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Meet The Composer and the American Symphony Orchestra League have announced the fifth round of MUSIC ALIVE—Composers and Orchestras Together.

Nine American composers and orchestras have been selected to participate in residencies of two to three weeks in duration, beginning in fall 2004.

Visit Meet The Composer’s website for composer bios and sound samples of their work.

Music Alive Round V:

• Robert Livingston Aldridge/Westfield Symphony Orchestra, NJ (2 Weeks)
• Christopher Brubeck/Stockton Symphony, CA (3 Weeks)
• Vivian Fung/San Jose Chamber Orchestra, CA (2 Weeks)
• Edward Green/InterSchool Orchestras of New York, NY (2 Weeks)
• William Kraft/San Diego Youth Symphony, CA (2 Weeks)
• John Mackey/Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra, WA (4 Weeks)
• Philip Rothman/Eugene Symphony Orchestra Association, OR (2 Weeks)
• Roberto Sierra/New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, NM (2 Weeks)
• Peter Schickele/Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra, IA (2 Weeks)

(clockwise from top left) Anne Manson, Libby Larsen, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Chen Yi, Shulamit Ran, and Jennifer Higdon

Considering all the hand-wringing that goes on when discussing the hurdles women still face in the music world, it seems especially distressing that The Women’s Philharmonic, long an advocate for the careers and music of women composers, will present its final concert in March as part of a state-wide festival promoting women composers and conductor throughout the month.

Guest conductor Anne Manson will take the podium for the Philharmonic’s final concert, “The American Women Masters Gala Concert.” The program will include world premieres of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich‘s work Openings and Libby Larsen‘s Fanfare: Sizzle, the West Coast premiere of Chen Yi‘s Tu (Burning), and Jennifer Higdon‘s Fanfare: Ritmico. All four works are the result of the Fanfares commissioning project. The concert also includes Higdon’s wissahickon poeTrees and Shulamit Ran‘s Mirage.

The 25-year-old ensemble has been struggling financially for some years, but reports that it will cease operations with balanced books.

“We are celebrating the end of a chapter, but not the end of the story,” said Women’s Philharmonic Board President Robyn Bramhall, pointing to the impact the ensemble has in boosting the profile of women within the American orchestral industry.

In order to continue that legacy, the Philharmonic is reportedly in conversation with the American Symphony Orchestra League about the transferring of its National Women’s Conductor Initiative to the League.

“When we started The Women’s Philharmonic, we could never have imagined the impact of our work in just twenty years’ time,” admits Miriam Abrams, one of the orchestra’s three founders, “that not one, but several women have won the Pulitzer Prize for music; that women conductors, including our own founding Music Director, would be conducting major symphony orchestras; and that women musicians would serve as first chairs in orchestras throughout the country.”

Their hope now, they say, is that the legacy of music of The Women’s Philharmonic, including its recordings and library of scores it commissioned, discovered and promoted, will live on in the repertoire of orchestras in America and around the globe.

Rudolph Bubalo

Composer Rudolph Bubalo died on January 24, 2004. Starting off his career as a jazz pianist, the Duluth-born Bubalo eventually settled in Cleveland where he served for many years as a professor of music and the director of the electronic/computer music studios at Cleveland State University. A leading figure in electro-acoustical and computer music, he created several important works for orchestra and electronic sounds combining serial techniques with an acute awareness of timbre. In 1976, the American Symphony Orchestra premiered Bubalo’s Spaceship for orchestra and electronics at Carnegie Hall. The work was subsequently performed by the Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Lorin Maazel. Bubalo’s music has been actively championed by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony under the direction of Edwin London, who have recorded an all-Bubalo CD for New World Records that was released in 1997. At the time of his death, Mr. Bubalo was professor emeritus at Cleveland State University and a long time member of the American Music Center.

On March 10, 2004, Edwin London and the Cleveland Chamber Symphony will present a memorial concert for Rudolph Bubalo featuring several of his compositions.

For a more detailed account of Bubalo’s life and work, please read Donald Rosenberg‘s obituary in the Cleveland Plain Dealer

David Rakowski has been recognized with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center‘s 2004-2006 Elise L. Stoeger Prize. The $25,000 cash award is given every two years in recognition of significant contributions to the chamber music repertory.

