Pittsburgh New Music Net

Happy New Year to all of you who faithfully read this blog!

If it seems as though the new music scene has been a little feast or famine this season, well then prepare to feast! 2010 gets underway in grand style starting this Saturday night at the Warhol when Music on the Edge hosts ICE (the International Contemporary Ensemble). And to make things just perfect, the high on Saturday is supposed to be a whopping 16º! (Is it too late for them to change their name to BALMY?)

The following week includes concerts by the Polish Cultural Council presenting Zygmunt Krauze at Frick Fine Arts Auditorium (January 13), Alia Musica Pittsburgh’s winter chamber music concert at Chatham University (January 14), and on January 18, the Emerson Quartet performing music by Ives, Janacek, Barber, and Shostokovich. While the Emerson concert isn’t new music per se, it’s hard for me to imagine anyone appreciating this program more than the new music community.

That’s what I know of for January; you can find more details at the Events Calendar. I’ll begin posting events for the rest of the winter and spring soon, so as always, if you have info about an upcoming performance, do tell.

James Laughlin Music Center, Chatham University
Tickets are $12 at the door, or $10 for students, seniors, and in advance online at www.alia-musica.org/tickets

Centered around Morton Feldman’s 1951 piece Projections II (for trumpet, flute, violin, cello, and piano), Alia Musica will perform its first concert of 2010 (the third event in its 2009-10 season) on Thursday January 14th, at 7pm, at the James Laughlin Music Center of Chatham University in Shadyside.

The program also includes music for 2 and 3 performers by Mark Fromm, Ivan Jimenez, Federico Garcia, Matthew Heap, Ayo Oluranti, and new composer member Lenny Young. Also featured is Pittsburgh-native guest composer Chris Catone, whose Le Mirlitone, for flute and fixed electronics, will be given its Pittsburgh premiere by flutist Kerrith Livengood.

For more information visit Alia Musica Pittsburgh’s home page.

Update: This concert begins at 7 p.m.

It really is a great weekend for Pittsburgh’s new music scene, and Im not just saying that. IonSound Project makes their New York debut on the Phoenix Concerts on Friday night at 8 p.m. in the Church of Saint Matthew and Saint Timothy, so if you’re in the New York area and reading this, come out and support IonSound. And just because we’re exporting one of our finest new music groups for the weekend, it doesn’t mean there isn’t some excellent music to be heard in the Burgh. Loop 2.4.3 plays at Garfield Artworks Friday at 10 p.m., and Friday afternoon also marks the beginning of a two-day Sounds of Africa Music Festival at Chatham University. The festival will explore contemporary African composition through panel discussions and performances. You can find out about the local concerts on the Events Calendar.

James Laughlin Music Hall

Chatham University will celebrate the Global Focus Year of West Africa at the Sounds of Africa Music Festival, Friday, October 2 and Saturday, October 3. Pauline Rovkah, professor of music and the festival director, has assembled Pittsburgh’s finest music scholars and musicians for an incredible weekend of free events in the James Laughlin Music Hall. For more information contact Pauline Rovkah at 412-365-1676 or rovkah@chatham.edu.

Friday, October 2, 4:00 p.m.

“Jazz Imaginings of Africa: Aesthetics, Memory, and the African Cultural Continuum”

This talk will include discussion and performance of select jazz composers’ works, which demonstrate the creative connections between traditional African music and modern jazz.

Dr. Kenan Foley, professor of music

Dr. Anicet Mundundu, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), is an expert in traditional and contemporary music from the central African region

Immediately following: Trio performance featuring Dr. Mundundu

——

Saturday, October 3, 2:00-4:30 p.m.

“Composition in Africa: Transmission and Reception” (Panel discussion, 2:00-3:00)

Moderator: Dr. Margit Hawelleck

Dr. Akin Euba, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Music, University of Pittsburgh

Dr. Kenan Foley

Mr Charles Lwanga

Dr. Eric Moe, composer and pianist, professor of music, University of Pittsburgh

Dr. Anicet Mundundu

Mr. Ayo Oluranti

Chamber Music Concert

Works by African composers: Kwabena Nketia, Akin Euba, Vindu Bangambula, Joshua Uzoigwe, Ayodamope Oluranti.

Performers: Kelly Lynch, Eric Moe, Roger Zahab, Robert Frankenberry, Oye

Dosunmu, Ayodamope Oluranti, Richard Page*, Pauline Rovkah, Alia Musica Sextet

*Principal Bass Clarinet of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

Walter Morales sums it up perfectly in a note he sent me:

You are not going to believe this, but there is a third event featuring new music on Sunday night in this town. We need to have more alternative realities to be able to go to everything!!!

Kelly and Walter perform music by Berg, Vali, Griffes, and R. Strauss at Chatham’s James Laughlin Music Center Sunday night at 7 p.m. Details about this and all the other upcoming concerts (at least I think so) on the Events Calendar.

Chatham University’s James Laughlin Music Center

Soprano Kelly Fiona Lynch and pianist Walter Morales present a unique recital of music of Alban Berg, Reza Vali (World Premiere), Charles Griffes and Richard Strauss. The program includes Berg’s Seven Early Songs, Vali’s “Being of Love”, Folk Songs No. 16 (in its piano version premiere), Griffes’ “Three Poems of Fiona MacLeod”,and Strauss’ “Four Last Songs”. Kelly performed Judith Weir’s King Harald Saga in several locations around town last year.

Chatham University Art and Design Center, 3rd Floor
FREE!

Pittsburgh New Music Net welcomes Michael Boyd, Assistant Professor of Composition, Theory, and History at Chatham University.

On Saturday, December 6 Michael and the Bay Players Experimental Music Collective will present an exciting and diverse program of improvisation, live electronics, theater, and innovative uses of text. For additional information contact: mboyd@chatham.edu, 412-365-1201.