Synod Hall
Tickets

Alia Musica’s September 30 Conductors Festival will feature renowned contemporary music conductor Cliff Colnot and other guest conductors leading the ensemble. The works and composers are as follows:

Ivan Jimenez: Burning the Deep Red Sea — fl, ob, cl, bsn, pno, vib, harp, vl, cello — conducted by  Cliff Colnot

Federico Garcia: Pluribus — chamber orchestra — conducted by Jose Sanchez

Matthew Heap: Unraveling Conversations — fl, ob, cl, bsn, horn, tpt, tbn, stg quintet — conducted by Jordan Smith

Matthew Gillespie: Chiaroscuro — fl, cl, ob, bsn, tpt, pno, perc, stg quartet — conducted by Nicholas L. Baker

Kerrith Livengood : Song of the 144,000 — ob, cl, bsn, tpt, harp, pno, perc, vl, cello— conducted by Alexandra Arrieche

Mark Fromm: Harmonices Mundi — speaker, fl, ob, cl, bsn, harp, gtr, pno, vib, stg quartet — conducted by Cliff Colnot

Cliff Colnot will also give a lecture at Pitt at 1 p.m. on that same day, September 30. His talk is free and open to the public. Colnot regularly conducts the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), with whom he recently recorded Richard Wernick’s The Name of the Game for Bridge Records, and he collaborates regularly with the internationally acclaimed contemporary music ensemble eighth blackbird. Among many other appointments, Colnot has been principal conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s contemporary MusicNOW series since its inception and is principal conductor of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago since 1994. He has appeared as a guest conductor with the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Utah Symphony.

Beulah Presbyterian Church
2550 McCrady Road
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Free, Donations for the relief effort can be made at the door.

Anna Singer will join IonSound as featured guest artist for a special event to help raise money for the disaster victims in Alabama. The concert is free. Donations for the relief effort can be made at the door.

The program will include:

ZAHAB entelchronicity between six persons
CORIGLIANO Three Irish Folksongs
BRAHMS Clarinet Trio
KOLM Clarinet Trio
BRAHMS Wie melodien
DVORAK Song to the Moon

Gia Cacalano presents
THE SPACE UPSTAIRS

This Friday and Saturday, Gia Cacalano will premiere new pieces that combine choreography and improvisation in dance with music by vibraphonist Jeff Berman and (ahem) myself, David Bernabo.  The four dancers will do a few group pieces, some solos, and a very great duo.  We’ll be performing five pieces each night, and (if I can say so) it is turning out very nicely.  There is a nice article in this week’s Pittsburgh City Paper that discusses the motivations for the dance, so I’ll mention a few things about the music.  The first piece, which lasts roughly 30 minutes, combines electronic soundscapes, text, and freely improvised sections for vibraphone and amplified objects.  The electronic score was assembled from closed-circuit electronics that I recorded in 2004.  The text piece is a newer piece where each word is slowed down by 1% until the ending text is deep bass rumbling.  And of course, there is much more…

Hope to see you there.  Details below:

Friday, August 20 and Saturday, August 21, 2010
8PM, $12 students, $15 general admission
@ THE SPACE UPSTAIRS
214 N. Lexington St (above Construction Junction)
Point Breeze, Pittsburgh, PA
$15, $12 Students
More info: 4120758-3265

Gia Cacalano / Movement / Choreography / Concepts
Allie Greene / Movement
Jasmine Hearn / Movement
Beth Ratas / Movement
Jeff Berman / Vibraphone
David Bernabo / Electronics, Percussion

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):

“Last night the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Rules Committee sent a tax code bill to the full House of Representatives that does NOT include a sales tax on admissions to performances, museums, and zoos.  The bill does include some new revenue streams such as a tax on smokeless tobacco and a severance tax on natural gas.  This bill is a change to the handshake agreement that was reached on September 18, 2009 between Governor Rendell and leaders of 3 of the 4 legislative caucuses.”

What does this mean? Probably that the budget will continue to be in a stalemate for the foreseeable future and that we can expect to see more revenue raising proposals coming out of Harrisburg that are more suited for a story in The Onion, than a meaningful state budget. Citizens for the Arts in PA has helpful resources to continue to advocate for the arts, and if you haven’t signed up for their e-mail alerts, I recommend it.

Citizens for the Arts in PA has a great tool for quickly finding contact info for your legislators, so please call before 5 p.m. today.

“With Mr. Rendell insisting that the $27.9 billion budget proposal have more “recurring revenues,” leaders of three of the four General Assembly caucuses decided to eliminate the sales tax exemption for symphonies, ballets, operas and other performing arts, as well as for museums, historical sites, parks and zoos. The sales tax exemption will remain for tickets to sporting events and movies.“

Emphasis mine. Ugh.

The Honorable Representative Don Walko

Dear Sir,

I was very disappointed to hear that the PA Senate passed SB 850, a budget bill which includes no funding for Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grants. The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts is an indispensable source of funding to many of our state’s most important non-profit arts organizations and I urge you to support HB 1416 which includes 14 million for arts grants.

Since the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act many important steps have been taken to rebuild our nation’s transportation and energy infrastructure. But we must also rebuild our intellectual infrastructure if we are to meet the challenges that face us. Arts funding (along with funding for education and public broadcasting) is a critical component in equipping Pennsylvanians with creative, and intellectual vigor that will be required to solve the problems that lie ahead. 

I urge you to support HB 1416 that includes $14 million for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grants to arts organizations.

Sincerely,

Philip Thompson
Pittsburgh, PA