Pittsburgh New Music Net

This concert is getting a lot of buzz for a lot of good reasons. Here’s David Bernabo’s preview, and here’s a City Paper interview with Ben Opie.

Frick Fine Arts Auditorium
Tickets: $15 at the door. $10 advance at Paul’s CDs, Caliban Books, William Pitt Union Box Office, Dave’s Music  Mine, and The Exchange (Squirrel Hill, Downtown).

Wednesday October 19 is a triple threat New Music/avant-garde jazz night for three great reasons:

Wednesday October 19 is a triple threat New Music/avant-garde jazz night for three great reasons:

1) It’s the first appearance in Pittsburgh in over a decade for
NYC-based multi-reedist Ned Rothenberg. Over the past three decades, Rothenberg has worked with the likes of Fred Frith, Evan Parker, John Zorn, Marc Ribot, and Elliott Sharp. Now he’s on tour with the Mivos Quartet, a string ensemble specializing in contemporary composition. The five musicians will perform his Quintet for Clarinet and Strings which was released on John Zorn’s Tzadik Records in 2010: http://www.tzadik.com/index.php?catalog=7267
For information on Rothenberg, check:

http://www.nedrothenberg.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Rothenberg

2) Local saxophonist Ben Opie will open the evening with
his own ensemble. It was Opie who organized the entire
visit of legendary MacArthur Genius Grant-winning composer
and saxophonist Anthony Braxton to Pittsburgh in 2008. In addition to recording a double CD with Opie, playing with his Septet at the Manchester Craftsman Guild, with CAPA High School’s Antithesis Ensemble and with the birds at the Aviary, Braxton conducted a group of local musicians (“The Three Rivers Tri-Centric Ensemble”) in one of his compositions. The results were recorded, and will be released on October 19 as a limited edition (300 copies) vinyl LP on stalwart local experimental label SSS Records (as catalog # SSS-60). This concert is the release party – you’ll definitely want to pick it up.

3) This concert is sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh’s
award-winning college radio station, WPTS-FM. Although the station has been known for many years for bringing great
indie bands to campus (ranging from the Silver Jews to
Of Montreal), this is the first time it has stood solidly behind
an avant-garde jazz/New Music event. Here’s hoping they
do so regularly in the future.

Here are the event details:
Ned Rothenberg & Mivos Quartet
Ben Opie Ensemble
Anthony Braxton LP release
Wednesday October 19 8 pm all ages welcome
Frick Fine Arts Auditorium, University of Pittsburgh
$15 at the door. $10 advance at Paul’s CDs, Caliban
Books, William Pitt Union Box Office, Dave’s Music
Mine, and The Exchange (Squirrel Hill, Downtown).

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.

Saturday June 20 – 8 pm – $10
Frick Fine Arts Auditorium, University of Pittsburgh, Oakland

TRIO BRAAM DEJOODE VATCHER
Michiel Braam – piano
Wilbert DeJoode – double bass
Michael Vatcher – drums

Trio Braam DeJoode Vatcher comprises three of the Dutch jazz scene’s most idiosyncratic musicians, for whom freedom and adventure are essential values. They all play an absolutely equal role in the music, which can go in any direction depending on decisions made on the spot. Their long musical friendship results in intuitive playing of the highest order. The trio shines in short powerful pieces written by Michiel Braam, and combines a playful incorporation and expansion of older forms with forward-thinking innovation.

Listen to their latest CD “Change This Song” at http://www.michielbraam.com
or at http://www.myspace.com/bikbentbraam

“Pianist Michiel Braam is yet another superb performer who perfectly encapsulates everything that’s made New
Dutch Swing one of the most consistently lively and enjoyable scenes in contemporary jazz.”
-Dan Warburton, Paris Transatlantic

“The trio has one of the most integrated sounds I’ve heard from any such grouping. They travel the continuum
from Trad to Free with ease and dexterity. This one’s for lovers and haters of the piano trio alike.”
-Marc Medwin, Cadence Magazine

Bellefield Hall Auditorium, free

IonSound Project, the University of Pittsburgh Department of Music’s Ensemble-in-Residence, presents Music by Pitt’s Graduate Student Composers.