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Articles
Sam Pluta

John Corigliano: Circus Maximus

The premiere of Corigliano’s ambitious and extravagant wind band piece in 2005 at the University of Texas has become somewhat notorious; Naxos presents the piece on recording for the first time.

Articles
Frank J. Oteri

Various Artists: Source Records 1-6, 1968-1971

Pogus Productions has collected the recordings that were originally released in the late ’60s and early ’70s as part of the legendary new music magazine Source: Music of the Avant Garde and rereleased them on a 3-CD set.

Articles
NewMusicBox Staff

Sounds Heard: Corigliano, Rolnick, Wuorinen, and Source: Music of the Avant Garde

An overview of four new releases from Pogus, Naxos, innova, and Albany Records.

Articles
DanVisconti

Breaking the Ice

Chamber rehearsals offer a chance to talk with the musicians, and actual time to do so, which is a hell of a better deal than what most orchestras will be down for: maybe 20-25 minutes tops on a new piece, most of which you will you will be sitting out while the conductor gets the group into shape.

Articles
Molly Sheridan

Ask Your Mama!: Five Questions for Laura Karpman

Ask Your Mama! will premiere at Carnegie Hall on March 16 as part of the Honor! Festival, a celebration of the African American cultural legacy curated by Jessye Norman. We saw the trailer and heard some rumors about a tone row, and just had to ask the work’s composer, Laura Karpman, a few questions.

Articles
Christian Carey

Thirteen Ways of Looking at Lukas Foss

I studied with Lukas Foss at BU during 1995-96; he packed all of his teaching into one day a week, flying up from New York to work with composition students and, sometimes, to conduct the university orchestra.

Articles
NewMusicBox Staff

In Memoriam

Steven L. Rosenhaus was an undergraduate music student at Queens College when he began private composition lessons with George Perle, and Christian Carey studied with Lukas Foss at Boston University during 1995-96; both offer memories of their mentors.

Articles
Colin Holter

Sound in Theory

Why do you have to write this particular music at this particular time?

Articles
Frank J. Oteri

Sound Out

When someone is completely focused on a specific sound source, anything extraneous can be a real annoyance.

NewMusicBox Staff

Sixteen Composers Receive American Academy of Arts and Letters 2009 Awards

The American Academy of Arts and Letters has announced the sixteen recipients of this year’s awards in music, which total $170,000.

Interviews
Frank J. Oteri

Willie Colón: Salsa is an Open Concept

For Willie Colón, any style can be incorporated into salsa, and putting all these genres together is a way of making a statement that is as much sociopolitical as it is musical.

Articles
DanVisconti

Falling Into the Claptrap

I’m not a fan of people bothering each other during concerts, but compared to, say, slowly unwrapping a Ricola, clapping between movements seems pretty benign.

Articles
Teresa McCollough

Desert Island List: Use Your Power for Good

How do the choices performers and composers make ultimately affect the musical community, or any community at all?

Articles
Colin Holter

Lessons I Learned in London

It’s clear that if I want to keep hearing contemporary music of the sort I’ve enjoyed so much in Europe, I have to bring some of the lessons I’ve learned back home with me.

Articles
Samuel Solomon

The Problem of Pitch—Seeking a Lasting Repertoire

Composers and percussionists both wrestle with the challenge of controlling the very important but often indeterminate pitch of percussion sound, which generates instability of purpose, function, and application.

Articles
Frank J. Oteri

Hearing New Music with a Cat's Ears

Does a Brian Ferneyhough string quartet sound all that different from a Brahms string quartet when processed through a set of feline ears?

Articles
DanVisconti

Core Values

A good teacher’s ability to share a vision is particularly powerful in shaping a composer’s development.

Articles
Trevor Hunter

Traveling Through a Sea: The Music of Grouper

There’s a certain set of commonalities to abstract yet evocative music that encourages listeners to identify in a deeply emotional and visceral way, and Grouper’s music has these qualities in spades.

Articles
Colin Holter

Self-Defense

Talking about other people’s music is something I do a lot more often than I talk about my own music; in the former case, I have to take responsibility for my opinions, but in the latter I’ll be held accountable for my own aesthetic positions.

Articles
Frank J. Oteri

Operating System

Given our ongoing debates about the conservative vs. progressive tendencies of younger composers as well the economics that fuel such music, I thought it would be interesting here to ponder a couple of William Schuman’s remarks about such matters.

Articles
NewMusicBox Staff

Future of Music Convenes Policy Summit

The Future of Music Coalition once again gathered a provocative mix of musicians and music industry professionals into an auditorium in Washington D.C. for a day of policy discussion.

Articles
DanVisconti

The Other Foot

I’ve agreed to look over some entries for a student composition prize, and scores are spilling all over the desk and onto the floor.

Articles
Colin Holter

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

I have listened to music in a stupid way with some regularity for my whole life. And as my capacity to understand that stupidity and the petty, half-baked ideological reasons why I might suffer from it has grown, I’m increasingly (although, as I said, not yet completely) able to tell when the piece is the problem and when I am the problem.

Articles
Frank J. Oteri

Economic Stimulus

For composers and other people involved in the arts—and obviously also people who work at aquariums, zoos, golf courses, swimming pools, stadiums and even casinos—the institutions the Coburn Amendment has deemed a luxury form the very basis of economic sustenance.

Funders

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.