David Rakowski

A native of St. Albans, Vermont, David Rakowski studied with Robert Ceely and John Heiss at New England Conservatory, with Milton Babbitt, Peter Westergaard and Paul Lansky at Princeton, and with Luciano Berio at Tanglewood. He has received the Rome Prize, an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as awards and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the NEA, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Tanglewood Music Center, BMI, Columbia University, the International Horn Society, and various artist colonies. He has been commissioned by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the U.S. Marine Band, Sequitur, Network for New Music (Philadelphia), Koussevitzky Music Foundation (for Ensemble 21), Boston Musica Viva, the Fromm Foundation, Dinosaur Annex, the Crosstown Ensemble, Speculum Musicae, the Riverside Symphony, Parnassus, The Composers Ensemble, Alea II, Alea III, Triple Helix, and others. In 1999 his Persistent Memory, commissioned by Orpheus, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music, and in 2002 his Ten of a Kind, commissioned by “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band, was also a Pulitzer finalist. Recently he was composer-in-residence at the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival and Guest Composer at the Wellesley Composers Conference. His music is published by C.F. Peters, is recorded on CRI, Innova, Americus, Albany, and Bridge, and has been performed worldwide. He was a founder of the Griffin Music Ensemble of Boston, and has taught at Stanford, Harvard, and Columbia Universities. Currently he is Professor of Composition at Brandeis, where he has taught since 1995.

Rakowski’s Violin Songs, a work for soprano and violin, will be performed by the Chamber Music Society during its 2004-2005 season.

The Elise L. Stoeger Prize was established in 1985 with a bequest from Milan Stoeger, a long-time subscriber to the Chamber Music Society, in memory of his wife, Elise. It is not a competition—winners are chosen from the nominations of a committee of musicians, composers, educators, managers and presenters from around the country. A rotating committee of nine individuals, including CMS Artistic Director, David Shifrin, makes the final selections.

Bernard Rands Photo by Jack Mitchell

Though it’s been awarded since 1959, you may not have heard of a composer honor that’s been given annually by a small orchestra in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The winners’ list includes a number of major artists—and the 2004 award sees Bernard Rands‘ name added to the list.

There is no application or nomination process for the composer award. In fact, it’s less an award in the traditional “here’s your check” sense and more of an institutionalized way for the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra to feature one American composer every year. The recognized composer receives a performance of his or her work, travel expenses, and an engraved presentation watch historically contributed by the originally Lancaster-based Hamilton Watch Company. Though the watch company is no longer located in the area, the orchestra continues to make the watch presentation.

Here’s how it works: The music director traditionally suggests up to ten composers work that he feels would fit well within the confines of the planned season program. A music committee made up of board and non-board members then listens to CDs, reads bios, and there’s “lots of hashing over of opinions and ideas,” says Patricia Otto, the orchestra’s development director. When they get down to three, the committee votes. The winning composer must be available to attend the performance (his or her piece will be included on a regular season concert) and to speak about his or her work to accept the award.

In this way, the small-budget orchestra (they reached the $1 million mark just this year) which gives five season concerts plus three more of the pops variety, hopes to not only generate interest in a specific composer, but “also a more appreciative hearing of all modern music.”

Otto says the weekend the composer is in town has the air of a presidential visit, with people vying for the chance to take the composer to lunch. Since the composer’s music has generally not been heard before it is performed, it does happen that people love the composer and then end up not liking the music but that, she says, is all par for the course. As an orchestra employee, former board member, and concert attendee, Otto says she’d call it the highlight of the season.

Howard Hansen was the first to receive the award in 1959. Kenneth Bates, then president of the orchestra’s board, housed the visiting composers in the early years of the award at his home and hosted the post-concert reception. According to an article in the county’s historical record, Bates described the program’s mission as a “way the composer would be identified as a person to the audience, and his music would become a living example of the current work in the musical field.”

Though at a pace of one a year, the LSO’s audience could not possibly keep abreast of all that is happening in the music field, learning about the work of one new composer every year is likely more than most of the nation’s symphony subscribers.

