This article is copyright protected, so just a few notes.

By WILLIAM ROBIN
February 3, 2012

“Over an eight-day stretch in December members of the chamber sextet yMusic finished a Midwest tour with the folk band Bon Iver; accompanied the indie-rock acts My Brightest Diamond and the National at the Beacon Theater; played with the New York Philharmonic; performed in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular; and participated in recording sessions for the singer and songwriter Beth Orton, the band Dirty Projectors and Trey Anastasio, the frontman of Phish.

For yMusic the difference between hip-hop and classical music is more an issue of performance practice than of impassable boundaries, a shift of style rather than genre. As members of Generation Y — hence the group’s name — the players grew up with the Internet, whose breakdown of artistic barriers has informed the ensemble’s outlook. Its versatility serves not only unclassifiable composers like Mr. Lott but also more conventional ones who weave pop idioms into their music.

yMusic

Rob Moose, violin
CJ Camerieri, trumpet
Clarice Jensen, cello
Alex Sopp, flute
Hideaki Aomori, reeds
Nadia Sirota, Viola

Nadia Sirota

This approach intersects with that of the Ecstatic Music Festival, which is in its second season at Merkin Concert Hall. Judd Greenstein, the festival’s curator, prizes yMusic’s open ears.”

See the full article here.

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ANTHONY TOMMASINI
December 9, 2011

“If the composer Elliott Carter had been able only to attend a concert in celebration of his 103rd birthday, that would have been remarkable enough. But on Thursday night, Mr. Carter, who turns 103 on Sunday, was not only in the audience at the 92nd Street Y for a tribute presented by a top-notch roster of musicians under the artistic direction of the cellist Fred Sherry, but he had also written five works this year that were included in the program.”

Two views from very different times

See the full article here.

This article is copyright protected, so just a couple of notes.

“…the world of young, inventive and often populist composers is exploding…These young composers may hold the key to classical music’s future, and the future they create might not be what you expect. Increasingly they have come to consider the machinations of the big-ticket musical organizations — and debates about how to get them to accommodate new music — as beside the point….”

This article is an in depth look at the new serious music universe. This universe includes the new composers themselves, their record labels (or the lack of them) and the venues which they find amenable to their musical pursuits. Among the labels mentioned are “…New Amsterdam, Cantaloupe and Tzadik, all composer run and stylistically freewheeling….” To this list, I might add Innova, from American Composers Forum, St Paul, MN.

Among the venues we find Le Poisson Rouge, Cornelia Street Café, Galapagos, The Stone, Issue Project Room, Roulette, all in New York City. Composers noted in the article include Nico Muhly, Missy Mazzoli, Du Yun, Judd Greenstein, Caleb Burhans, and Bryce Dessner. The only groups I saw noted were ETHEL and Victoire. But others which might have been included are ACME, ICE, yMusic, eighth blackbird, and itsnotyouitsme.

Not at all mentioned in the article (if I missed it, I hope that someone will correct me), is New York Public Radio’s 24/7 New Music web stream Q2. This stream takes these and other composers and musicians out to a wide world, with an international listenership. A stand-out at Q2 is the work of Nadia Sirota. She hosts a four hour program which includes several themes, e.g, Hope Springs Atonal. Her program streams at noon and midnight. Two other standout focused programs are Hammered! which is concerned with keyboard music, and The New Canon.Also important to the success of what has been called “New Music” are two programs on WNYC, New York Public Radio’s original outlet service. For thirty years, John Schaefer has been bringing new composer to the public on the nightly program New Sounds. For a somewhat shorter time, we have been able to hear them on John’s other program, Soundcheck.

Something that I personally would like to see added into the mix for New Music would be the advent of long form music videocast. The best examples I can cite for this are three videos produced by and for ICE, which were made available at Q2. Just to give one example, the music of Steve Lehman in a 46 minute video can be found here. I just actually searched this up also at Google Video here. Both of these examples are free to the public.But, I would personally like to see these videos made available at the music groups’ web sites, based upon a membership fee for a user id and password, and then some sort of fee, maybe $5 or $10 as a “ticket” price. This would greatly universalize the availability of musical experience to populations living no where near to actual concert events. To whit: ICE just did a heavily promoted concert in Chicago. But, I am in New Jersey. I might be very interested in that musical experience. So, if it were made available from a videocast archive, and if I was registered with ICE, I could pay a small “ticket” price and have that experience.

This is a huge and important article. The items I note as missing from the article do not in any way diminish its thesis or importance. See the full article here.

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Wadada Leo Smith

“(Thursday and next Friday) A few days ahead of his 70th birthday, the fiercely creative trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith presides over an extravagant survey of his music, featuring new music for several distinct ensembles a night…At 8 p.m., Roulette, 509 Atlantic Avenue, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, (917) 267-0363, roulette.org; $15, $10 for members and students. (Nate Chinen)”

See the full article here.

