It is easy to believe that we are enriching ourselves, and those around us, by becoming living content providers. But we need to supplement this presentation of material with some shading of our humanity.
There’s been a “desert island nine symphonies” game making the rounds on Facebook. (Pick nine different numbered symphonies, 1-9, by nine different composers.) Here are some American repertoire ideas.
What Andrew Pekler’s project and Vicky Chow’s recital had in common was that they both prompted consideration of a particular feature of technology: the technology you notice is almost always, at the same time, pushing another technology into the unnoticed background.
I believe that by skillfully connecting new listeners to contemporary music, we can bring more challenging works to a much wider audience without sacrificing a single note of music.
Although his chosen means of expression is music, Jerome Kitzke describes himself as a storyteller. Kitzke’s musical stories have frequently dealt with the plight of Native Americans and other examples of social injustice. If his music inspires people to explore some of these issues on their own he considers himself successful.
Making our music survive is about a lot more than just writing it down. It has to do with teaching our harmonic language and melodic style to those who learn from us. It has to do with nuance, experience, storytelling, and subtlety.
During his three-year residency, Bates will compose music across artistic genres and curate a new contemporary music series. He will also advance initiatives that use technology to educate audiences and will encourage the inclusion of local artists and DJs in performances at the Kennedy Center.
Jimi Hendrix’s “Woodstock Banner” is among the most iconic moments of rock history—a symbol of the art’s social and political potential. For Hendrix, “anthem” was not a noun, but a verb—a song in motion.
Here in Tallinn, I am under the impression that if one has even the smallest idea for a concert, it will happen with little to no red tape.
The 2015 CMA/ASCAP Awards, the “New Music from CMA” commissions’ concert, and the majority of the ensemble showcases at the 37th national conference of Chamber Music America provided a real immersive new music experience—one in which definitions were constantly being expanded and which celebrated diversity and inclusivity.
The hall was full, energetic, anxious for the Future Classics concert, the culmination of the Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute. But one must ask the question. If the appetite for new music is so huge here, why aren’t more American orchestras doing this?
New Music USA announced yesterday its third round of project grants awards, totaling $284,250 in funding to support artistic work involving a wide range of new American music. The program recognizes and supports the multiple roles composers and contemporary music practitioners play in the artistic landscape and responds to the creative spirit of collaboration between artists… Read more »
The inaugural New Music Gathering in San Francisco was proof in action that an environment that removes the problems of proximity, competition, and ego can generate an immense amount of collaboration, friendship, and growth.
I am not surprised when protest organizers contact me asking for musicians to play at their protests; I am less surprised still when I hear that it was the music that elicited the loudest response and the most action.
Composer, conductor, and Trinity Church music director Julian Wachner believes that all music is meant to induce a transformative experience upon the listener and believes that changing listeners’ lives through music is a “moral responsibility of the compositional craft and the performative craft as well.”
I can’t tell if the Spektral Quartet is getting bigger or smaller. At the quartet’s Saturday night concert, “Snowpocalypse Antidote,” I had the opportunity to reflect on “miniaturization” and the pleasure of small forms. They’re “doing small” in a very big way.
Using extramusical models and precise planning works for some people but not everyone. I generally feel, however, that academic study of composition places emphasis on this methodology.
The $5,000 prize was awarded for his Symphony No. 2 (Sinfonia Magalhães), a 30-minute work for orchestra which was selected from among 160 entries.
Where is the line between motivating someone and abusing them? Will the movie Whiplash make young jazz musicians think that all you need to do to become the next Bird is work really hard, get yelled at, and practice till you bleed? Is this portrayal of the teacher-student dynamic helpful or harmful?
It’s time to get real and get organized. So open up Excel and brace yourself to become a happier, healthier, more on top of it artiste!
The Kennedy Center and Washington Performing Arts announce SHIFT: A Festival of American Orchestras, a three-year festival celebrating North American orchestras which will begin in the spring of 2017.
When we perform with care for the holistic audience experience as well as care for the composer’s works, we can create a “social act” that is akin to magic.
The data for three new NEA reports have, for the first time, enabled the NEA to show a comprehensive view of a single year (2012) in the life of the arts and cultural sector from three different angles: supply, demand, and motivations for consumer behavior.
Too often we live only by a temporal, horizontal axis in which we over-analyze, live within our heads, and lose connection with the earth and with our bodies. Being in touch with silence reinforces access to our inner selves and serves to reinvigorate connections with the earth and our identities.
