Pittsburgh New Music Net

This Saturday, March 13, marks the last occasion to see the very unique HiTEC, an ensemble of Pittsburgh musicians and performers utilizing instruction pieces, chance, improvisation, theatrics, and a giant spinning Wheel-of-Fortune. Intrigued? Well, you should be and you probably come to this event, because it is literally your last chance to see the act. Extensive detail below…

HiTEC (Histrionic Thought Experiment Cooperative),
the experimental orchestra founded by
tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
will present its last ‘UNCERT’ (Uncertainty Concert), Saturday, March 13, 2010,
8PM (doors open 7:30PM), at the Kresge Recital Hall
in the CFA (Center for Fine Arts) at CMU (Carnegie Mellon University)
- $6.00 suggested donation, free to CMU students.

HiTEC has previously publicly presented the talents of:

tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE: piano, SysMan, electronics, percussion, spinner
Ben Opie – reeds, electronics
Kenny Haney: clarinets
Unfinished Symphonies: electronic keyboard
Hyla Willis: amplified erhu
Jonathan Brodfsky: monome with mabalhabla software
Spat Cannon: upright acoustic bass
Johan Nystrom: extended percussion
Joy Toujours: electric guitar w/ nylon strings, violin
Roger Dannenberg: trumpet, flugelhorn, piccolo trumpet
William Wedler: Experiment 1
Ben Harris: violin
Dani Simmonds: banjo-uke
James Gyre: drums
Tony Balko: camcorder
Julian Krishnamurti: electric bass
David Bernabo: electric guitar
Red Bob Jungkunz: drums
Kerrith Livengood: alto flute
Josh Beyer: cello
Mike Tamburo: hammered dulcimer
Erok: trombone
Mike Kasunic: synthesizer, flute, percussion
Missi St Pierre: toy piano w/ effects
Stuart Anderson: laptop

& will introduce, for this occasion:

Spencer Rafael Diaz: camcorder
Gina Ketter: 5 string electric viola

Videos of HiTEC can be seen online @:

For Tony Balko’s 16mm footage of HiTEC
(Histrionic Thought Experiment Cooperative) ’s beginning
of our 21st rehearsal on September 14, 2008EV:

For the beginning of my documentary of HiTEC’s premier gig:

A soft focus high-definition wide-angle shot of a short excerpt
from the 1/9/9 premier of HiTEC at the New Hazlett Theater:

For the HiTEC movie that also features Ian Page’s
The End of Television project + Sound/Unsound Trio & the Valentine Trio:

The 1st day of HiTEC @ the Visionary Arts Festival
(& days leading up to it):

Carnegie Mellon’s Wind Ensemble presents a lively program featuring two world premieres: Professor Marilyn Taft Thomas’ Snapshots of a Great City (transcription by director Denis Colwell), and Scatterbrain by composition student Alex Weston (BFA ‘11). Other contemporary works will include Ticheli’s Blue Shades, Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments, Whitacre’s October, and High Flight, a high energy piece commissioned by the U.S. Air Force Band. The concert begins at 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 24 in Oakland’s Carnegie Music Hall.

Tickets are $5 for general admission and can be purchased in advance online at http://music.cmu.edu. College students w/valid ID receive FREE admission!

Hear world premieres by three acclaimed Carnegie Mellon student composers this Wednesday, February 24 at 8 p.m. in Oakland’s Carnegie Music Hall. Along with guest conductors Tobias Volkmann and Jan Pellant, music director Ronald Zollman will lead the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic in this concert of original music that also will feature concertmaster Emma Steele on Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor.

Tickets are $5 general admission, $4 senior citizens and free to all students with ID. Visit music.cmu.edu for more information.

On the Saturday morning that Snowmageddon unleashed its fury on the region I had the pleasure of video chatting with flutist extraordinaire Lindsey J. Goodman about her upcoming Music on the Edge recital at the Warhol. Well known to local new music audiences for her exquisite performances with the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Lindsey will share a recital with Anthony Coleman on February 27. She’ll perform three pieces for flute and electroacoustics—by Mathew Rosenblum, Jacob Ter Veldhuis and Russell Pinkston—and the world premiere of a solo flute piece by Grant Cooper. In the following audio interview, Lindsey talks about the different pieces on the program, her love for electroacoustic elements, and what she looks for when she’s thinking about tackling a new piece. She also gives a little preview on the upcoming PNME season.

As always, I encourage you to listen to the whole interview.

Full Interview

And here are some excerpts from the full interview. First of all, I asked Lindsey to describe what was on her program.

“…some of my favorite pieces…”

When I asked Lindsey about how her affinity for electroacoustic elements developed, her thoughts ranged from being able to perform “chamber music for one person” to how this genre is particularly relevant to our technological society.

