18 Oct 2009 Fundraiser: Save the Date!

The NYCC will host a fundraiser concert on Sunday, October 18. The concert will feature many audience favorites from recent NYCC concerts, and many surprises as well.

The NYCC gratefully acknowledges the support of Bechstein America, which will host the concert at its New York City showroom, 207 West 58 Street.

Stay tuned for details!

In The Loop | June 13, 2009

DON HAGAR and CESAR VUKSIC will both have pieces featured in a performance by The Brooklyn Conservatory Chorale, a group that explores and performs a rich variety of musical styles, a cappella and with orchestra, from the Renaissance to the present. There will be a performance Sunday, June 14, 3:00 p.m. at Lafayette Presbyterian Church, 85 South Oxford Street (at Lafayette), Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

This performance will feature music by Stephen Chatman, Aaron Copland, Claude Debussy, Josquin des Prez, Don Hagar, Clement Jannequin, Morten Lauridsen, Claudio Monteverdi, Randall Thompson, and Cesar Vuksic.

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Christine Moore will perform CESAR VUKSIC's Nana for Mezzo, Cello, and Piano this Thursday, June 18 at Christ and St. Stephen's Church in Manhattan, 120 West 69th Street, between Broadway and Columbus. The concert is an all-Spanish affair, with pieces by (in addition to Cesar): Federico García Lorca, Enrique Granados, Frederic Mompou, Mohammed Fairouz, Antón García Abril, and Joaquin Turina. The concert will be repeated in July in Granada, Spain. Suggested donation is $20 ($10 for students/seniors).

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The NYCC in 2008-2009 — what a terrific season! There are too many countless people to thank, including our members, performers, producers, guests, donors, and so many others, each who contribute in ways large and small. For those who didn't know, programs from our past several years are posted online at our website, www.nycomposerscircle.org. In the right-hand sidebar, click on "Prior Seasons." 

In the meantime, the 2009-2010 season is already taking shape and looks to be another very strong year. Hold the date of October 18 and watch for details on our special fundraiser concert. As well, keep your eye on the calendar section of the website for updates, and of course, on In The Loop. See you in September! 

In The Loop | June 4, 2009

Our final SUNDAY SALON of the 2008-2009 season is this Sunday, June 7 at the Ellington Room at Manhattan Plaza. 400 West 43, Second floor. Come join us as we wrap up another season with some special guests. (See below for the lineup.) We get started at 2pm!

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Apologies to RICHARD BROOKS for the lateness of this posting, but there is still a chance to catch Part 2 of his opera, Robert and Hal, on June 21 on Manhattan Neighborhood Network. He writes: "For those residing within the metropolitan New York area I am pleased to announce that my latest opera will be broadcast by Manhattan Cable TV. This is a production staged by The Golden Fleece, Ltd, directed by Lou Rodgers, with musical director Thomas Carlo Bo, at the Stanford Meisner Theater in June 2008."

It will be broadcast in two parts with following schedule:

Part 1: Thursday May 26, 4:30 p.m.. channel 67; Sunday May 31, 10:00 p.m., channel 56

Part 2: Thursday June 4, 5:00 p.m., channel 34; Sunday June 21, 10:30 p.m., channel 56

For those outside New York City, you may view the broadcast online at exactly the times above (EST) at http://www.mnn.org/en/viewers

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OREN FADER will offer up the American premiere of a guitar concerto composed by David Del Puerto on Friday evening, June 5 at 7:30 pm. Presented by New Paths in Music, David Alan Miller, conductor. The venue is Elebash Recital Hall at Graduate Center, City University of New York; Fifth Avenue and 34th Street, Manhattan. 
Pre-concert talk at 7:00 pm; Friday June 5 at 7:30 pm

Tickets: $20, students $10, online at Smarttix.com. or 212-868-4444

For more information: www.newpathsinmusic.org. or 212-262-2509

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JOSEPH PEHRSON offers a friendly reminder of the Composers Concordance concert of Wednesday, June 10, 7PM [NOTE TIME] at the Chelsea Art Museum. The museum is at 556 West 22nd St. at 11th Ave. Since the last In The Loop, there have been some "hip additions":  for one thing VIDEO, with the remarkable Astrid Steiner. Any of you who have happened to see Astrid in conjunction with some of Gene Pritsker's activities know what I'm talking about.  She will make the dark side of our moon glow. Also, the amazing percussionist Peter Jarvis will be on our show playing Patrick Hardish's SONORITIES VI for solo vibraphone.  And, the incredibly versatile Michiyo Suzuki, one of the best "new music" performers around, will be performing in our own Dan Cooper's TRIO.  Dan is also going to be coordinating the Otto Luening pieces, as a long-time Luening assistant and authority on his works.

