Violintusoribus

The etymology of a musical instrument is often as fascinating as the sound it produces. The word violin, for example, comes from the Medieval Latin word violintusoribus, meaning “violent noisemaker.” Indeed, many early violins were specifically designed with fighting in mind. Due to unreceptive audiences, performing music in those days was extremely hazardous – maybe even more so than today. (Okay, probably not that hazardous.)

David Gunn
www.DavidGunn.org

Upcoming Performances

STARTING OUT SMALL

Sunday, January 12, 2014 - 1:00 pm

Sunday, January 12, 2014 (New York, New York) Composer’s Voice starts out small for 2014 with the ensemble a very small consortium. This Composer’s Voice concert features the ensemble and their 15 one-minute miniatures with the Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame project.

Based in Wisconsin, Green Bay, a very small consortium comes to New York City to be a “small” part of the big city. The ensemble is dedicated to the performance of miniature masterpieces; doing more with less. They get to the point by doing small music, but have large plans. a very small consortium consists of Courtney Sherman, soprano; Lada Gaines, soprano saxophone; Adam Gaines, trumpet, Michelle McQuade Dewhirst, horn; David Severtson, piano; Michael Dewhirst, cello.

Fifteen Minutes of Fame is 15 one-minute acoustic works by different composers. Fifteen Minutes of Fame gives a variety of new music by living composers to audiences hungry to hear what is being created in today's music scene.

Courtney Sherman and a very small consortium and will be performing the 15 one-minute works form the composers: Dominic Blake, David Bohn, Scott Brickman, Ethan Helm, Traci Mendel, David A. Miller, Nicholaus Meyers, Alexander Nohai-Seaman, Sandra Emiline Goss Norell, Eurydice V. Osterman, Akmal Parwez, David J. Ramsey, Jr., Brennan Stokes, Phil Taylor, and Douglas Wagone.

"...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. " - NY Music Culture Examiner

"…the pieces are performed in quick succession and each has a character of its own, the audience is treated to a kaleidoscope of styles; in turn textural and tonal, avant-garde and neo-romantic... the entire smorgasbord of contemporary idioms was playing a game of musical chairs, so to speak, and the effect was thrilling. " - Damjan Rakonjac, Artificialist

the ensemble will also be performing the longer works of Zach Seely and Jeff Weston

Zach Seely is a composer, conductor, and guitarist/improvisor from New York. He is currently a master's student at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, majoring in music composition and studying with Elainie Lillios. Zach's primary composition teachers have included Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf, Arthur Kampela, and Annette LeSiege. His music often explores silence coupled with complex rhythms and a wide range of timbres employed through the use of extended-techniques. When describing his compositional goals, Zach says “I want my music to be honest. It serves as an extension of my life, which is my ultimate artwork.” More information about his work can be found on www.zachmusicseely.com

Jeff Weston (b. 1986) composes music at the University of Pittsburgh, where he works toward a PhD. His music is concentrated on exploring modes of expressivity through the interactions of balance, repetition, space and physicality. Teachers have included Amy Williams, Eric Moe, Louis Andriessen, Christopher Dietz, Mikel Kuehn and Elainie Lillios. Weston has garnered performances and fellowships at such venues as the International Young Composers’ Forum, Cal State University New Music Festival, Red Note New Music Festival, North American Saxophone Alliance National Conference, Contagious Sounds Series, Iowa Composers’ Forum, Bowling Green State University New Music Festival, University of Alberta NCounters Festival, University of Toronto, soundSCAPE Festival in Maccagno, Italy and Radio France.

Completing the concert will be performances from saxophonists: Geoffrey Landman, Kristen McKeon, and Erin Rogers With compositions by Kristen McKeon and Viola Yip.

Saxophonist Geoffrey Landman is a performer, teacher, and advocate of the saxophone and new music. Having performed across North America, France, Germany, Scotland, Switzerland, Thailand, and in some of New York City’s most well-known music venues, he has collaborated with ensembles such as Either/Or, Talea Ensemble, the Metropolis Ensemble, Fireworks Ensemble, Opera Cabal, and is a founding member and soprano chair of the New Thread Quartet. Geoffrey has won many competitions including Yamaha Young Performing Artist Competition, as well as prizes at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

Kristen McKeon appearances include performances at the Navy Band Saxophone Symposium, the New England Saxophone Symposium, the Aeolus International Wind Competition in Düsseldorf, Germany, a world premiere of Gabriel Lubell’s He Guards the Vision of the Sunset Sky for Solo Saxophone and String Quintet at the 2010 North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference, and the 2012 World Saxophone Conference in St. Andrews, Scotland. Kristen has enjoyed opportunities to be billed on several concert series including Carmel Music Society’s Summer Subscription Series in Carmel, California, thingNY’s “Seven Immediacies Series”, the New England Conservatory Composers’ Series, and the Composers Now Festival in New York, NY..

