Pittsburgh New Music Net

Andy Druckenbrod interviews Mason Bates in anticipation of this weekends PSO concerts.

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!

In case you haven’t heard, Joan Tower will be the PSO’s Composer of the Year for the 2010–11 season which will also include David Del Tredici’s Final Alice and a new bassoon concerto by Alan Fletcher. Here’s a an excerpt from the PSO’s season announcement.

Joan Tower, as the PSO’s 2010-2011 Composer of the Year, will have six of her works performed in subscription programs, including the world-premiere of an orchestral work commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and a clarinet concerto with Principal Clarinet Michael Rusinek as soloist. As Composer of the Year, Tower also participates in masterclasses with local university composition students, coachings, lectures, and other audience outreach. These activities are designed to familiarize listeners with her and her work, creating a connection between living composers and our audiences. The 2010-2011 BNY Mellon Grand Classics Season is the tenth year of the PSO’s Composer of the Year program.

In addition to the world-premiere of Tower’s new work, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will perform the world-premiere of a new piece by Alan Fletcher. The composer’s Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra features Principal Bassoon Nancy Goeres as soloist.    In total, there are eleven works this season that will receive a first performance by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. This includes concerts in November 2010, when Principal Guest Conductor Leonard Slatkin conducts the Orchestra in an all-American program comprised of music the PSO has never before performed. The program includes Tower’s Clarinet Concerto, Copland’s full ballet, Appalachian Spring and Bernstein’s Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront.

Looks like it’s gonna be a good season!

Heinz Hall
Tickets

The PSO pairs Richard Danielpour’s Rocking the Cradle with Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2.

WYEP Community Broadcast Center
Tickets

DJ and electronica artist Masonic has mixed his unique blend of jazzy hip-hop, trip-hop, French house, and funk at venues from San Francisco to Berlin to Rome.  Be a part of this incredible “sneak peek” event as he holds a private performance at WYEP’s studios before his debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra the following weekend.

Heinz Hall
Tickets and Information

Leonard Slatkin leads the PSO in music by American composers. The program includes

Leonard Bernstein’s Three Dance Episodes from On the Town

Mason Bates’s Liquid Interface

Richard Danielpour’s Pastime

George Gershwin’s An American in Paris

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.

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.

Heinz Hall

Richard Danielpour: Zoroastrian Riddles, Part I

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5

Richard Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra

Tickets and information

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!

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