Teresa Sterne, 73, Pioneer in Making Classical Records, Dies
Tracey Sterne Photo by Gene Maggio The record producer Teresa Sterne died on December 10th at her Manhattan home. Ms. Sterne had been suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. She was 73. A pioneer of classical recording, one of her most notable successes was with the small budget label Nonesuch,… Read more »
33rd Annual ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award Winners Announced
On December 6, 2000, the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers announced the winners of the 33rd annual ASCAP-Deems Taylor Awards for outstanding print and media coverage of music in 1999. The winners were honored at a special reception hosted by ASCAP President and Chairman Marilyn Bergman at Lincoln Center‘s Kaplan Penthouse in New… Read more »
Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts Announces Grants for 2000
The Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts announced awards of nearly $400,000 on December 5, 2000. The $50,000 John Cage Award for Music, given biennially, went to Gordon Mumma. Eleven grants of $25,000 each were awarded to artists in the United States and abroad. $59,500 was distributed among 20 arts organizations. Selected by the Foundation Directors… Read more »
Jazz Composers Alliance Announces 2000 Hemphill Award Recipients
The Jazz Composers Alliance recently announced the recipients of the 2000 Julius Hemphill Composition Awards. A total of $2500 was awarded. In the Jazz Orchestra Category, first prize went to Kari Ikonen of Helsinki, for a piece entitled Luoto. Tied for second place were two Americans: Adam Lane, of Oakland, with his Blues for Richard… Read more »
What is the dominant musical style of today and what will be the dominant musical style of tomorrow? Marilyn Shrude
Marilyn Shrude Today’s concert music seems to be a blending of the many modes of expression we find around us-the term often used is “eclectic.” Because we have ready access to new works, we are able to digest them quickly and assimilate elements into our own compositions (both consciously and unconsciously). I don’t think there… Read more »
National Foundation for Jewish Culture Awards Grant to Cantata Singers
Cantata Singers Photo by David Tucker The National Foundation for Jewish Culture has awarded a Susan Rose Recording Fund grant to the Boston-based Cantata Singers and Ensemble for their recent recording of John Harbison‘s Four Psalms. The Susan Rose Recording Fund for Contemporary Jewish Music is a new grants program of the National Foundation for… Read more »
Composer James Legg Dies
James Legg Photo courtesy Michael Torke Composer James Legg died suddenly on November 20, 2000. Mr. Legg began his training in music composition at the Juilliard School of Music while still a teenager and went on to receive a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and an M.A. from Duke University… Read more »
What is the dominant musical style of today and what will be the dominant musical style of tomorrow? David Gompper
David Gompper When you ask about the dominant musical style of today, I think it depends upon whom you ask. My music students might name the latest pop group, probably a mixture of rap and rave but never the corporate-owned boy-bands. If I narrowed the question and steered it toward contemporary art music, they might… Read more »
What is the dominant musical style of today and what will be the dominant musical style of tomorrow?
Martin Bresnick, David Gompper, P.Q. Phan, and Marilyn Shrude respond.
Finding the Center of American Music
Despite our relatively short history as a nation, the United States boasts an artistic landscape that is arguable the most culturally diverse in the world.
Americana Arcana: What is the Most-Performed American Classical Music?
Bradley Bambarger Photo by Melissa Richard There is no doubt that American composers have come a long way since Dvorák admonished them to stop mimicking Europe and come up with a distinctly native form of expression. Yet determining just who are the most popularly successful (i.e., the most frequently performed) American composers on their home… Read more »
Soundtrack: January 2001
While we wait to see if “Dubya” manages to unite Donkey and Elephant, we will have to content ourselves with music in which there is some kind of tentative “coalition” between styles. Two discs jumped out at me as superlative examples of such blending: Mark Kuss’s chamber music, on Gasparo, and Martin Bresnick’s two-volume Opere… Read more »
Augusta Read Thomas signs with G. Schirmer
Augusta Read Thomas Photo by Jerome de Perlinghi G. Schirmer, Inc. has announced the signing of Augusta Read Thomas to an exclusive five-year composer contract, in which the company will represent the music formerly in Thomas’s own company ART Musings, as well as her future compositions. “We are thrilled to welcome Augusta Read Thomas to… Read more »
What is the dominant musical style of today and what will be the dominant musical style of tomorrow? Martin Bresnick
Martin Bresnick Photo courtesy ASCAP Concert music today is influenced by such a wide and powerful range of sources – audio technology, computers and the Internet, popular, folk and world music, conceptual art, film and theatre, among others – that it is impossible to isolate a single dominant style. Despite, or perhaps because of that… Read more »
Ways of Listening
After intensive periods of performance, recording and teaching, my ears sometimes tell me they need a rest from music.