Over the past several weeks, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center has been throwing itself a little party under the banner “Sound Investment—35 Years of Premieres.” The four-concert series was intended as a way to swiftly honor a history of some 123 commissions by presenting highlights of 43 of those works.

What might not have been immediately obvious to everyone was that since there simply wasn’t enough time to play that much music, excerpts and cuts were to made to pare the 43 compositions down to a single movement or a ten-minute slice of longer works (see sidebar).

The original idea to present so many works only in part as a way to celebrate the organization’s commissioning history came from former Artistic Administrator Martha Bonta. Artistic Director David Shifrin and Music and Education Advisor and composer Bruce Adolphe helped facilitate the discussions with the composers involved as decisions and cuts were made.

“Most composers at first hesitated,” says Adolphe when asked about the unusual concert format, which stirred discussion within the composition community. “But almost all then accepted the idea and helped us choose the excerpt or at the very least approved our choices.”

Adolphe hosted pre-concert panel discussions during which the music and issues relating to the presentation were discussed. Composer panelists included Lukas Foss, David Schiff, Peter Schickele, Joan Tower, David del Tredici, George Perle, Derek Bermel, Ned Rorem, Charles Wuorinen, William Bolcom, Steven Mackey, and Edgar Meyer, among others.

“There was quite a lot of talk about excerpts,” recalls Adolphe, “with all views represented, and even some people changing their minds during the talks.”

In his role as education advisor, Adolphe feels strongly about the impact of an activity like this one for the CMS and its audience. “The concerts were a great education for the public who may not be new music experts, but who wished to discover the amazing diversity of compositional styles that have been in evidence during the last 35 years, while CMS has been commissioning.”

Pointing to the huge marathon concerts like “A Great Day in New York” and the volume of new work commissioned and presented by CMS, composer Joan Tower commends the organization for its commitment to new work, but on the excerpting decision she offers a mixed review. The strategy “worked for some pieces and not others (including mine)” she says. Tower noticed that single movements selected didn’t seem to suffer as much, but artificial “slice
s” of longer pieces “depend more on the ‘context’ (and flow) of the music to make those passages work.”

Chris Rouse, who did not attend the performances, says he had no strong feeling either way—”All I could muster was a shrug—it didn’t really matter to me.”

Steve Mackey says he considered saying “thanks, but no thanks” but decided that there was something of value in giving an audience “a little sampling of the sounds and sensibilities of many composers.” In response to questions about the event, Mackey suggests that instead of focusing on the composers it might be a good time to explore the public’s reaction to this type of presentation. “I would be interested to know if the audiences enjoyed the smorgasbord of American music of the last 35 years over a handful of concerts; I did.”

According to Adolphe, that was exactly the point. “I came to think of it as a fair, like a New York street fair, full of samples of what we have to offer.”

But composer Michael Colgrass sees an inherent problem in that strategy. “How do you prepare your taste buds for that? It’s like grazing at a food fair, tasting a little of this, a little of that, but not getting a real meal out of anything, and maybe ending up with a stomachache.”

When he was approached about an excerpt, Colgrass says he counter-suggested that CMS pick the works they really liked the best from over the years and play those in full, even if that meant his piece would not be played. An excerpt from his New People, however, was part of the eventual program.

Despite the debate that surrounded the event, Adolphe remains pragmatic. “An important fact about this series, I think, is that it provoked a lot of talk about new music, about style, diversity, presenting in general, and about composers,” he says. “That is great.” And an audience member whose interest was piqued during the performance could purchase CD recordings of complete works by the featured composers immediately in the lobby, sales of which, according to Adolphe, appeared brisk.

For his part, Colgrass expresses his hope that “when all this cools down they do consider performing some of the works that truly stimulated listeners’ minds and touched their hearts. Those are the only pieces we need to hear again anyway.”

LISTEN to a RealAudio except of Casa Guidi

The GRAMMY Awards were presented last night during the 46th Annual glitz fest held in Los Angeles. The industry party honored scores of artists and musicians on and off the camera. Once again, awards for classical music and jazz were held prior to the evening event, although some jazz artists performed with pop acts during the televised proceedings and Joshua Bell was on hand to make a presentation. A complete list of winners is available here.

