The relationship between music and theater has always been controversial – and productive. On one end of the spectrum are pieces in which text is obviously or completely dominant. Though there are no solely text-based pieces in this month’s new discs — if you want one, try Randy Hostetler’s Happily Ever After, featured in the… Read more »
Stephen Sondheim “…opera is musical theater that takes place in an opera house in front of an opera audience…” Jack Beeson “…In musicals, all the words…are to be understood. Opera audiences…are awed when…they understand an English libretto, and forget to watch the supertitles…” Philip Glass “…Basically, I don’t care what you call it…” Elizabeth Swados… Read more »
Robert Ashley at his home in New York City March 13, 2001, 1:00pm Transcribed by Julia Lu Filmed by Jenny Undercofler FRANK J. OTERI: I’ve been following your music for over 20 years and am a huge fan of your work which is often hard to describe to people who’ve never experienced it. It doesn’t… Read more »
Composing music for the stage.
Barry DroginPhoto by Lindsay Drogin Here’s a frustrating parlor game: Come up with a term for the form that includes the operas of Gian Carlo Menotti, the musicals of Leonard Bernstein, the dance-theater of Meredith Monk, the music-theater of Robert Ashley, and such hard to classify works as Porgy and Bess, Four Saints in Three… Read more »
Just what is improvisation?
Anthony IannacconePhoto by Dick Schwartz Anthony Iannaccone’s Waiting for Sunrise on the Sound was commissioned by the NOVA fund. It was given its premiere in 1998 by the Plymouth Symphony, with the composer conducting, and was recorded in February 2000 by the Czech Radio Orchestra, conducted by Vladimír Válek. In addition to a planned commercial… Read more »
Richard Danielpourby Bill Bernstein, courtesy G. Schirmer/Associated Music Publishers Michigan Opera Theatre received $25,000 to support the commission of an American opera, Margaret Garner by Richard Danielpour, with libretto by author Toni Morrison. The opera is based on the true story of a woman born into slavery around 1840, who, with her two children, tries… Read more »
Kim D. Shermanphoto of by John Sheehy The Portland Stage Company, in partnership with the Women’s Project and Productions, received $22,000 to support the development and co-production of Leaving Queens, with book and lyrics by Kate Moira Ryan and music by Kim D. Sherman. Leaving Queens played in Portland from January 30 to February 18,… Read more »
The Minnesota Orchestra received $75,000 to support the creation and performance of 11 commissions for the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 by the Minnesota Orchestral Association. To celebrate the 2003 centennial, the Minnesota Orchestra committed to commissioning, performing and recording major new works from some of the world’s leading composers, with world premieres of 30 works over… Read more »
The Albany Symphony received a $25,000 Creativity Grant to support Composing the Future, a multi-faceted project celebrating American composers and their music. During 2001-2002, the Albany Symphony Orchestra (ASO) and two smaller ensembles made up of ASO musicians will commission, present and record for national distribution the music of established and emerging American symphonic repertoire.… Read more »
Pierre Jalbertphoto by Louise J. Greenfield Pierre Jalbert‘s In Aeternam was commissioned by the California Symphony and was premiered and recorded by them in May 2000 under the direction of Barry Jekowsky. In Aeternam was written as a memorial to Jalbert’s niece, who died at birth. For the composer’s excellent notes on the piece, click… Read more »
Carter Pann photo by Carolyn Lukancic Carter Pann’s nine-minute Slalom depicts the awesome thrill and beauty of downhill skiing at Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The American Composers Orchestra read the work in the summer of 1998 as part of their Whitaker New Music Reading Sessions and the Haddonfield Symphony premiered it in March 1999. Slalom is… Read more »
Derek Bermel photo by Tom LeGoff Derek Bermel‘s Dust Dances was premiered and recorded by Norwalk Symphony in 1998, and will be performed three times by the Memphis Symphony in March 2001. Dust Dances was first performed at the American Composers Orchestra’s Whitaker New Music Reading Session in 1994. It is published by Peermusic Classical.… Read more »
February 2001 marked the debut releases of two Cantaloupe CDs, which are currently available on the Cantaloupe website. The first is Renegade Heaven, featuring the Bang On A Can All-Stars in compositions written for them by Glenn Branca, Arnold Dreyblatt, Michael Gordon, Phil Kline, and Julia Wolfe. harmonia mundi will release Renegade Heaven into stores… Read more »
Margaret Lioi photo by Melissa Richard The National Endowment for the Arts and Chamber Music America have entered into a four-year program wherein the NEA will make additional funds available to one of CMA’s five annual commissioning-grant recipients, specifically for performance costs. “We have a commissioning program that requires the work be performed three times,”… Read more »
Karissa Krenz photo by Melissa Richard Margaret M. Lioi, CEO of Chamber Music America, is pleased to announce the appointment of Karissa Krenz as Editor of Chamber Music magazine, the award-winning bi-monthly magazine published by Chamber Music America. “It is always a sign of an organization’s strength to promote from within. We are delighted to… Read more »
On January 11, the National Endowment for the Arts announced $20,452,500 awarded through 825 grants in the first major funding round of fiscal year 2001. The awards, constituting 24% of the Endowment’s grant funds for the year, will be distributed to nonprofit national, regional, state and local organizations across the country. The Arts Endowment’s FY… Read more »
The twelve semi-finalists have been announced for the second Masterprize international composing competition. Of the twelve semi-finalists, four are American: Carter Pann, Derek Bermel, Anthony Iannaccone, and Pierre Jalbert. [Click on the name of a semi-finalist for more information. For a complete list of semi-finalists, click here.] Over the coming months, the works of these… Read more »
In January, Bang On A Can and harmonia mundi usa announced a partnership for the exclusive distribution of Bang On A Can’s new recording project, Cantaloupe Music. Cantaloupe Music represents the culmination of 13 years of ground-breaking concerts and a decade of successful recording projects on multiple major record labels. harmonia mundi will distribute Cantaloupe’s… Read more »
David S. Ware Photo by David Katenstein, courtesy AUM Fidelity My solos are just about completely spontaneous, but I may have a pure conception in mind for a particular solo. It may or may not be based around a key center. Usually, what I’m trying to do is overcome something. There’s something inherent in every… Read more »
Music Director Daniel Barenboim announced at a press conference on February 20, 2001, that composer Augusta Read Thomas has renewed her contract as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra‘s Composer-in-Residence through the 2005-2006 concert season. Ms. Thomas has held the position since September 1997. Augusta Read Thomas Photo by Jerome de Perlinghi “I am thankful and honored… Read more »
Tony Trischka Photo by Don Fisher, courtesy Rounder Records My improvisations take a number of forms. If I’m soloing on a traditional bluegrass tune, I’ll try to stick to the melody as closely as possible. Sometimes I’ll do something that John Hartford (great banjoist and fiddler and composer of “Gentle on my Mind”) suggested to… Read more »
Immersion DVD [Author’s note: When I first got my hands on Immersion, the new DVD-Audio from the Colorado-based Starkland, I was disappointed to find that there was no accompanying movie. After I missed the mark in last month’s SoundTracks column, Steve Smith, the classical music columnist at Billboard, was kind enough to drag me over… Read more »
