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Isabelle Unconvinced
Isabelle was grateful to be playing the starring role of Violetta Valéry in Arnold Dinklaker’s production of La Traviata by G.F. Verdi. She simply wasn’t convinced that Arnold’s vision of moving the venue from an early 18th century Paris salon to the Florida Everglades was the right one, especially with the all too aggressive “props” that Dinklaker had personally donated from his private stock. 
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Upcoming Performances |
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60x60 Surround Sound Mix at Harvestworks in New York CityFriday, May 16th, 2014 at 7:00 PMVoxNovus 60×60 Surround Sound Works 60x60 Surround Logo Vox Novus and Harvestworks invited composers and sound artists to submit recorded works as 5.1 audio 60 seconds or less in length to be included in a special 60×60 project collaboration in New York City. We received over 160 submissions, and present the finalists in an event at Harvestworks’ multichannel TEAMLab listening space. VoxNovus 60×60 Surround Sound Works Curated by Hans Tammen on Friday, May 16, 7pm is Free admission at Harvestworks 596 Broadway, #602 in New York City 60×60 is a one-hour-long show made by sequencing 60 pre-recorded pieces by 60 different composers, each piece a minute in length or shorter. A unique collaboration between VoxNovus / Robert Voisey and Harvestworks in New York City to create a 5.1 surround sound mix, this 60×60 presentation will be premiered at Harvestworks’ multichannel TEAMLab listening room. See the list of works below! Every one-minute piece will be played continuously without pause. Each of the 60 pieces will begin precisely at the beginning of the minute, this will mark the end of one piece and the beginning of another. 
A word from the curatorSetting out to assemble one hour of music from the breathtaking range of submissions we received, it became clear that I had to approach the task in the same way I would create a composition. Does it have a beginning, middle and end, and possibly multiple movements? Is it organized in a non-linear or abstract way, perhaps by algorithmic means? (Organizing it in alphabetical order would been a simple example of algorithmic organization.) Or could I simply create sections by grouping all the pieces that are similar in style, instrumentation (we got swamped with works using synthesis), or even the way the composer handles spatialization? 5-1-surround-sound.svgI opted for a more traditional, narrative approach, constructing the piece with a beginning and an end in mind. In fact, the “bookends” were the first pieces I chose. I then squeezed several movements in between those two bookends, some movements morphing smoothly into the next, others sharply contrasting those before or after. Finding the right combinations took time. Whether I was looking for contrast or for a smooth transition, the ending of one piece determined what I was looking for in the next piece. I have to admit that I cheated a few times when it came to pieces that were shorter than 60 seconds. Instead of starting at 0’00″ and adding the silence at the end (as we announced we would do), in some cases I added silence at the beginning to make the flow to the next piece more organic and natural. Sadly, I had to reject many a good work because it simply didn’t fit between other chosen pieces. I remember spending more than half an hour on one single piece alone that I couldn’t find a spot for. Though I liked it a lot, however, it had a very peculiar beginning, that I was by no means able to make work in conjunction with other pieces. However, since we would have had to reject around 70 pieces anyway, I finally let it go. Let’s talk about numbers here… we received 160 submissions, around 30 we had to reject because they didn’t have anything to do with our call requesting surround sound works. Robert & I divided the remaining 130 submissions into approx. 40 “yes”, 70 “maybe” and 20 “no” categories. As you can guess from my earlier explanation, the finalists were chosen from all of those categories, because they worked well within their surroundings (pun intended). So what do you hear during this one-hour show? There are the soft and almost inaudible works, those that work more with pauses than with sounds. Field recordings, voices singing or talking, acoustic instruments, electronics and analog synthesis – the latter often frantic outbursts of sound mass. Some works you can dance to, some you can sing to, many others not, although that’s up to you, of course. Some works will sound strangely familiar until you realize they are a take on another famous work, I placed them in one of the “surprise” spots. I don’t like to be too serious, so there are a couple of surprises in store for you, and maybe you can spot them when you attend one of our presentations. Since this exhibit is about multichannel sound, we chose a few works that are exemplary in terms of spatialization of sounds, while most others employ these means in a more subtle way. Everything you can do beyond stereo with 5.1 channels is there: 5.1, 5.0, 4.1 and 4.0. There is even a 3.1 work, it does spatialization solely with the center and rear speakers. If you