A few composer-related highlights to note here:

Dominick Argento’s Casa Guidi [Reference Recordings] featuring Frederica von Stade, mezzo-soprano; Eiji Oue; Minnesota Orchestra picked up Best Classical Contemporary Composition.

Wayne Shorter’s “Alegría” [Verve Records] got the Best Jazz Instrumental Album nod. Shorter was also recognized with a Best Instrumental Composition award for Sacajawea.

Also in jazz, the Michael Brecker Quindectet were recognized with a Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album for Wide Angles [Verve Records], and Brecker and Gil Goldstein were also took home a statue for Best Instrumental Arrangement of Timbuktu.

The new Broadway cast recording of Gypsy (Jule Styne, composer; Stephen Sondheim, lyricist) picked up the Best Musical Show Album.

Composer Howard Shore took home a Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack Album for his work on The Lord Of The Rings – The Two Towers.

ASCAP’s Fran Richard presents Fred Sturm with his ASCAP/ IAJE Commissioning award in the established composer category. The Gotham Jazz Orchestra performed his composition, “Abstraktes Bild.”

The International Association for Jazz Education‘s 31st Annual Conference was held in New York City on January 21-24, 2004. The event attracted jazz performers, educators, journalists, and theorists and featured a non-stop array of performances and lectures.

In Thursday’s Opening General Session, outgoing IAJE President David Baker reminded members of the original mission of the organization to help jazz education in the schools. He also highlighted the number of performers and theorists who are now involved with IAJE, in addition to educators, demonstrating how the organization has grown and evolved since its founding. Baker expressed his desire to see IAJE continue to expand its influence on professional and educational fronts in the coming years.

On Friday afternoon, a session called Jazz Police Beware: The Secret Relationship Between Jazz and Hip-Hop brought a heated discussion to the conference. The panelists, which included jazz and hip-hop crossover artists Teodross Avery, Russell Gunn, Imani Uzuri, Christian McBride, and Vijay Iyer, had different backgrounds, but what stood out were their similarities. Each artist grew up hearing the popular music of their day, which included early hip-hop as well as rock and popular music. This early influence seems to have made it a logical choice to include all the sounds around them in what they do. Another prevailing point was that hip-hop, like jazz, is a victim of marketing. Many questions were aimed towards the violence found in much of the popular hip-hop broadcast on commercial radio. To find the quality art in hip-hop and jazz, the panel suggested, one had to “keep their ear to the ground” and search for quality art outside the mainstream. Also addressed was the role of women in hip-hop and instrumental jazz and the apparent sexism found in both musics.

Saturday morning’s Has The Internet Helped Jazz? brought up many topics of interest for the forward-looking in the jazz industry. As an overall idea of where jazz could go nationally, Michael Ricci, the creator of All About Jazz, spoke of expanding his online regional calendar and musician directories. Eventually, he would like to see the site tailor itself to each visitor’s personal taste and possibly sell tickets to concerts. Guitarist/songwriter Leni Stern has had a lot of success selling her music through her website and highlighted the Internet’s ability to attract and serve a global audience. Panel member Ben Allison also spoke of his organization, the Jazz Composer’s Collective, and how they have found unique ways of finding listeners through the Internet. The JCC are planning an online streaming radio station that will feature 100 hours of live and unreleased concerts. Also brought up, however, was the question of technical limitations. Although many advancements like streaming video and large file downloads are technically available, many Internet users are not ready for these advancements due to inconsistent Internet connections. Frank Tafuri of OmniTone records brought up that he has found success by not being overly “technical” with the design of the OmniTone website.

Among the myriad awards announced throughout the four-day event, the IAJE/ASCAP Commissions went to Pascal LeBoeuf and Fred Sturm; and the Gil Evans’ Fellowship, which provides funding for a commission to be performed at the IAJE conference in 2005, went to James Miley.

Performances throughout the conference featured a who’s who of the jazz world including the Heath Brothers, Michael Brecker, Dave Liebman, Joe Lovano, Nicholas Payton, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, and the Matt Wilson Quartet, to name a few. One of the highlights however, occurred during the Matt Wilson Quartet’s performance of “Schoolboy Thug” when Andrew D’Angelo smashed a saxophone on stage. Jazz is dead? Think again!

