Pittsburgh New Music Net

The Inn in Lawrenceville
Door: $10 adults / $8 students and seniors
Discounts available in advance at www.alia-musica.org

Alia Musica Pittsburgh presents The Gemini Duo and thingNY in an evening of new music and art on June 15 at The Inn in Lawrenceville. The performances by the two visiting ensembles will be set against a new, large group exhibition titled Disambiguate at The Inn’s Butler Street gallery space curated by Stephen Tuomala and Sarah Humphrey.

The Gemini Duo (Jubal Fulks and Lauren Varley) offers a program of new works for violin and horn, including the premiere of two new works: Locus, by Alia Musica’s John Arrigo-Nelson, and Groundings, by New York composer Joseph DiPonio.

Jeff Young and Paul Pinto of the experimental music ensemble thingNY perform their engaging and dynamic two-man opera, Jeff Young and Paul Pinto, Patriots, Run for Office on a Platform of Swift and Righteous Immigration Reform, Lots of Jobs, and a Healthy Environment: An Opera by Paul Pinto and Jeff Young.

Come and check out The Inn’s fantastic new space; mingle, eat, drink, and be a part of this exciting art happening!

The Inn is located at 5601 Butler Street in Pittsburgh (Lawrenceville) 15201.  The event will take place on the second floor (stairs only; no elevator).

I’ve been so busy putting together the video interviews with Robert Dick that I’ve neglected a couple things that are happening real soon.

First off, there’s a noise/post-rock/ambient… show happening at Garfield Artworks featuring Aidan Baker and Insect Ark (AKA Dana Schecter) happening at Garfield Artworks TONIGHT at 8 p.m., so check it out if you can.

Second, in between his performances with Alia Musica, Robert Dick is giving a free lecture at Pitt on Friday at 4 p.m. It’s titled Successful Composition with Extended Techniques, sumpin’ he knows a little about. Come on over to Pitt to hear him.

In the second part of my conversation with Robert he talks about his solo recital (Thursday, April 4) and his concert with Alia Musica on Saturday, April 6  when he will perform his newly revised version of his 1986 Meristem. It’s fascinating to hear him talk about the flute as a “human powered synthesizer.”

The legendary Robert Dick is coming to Pittsburgh this week for two concerts with Alia Musica Pittsburgh. Robert was kind enough to Skype with me last week and I’ve posted the first of two parts of that interview below. Robert says many wonderful things in the course of our conversation, but what you really want to know is: how does one accurately shoot projectiles from the flute? Yes, you will find out.

Bricolage
Tickets:  $15 at the door, $10 students, $5 children.
Two-event pass, $20
Buy in advance and save!

Robert Dick plays bass flute. Photo: Scott Friedlander

April 4, Robert presents a solo recital featuring his own compositions. Incorporating live electronics, his signature Glissando Headjoint, and the monster contrabass flute, this event is can’t-miss.

April 6, Robert joins Alia Musica for our Spring 2013 concert. We perform Robert Dick’s concerto for flute and small ensemble, Meristem, and premiere a new work by Pulitzer Prize Finalist Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon. Don’t miss performances of music by Federico Garcia, Nissim Schaul, and Luciano Berio.

With equally deep roots in classical music old and new and in free improvisation and new jazz, Robert Dick has established himself as an artist who has not only mastered, but but redefined the flute.  Known worldwide for creating revolutionary visions of the flute’s musical role, listening to Robert Dick play solo has been likened to the experience of hearing a full orchestra.  His performances typically include flute (with his invention, the Glissando Headjoint®) piccolo, alto flute, and bass flutes in C and F.  On special occasions, he’ll bring out the giant, stand-up contrabass flute.

“Dick held the audience in rapt attention with his spellbinding virtuosity”
- Washington Post

“There are few musicians that are truly revolutionary. Robert Dick is one of them.”
- Bill Shoemaker, JazzTimes

Like most of you, I am shocked — shocked I say! — that today is Friday, and though I am a huge fan of the three day work week, I must share with you this startling fact: Alia Musica Pittsburgh’s concert featuring Freya String Quartet and the the Arabesque Winds is only two days away! Two days! It’s a great program that will present works by your favorite Alia Musica composers along with some modern classics by Martinu and Ligeti. The concert is taking place at Chatham University at 7 pm in James Laughlin Center for Music. Tickets are available from Showclix (as well they should be). Here’s the complete info.

None of which is even the best part. As many of you already know, Federico Garcia, director of Alia Musica, was in an automobile accident over the holiday, which required life flight and neck surgery. But I’m happy to say that Federico is healing well and will be at the concert on Sunday. So do make it out if possible and be sure to mention to Federico how glad you are that he is on the mend.

Chatham University, James Laughlin Recital Hall
Tickets

Alia Musica Pittsburgh presents nationally touring Arabesque Winds and Pittsburgh’s own Freya String Quartet. Both groups team up to perform works by Alia Musica member composers, along with classics by Gyorgy Ligeti and Bohuslav Martinu.