Three Cheers for Boyd Lee Dunlop

This is copyright protected, so just a riff.

Boyd Lee Dunlop

Kevin Sack
December 9, 2011

“For years, the donated piano sat upright and unused in a corner of the nursing home’s [the Delaware Nursing and Rehabilitation Center] cafeteria…Then came a new resident, a musician in his 80s with a touch of forgetfulness named Boyd Lee Dunlop, and he could play a little. Actually, he could play a lot, his bony fingers dancing the mad dance of improvised jazz in a way that evoked a long life’s all…Boyd Lee Dunlop, 85, is the featured performer at a concert on Saturday night at the Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center in downtown Buffalo. Admission is $10. And if you want to buy his debut CD, that will cost you another $15….”

This is a really great story. See the full article here.

This is copyright protected, so just a couple of notes.

NATE CHINEN
November 29, 2011

“The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts said on Tuesday that the pianist and composer Jason Moran has been appointed its new artistic adviser for jazz. Mr. Moran, 36, is the second person to hold that post, which had been vacant since the death last year of Billy Taylor, the venerable pianist and educator who began advising the Kennedy Center in 1994.

Jason Moran

The responsibilities of artistic adviser extend to the development of jazz programming at the Kennedy Center, which operates its own jazz club as well as a regular concert series.

Mr. Moran, who was named a MacArthur Fellow last year, hails from a younger generation than Taylor, and has a more progressive reputation. He has worked often with arts institutions outside the jazz realm, receiving commissions from the Dia Art Foundation and the Walker Art Center, among others, and collaborating with contemporary performance and visual artists.

See the full article here.

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Piano Jazz has been one of the mainstay programs at NPR since 1979.

“Marian McPartland, the jazz pianist, is stepping down as the host of the “Piano Jazz” after more than three decades on the air, said a spokeswoman for NPR, Anna Christopher…[she] will stay on as the artistic director of the show…For now, the baton will be passed to Mr. [Jon] Weber, a jazz pianist from Chicago. He has recorded 13 new shows which will begin airing in the first week of January. Mr. Weber’s program will no longer be called “Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz,” but will be re-titled “Piano Jazz Rising Stars.” Mr. Weber will perform duets with guests and then interview them, just as Ms. McPartland has done with aplomb for years.”

Marian McPartland

Jon Weber

See thew full notice here.

Nico Muhly is one of today’s most important composers.

This article is copyright protected, so just a few notes.

By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER
Published: November 4, 2011

Nico Muhly

“Mr. Muhly, 30, whose high-profile commissions include a work for the Metropolitan Opera, said that as a gay man he is particularly interested in the government’s role in personal relationships. He explores a longstanding fascination with polygamy in his chamber opera “Dark Sisters,” a story of a polygamist family in a Mormon offshoot whose children are removed by state officials concerned about child abuse.”

See the full article here.

This is copyright protected, so just a couple of notes.

Steve Smith
October 28, 2011
Gather Online, Compose Globally, Perform Locally

“…online connectivity can still manifest itself in stimulating ways. The American Contemporary Music Ensemble, a k a ACME, offered evidence in its performance on Tuesday evening at Joe’s Pub…More than 200 composers from around the world applied to have works performed by ACME….”

ACME is from left to right:Yuki Nomat, Caroline Shaw, Clarice Jensen, and Nadia Sirota

See the full article here.

Nadia Sirota is, of course, the host of Nadia Sirota on Q2, a four hour exploartion of New Music which streams Monday-Friday at noon and midnight.

This is copyright protected, so, New Music fans, I will just head you in the right direction.

Steve Smith
October 18, 2011

Eighth Blackbird From left, Yvonne Lam, Lisa Kaplan, Nicholas Photinos and Michael J. Maccaferri performing in Miller Theater at Columbia University on Saturday night as part of the SONiC festival.

Eighth Blackbird is:

Tim Munro, flutes
Michael J. Maccaferri, clarinets
Yvonne Lam, violin & viola
Nicholas Photinos, cello
Matthew Duvall, percussion+
Lisa Kaplan, piano

The full group.

“Eighth Blackbird, a polished, personable, routinely dazzling sextet [the graphic only includes four of the players], has never bound its repertory so rigidly; included in its swelling canon are staples by Schoenberg and Boulez…Still, the ensemble, which played on Saturday evening in Columbia University’s Miller Theater in the festival’s second event, has never lacked for fresh pieces by emerging artists.”

See the full article here.

You can hear Eighth Blackbird often on Q2 the 24 hour New Music stream from New York Public Radio.