Pittsburgh New Music Net

Way back in March of 2009 I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Imani Winds bassoonist and Pittsburgh native Monica Ellis. I was particularly interested in hearing about Imani’s Legacy Commissioning Project launched in 2007 to commemorate the ensemble’s 10^th Anniversary. Through the LCP, Imani has commissioned ten composers of color to create new works for wind quintet. Imani have been premiering the new works as they’ve been completed and, with the release of Terra Incognita, we can all begin to share in the fruit of this ambitious project.

Terra Incognita includes LCP commission Cane, a work by critically acclaimed jazz pianist Jason Moran. Cane traces the journey of Moran’s ancestors, brought as slaves from Togo to what is now Louisiana, and focuses in particular on the life of Marie Therese Coin Coin. Coin Coin’s master gave her her freedom after she had given birth to several of his children. A remarkably forward-thinking woman, Coin Coin was eventually able to establish her own plantation and purchase her children’s freedom as well.

Cane is infused with clave-like rhythms that locate the music within Coin Coin’s African roots. The rhythms are layered together and often create asymmetries that constantly push the music forward, and to my ears, portray Coin Coin’s irrepressible drive to make a better life for herself and her family.

As impressive an achievement as Cane is, it has plenty of good company on an album that also features legendary jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter’s title track composition Terra Incognita and Paquito D’Rivera’s Kites. Clarinetist D’Rivera and pianist Alex Brown join the quintet for Kites and contribute some of the album’s most direct forays into jazz. But what’s amazing about Terra Incognita as a whole is not how jazzy it is, but how these three outstanding composers explore the wind quintet as a creative medium. The results are refreshingly difficult to pin down in terms of generic influences and in this regard the album lives up to its name.

As I’ve said many times, Pittsburgh New Music Net isn’t about criticism (dangerous work that should be left safely in the hands of trained professionals), it’s about new music advocacy, and as such, I’m happy to tell you why I think a composer, performer, or composition are significant. Imani Winds have described the goals of the Legacy Commissioning Project as follows:

1. To introduce to audiences of all ages instruments that they may not have seen or heard before; and to show by example to African-America and Latino communities that there is a place in the Classical music world for them.
2. To champion the works of composers of under-represented cultures through diverse programming.
3. To expand the language and sonority of Classical contemporary music, so that it includes styles and techniques that are non-traditional to the genre

Those are important goals, and Terra Incognita is a significant and impressive step toward achieving those goals. While it’s appropriate to celebrate the recording of Cane as a milestone in the LCP, the album as whole embodies LCP goals. Most importantly, the success of the project can be seen in the extent to which the music regularly defies expectations, and in that regard, Terra Incognita is a place I think you’ll enjoy getting to know.

Terra Incognita drops on August 24. Here’s a video preview of the album.

Editor’s note: Many thanks to Patrick Burke and Missy Mazzoli for participating in our first ever (successfully recorded) video chat. We’ve been trying to work this feature into the blog  for a while now  and I can’t think of a better way to introduce it than the conversation that follows. Enjoy!

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

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

.

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

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

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

On guest Dede Sampaio and his bird calls

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

On homemade instruments and implements

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

On soundtracks and recent musical interests

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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

On Tuesday, March 30th, come see CAPA High School’s new music ensemble, Antithesis, perform alongside percussionist/composer Lukas Ligeti and Ben Opie (saxophonist of Opek and Thoth Trio) at Garfield Artworks, 4931 Penn Ave.  The concert begins at 7:30 pm and admission is $10, open to all ages.  Hope to see you there!

Featuring all Carnegie Mellon School of Music ensembles and select student and faculty soloists, the 2010 Collage Concert will be a feast for the senses! This 90-minute non-stop concert will keep audience members at the edge of their seats as performers appear and disappear from various positions within the concert hall. In one concert, experience the dazzling array of music produced at Carnegie Mellon, including Baroque, Classical, Contemporary, Vocal, Jazz and more in a single performance. Faculty soloists include violinist Cyrus Forough, soprano Laura Knoop Very, pianist Enrique Graf and PSO principal clarinet Michael Rusinek. You won’t want to miss this one-night-only extravaganza of sound produced by Carnegie Mellon’s School of Music and staged by acclaimed director and professor of drama, Gregory Lehane.

When:
8 p.m. Friday, February 12, 2010

Where:
Soldiers & Sailors Auditorium
4141 Fifth Avenue (in Oakland)
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Cost:
$15 general admission
$12 senior citizens
$10 students
Tickets can be purchased in advance via Web

Phone: 412.268.2383 (School of Music’s Concert Line)

Web: Buy tickets online with your credit card at http://music.cmu.edu. Click on ‘Box Office’ to start your order!