are interested in artistic approaches to multichannel sound, come to one of our “5.1 60×60″ shows at some point, or listen to our Surround Sound DVD (yes, we’re producing a DVD from it). You get a good overview over the various artistic approaches to multichannel sound. As long as it fits within the 5.1 DVD standard: we can just drop the DVD in the mail in case you’re interested in hosting this show on the other side of the planet. Of course, we need to discuss other things beforehand, but still – the whole show fits on one DVD. I have to thank Robert Voisey for giving me the opportunity to curate a multichannel 60×60 work for Vox Novus; our audio engineer Kevin Ramsay for working hard on assembling and organizing all the works; Katie Sundsted creating all the text materials; Matt Fidler to assemble the video that goes along with the audio showing the titles of the work and composer’s names; and Nicholas Kiray for the logo. And of course, my most heartfelt thanks go out to all the composers who submitted their works to us. It’s them who made this show interesting and inspiring. Hans Tammen, April 2014 Composers selected for the 60x60 Surround Sound Mix include:Jeff Anderson, Daniel Bartos, Simon Belshaw, Jason Bolte, Mike Boyd, Andrei Branea, Arnold Brooks, Steve Bull, Jeremy Van Buskirk, Alejandro Casales, Ian Corbett, Douglas DaSilva, Jamez Dean, Blake Degraw, Rob Dietz, Lorenz Erdmann, Bit.Seq~ (Fred Feeney), Josh Feldman, John Ferguson, Matt Fidler, Tim Fodness, Enrico Francioni, Richard Garrett, Guiseppe Gavazza, Nate Goossen, Scott Gresham-Lancaster, Jenn Grossman, Samuel Hertz, Jason Hoffman, judsoN, Vivek Karun, John Kehoe, Andrew Levine, Jörg Lindenmaier, Buddy Lorentz, Nicolas Marty, Mike McFerron, Claudi Meneghin, Tiago Morais, Dafna Naphtali, Daniel Neumann, Serban Nichifor, Hull Pacific, Maggi Payne, Chris Peck, Samuel Pellman, Patrick Pham, Julien Poidevin, Kevin Ramsay, Cody Ranaldo, Steve Reinthal, Lorin Roser, Josh Simmons, Mary Simoni, David Jason Snow, J Sohn, Yuri Spitsyn, Ariane St.Louis, Hans Tammen, Jamie Todd, A. P. Vague, Robert Voisey, Jaeseong Wu, and Xo Xinh 60x60 Surround Sound Mix Friday, May 16th at 7pm Harvestworks 596 Broadway #602 New York City, NY 10012 United States FREE ADMISSION |
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60x60 UnTwelve Mix at Mobius in Cambridge, MassachusettsSaturday, May 17 8:00pM2012-2013 60x60 UnTwelve Mix @mobius Saturday, May 17 8:00p to 9:15p Mobius Cambridge, MA Experimental Music Concert (co-curated by Robert Voisey and UnTwelve) with one minute pieces by: Torsten Anders, George Arkomanis, Kenneth Babb, Christopher Bailey, Mike Battaglia, Oleg Bezborodko, Rich Bitting, Kaja Bjorntvedt, Susan Brewster, Ben Bridges, Paul Burnell, Warren Burt, Brendan Byrnes, Nicholas Cline, Jason Conklin, Maxime Corbeil-Perron, Zach Curley, Jim Dalton, Richard Duckworth, Allen Fogelsanger, Jake Freivald, Soressa Gardner, Kraig Grady, Bruce Hamilton, Pat Hanchet, Todd Harrop, Andrew Hasenpflug, Andrew Heathwaite, Dry Heeves, Aaron Krister Johnson, Charles Jowett, Howard Kenty, Joan La Barbara, Kristof Lauwers, Stan Link, Marco Liy, Nora-Louise Müller, Claudi Meneghin, Herman Miller, Shaahin Mohajeri, Liam Molloy, Quincas Moreira, John Moriarty, John Oliver, Ryan Olivier, Steve Parker, Tina Pearson, Samuel Pellman, Derek Piotr, João Ricardo, Gilberto Rosa, Carlo Serafini, Andrew Smith, Billy Stiltner, Scott Thompson,Christoper Vaisvil, Michael Vick, Robert Voisey, Jane Wang, Julia Werntz. 60x60 is a collection of 60 electroacoustic or acousmatic works from 60 different composers/artists, each work 60 seconds or less in duration. For the past 10 years, 60x60 has produced and presented more than 40 different mixes in over 300 performances around the world. 60x60 UnTwelve Mix Saturday May 17, 2014 8:00 pm Mobius 55 Norfolk Street Cambridge, MA, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 United States suggested donation: $5 |
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Composer’s VoiceSunday, May 11th, 2014 at 1:00 PMComposer’s Voice presents a special Mother's Day Concert, "To Our Mothers," a collection of compositions by Kris Becker, Zachary Detrick, Sunny Knable, Matthew Perez, and William Wheeler. Written for or about Mothers, these works are perfect in celebrating this heartwarming holiday. With the World Premiere of Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: Viola Yip, spoken voice: 15 one-minute works by 15 composers, Alfie Cooke, Christopher Culp, Jeffrey Edenberg, Fermino Gomes, Krystal Grant, Joshua Hahn, Norbert Hoffmann, Liburn Jupolli, Shigeru Kan-no, Wesley Levers, Emma-Ruth Richards, David Jason Snow, Juan Maria Solare, JJ de Azevedo Souza, Samuel Stokes 
Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame with
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Announcing results for Fifteen Minutes of Fame with PassioneVox Novus called for one-minute pieces for string quartet dedicated to Passione for Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame to be performed Sunday May 25th at 7:00 pm at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest, Romania The one-minute pieces are to be written specifically for this project, which will be performed by Passione String Quartet. 