The original Composers Concordance press release: Performing Arts at CAM presents the Composers Concordance Spring 2009 concert Wednesday, June 10, at the Chelsea Art Museum, home of the Miotte Foundation, 556 West 22nd Street at 11th Avenue. For this second concert of the 2008-2009 season, the Composers Concordance will present a program in which On the Moon and Beyond, the theme of a multi-media summer exhibition at the museum celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first human walk on the moon, will be reflected in new pieces written for flute, clarinet and piano. The program will feature new and recent works, including three world premieres, by the directors of Composers Concordance and music by Otto Luening, a composer long-associated with the organization. There will also be large-scale projections of the visuals behind the performers: Margaret Lancaster, flute/piccolo, Esther Lamneck, clarinet, Michiyo Suzuki, bass clarinet and Paul Hoffmann, piano. Compositions include Otto Luening's Moonflight for tape-recorded flute (1968) transcribed for flute & live electronics by Dan Cooper (2009) and performed by Margaret Lancaster, Gene Pritsker's Galileo Starry Messenger for flute, clarinet, & piano (2009) (premiere) performed by Lancaster, Lamneck and Hoffmann, Patrick Hardish's  Meyer's Moon Blues for solo clarinet (2009) (premiere), a tribute to composer Meyer Kupferman written for clarinetist Esther Lamneck, Dan Cooper's Trio for flute, clarinet, & piano (2003) performed by the three players, and JOSEPH PEHRSON's new Lunar Tunes for flute, clarinet, & piano (2009) (premiere), also for Lancaster, Lamneck and Hoffmann. Otto Luening's Chords at Night for solo piano (1988) played by Paul Hoffmann will conclude the moon and star-studded program. Tickets are $15/ $10 students/seniors and are available at the door on the evening of the concert.

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Here is the lineup for this Sunday's Salon:

1.  Discussion of Organizational Matters and Reports

John de Clef Piñeiro, NYCC Executive Director, will bring us up to date on administrative matters.  (Approx. 1/2 hour.)

 

2.  Special Presentation

Contralto Christina Ascher  will present a live performance of the following two works.  (Approx. 9 min.)

Julia Werntz (1966), "This bread I break" (1996),

from "To You Strangers" text by Dylan Thomas.

Bojidar Spassov (1949), "Vili-Samovili" (1999), after texts by W. Chlebnikov.

 

3.  Audition of Members' Works

Noah Haverkamp Frere --"String Quartet" as recorded by the Portland String Quartet.  (Approx. 9 min.)

 

Dana Richardson -- "Für Elitza" for solo piano, recorded by Elitza Harbova (Approx. 17 min.)

 

The remaining time will be devoted to presenting other works by members in attendance.

 

4.  Conclusion and Refreshments

In The Loop | May 22, 2009

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Our final NYCC CONCERT of the 2008-2009 season is next Tuesday, May 26 at a traditional location familiar to all NYCC regulars, The Saint Peters Church at the Citigroup Center, Lexington Avenue at 54th Street. The concert gets underway at 8pm and will feature compositions by two of our honorary members, PAUL MORAVEC and JOHN EATON, as well as the winner of the second annual NYCC Composition competition, a piece by BRIAN FENNELLY. JACOB GOODMAN, DEBRA KAYE, RICHARD MCCANDLESS, and CHRISTOPHER MONTGOMERY round out the terrific program. 

NYCC Performer and Composers members will be adding to excellent roster of players on the evening, including CESAR VUKSIC, piano, JOHN EATON, piano; DEBRA KAYE, piano; STEPHEN SOLOOK, percussion; RICHARD MCCANDLESS, percussion; they will be joined by some new and familiar faces, including Linda Larson, soprano; Nancy Ogle, soprano; Duo Parnas (Madalyn Parnas, violin; Cicely Parnas, cello); Leon Khoja-Eynatyan, percussion; Matt Smallcomb, percussion;  Christopher Oldfather, piano. 

 

For full details, including titles, bios, etc etc etc. you can read a sneak peek copy of the program at http://issuu.com/nycc/docs/2009_may_26

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The ACA Summer Music Festival, running from June 17-20 2009 celebrates many NYCC composers, including JOHN EATON, RICHARD BROOKS, MARGARET FAIRLIE-KENNEDY, BRIAN FENNELLY, HUBERT HOWE, and recent NYCC guest, RAOUL PLESKOW. See the full line-up of concerts, pieces, and performers at www.festival.composers.com. All concerts are at the Symphony Space Leonard Nimoy Thalia, Broadway and 95th

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DEBRA KAYE's The Beauty Way will premiere May 29th at the Second Presbyterian Church at 96th Street and Central Park West (south corner). The concert, billed as "Bach, Byrd, and Beyond" will include works by William Byrd, J.S. Bach, Orlando Gibb ons, Matthew Locke, Henry Purcell, Thomas Lupo, and Marin Marais. Admission is a $10 suggested donation to benefit the church's organ-restoration fund. Join the players at a post-concert reception.

