Ups and Downs

It was a day of ups and downs for Lorraine. First, she was happily en route in a taxicab to 57th Street and Seventh Avenue to perform a violin recital at Carnegie Hall. But when she stepped out of the cab, her precious instrument somehow slipped out of her hand and fell right in the path of a city steamroller. Her distress abated a bit when esteemed violinist Jerome Dinklaker offered to loan her his prized Amati-Spumoni fiddle for the night. But her luck turned again when she discovered that the violin, recently bitten by a West Nile Virus-transmitting mosquito, was exhibiting signs of gigantism – the first ever instance in a stringed instrument. Alas, the only other “up” to her day was the direction on the backstage stepladder she had to climb just to tune the darned thing!

David Gunn
www.DavidGunn.org

Upcoming Performances

Composer's Voice: CELEBRATING THE HARD EIGHT

Sunday, December 8, 2013 1:00 pm

Sunday, December 8, 2013 1:00 PM (NEW YORK, NEW YORK) Composer/producer Robert Voisey is turning 44. He is known for creating innovative projects for new music such as 60x60, Fifteen Minutes of Fame, and Composer’s Voice which will feature his birthday celebration at Jan Hus Church. The LATimes featured him as a composer who created innovative ways to get his music heard and the New York Times labeled his 60x60 Dance project “mad.” Voisey has been responsible for inspiring, promoting, and presenting the work of thousands of contemporary composers in hundreds of venues around the world.

Why celebrate 44? Besides the birthday falling on a scheduled Composer’s Voice concert, this year marks the first birthday Robert Voisey outlives his father who died of pancreatic cancer. With all the life changes a milestone like this brings, the concert is acknowledgement of the new era beginning for the composer.

This Composer’s Voice concert themed “Hard Eight” will contain Robert Voisey’s work “run rabbit run” performed by Roberta Michel and Yumi Suehiro in conjunction with dance choreographed by Callie Hatchett.

It will also feature the contemporary music modern dance collaboration “Jor-El’s Juju” from his colleagues Douglas DaSilva, composer and Artistic Director of Composer’s Voice and Erin Bomboy previous Dance Director for 60x60 Dance.

No Composer’s Voice concert would be complete with out Fifteen Minutes of Fame. Fifteen Minutes of Fame is a new project directed by Voisey which features 15 one-minute chamber works by 15 different composers written for an ensemble. This set of 15 is specifically written to the “Hard Eight” theme and they will be performed by Connecticut players: Istvan Peter B’Racz, Bill Beckett, Brendan Randall-Myers, and Nate Trier. The 15 composers included in this Fifteen Minutes of Fame are: Dennis Bathory-Kitsz, Shawn David Broukhim, Paul Elwood, Marc Hoffeditz, Elizabeth Jigalin, Steven H. Markowitz, Daniel Mihai, Philip Schuessler, Timothy G. Schirmer, David Jason Snow, Juan Maria Solare, Adam Torkelson, Nate Trier, Kristina Warren, and Blair Whittington.

"…the 15 Minutes of Fame project of Vox Novus is a godsend. It organizes competitions whereby ensembles commission worldwide calls for submissions of approximately one-minute pieces, and then select their 15 favorites for premieres. " - New York Music Culture Examiner

Also included in this concert are the premieres of two piano works for four hands by composer Douglas Townsend performed by Christos Marinos and Maria Isabel Perez Dobarro.

There will also be a multimedia performance by TJ Hospodar with performers Matthew Gantt, Phillip Gulley Ellen O’Meara and Lisa Reynolds.

And a unique performance of EMR’s “Whale Cage” which will also be encored later that night at Composer’s Concordance Fretathon at Drom to complete the birthday celebration.

One of the premier showcases for promising composers, Composer’s Voice Concert Series is an opportunity for contemporary composers and musicians to express their musical aesthetic and personal “voice.” Composer’s Voice has presented over 100 concerts in New York City and scores of performances throughout the world.

"[Vox Novus offers] the presentation of serious works by established and emerging composers. Those voices should be heard, and they can even be reheard on the Vox Novus website (http://www.VoxNovus.com)..." - New Music Connoisseur

Click here to see the concert program

Composer’s Voice Concert
Sunday, December 8, 2013 1:00 pm
Jan Hus Church
351 East 74th Street
New York, New York
FREE ADMISSION

Calendar

Announcing results for Fifteen Minutes of Fame with andPlay

andPlay selects its 15 composers for its Fifteen Minutes of Fame to be premiered on Composer's Voice on January 26, 2014 at Jan Hus Church in New York City.

The New York City based duo comprises of violinist Maya Bennardo and violist Hannah Levinson. andPlay is committed to expanding the existing violin/viola duo repertoire through performing rarely heard works and commissioning emerging composers.