PASSIONE Quartet plays concerts and recitals in Romania, Italy, Greece, Japan. PASSIONE has been featured in other projects, with established artists, of various styles:: Bogdan Bradu, Phoenix, Alan Bedin (lead singer of Synergy in Italy), project Opus Avantra, Donella del Monaco, Alessandro Safina. PASSIONE Quartet has performed on a regular basis in venues throughout Bucharest and Romania (Hard Rock Cafe, Fratelli, La Scena, Arcub, Villa Rodizio, Clubul Diplomatilor, Club Cuba Republika del Sol), but also in TV shows (,,Autostrada TVR" – TVR 2, ,,Vineri STAR"- TVR International, "Jurnal Cultural" - TVR Cultural, ,,Povestiri Adevarate"- Acasa TV, ,,Phoenix 45 ani"- TVR 1, ,,Nora pentru mama"- Kanal D, ,,Dansez pentru tine"- PRO TV, "Sa ne-amintim duminica" – National TV, "Stele sub lupa" – Antena 2 ). PASSIONE Quartet repertoire includes about 400 classics songs, carefully selected, organized by period style, as well as modern pieces written specifically for the quartet with a wide range of musical styles addressed (film music, waltzes, tangos, ambient music, entertainment, Romanian and international folk, jazz and cafe-concert) resulted in attracting a large audience, so that the PASSIONE Quartet is frequently invited to perform at important functions as well as concert halls and clubs. In 2008, OPUS AVANTRA banded together with the Quartet Passione and premiered "Viaggio Imagginario", in Club Citta from Tokyo. In the same year they released the disc Opus Avantra – "Live in Tokyo". The show was staged in major cities from Italy: Rome - Stazione Birra, Milan, Venice - Teatro Santa Margherita etc. In the summer of 2008, the PASSIONE Quartet was invited to support 12 concerts in the Rodham Island, Casino Rodham and the music program included classical and modern genres. PASSIONE’s concept is to address a diverse audience. PASSIONE repertoire is structured a variety of musical genres, from classical music to pop-rock. Selected composers for Fifteen Minutes of Fame include:Oleg Bezborodko, David Bohn, Alfie Cooke, Douglas DaSilva, Allan ‘Herbie’ Jones, Emil Khoury, Alexander Kusztyk, Martin Loridan, Kevin Poelking, Louis Sauter, Juan Maria Solare, Max Stannard, Edward Strauman, Robert Voisey, Blair Whittington
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Opportunities
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Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame with Karen Phenpimon-Zehavi for percussionDeadline: May 16, 2014Vox Novus is calling for one-minute pieces composed for Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame with Karen Phenpimon-Zehavi for percussion. Instrumentation available include: small bass drum, conga, two tom-toms, bongos and 5 temple blocks, as in Xenakis setup for 'Rebonds' The 15 pieces will receive a studio recording by Karen Phenpimon-Zehavi accompanied by video and published on the Internet by Vox Novus. The instrumentation is taken from 'Rebonds', but compositions shouldn't be limited to conceptual gestures in that particular piece's style. The dry and sharp orchestration suggests music of landscapes: some images could be lunar, Dead Sea, arid, sparse, waves of water or sound, bright light. Process or journey through a space, as well as an economy of musical intention are additional elements worthy of exploration. 
Percussionist, timpanist and drummer Karen Phenpimon is an honors graduate of the University of California and the State University of New York, where she studied with renowned new music percussionists William Winant and Raymond DesRoches. She has appeared as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician throughout North America, Europe and Asia with such conductors as Zubin Mehta, Michel Corboz, Kryzsztof Penderecki, Michael Tilson Thomas, David Robertson, Gianandrea Noseda, Gustavo Dudamel and Andrew Parrott. |
