Pittsburgh New Music Net

I recently sat down with Pittsburgh music power couple Patrick Burke and Emily Pinkerton. Patrick teaches composition and theory at Duquesne and is a member of the New York-based NOW Ensemble and Emily is well known as a singer-songwriter for her unique blend of American and Chilean folk music (she also has great operatic chops, but that’s a story for another time).  Emily and Patrick are collaborating on a new piece for NOW called Red Rocking Chair, based on an Appalachian folk song by the same name (also known as “Sugar Babe”), and the new work will be premiered by now at NYC’s North River Music series on February 25. Red Rocking Chair combines Emily’s crystal-clear voice and nimble banjo picking with the existing NOW instrumentation. The video below includes Patrick and Emily talking about the process of composing the work as well as a preview of the piece. I think you’ll really enjoy it, and if you’re an ex pat Burgher in New York, be sure to catch NOW on February 25.

Hear world premieres by four up-and-coming Carnegie Mellon student composers this Wednesday, February 17 at 8 p.m. in Oakland’s Carnegie Music Hall. Along with guest conductors Tobias Volkmann and Jan Pellant, music director Ronald Zollman will lead the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic in this concert of original music that also will feature soprano Danielle Messina on Barber’s classic Knoxville, Summer of 1915.

Tickets are $5 general admission, $4 senior citizens and free to all students with ID. Visit music.cmu.edu for more information.

PSO bassonist David Sogg asked me to post the following announcement about the Music Narratives concert at the Warhol tonight, which I am more than happy to do.

The Concert is ON!

Tonight at 8:00 pm at The Andy Warhol Museum, members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra WILL present…

Musical Narratives

The music—Stravinsky & Kander—is hot. Kurt Vonnegut’s words are searing. Electrifying performances by Martin Giles and fellow actors bring you a hilarious black comedy that places Stravinsky’s music in an entirely new light.

The snow may go on, … the SHOW definitely WILL go on.

Tickets are $15 at the door, cash or check. To place your name on the reserved tickets list, send an email to sogg@duq.edu with the word “tickets” in the subject line. In the message text, specify number of tickets requested (limit 2, please), along with your name. They will be held for you at the door until 10 minutes before the concert. For further information, call 412-361-5704.

See you there!

The Andy Warhol Museum
ProArts Tickets

Philadelphia’s internationally acclaimed Relâche will perform works by Kyle Gann, Guy Klucevsek, David Mahler, Eric Moe, and a new commission from Paul Lansky.

Bellefield Hall Auditorium
FREE

Versatile cellist and Attack Theater music director Dave Eggar will give a free concert for Music on the Edge featuring a world premiere by Elliott Sharp along with music by Mathew Rosenblum, Alvin Lucier, Charles Wourinen, and others.

Bellefield Hall Auditorium
ProArts Tickets

UPDATE: Please note this concert is a 7 p.m., not 8 p.m. as originally listed.

Roger Zahab leads the MOTE Chamber Orchestra in works by Mauricio Kagel, Stefan Wolpe, and Roger Zahab with premieres by Anthony Coleman Amy Williams.

Kresge Theatre

Director Denis Colwell leads the Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble in a program that features Rorem’s Sinfornia (1957), Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1920) and Gordon Jacob’s Old Wine in New Bottles (1960). The concert begins at 8 pm. Monday, February 8 on CMU’s campus in the College of Fine Arts’ Kresge Theatre. This event is free and open to the public.

A highlight on the program is the world premiere of a newly transcribed Snapshots of a Great City (2008) by Marilyn Taft Thomas, a professor of composition and music theory at Carnegie Mellon.

Members of the PSO perform a program of musical narratives featuring works by Tom Johnson, Susan Kander, and Igor Stravinsky

The Andy Warhol Museum

Failing, a very difficult piece for solo string bass by Tom Johnson
Jeffrey Turner, double bass

The Lunch Counter:  a musical play in seven movements for solo bassoon by Susan Kander (world premiere)
David Sogg, bassoon

A Soldier’s Story by Igor Stravinsky with a new text by Kurt Vonnegut
(Pittsburgh premiere of the Vonnegut version)

Dennis O’Boyle, violin
John Moore, double bass
Ron Samuels, clarinet
David Sogg, bassoon
Neal Berntsen, cornet
Peter Sullivan, trombone
Jeremy Branson, percussion
with actors Maggie Carr, Rob Frankenberry, Martin Giles, and Ben Thorpe.

Tickets are $15 at the door, cash or check.  To place your name on the reserved tickets list, send an email to sogg@duq.edu with the word “tickets” in the subject line. In the message text, specify number of tickets requested (limit 2, please), along with your name. They will be held for you at the door until 10 minutes before the concert.

I have two pairs of tickets to give away for the premiere of PSO Composer of the Year Richard Danielpour’s A Woman’s Life for Saturday, October 17 at Heinz Hall. For a chance to win the tickets, leave a comment including a question you’d like me to ask Richard Danielpour when I host the PSO Insider live chat/podcast on Friday afternoon.  I’ll use random.org to generate a winner, then e-mail you with info about how to claim your tickets. Please note that I can only take comments through 10 p.m. on Thursday, October 15 because I’ll need time to gather your questions for use during the chat.

Update: and please just one comment per user. Thanks!

To post comments on PNMNet you have to be a registered user [In the sidebar, Meta—Register]. Your first comment will be moderated to insure you’re organic, but after that your comments will post immediately.

I have two pairs of tickets to give away for the premiere of PSO Composer of the Year Richard Danielpour’s A Woman’s Life for Friday October 16 at Heinz Hall. For a chance to win the tickets, leave a comment including a question you’d like me to ask Richard Danielpour when I host the PSO Insider live chat/podcast on Friday afternoon. I’ll use random.org to generate a winner then e-mail you with info about how to claim your tickets. Please note that I can only take comments through 10 p.m. on Thursday, October 15 because I’ll need time to gather your questions for use during the chat.

Update: and please just one comment per user. Thanks!

To post comments on PNMNet you have to be a registered user [In the sidebar, Meta—Register]. Your first comment will be moderated to insure you’re organic, but after that your comments will post immediately.