Selected composers for Fifteen Minutes of Fame include:
Rachel Graff, Matthew Hetz, Nathan R. Johnson, Shigeru Kan-no, Michael Lukaszuk, Michael Maiorana, Iain Matheson, Ryan Muar, Natalija Munda, Mike Perdue, Thomas S. Pottage, Ricardo Silva, Dale Trumbore, Luca Vanneschi, and Erqing Wang

You can find more information here
http://www.voxnovus.com/15_Minutes_of_Fame/featuring/andPlay/

Vox Novus Projects

Opportunities

Fifteen Minutes of Fame

CALL FOR SCORES

Fifteen Minutes of Fame: Japan Perspective – Thomas Piercy, clarinet & Vilian Ivantchev, guitar

Deadline: December 10, 2013

Vox Novus is calling for one-minute pieces composed for Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: Japan Perspective – Thomas Piercy, clarinet & Vilian Ivantchev, guitar to be premiered on April 13, 2014 for the Composer’s Voice concert Series at the Jan Hus Church in New York City. The theme of this call is Japan. The Japanese theme could include pieces inspired by Japanese musical or visual art works (either traditional or contemporary), or pieces using technical elements found in Japanese music. New works by Japanese composers are also welcome; however, works will be judged on their artistic merits and not on the nationality of the composer. Pieces should be for Bb clarinet and concert tuned guitar (EADGBE). No solos will be considered.

Thomas Piercy is a critically acclaimed clarinetist with orchestral, concerto, solo and chamber music appearances throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. His performances have been described by critics as "passionate," "pulling out all the stops," “the best Piazzolla in NYC,” and by the New York Times as “brilliant,” “playing with refinement and flair” and “evoking a panache in the contemporary works.” He studied at the Juilliard School and Mannes College of Music. He studied clarinet extensively with the English clarinetist Gervase De Peyer; additional studies were with Kalmen Opperman and Leon Russianoff. A versatile artist defying categorization - the clarinetist on the Emmy Award-winning Juno Baby CD and DVDs; performing Mozart with mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade; playing Broadway songs with Raoul Julia; working with the composer Leonard Bernstein; appearing in a KRS-ONE rap music video; performing concert improvisations with jazz pianist Donal Fox; premiering new works; recording with members of Maroon 5 - as an instrumentalist, he has performed and recorded for Broadway and Off-Broadway, commercial recordings, television, radio, videos, and movie soundtracks. Mr. Piercy has performed at many acclaimed concerts halls including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series (Chicago, Illinois), Centre Pompidou (Paris, France), Wigmore Hall (London, England), Accademia di Santa Cecilia (Rome, Italy) and Parthenon (Tokyo, Japan). He has performed several times at the International Clarinet Festival, the world's largest annual gathering of noted clarinetists, including a concert in memory of Leon Russianoff, a concert of contemporary American music in Japan, and an all-Piazzolla program. He has performed and premiered over 150 contemporary pieces written for him, including Grammy Award-winning and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ned Rorem only piece for clarinet and piano. He has had arrangements and transcriptions published by Boosey & Hawkes, and contributed to clarinet study books and clarinet compositions published by Carl Fischer, Inc., and Baron Publishing. Recordings available on such labels as the Albany, Capstone, Changing Tones, DGA, NJSF and Tonada labels. More information at www/ThomasPiercy.com.

Guitarist Vilian Ivantchev began his studies in his native country, Bulgaria, at the Lubomir Pipkov National Music School. When he moved to New York at age 11, he joined the Mannes Preparatory Division and its honors program. Mr. Ivantchev holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Mannes the New School for Music and a Master’s Degree from Manhattan School of music. In the recent release of the CD “Café”, music for Clarinet and Guitar, Vilian Ivantchev was hailed as having “Almost superhuman discipline!” – Lucid Culture. The CD is a collaborative project with internationally acclaimed clarinetist Thomas Piercy. Mr. Ivantchev’s most recent CD feature is on the Vienna Modern Masters label playing the music of David Loeb. Mr. Ivantchev has played in some of the most prestigious venues in New York City, such as Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Symphony Space, and The National Arts Club. He is a recipient of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Award that enabled him to perform in chamber ensembles at Alice Tully Hall. Recent performances include Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint with members of the Cygnus Ensemble at Weill Recital Hall and Luigi Boccherini's "La Ritirada di Madrid" guitar quintet with the Orion String Quartet. Mr. Ivantchev has extensively recorded the music of Terry Champlin with the Mannes Guitar Quartet, violinist Sabina Torosjan, guitarist and vocalist Helen Avakian, composer and guitarist Terry Champlin, and legendary percussionist Jeff Haynes culminating in a recently released CD trilogy.

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