American Composers Forum Announces Composers Commissioning Program Winners
Photo of Hollis Taylor Photo credit Carol Yarrow The American Composers Forum has announced the results of the 2000 Composers Commissioning Program (CCP), which is funded by the Jerome Foundation. The CCP, now in its 21st year, supports the production of new musical works by emerging composers. It seeks to boost the careers of younger… Read more »
Library of Congress Acquires Nicolas Slonimsky Collection
Nicolas Slonimsky Photo courtesy of Electra Yourke The Library of Congress has acquired a large archive of the works of the important American conductor, composer, musicologist and lexicographer Nicolas Slonimsky (1894-1995). The papers, which comprise both printed and manuscript music, programs, writings, correspondence, a large musicians’ biographical file, recordings, and materials in other formats were… Read more »
American Composer's Orchestra Names Music Director Designate
Steven Sloane Photo credit Stas Rzeznik 42-year-old American conductor Steven Sloane has been named Music Director Designate of American Composers Orchestra. Mr. Sloane begins his artistic planning duties with ACO effective immediately, and will make his Carnegie Hall debut with the orchestra in March 2002. He will become Music Director beginning with the 2002-03 season,… Read more »
The Commission Project Announces Programs for 2000-2001
In early September, Ned Corman, Director of The Commission Project, announced an impressive line-up of composers and musicians who will engage in long-term residencies at a wide variety of schools in 12 American cities this fall. The Commission Project is a non-profit arts education organization that brings professional composers and musicians into classrooms to write… Read more »
Jeanne Lee, Jazz Singer Who Embraced Avant-Garde, Dies at 61
Jeanne Lee Photo courtesy Naima Hazleton Jeanne Lee, one of the great jazz singers and composers in the avant-garde tradition, an author, and a teacher of singing, died on October 25, 2000, in Tijuana, Mexico. She was 61.The cause was cancer, said her daughter Naima Hazelton. Born in New York City in 1939, Lee graduated… Read more »
What is the best possible way for someone to be introduced to your music? George Walker
A live concert, a radio broadcast, a recording, a musical score and a sampling from the Internet all offer possibilities with certain caveats for those who are unfamiliar with my music. The concert hall experience is one that I heartily support because of its unique ambience. I regard my music as a part of a… Read more »
Composer Herbert Brün Dies at 82
Herbert Brün Photo credit Yehuda Yannay Herbert Brün, a pioneer in applying computers and electronics to the composition of music, died on November 6 in Urbana, Illinois. He was recognized within and beyond the field of music as an eloquent and original thinker, a contributor of ideas relating to composition and systems theory, language, thought,… Read more »
What is the best possible way for someone to be introduced to your music? Augusta Read Thomas
This answer is applying to all music, NOT mine in particular! The best possible way for someone to be introduced to any music is to follow a work from start to finish. Reflect, keep an open heart, be generous, open you ears to all surprises, sing along when possible, dance along if possible, feel the… Read more »
Pauline Oliveros receives Lifetime Achievement Award from San Francisco Bay Guardian
The Goldie Award The San Francisco Bay Guardian, the Bay Area‘s largest alternative newsweekly, has honored Pauline Oliveros with a Lifetime Achievement Award, as part of their 12th annual “Goldies” awards program. Each year, the Bay Guardian arts editorial staff selects multiple “Outstanding Local Discovery Award” winners for the “challenge and inspiration provided by their… Read more »
