PNME premieres Nytch’s new commission on Friday, July 29 & Saturday, July 30 at City Theatre (1300 Bingham, the South Side). Both concerts start at 8PM. Complete details are at www.pnme.org.

PNME premieres Rosenblum’s new commission on Friday, July 22 & Saturday, July 23 at City Theatre (1300 Bingham, the South Side). Both concerts start at 8PM. Complete details are at www.pnme.org.

The next Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble concerts are Friday, July 15 and Saturday, July 16. The program features Schwanter, Xenakis, Hartke, Gilda Lyons, Stucky, Romantini, and MacMillan.

Jem Finer explains the score for Shortplayer.

There are not many people in the world who can be considered punk legends and masters of algorithmic composition, but Jem Finer is definitely one of them. One of the founders of legendary Celtic Punk band The Pogues, Finer is also the composer of Longplayer, a process composition for singing bowls that will play for 1,000 years before repeating.

On Friday, October 1, Pittsburgh will become the only city between London and San Francisco to host a Longplayer listening post. Thanks to the tireless efforts of Justin Hopper and the artistic vision of Wood Street Galleries, Pittsburgh’s Longplayer listening post will be be active, at Wood Street Galleries, through December 31.

Wood Street Galleries will inaugurate the listening post with a concert featuring the premiere of Shortplayer, a composition that uses a similar process as Longplayer, but with a one hour duration. Shortplayer will be performed by Finer and Roger Dannenberg on trumpets, Mark Fromm, Ben Opie, and Brandon Masterman on Reeds, Lou Stellute on tenor sax, and Roger Day on Tuba. Dave Bernabo played a major role in organizing the ensemble.

Jem Finer was kind enough to talk with me at Wood St. about Longplayer, Shortplayer, and some of the significant connections he sees between his process oriented compositions and his work with The Pogues. It’s fascinating to hear him describe his thoughts about each of these projects, and I know you’ll enjoy what he has to say.

Missy Mazzoli, a New York composer, comes to Pittsburgh with her group Victoire for their first performance outside of NYC.  I interviewed her via Skype to talk about the group, the music, genre, and women in music, among other things.

Listen to Victoire’s A Door into the Dark here.

Check out Matt Marks’s video I Don’t Have Any Fun here.

PNME premieres McGowan’s new commission on Friday, July 30 & Saturday, July 31 at City Theatre (1300 Bingham, the South Side). Both concerts start at 8PM. Complete details are at www.pnme.org.

L-R: Kevin Noe, Lindsey J. Goodman, Nathalie Shaw, Norbert Lewandowski, Conor Hanick

On July 14 I had the very enjoyable opportunity to talk with several outstanding musicians of the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble. We covered a lot of ground, including their vision for the venerable Pittsburgh ensemble, the challenges of the summer schedule, harsh financial realities the organization faces, the nature of multimedia performance, and the occasional bits of fun they are able to squeeze in during their few available breaks. It probably comes as no surprise that these artists, so obviously thoughtful and energetic when it comes to their performance, are just as thoughtful and energetic when it comes to discussing their art.

I’ve split the video up into two segments to appease the YouTube gods. A small caveat that during the first few minutes of Part I there were some unwanted bleeps and bloops from the second camera as we were adjusting settings, so apologies. It goes away pretty quickly and the content was too good for me to cut it out. I’d attribute the problems to blogging on a shoestring budget, but that would imply the existence of a budget, so, ya know… In any case, I’m sure you will enjoy hearing what your PNME musicians have to say about the amazing music they bring to our city.

PNME’s summer season continues through the end of July, so check it out. And remember that “first limers” get in free!

Part I: Musical Challenges, A Typical Day, Hopes for the Future

Part II: Financial Challenges, Multimedia, Having Fun

On Friday, July 16, 2010, On Fillmore will bring their unique style of music to the Warhol Museum.  I’m not exactly sure what to call it: extremely slow jazz, soundtrack music, haunting music.  Since I’m hardly a writer, I won’t need to worry about inventing a term for what they do.  But it would be wise for you to check it out.

The duo of percussionist Glenn Kotche (Wilco, Loose Fur) and bassist Darin Gray (Grand Ulena, Jim O’Rourke) have concocted an incredible sound world on their latest record, Extended Vacation, which is full of creeping vibraphone and bass lines, homemade percussion, and man-made bird calls.  While on the record marching bands and dirty percussion blast against the somber vibe/bass lines, the duo will strip it down to pitched and unpitched percussion and upright bass.  Pieces from all three of their records will be performed.

On Fillmore @ The Warhol Museum
July 16, 2010 8pm-10pm
Tickets $12, call 412.237.8300 for more information

I had the pleasure to interview Darin Gray and the audio artifact is below.

On the compositional process, juxtaposed rhythms, and the live set up

On guest Dede Sampaio and his bird calls

On homemade instruments and implements

On soundtracks and recent musical interests

Watch the video for “Master Moon” from the lp Extended Vacation: “Master Moon” by On Fillmore on Vimeo.

For more information: www.onfillmore.com

For more information on the show at The Warhol: http://www.warhol.org/calendar/events_detail.php?eventID=1934&dateYear=2010&dateMonth=7&dateDate=16