Program:

Bohuslav Martinu — Nonet (violin, viola and bass plus woodwind quintet)
Federico Garcia — Nocturne (string quartet)
Matt Heap — Neo (string quartet)
Ivan Jimenez — lunar park and green (oboe and bassoon plus string quartet)
Lenny Young — Augury (woodwind quintet)
Gyorgy Ligeti — Sechs Bagatellen (woodwind quintet)

Molly Joyce is a young up-and-coming Pittsburgh-borned-and-raised composer. She’s studying composition at Julliard since 2011, and her music is getting a lot of attention around the country… ensembles, blogs, audiences, etc. Her piece Dollhouse was selected as one of the 5 finalists in the PNME/Alia Musica 2012-13 Competition, so it’s part of the program in Alia Musica’s concert Friday (Kresge Hall, 7:30, $15/12).

I had a nice talk with her last Friday. We had ‘skyped her in’ for one of the rehearsals, so we thought, why not have a conversation about things? Here’s some of it, check it out:

Kresge Theatre
Tickets

ALIA MUSICA Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble announce a concert of music by Pittsburgh-related composers Molly Joyce, David Liptak, David Stock, Sean Neukom, and James Ogburn. The concert will be held on Friday November 16, 7:30pm at Carnegie Mellon University’s Kresge Theatre.

In a joint, two-phase production supported in part by The Heinz Endowments and The Pittsburgh Foundation, the two organizations invited submissions from composers anywhere who could demonstrate a connection to Pittsburgh. Out of nearly 50 eligible scores, directors Kevin Noe and Federico Garcia selected five of the pieces to be featured as finalists in the first phase of the competition—the Finalists Concert, where the Alia Musica ensemble will perform the five compositions.

The program includes two world premieres, by Sean Neukom and David Stock, and Pittsburgh premieres by David Liptak and Molly Joyce.  The program features ensembles between 5 and 15 performers.

After the concert, a winner will be chosen by the artistic directors and other staff members from Alia Musica and the PNME. The composer of the winning piece will be commissioned for a new piece for the PNME, to be premiered in their upcoming season in phase 2 of the joint competition. Input from the audience will be also be recognized through an Audience Choice Award.

The concert will be followed by a reception at a local restaurant to be announced, where audience members are invited to join the musicians and the five composers, all of whom will be present.

The finalists

David Liptak, composition faculty at the prestigious Eastman School of Music, wrote Passing of Memory in 2003 for Steven Stucky (the 2011-12 PSO Composer in Residence) and Ensemble X, who premiered it in Ithaca in the same year. Scored for woodwinds, trumpet, piano, two percussionists, and string quintet, the piece has also been performed and recorded by Brad Lubman and Eastman’s Musica Nova.

Pittsburgh-native Molly Joyce is a composition student at Julliard since 2011. Already featured by Alia Musica in the Spring of 2011, her recent piece Dollhouse, for chamber orchestra, is the result of a commission from up-and-coming ensemble Contemporaneous.  Joyce’s piece has added to the increasing attention her music is drawing among specialized media, including blogs I Care if you Listen and Prufock’s Dilemma, which featured the work in September 2012.

James Ogburn’s Centric was one of the 11 world premieres in Alia Musica Pittsburgh’s inaugural 2007 concert. One of the earliest pieces still in the ensemble’s repertory, it is scored for woodwinds, vibraphone, piano, violin and cello. Mr. Ogburn has acted as head of the Composition Department at Bangkok University in Thailand since 2010.

Pittsburgh’s legendary David Stock will have his new quintet Five Four-Letter Words premiered by the Alia Musica Chamber Players in the Finalists Concert. Scored for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and percussion, the five-movement piece is a musical realization of five particularly suggestive words: Step, Wisp, Chip, Heat, and Spin.

Sean Neukom is the founder of Symbiotic Collusion, the pioneering arts-and-music business associated, among others, with the Freya String Quartet. At 7.1, to be premiered in the Finalists Concert, stemmed from an original composition for string quartet—most recently performed by Freya in the Hear/Now Festival in 2012—now re-imagined and re-scored for clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, marimba, violin and double-bass. The fast-paced piece is elevated by contemplative passages, where part of the ensemble is called to sustain a minor second in four crystal glasses.

Alia Musica/PNME Commission Competition Finalists’ Concert

Kresge Theater, College of Fine Arts, Carnegie Mellon University

Friday November 16, 2012, 7:30pm

Tickets at the door: $15 ($12 for students/seniors).

Discount advance purchase: $10 available at www.alia-musica.org

Sean Neukom - At 7.1 (premiere)

David Stock - Five Four-letter Words (premiere)

David Liptak - Passing of Memory

- intermission -

James Ogburn - Centric

Molly Joyce - Dollhouse

- reception to follow with the finalist composers

Performance by Alia Musica Pittsburgh, conducted by Federico Garcia

Details, tickets, and directions at www.alia-musica.org

Watching the Stillers, streaming the Veep debate, and blogging new music in the Burgh. Hey! James Harrison just sacked Paul Ryan!

Great concerts coming up this week starting with the first installment on IonSound Project’s “Music for Humans and Robots,” a recital by Donna Amato and Warren Davidson featuring music of Carson Cooman, Johanna Ballou playing Rzewski, and the Carnegie Mellon Contemporary Music Ensemble.

There’s a lot more coming soon from Alia Musica, ELCO, Music on the Edge and much more, so stay tuned.