“Electroacoustic music is completely relevant to our society”

Russell Pinkston’s Lizamander is for flute and MaxMSP and Lindsey discussed both the intense satisfaction and the risks of working with live signal processing.

“…the world’s most perfect flute section…”

Finally, Lindesy gave us a preview of the upcoming PNME season as well as some her new projects which include concerto performances and (maybe, possibly) recording projects.

Preview of Coming Attractions

For details about the concert visit Music on the Edge at www.music.pitt.edu/mote.

Andy Druckenbrod interviews Mason Bates in anticipation of this weekends PSO concerts.

I recently sat down with Pittsburgh music power couple Patrick Burke and Emily Pinkerton. Patrick teaches composition and theory at Duquesne and is a member of the New York-based NOW Ensemble and Emily is well known as a singer-songwriter for her unique blend of American and Chilean folk music (she also has great operatic chops, but that’s a story for another time).  Emily and Patrick are collaborating on a new piece for NOW called Red Rocking Chair, based on an Appalachian folk song by the same name (also known as “Sugar Babe”), and the new work will be premiered by now at NYC’s North River Music series on February 25. Red Rocking Chair combines Emily’s crystal-clear voice and nimble banjo picking with the existing NOW instrumentation. The video below includes Patrick and Emily talking about the process of composing the work as well as a preview of the piece. I think you’ll really enjoy it, and if you’re an ex pat Burgher in New York, be sure to catch NOW on February 25.

Hear world premieres by four up-and-coming Carnegie Mellon student composers this Wednesday, February 17 at 8 p.m. in Oakland’s Carnegie Music Hall. Along with guest conductors Tobias Volkmann and Jan Pellant, music director Ronald Zollman will lead the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic in this concert of original music that also will feature soprano Danielle Messina on Barber’s classic Knoxville, Summer of 1915.

Tickets are $5 general admission, $4 senior citizens and free to all students with ID. Visit music.cmu.edu for more information.

PSO bassonist David Sogg asked me to post the following announcement about the Music Narratives concert at the Warhol tonight, which I am more than happy to do.

The Concert is ON!

Tonight at 8:00 pm at The Andy Warhol Museum, members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra WILL present…

Musical Narratives

The music—Stravinsky & Kander—is hot. Kurt Vonnegut’s words are searing. Electrifying performances by Martin Giles and fellow actors bring you a hilarious black comedy that places Stravinsky’s music in an entirely new light.

The snow may go on, … the SHOW definitely WILL go on.

Tickets are $15 at the door, cash or check. To place your name on the reserved tickets list, send an email to sogg@duq.edu with the word “tickets” in the subject line. In the message text, specify number of tickets requested (limit 2, please), along with your name. They will be held for you at the door until 10 minutes before the concert. For further information, call 412-361-5704.

See you there!

In case you haven’t heard, Joan Tower will be the PSO’s Composer of the Year for the 2010–11 season which will also include David Del Tredici’s Final Alice and a new bassoon concerto by Alan Fletcher. Here’s a an excerpt from the PSO’s season announcement.

Joan Tower, as the PSO’s 2010-2011 Composer of the Year, will have six of her works performed in subscription programs, including the world-premiere of an orchestral work commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and a clarinet concerto with Principal Clarinet Michael Rusinek as soloist. As Composer of the Year, Tower also participates in masterclasses with local university composition students, coachings, lectures, and other audience outreach. These activities are designed to familiarize listeners with her and her work, creating a connection between living composers and our audiences. The 2010-2011 BNY Mellon Grand Classics Season is the tenth year of the PSO’s Composer of the Year program.

In addition to the world-premiere of Tower’s new work, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will perform the world-premiere of a new piece by Alan Fletcher. The composer’s Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra features Principal Bassoon Nancy Goeres as soloist.    In total, there are eleven works this season that will receive a first performance by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. This includes concerts in November 2010, when Principal Guest Conductor Leonard Slatkin conducts the Orchestra in an all-American program comprised of music the PSO has never before performed. The program includes Tower’s Clarinet Concerto, Copland’s full ballet, Appalachian Spring and Bernstein’s Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront.

Looks like it’s gonna be a good season!

No surprise there as Pitt and CMU are both closed today. Stay tuned for information about when this concert will be rescheduled. With the premiere of a new work by Marilyn Taft Thomas, we’ll all be anxious to find out.

Assuming we thaw out eventually, there is a lot of new music on tap for the month of February and I’m still finding out about more events. I’ve also got some very cool interviews in the can that I’ll be posting imminently (i.e., as soon as I’ve finished editing them down): one with Emily Pinkerton and Patrick Burke about their collaborative composition for NOW and one with super flutist Lindsey J. Goodman about her upcoming recital with MOTE. So keep checking in right here and in the meantime, stay warm.