," performer/composer/choreopgrapher Anne Goldberg flaunts her prowess with the English horn in this “first-ever” Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame solo single-reed presentation. Anne is the founder/artistic director of the Synthesis Aesthetics Project, a collaborative between musicians, dancers, multimedia and spoken word artists. Anne is a freelance pianist and oboist-English hornist, and was a member of the New England Philharmonic and Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra.
GUEST CURATOR Cheryl Krugel-Lee is a Brooklyn-based composer, arranger and orchestrator whose work spans both the commercial and classical worlds. Recent orchestration credits include the Off-Broadway production of Honestly Abe; Anthropomorphic, written and directed by Timothy Young; and Last Night's Symphonie, written and directed by Adam Grannick. Recent film score credits include “JT vs. the Good Guys”, written and directed by Chris Shimojima and "Two Boroughs”, written and directed by Nick DeSimone.
The versatile violinist, Josh Henderson is gaining recognition as a musician for all seasons. N.Y. Theater Review “Henderson plays his violin like his dancer co-stars use their bodies, with seemingly effortless passion;” Dossier Journal “the globetrotting Josh Henderson, is phenomenal." Review Fix “Henderson stands out with booming violin work”
Violinist Maya Bennardo is a member of young, up-and-coming contemporary ensembles in NYC such as the Mise-en Ensemble and Ensemble Moto Perpetuo. NM421 praises “the delightful Maya Bennardo….Strong slices with the instrument’s bow elicit punchy assaults, which cut like a finely whetted hatchet,” for her premiere of Matt Frey’s “ANCHOR” for the concert/documentary “My Dad’s Violin”.
Cellist, Susan Davita Mandel performed the American debut of Robert Delanoff’s Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano at Weill Recital Hall as finalists of the AMTL Young Musicians concert series. Recently, Susan was the featured cellist in Jihae and John Patrick Shanley’s opera “Fire Burning Rain” at the Highline Ballroom in NYC and the Not For Sale campaign event in San Francisco Bay Area.
Violist Blake Allen was most recently heard in the world premiere of the Broadway bound William Goldman/J. Michael Friedman stage adaptation of Stephen King's MISERY at Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, PA.
Film & multimedia composer/Jazz & studio flutist, Marsha Bowe has recently been named composer/orchestrator for a worldwide animated film release.
Dosia McKay's composition portfolio includes scores for film, dance, and multimedia, works for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, choir, symphony orchestra, as well as synthesized sound. A versatile writer, Dosia fluently weaves elements of classical harmony, jazz, pop, avant-garde, ambient soundscapes, and the lyricism of folk melodies of her native Poland.
Composer's Voice Concert Series is an opportunity for contemporary composers to express their musical aesthetic and personal "voice" created in their compositions. Started in 2001, the “Composer’s Voice” concert series is presenting its 5th of 20 concerts scheduled in NYC for 2013, Sunday, March 10 2013. Information on the Composer's Voice, and more projects of Vox Novus, access: http://www.voxnovus.com/composersvoice/home
Composer’s Voice concert
Sunday, January March 10, 2013 1:00PM
Jan Hus Presbyterian Church
www.janhus.org
351 E 74th St, New York, NY 10021-3798
FREE ADMISSION
Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame with Liana Valente is to be performed Tuesday, March 12, 2013 at the Tuesday Music Club (an affiliate member of the National Federation of Music Clubs) in Lakeland, Florida. The one-minute pieces are to be written specifically for this project. The concept of these compositions revolves around Dr. Valente singing and playing the pieces; Dr. Valente has a powerful and expressive soubrette/coloratura voice with a rich and full middle range; she possesses moderate piano skills, able to accompany her voice studio members when singing German Lieder, French melodie, American art songs and operatic repertoire such as Mozart’s “Deh vieni,” and “Porgi amor” and Massenet’s “Va! laisse couler mes larmes.”
This Fifteen Minutes of Fame for Liana incorporate humor, poignancy, satire, and/or other surprises into the compositions breaking the fourth wall.
Admired for her work singing traditional soubrette/lyric opera, oratorio and song literature, Dr. Valente is praised as an exciting performer of new music. She regularly commissions and premieres works written by emerging and established composers, appearing in concert and as a presenter throughout the US and abroad. Some of the composers with whom she has collaborated include Violet Archer, Derek Healey, Timothy J. Brown, William Vollinger, Christine Arens, Judy Ross, Marty Regan and Jason Lovelace. She is a frequent presenter at regional and national conferences hosted by the College Music Society, Music Teachers National Association and Sigma Alpha Iota and was a presenter at The Phenomenon of Singing International Symposium VII held at Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada in 2011.
A native New Yorker, Dr. Valente currently lives in Central Florida with her husband, Michael Shook. When not on stage performing or in the studio teaching, “Doc” can be found either on the back nine at the local golf course, tending her butterfly garden rearing Monarchs and Black Swallowtails, or creating stained glass creations with her husband for Art-O-Mat.
Tuesday
March 12, 2013
10:30am – 11:30am
National Federation of Music Club
Tuesday Music Club of Lakeland
421 East Park Street
Lakeland, Florida
FREE ADMISSION
http://musicclublakeland.org/programcalendar.html
Vox Novus is calling for five-minute pieces composed for West Point Woodwind Quintet, to be performed at the May 11, 2013 Composer's Voice Presents concert at the Museum and Visitor Center at Gettysburg National Military Park in Gettysburg Pennsylvania. The five-minute quintet pieces are to be written specifically for this project, which will be performed by the West Point Woodwind Quintet. All works must be five-minutes or less.
The theme of this call is the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War. Inspiration for the pieces can be drawn from Civil War, art, literature, political commentary, historical events, or anything else that can be associated with the Civil War. We would like to encourage composers to be as creative as possible while working within this framework. We are seeking original music and are avoiding variations and arrangements on previously composed music. Please take into consideration the need to maintain the sacred atmosphere of Gettysburg. Pieces should be for: flute in C or alto flute; oboe or English horn; Bb clarinet or A clarinet or bass clarinet; horn in F and bassoon. Submissions must be for full quintet: no solos, duets, trios, or quartet pieces will be considered.
Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame honoring Eugène Van Itterbeek
Deadline March 22, 2013
Vox Novus is calling for one-minute soprano and piano duets composed for Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame honoring Eugène Van Itterbeek to be performed by Georgeta Stoleriu, soprano and Violetta Stefanescu, piano at the Romanian Athenaeum Bucharest, Romania.
The music and lyrics will be based on a poem of Eugène Van Itterbeek, "BIENTOT"