Mrs. Laura Bush and NEA Chairman Dana Gioia at the news conference announcing the proposed increase. Photo by Jim Saah

President George W. Bush is requesting an $18 million budget increase for the National Endowment for the Arts to fund a major new initiative, American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius, Laura Bush announced today. To this announcement was added the fanfare that “the President’s request would raise the Arts Endowment’s budget by $18 million from $121 million in FY 2004 to $139.4 million, the largest increase since 1984.”

Though it’s easy to be cynical about the NEA these days, the $18 million figure seems a sad commentary on the value placed on art by the America government rather than a vote of support. Nothing new there, but considering the price tag of other government projects recently in the news (What’s $140 million compared to $87 billion?), a striking statement all the same.

Even so, the New York Times reports that Representative Tom Tancredo, Republican of Colorado, opposes the increase. “We are looking at record deficit and potential cuts in all kinds of programs,” Tancredo told Times reporter Robert Pear. “How can I tell constituents that I’ll take money away from them to pay for somebody else’s idea of good art? I have no more right to do that than to finance somebody else’s ideas about religion.”

Now, American Masterpieces, which the majority of the increase is slated to support does sound like a program worthy of cheerleading—a three-year plan to “combine arts presentations with education programming to introduce Americans to the best of their cultural and artistic legacy.” A spokesperson for the NEA said that specific plans and the names of music works to be featured have not yet been released.

Announcing the increase with Mrs. Bush, NEA Chairman Dana Gioia explained that the program will reach hundreds of cities, large and small, across all 50 states, as well as thousands of schools and dozens of military bases. “American Masterpieces is the most ambitious undertaking in the NEA’s history…We will bring the masterpieces of American culture from painting to modern dance, theater to jazz, classical music to literature.” The program will support touring, local presentations, and arts education. While NEA grants must be matched on a one-to-one basis by the organization receiving funding, the NEA expects that “many organizations raise up to eight times the amount.”

The launch of the American Masterpieces program comes on the heels of two other initiatives. The NEA Jazz Masters program has been expanded to six honorees who now will receive awards of $25,000 each, in addition to an added touring component and commemorative CD. Shakespeare in American Communities, which is being given a strong push by Gioia and the NEA as a prime example of what the organization can be to American society, is bringing professional productions of Shakespeare and educational activities to communities across the country. The fact that Shakespeare is not an American artist seems to have passed without comment.

Roberto Sierra and Chinary Ung

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra are among the first cultural organizations to benefit from the Joyce Foundation‘s newly established Joyce Awards, a funding initiative designed to support mainstream Midwestern cultural organizations commissioning works by artists of color. Each organization will receive a grant of $50,000 to fund the proposed projects.

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Latino Arts/United Community Center have partnered to commission a symphony from Roberto Sierra based on music from three Spanish-speaking islands: Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba.

The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra will commission a new work for chamber orchestra from Chinary Ung, which will be premiered in conjunction with the St. Paul Hmong community’s annual New Year celebration. (St. Paul is home to the nation’s largest urban concentration of Hmong people.)

Fifty-seven entries in theater, music, and visual arts were received from around the region. Project proposals were reviewed by independent advisors and voted on by the Foundation’s board in December. Each award supports the work of the individual artist as well as significant community outreach efforts. The organizations will have up to two years to complete their proposed projects.

The Joyce Foundation established the awards based on a philosophy that to expand and diversify audiences, cultural organizations must also diversify their programming. When announcing this year’s inaugural awards, Foundation President Ellen Alberding expressed the hope that they will “further the Foundation’s continued interest in supporting artistic merit and encouraging mainstream arts groups to develop programming that relates to and reflects the experiences of diverse audiences.”

Though the Chicago-based foundation has traditionally provided funding to cultural institutions in the immediate area, with the Joyce Awards they have extended their reach to include organizations in Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, and St. Paul/Minneapolis whose primary mission is to present art through public programs.

Two other grants were given—one to the Cleveland Museum of Art for an installation by visual artist Trenton Doyle Hancock and another to the Chicago’s Goodman Theatre for a play by playwright Naomi Iizuka.