News about contemporary music in Pittsburgh
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.
| November 22, 2009 | ||
| 3:00 pm |
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, but I’ve excerpted some highlights below. First, here’s Burce’s take on
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.
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.
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.
on collaborating with composers
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.
FRIDAY OCT 23 09
MOST WANTED FINE ART GALLERY
5015 Penn Avenue
8 CLOCK
6 DOLLARS
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.
| October 27, 2009 | ||
| 8:00 pm |
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.”
| October 12, 2009 | ||
| 7:30 pm |
Carnegie Music Hall
The Orion String Quartet will perform Eugen Phillips’ A Tribute for Two (dedicated to the memory of Irving Faigen and Robert Holloway) as part of the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society’s 2009–10 kickoff. Also on the program are Mozart’s Quartet in G major, K. 387, and Dvorak’s Quintet in G major, Op. 77 with bassist Timothy Cobb.
Tonight you can hear two of Pittsburgh’s most committed new music advocates, Roger Zahab and Walter Morales, collaborate with the University of Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. First Morales picks up the baton while Zahab solos on violin in the premiere of his new work, vioentelechron. Then Morales will, literally, pass the baton to Zahab and sit down at the piano for a performance of Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1. The concert is free and takes place at Bellefield Hall Auditorium at 8 p.m.
| October 6, 2009 | ||
| 8:00 pm |
For tickets call 412-237-8300 or visit www.ticketweb.com
The Andy Warhol Museum and the New Hazlett Theater present Diamanda Galas in concert. Find out more.
Brooklyn world-fusion group *Loop 2.4.3* returns to Pittsburgh, showcasing music from *Zodiac Dust *(their Independent Music Award-Nominated New CD) at *Garfield Artworks*, 4931 Penn Avenue, immediately after October’s First Friday art gallery crawl – on Fri., Oct. 2. Doors open at 10 pm. Admission is $7. The concert is open to all ages.
In the tradition of sonic innovators like Steve Reich, Konono N°1, Moondog, and Radiohead, Loop 2.4.3’s new album flows through a vast array of sounds and rhythms across the nine tracks on *Zodiac Dust*. Their first CD, Batterie, was said to “reinvent percussion” (Fresh Air, NPR). Their new CD, nominated for album of the year at the Independent Music Awards, adds piano, voice, strings and two instruments of their invention, the Rose Echo and eLog, both to be featured at the upcoming performance.
Well known for their live shows, recent Loop 2.4.3 performances have been described as “Transportive” (Boston Phoenix), “Intricate and energetic” (The New York Times), “Mesmerizing…stunning” (Time Out Chicago), “a hard driving set” (Alex Ross, the New Yorker), and “a mind-blowing show” (Sean Boyd, Art Farm Recordings). The intimate space at Garfield Artworks is ideal for the group’s percussion-centric, visually exciting performances.
Hailing from Michigan and arriving in Brooklyn via New Haven and Seattle, Loop 2.4.3 has spent the last five years alternately traveling and working in a Bed-Stuy loft space, focused on writing, improvising and creating their own style. They have performed with Clogs, Newband (Harry Partch Ensemble), Daphnis Prieto, Belle Orchestre, the Books, Evan Ziporyn, Sufjan Stevens, Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond, the Decemberists), Joe Morello, their late mentor Robert Hohner, dancer/choreographer Alan Good, director John Jeserun, as soloists with the Brooklyn Philharmonic at the BAM Opera House, and at Times Square as a collaboration with Robert Indiana, Michael McKenzie and Teresa Smith. The group has toured internationally and performed for radio, theater, and television, including footage for The Learning Channel and MTV, and appearances at the Sydney Festival, the London Jazz Festival, Merkin Hall, and the Japan Society (NYC) among others. Please visit http://www.loop243.com.