What are the most important concerns for philanthropy in new music? Catherine Wichterman
Catherine Wichterman Photo courtesy of Catherine Wichterman “Support Nurturing and Nourishing Relationships” During my time at Meet the Composer and now at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, I have taken the view that the most effective funding of new music (or any other art form for that matter) addresses the connections between artists and the… Read more »
Michael Kaiser Appointed President of Kennedy Center
Michael Kaiser Photo courtesy of Cornhill Publications Limited The Kennedy Center announced on July 19 that Michael Kaiser has been named to replace Lawrence J. Wilker as president of the national center for the performing arts. His is slated to begin his new post in February 2001. Kaiser, 47, is currently the executive director of… Read more »
What are the most important concerns for philanthropy in new music? Gayle Morgan
Gayle Morgan Photo courtesy of Gayle Morgan “Is There Too Much New Music?” Last year the Cary Trust offered its biennial program of grants to assist New York City music institutions in commissioning new music. We received 117 applications to the program and after an extensive review of the projects by independent consultants, we made… Read more »
Maybe it is all Rock 'n Roll
Young musicians and listeners today are increasingly sophisticated and open-eared. They don’t care much about what music is called. They care about how it sounds.
Hovhaness' submission to the AMC Biographical Survey (1949)
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Composer Alan Hovhaness Dies at 89
Alan Hovhaness Photo courtesy of C.F. Peters Alan Hovhaness, a prolific composer who melded Western and Asian musical genres, died in Seattle on June 21, 2000. He was 89 and had suffered from a severe stomach ailment for the last three years. Hovhaness was born in Somerville, MA, on March 8, 1911 to Haroutiun Hovhaness… Read more »
Where do you think that your music fits on the classical-popular divide? Why? John Shiurba
John Shiurba Photo courtesy John Shiurba Ahh, the great divide, oh to be forever clumsily straddling the great divide. My music not only exists precisely on that divide, but seems to be more or less about being there. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve heard comments like your stuff is too rock for… Read more »
Where do you think that your music fits on the classical-popular divide? Why? Erik Hoversten
Erik Hoversten Photo courtesy Erik Hoversten Despite the “classical” training we may have, all of us in Threnody Ensemble spent our formative years playing in bands. The music we make now is inextricably linked to popular music. But because we record for a “new music” label and write pieces that surpass a certain threshold of… Read more »
Where do you think that your music fits on the classical-popular divide? Why? Neil Haverstick
Neil Haverstick Ever since I was a young boy, stylistic classifications in music have meant absolutely nothing to me. At a young age, some of my favorite pieces were Ravel‘s Bolero, “Peggy Sue” (Buddy Holly), “El Paso” (Marty Robbins), “In The Mood” (Glenn Miller), “Charley Brown” (The Coasters), and Air On A G String (Bach).… Read more »
Where do you think that your music fits on the classical-popular divide? Why? Diamanda Galas
Diamanda Galas Photo by Tom Pitts I think it is, indeed, difficult to locate my music; and I have seen it under pop, opera, new music, new electronic music, blues, satanic music, noise, gothic, black metal, world music, and lysergic vampire vocals (in San Francisco). What unites all the music in the mind of its… Read more »
Where do you think that your music fits on the classical-popular divide? Why? David Borden
David Borden (right) with Keith Emerson (left) Photo by Vivian Lee The classification of genres in the arts is, I suppose, necessary for both critics and historians. Mostly though, I find that marketing, the need to sell, more than anything encourages this subdividing into minute categories. Just go to the MP3 site and you’ll see… Read more »
American Contraband: Alternative Rock and American Experimental Music
Jason Gross and Steve Smith Photo by Melissa Richard Much as it might bewilder major record companies and fundamentalist critics, rock isn’t only background music for TV commercials and cherished momentos for teenybopper spend-a-thons. It’s a lot more (and a lot less). About five years after Elvis started strumming “That’s Alright Mama” for Sam Philips,… Read more »
Soundtracks: July 2000
More probably than any component of NewMusicBox, SoundTracks inevitably reflects the diversity and ultimately uncategorizability of the music being created by American composers. Whereas each issue of NewMusicBox looks at a specific, albeit different, aspect of American music, SoundTracks always aims to be a reflection of what is being released on CD right now without… Read more »
Between Rock and Harder Places?
When classmates told me that the Clash were revolutionaries, I told them to check out pieces like Fontana Mix or It’s Gonna Rain and hear what revolution really sounded like.
Where do you think that your music fits on the classical-popular divide? Why?
Diamanda Galas “…I think my performances, as independent as they may be from each other, allow me to reside, musically, under my own name…” Neil Haverstick “Ever since I was a young boy, stylistic classifications in music have meant absolutely nothing to me…” Erik Hoversten “…The most innovative music, after all, does not fit into… Read more »
Gideon Waldrop, Composer and Former Juilliard Dean, Dies at 80
Gideon Waldrop, a composer and administrator, who served as dean of the Juilliard School of Music for 24 years and was president of the Manhattan School of Music for nearly three years, died on May 19 at his home in Manhattan.
Rewriting History: Alternative Pulitzers
Reading through the list of Pulitzers, I’m struck by the rather orthodox view of American musical history it suggests.
Has Winning the Pulitzer Made a Difference? Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Winner of the 1983 Pulitzer Prize in Music
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich Photo by Andrew Sacks It’s a shame that my teacher Roger Sessions‘s work was not recognized with a Pulitzer until he was in his 80s. I was very lucky in that when I received the award I was young enough to get a good kick out of it and felt that I… Read more »
Has Winning the Pulitzer Made a Difference? Charles Wuorinen, Winner of the 1970 Pulitzer Prize in Music
Charles Wuorinen Photo by Bob Adler It’s hard to tell what the Pulitzer meant to my career. The only direct result of receiving the prize that I’m aware of came in the form of a modest commission for a string quartet from the Fine Arts Quartet, who (I believe) had formed the habit of requesting… Read more »
Has Winning the Pulitzer Made a Difference? Wayne Peterson, Winner of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize in Music
Wayne Peterson Photo by Jack McDonald, courtesy C. F. Peters Corp. Winning the Pulitzer has meant nothing for the piece that won. Back when Blomstedt was at the San Francisco Symphony, David Zinman conducted it and did a beautiful job. But they never did it again and nobody else has ever played it. It’s a… Read more »
Keep Your Ears on the Prize: A Hyperhistory of American Composition Awards
Adam Silverman Photo by Melissa Richard I used tell people at parties that I flew helicopters, even though I have never ridden in one and don’t know anything about piloting. But the story would draw people in, and by the time they discovered my lie, they would be primed to disbelieve the truth: that I… Read more »
Soundtracks: June 2000
It is perhaps poetic justice that concurrent with our issue inspired by the winner of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize in Music that Bridge Records has released the world premiere recording of the Pulitzer winner from 1999, Melinda Wagner’s Flute Concerto. There are a number of other Pulitzer alumni among the featured composers this month: Howard… Read more »
Prizing American Music
Frank J. Oteri Photo by Melissa Richard Over the years, I have frequently bemoaned the fact that there is no Nobel Prize for Music. While only in my most musically zealous moments I’d claim that musical contributions are as significant as strides toward world peace, even in my soberest moments I know in my heart… Read more »
Has Winning the Pulitzer Made a Difference?
Wayne Peterson “…My commissions have soared and everything I have written since that time has been published…” Christopher Rouse “…the number of commissions and performances of my music have remained about the same in my pre-Pulitzer and post-Pulitzer periods…” Charles Wuorinen “…as I look over the list of winners I am struck by how many… Read more »