On-Site: Tickets will also be available (cash only) at Soldiers & Sailors one hour prior to the performance – at 7:00 p.m., February 12.

Questions? Contact Kristi Ries at kristi@cmu.edu.

Heinz Chapel
$5 at the door

Roger Zahab, violin
with Alicia Bekeny, violin, present

Legends, Songs and Dances
a concert in support of the Heinz Chapel Building Fund

The music

J.S.Bach : Partita in d minor (BWV 1004, ca. 1720)
Béla Bartók : Sonata for Solo Violin (1944)

with short works by

Judith Weir: Rain and mist are on the mountain, I’d better buy some shoes

and

Roger Zahab : Battery Park, New York Harbor,The Fens, commonwealth

Pianist Bruce Brubaker will give a varied recital at CMU’s Kresge Recital Hall on Tuesday Thursday, October 27 at 8 p.m. The free concert will include music by Philip Glass, Alvin Curran, and Alvin Lucier as well as works by Haydn and Chopin. I had the opportunity to interview Bruce (via Skype) and I asked him about his upcoming concert at CMU, his approaches to programming, teaching, working with composers, and many other topics. Not surprisingly, Bruce has thought long and hard about all these issues and he’s not at all shy about giving answers, even when they might be a little controversial. I recommend listening to the full interview (at the bottom of the post), but I’ve excerpted some highlights below.

First, here’s Burce’s take on the program.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Bruce shared some insights on how internet services like Last FM or Pandora effect what music we’re exposed to and this turned the discussion toward how that dynamic could effect programming in general.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

In the course of our conversation, it became clear to me that Bruce Brubaker’s approach to programming is infused with a teacher’s passion for communicating ideas with clarity and freshness. When I brought up this idea of a pedagogical approach to programming, his response about the sometimes amorphous boundary between when you are learning and when you are teaching was particularly insightful.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

When we discussed the topic of collaboration between composers and performers, Bruce once again surprised me with a perspective I couldn’t recall having heard before from a performer, bur which also made a lot of sense.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Bruce Brubaker’s recital will include time for Q and A at the end, and I have a feeling you will really want to stick around for that.

Full Interview

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

FRIDAY OCT 23 09
MOST WANTED FINE ART GALLERY
5015 Penn Avenue
8 CLOCK
6 DOLLARS

See the City Paper Article

JASON STEIN
Chicago bass clarinetist (of Locksmith
Isadore and Bridge 61 (with Ken Vandermark)).
Performing solo with a new amazing solo disc
on Leo Records. Outstanding player!

JASON STEIN with VOCAL ASSEMBLY VOCAL QUINTET
Vocal Assembly will perform new pieces with Jason
Stein on reeds. A one-off performance that should not be missed.

MICHAEL JOHNSEN
Ever-interesting combinations of homemade
electronics and genuine wit.

THE NARWHAL FIVE
A new Pittsburgh-based improvising trio. See what the new is.

Carnegie Mellon University School of Fine Arts
Kresge Recital Hall, free

Pianist Bruce Brubaker will give a recital of contemporary  piano music with classics intermingled. The program includes Philip Glass’ Mad Rush, Franz Joseph Haydn’s Sonata in C Major, Hoboken XVI:50, Alvin Lucier’s Nothing is Real, Chopin’s Polonaise-fantaisie in A-flat Major, Opus 61, and Alvin Curran’s Hope Street Tunnel Blues III.

Acclaimed for his subtle mastery of the classical repertory, Bruce Brubaker has become a champion of contemporary American music, particularly the works of composers Philip Glass and John Adams. Brubaker is creating a new role for the pianist. He is highly regarded for his innovative programming, often combining music with other media.

He has recorded three CDs on the Arabesque label in a continuing series exploring American piano music. The newest, Hope Street Tunnel Blues, was released in 2007, and includes Brubaker’s transcription of Knee Play 4 from Glass’s opera Einstein on the Beach. Brubaker’s CD Glass Cage, with pieces by Glass and John Cage, was named one of the ten best releases of 2000 by The New Yorker.

As an advocate for new music, Brubaker has premiered works by Glass, Mark-Anthony Turnage, and John Cage. He performed at Sanders Theater in collaboration with Cage during the composer’s tenure as Charles Eliot Norton Lecturer at Harvard University. Of Brubaker’s playing at a later recital at Harvard, the Boston Globe wrote: “A big-toned, brainy, firebrand kind of music making that made you think of—dare one say this?—Rudolf Serkin.”