Composer and saxophonist Erin Rogers is dedicated to the compositional process while specializing in improvisatory performance practice and the interpretation and proliferation of new music. Her works have been performed worldwide at the Círculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid; Museum Concert Hall, Taiwan; Le Cité Universitaire, Paris; and at the World Saxophone Congress in St. Andrews, Scotland. Erin is a composer and founding member of thingNY. An established saxophonist, Erin has toured worldwide as a soloist, chamber musician, and guest artist, with performances ranging from solo recitals in France, to instrumental pop shows in South Korea, to cover bands in Australia. She regularly teams up with chamber, pop and indie groups in New York City, headlining the scene’s hottest venues including The Stone, Cake Shop, The Bitter End, and Le Poisson Rouge.

A native of Hong Kong, Viola Yip is a New York-based composer and performer, who tries to find the boundaries and push them in her sound world. Her compositions are not limited to acoustic music, electronic music, graphic scores and structured improvisations. Recent works have appeared in ArtX at Bowling Green State University, Women Composers Festival of Hartford, Ravinia Festival, Fresh Inc Festival, soundSCAPE Festival, TEDXSMU, University of Florida, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, NASA saxophone conference, ThingNY spam v3.0 concert, Quiet City concert, Vox Novus Concert, Musicarama concert series (Hong Kong) and PAUSA Art House (Buffalo). Her teachers include Richard Carrick, Christopher Coleman, Christopher Keyes, Derek Johnson, Christopher Dietz and Elainie Lillios. The materclasses/ individual lessons with Josh Levine, David Rakowski, Amy Beth Kirsten, Dániel Péter Biró, Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf has also imposed a significant influence on her music. As a new music advocate, she performs contemporary works regularly as a pianist, speaker and improviser. Her recent interest falls on using her own voice as an instrument and exploring the expressivity and musicality of the human natural voice.

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 in venues 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, January 12, 2014 1:00 pm
Jan Hus Church
351 East 74th Street
(between First and Second Avenues) New York, New York
FREE ADMISSION

60x60 Dance

Wednesday
January 15, 2014
6:00 PM

Wednesday, January 15, 2014, 6:00 PM at D.B. Clarke Theatre, Hall Building (H-0050), 1455 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Sir George Williams campus in Montreal, Canada will host 60x60 Dance. Free of charge. Everyone welcome.

Sixty musical works, 60 seconds or less, played in succession for a total of 60 minutes, with a giant clock keeping count.

That's 60x60, an event concept that's spread across the world in the decade since it was created to showcase a maximum amount of new music to the largest possible audience. Initially featuring music only, the format lends itself to collaborations with artists from other disciplines such as video and dance, each work of which also lasts 60 seconds.

On January 15, the departments of Music, Theatre and Contemporary Dance will be joining forces at the D.B. Clarke Theatre to present a unique version of 60x60 that includes theatre and dance elements.

It's a multi-sensory production/performance," says Eldad Tsabary, an assistant professor in the music department and former Canadian director of 60x60 who brought the event to Concordia.

"The opportunity to work with artists of other media is very inspiring," he says. "It's interesting to see dance, theatre and electroacoustic students discussing and using the same terms - such as 'texture' - but meaning different things. This process expands their concepts of creativity."

Juried musical works will be arranged into a macro-composition exactly one hour long and then uploaded, in sequence, to a private webpage. The participating dance and theatre students will choose the pieces they want to interpret by visiting the page to listen to the music and reading the brief descriptions of the composers and the works.

Several 60x60 events have been held at Concordia since 2008, including the Canadian debut in 2009 of 60x60 Dance, for which dance students choreographed works to accompany each composition, and the first 60x60 +Dance +Theatre event 2013.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014, 6:00 PM
D.B. Clarke Theatre, Hall Building (H-0050)
1455 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W.,
Sir George Williams campus
Montreal, Canada
FREE ADMISSION

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Fifteen Minutes of Fame

CALL FOR SCORES

Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: Viola Yip - Dedication

Deadline: January 11, 2013

Vox Novus is calling for one-minute pieces for solo speaking voice composed for Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: Viola Yip – Dedication to be performed May 11, 2014 for the Composer's Voice concert series at the Jan Hus Church in New York City. The one-minute pieces are to be written specifically for this project, which will be performed by Viola Yip. We are looking for a set of 15 one-minute creative and adventurous pieces for solo speaking voice for the concert. As the speaking voice is the natural instrument of human beings, composers are encouraged to explore what that instrument allows us to express. The theme of this call is Dedication. The composer can interpret this freely!

Viola Yip

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