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Alexandra Gardner

Sounds Heard: Anat Fort Trio—And If

The strength of And If is its versatility and elegant simplicity. It draws the listener in through solid compositional structure combined with dexterous trio interactions, plus a spare and spacious approach to the musical landscapes presented.

Articles
David Smooke

James Turrell Installations

By David Smooke
Visual art that can only be experienced through time.

Articles
Frank J. Oteri

Deadlines vs. Writer's Block

By Frank J. Oteri
Getting motivated can be extremely difficult to do with personal projects which don’t always have firm deadlines.

Articles
Colin Holter

Gimme Pizza

By Colin Holter
No doubt some of you are already familiar with this extraordinarily disturbing video. Let me bring your
attention to a few of its characteristics that I find particularly ripe for comment.

Articles
David Smooke

Thankful (In a Sad Time)

By David Smooke
This past week has found the Peabody community mourning the loss of Casey Butler, a first-year undergraduate bassoon major.

Articles
Brian Sacawa

Sounds Heard: Newspeak—sweet light crude

With the release of their debut CD sweet light crude, David T. Little’s chamber rock project Newspeak has arrived in a big way.

Articles
Frank J. Oteri

Putting The Name Before The Work

By Frank J. Oteri
Just as specific verbal prods can straitjacket you, a lack of them can sometimes just keep you in limbo.

Articles
NewMusicBox Staff

MAP Fund Receives $3.6 Million in Support of its Programs

The MAP Fund has received two major grants in support of its mission to advance the field of contemporary live performance.

Articles
NewMusicBox Staff

Harbison Interview on Nov 19 is Boston Symphony's 1st Live Stream

On November 19, 2010, from 11 a.m. to noon EST, composer John Harbison will participate in a live, hour-long streaming interview from the stage of Boston’s Symphony Hall, the first-ever BSO live internet stream, during which he will answer questions, including those posed by web visitors through the Boston Symphony’s free online media center.

Articles
Alexandra Gardner

Drama Queen

By Alexandra Gardner

One of the greatest things about new music is simply that it’s new, and there are no preconceptions about how it’s supposed to be performed. I think I am understanding in a deeper way that my music needs to be played with drama.

Articles
DanVisconti

Wedding Bells

By Dan Visconti
Our earliest fusions of music with ceremony are believed have been closely linked to rituals, as mundane as giving thanks for a successful foraging mission or as singular as a young person’s passage into adulthood; perhaps this is the root of all opera and music drama.

Articles
Frank J. Oteri

Christopher Campbell: For The Record

Christopher Campbell, who released his Sound the All-Clear on a three-sided LP, contends that the process of listening to music on “long play records” allows for a more personal relationship with the music as well as more focused listening, despite the possible mechanical imperfections of the medium.

Articles
Colin Holter

Other Voices, Other Rooms

By Colin Holter
It’s well recognized that taking part in music-making outside the Western concert tradition is a salutary practice for classical musicians, but I wonder whether there’s as much agreement about why this is.

Articles
Molly Sheridan

Sounds Heard: Alvin Lucier—Still and Moving Lines of Silence in Families of Hyperbolas

The content is relatively simple: a series of struck tones of varying speeds set against the drone of the sine wave.

Articles
David Smooke

You're Better Than You Think

By David Smooke
If you are a student, there is a good chance that the music you are currently creating is far more capable than the music your teachers were writing at a similar age.

Articles
Frank J. Oteri

Discomfort Zones

By Frank J. Oteri
It has always baffled me that the classical music audience seeks an affirmational experience rather than a transformative one.

Articles
Molly Sheridan

Inside the Meet The Composer Studio

Meet The Composer has launched a new online tool to generate increased audience engagement and public funding for composers of new music.

Articles
Alexandra Gardner

What The Composer Wants

By Alexandra Gardner

Ensemble commissions Young Composer to write a new work. Young composer has never written for the particular instrumentation of Ensemble before, but Ensemble likes Young Composer’s work so much they decide to take a chance. The story continues…

Articles
DanVisconti

The Art of Aging Well

By Dan Visconti
Last week’s New York City Opera premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s A Quiet Place was a rousing success, judging both from audience reactions and an extremely favorable review in the Times. Director Christopher Alden was faced with a tremendous challenge in bringing together disparate material.

Articles
Michael Straus

Wrapping it up in Norway

By Michael Straus
Gauging the success of an artist residency can be tricky, but my activities over the past two months in Norway exceeded even my most ambitious expectations. Reflecting back on this amazing time in Oslo, I have come up with a few ideas that I think help make an extended artist residency a success.

Articles
Colin Holter

The Space Is the Place

By Colin Holter
Setting the scene for sound making.

Articles
Amanda Keil

Sing a New Song: How Contemporary Vocal Music Will Save the World

Ironically, the avant-garde might be the old guard’s best bet for bolstering the audience for classical music, and vocal music might lead the way.

Articles
Frank J. Oteri

Sounds Heard: Mike Baggetta—Canto

What makes Mike Baggetta’s approach to the prepared guitar on Canto particularly stand out is his desire to use these new sonorities specifically to create new kinds of melodies and, ultimately, structural shapes that are recognizable to listeners. To that end, he constructs his solo performances mostly from basic AABA song form, yet there is still a great range and versatility.

Articles
NewMusicBox Staff

Augusta Read Thomas Named University Professor at U of Chicago

Composer Augusta Read Thomas has been appointed as University Professor of Composition in the Department of Music and the College at the University of Chicago.

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NewMusicBox receives major support from the Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts.

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NewMusicBox is funded in part by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts; and with support from The Aaron Copland Fund for Music Inc., Alice M. Ditson Fund of Colombia University, and The Amphion Foundation, Inc. Support for New Music USA and its many programs and activities is provided by foundations, corporations, government agencies, and hundreds of individual contributors.

NewMusicBox receives major support from the Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts. NewMusicBox is funded in part by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts; and with support from The Aaron Copland Fund for Music Inc., Alice M. Ditson Fund of Colombia University, and The Amphion Foundation, Inc. Support for New Music USA and its many programs and activities is provided by foundations, corporations, government agencies, and hundreds of individual contributors.