Pittsburgh New Music Net

Mark Kanny of the Tribune Review sums it up nicely here.

The Eclectic Laboratory Chamber Orchestra in rehearsal…we think…

So it’s shaped up to be a really interesting week for new music in the Burgh. Patrick Burke will make his debut as director of Duquesne’s Contemporary Ensemble this Thursday at PNC Recital Hall, The Outer Circle, a group formed by veterans of the local avant-garde improv scene, gives their debut concert on Friday at The Nerve, and Eclectic Laboratory Chamber Orchestra returns with another program that lives up to that band’s name on Sunday at Grey Box Theatre. Check out all the details on the Events Calendar, and as always, shoot me an e-mail if you have, or know of, something interesting going on.

The Nerve, (500 Dargan St.)
Donations accepted.

Pittsburgh composer/performers Ben Harris and Kerrith Livengood have formed The Outer Circle, a new group dedicated to improvisation and the open work. The group will give its inaugural concert on Friday, December 4 at The Nerve. Also in The Outer Circle are Aaron Brooks, Chuck Corey and Brandon Masterman. For their premiere performance The Outer Circle will perform music by Stockhausen, Marcus, Kim, Melissa St. Pierre, Kurt Koteheimer, Morton Feldman, David Bernabo, Aaron Brooks, Nathan Hall, and Pauline Oliveros.

Grey Box Theatre
3595 Butler Street, Lawrencville

Tickets: $5 students & artists  $10 all other
Ticket sales are cash only at the door the evening of the performance.

The ever-provocative Eclectic Laboratory Chamber Orchestra is backwith another genre-bending program.  This time ELCO blurs the lines between composer and performer, between composition and improvisation, and between “classical” and “popular” with three exciting, grooving modern classics:  Terry Riley’s In C, Frederic Rzewski’s Les moutons de Panurge, and Elliott Sharp’s SyndaKit.  Meridian Dreams, an ambient/trip-hop electronica project spearheaded by well-known producer/engineer Rae DiLeo, will provide a unique opening set.

The three pieces on ELCO’s set showcase noted American master composers whose work represents three distinct approaches to combining composed music with the influences of rock and jazz.  In C, by Terry Riley, inaugurated the genre known as minimalism with its unabashed tunefulness and relentless pulse.  Les moutons de Panurge, by Frederic Rzewski, takes its title from a novel by the French satirist Rabelais, and is a witty exploration of the limits of virtuosity.  SyndaKit, by Elliott Sharp, explores the relation between the group and the individual musician in a piece that nods equally to the composers studies with Morton Feldman and his days in the punk clubs of New York.

Rae DiLeo, who performs as Meridian Dreams, will be perform an opening set with video artist Hans Jensen.  Rae has performed throughout California and the southwest and has been a studio engineer for artists from Henry Rollins to Filter to Grandmaster Flash.

For additional information or to reserve a ticket contact elco.events@gmail.com or call 412-608-6120.
Visit us on the web at twitter.com/ELCO_concerts or join our Facebook fan page.

Bellefield Hall Auditorium
Tickets available at the door.

IonSound plays works that examine the different facets and stages of renewal including

Michael Torke’s After the Forest Fire
Libby Larsen’s Firebrand
and a new work by Pittsburgh area composer Jonathan Kolm

An exihibit featuring artists that work with recycled or renewable materials including local artists Amy Rappa and Lauren Braun will be on display.

PNC Recital Hall
$10 suggested donation

Patrick Burke will lead Duquesne’s Contemporary Ensemble in a concert including

Aria by Kevin Puts for violin and piano
Canzon by Judd Greenstein for euphonium and delay pedal
Sonnets/Unrealities, a text setting of e.e. cummings by Bjork
Mariel by Osvaldo Golijov for cello and marimba
Les Moutons de Panurge by Frederic Rzewski