 

The group is the Empire Viols, formed in 1994 and in residence at Second Presbyterian Church since 1998. The core group of two viols and harpsichord frequently expands to include more viols or other instruments, while maintaining a focus on the rich duo viol repertoire of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The $10 suggested donation is to benefit the church's organ restoration fund. More info at http://www.grenser.org/empire/

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JOSEPH PEHRSON writes in about the next Composers Concordance concert. Performing Arts at CAM presents the Composers Concordance Spring 2009 concert Wednesday, June 10, 7PM (NOTE TIME) at the Chelsea Art Museum, home of the Miotte Foundation, 556 West 22nd Street at 11th Avenue. For this second concert of the 2008-2009 season, the Composers Concordance will present a program in which On the Moon and Beyond, the theme of a multi-media summer exhibition at the museum celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first human walk on the moon, will be reflected in new pieces written for flute, clarinet and piano. The program will feature new and recent works, including three world premieres, by the directors of Composers Concordance and music by Otto Luening, a composer long-associated with the organization. There will also be large-scale projections of the visuals behind the performers: Margaret Lancaster, flute/piccolo, Esther Lamneck, clarinet, Michiyo Suzuki, bass clarinet and Paul Hoffmann, piano. Compositions include Otto Luening's Moonflight for tape-recorded flute (1968) transcribed for flute & live electronics by Dan Cooper (2009) and performed by Margaret Lancaster, Gene Pritsker's Galileo Starry Messenger for flute, clarinet, & piano (2009) (premiere) performed by Lancaster, Lamneck and Hoffmann, Patrick Hardish's  Meyer's Moon Blues for solo clarinet (2009) (premiere), a tribute to composer Meyer Kupferman written for clarinetist Esther Lamneck, Dan Cooper's Trio for flute, clarinet, & piano (2003) performed by the three players, and JOSEPH PEHRSON's new Lunar Tunes for flute, clarinet, & piano (2009) (premiere), also for Lancaster, Lamneck and Hoffmann. Otto Luening's Chords at Night for solo piano (1988) played by Paul Hoffmann will conclude the moon and star-studded program. Tickets are $15/ $10 students/seniors and are available at the door on the evening of the concert.

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If you did not receive the emails directly from JOHN DE CLEF PIÑEIRO recently, or have not heard the sad news elsewhere, you may like to know that two long time legends of New York's music scene announced their imminent closings. Manny's Music, at 156 West 48th Street near Broadway is closing after 73 years, as is Patelsons at 160 West 56, after 70 years. Both are having close-out sales, if you are interested in stopping by for a visit.

Take a sneak peek at our May 26 concert program!

May 26 2009 Concert Flier

Click to enlarge.

In The Loop | Apr 18, 2009

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Our April SUNDAY SALON is tomorrow, April 19, at The Ellington Room at Manhattan Plaza, 400 West 43 Street, second floor, from 2-5pm. GENE MC BRIDE will introduce our special guest, the esteemed composer Raoul Pleskow. Still composing at age 78, he will be speaking about changes in his personal compositional style over time, and will discuss his own life in music and his great wealth of knowledge of new music spanning many years. He will present his latest composition "Dialogue for Three Instruments." 

Also, tomorrow we will hear NATALIYA MEDVEDOVSKAYA's The First Snow for oboe, bassoon, violin, and piano recorded by the Poulenc Trio with Anton Lande, violin

And also: GENE McBRIDE's Movements for Violin and Piano presented as a Sibelius generated file.

 

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RICHARD MCCANDLESS's percussion quartet, Pile Driver, was performed this past Tuesday at the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio. The performance was by The Oberlin Percussion Group under the direction of Michael Rosen. Regarding Pile Driver, the Washington Post wrote "The concert ended with a piece by McCandless called 'Pile Driver,' which he introduced with the half-boast 'This piece is not subtle,' but the poetry McCandless found in the cacophony made Pile Driver absorbing." 

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Guitarist OREN FADER writes: "I'm playing two amazing pieces this Saturday, April 18th at 8 pm, accompanied by members of the Fireworks Ensemble." The pieces are Joan Tower's Snow Dreams (guitar and flute), and Charles Wuorinen's Sonata for Guitar and Piano. Also on the program: Nataraja, for flute and piano, by Jonathan Harvey; Vox Balanae, for amplified flute, cello and piano, by George Crumb; Time of Desperation, for solo piano by Caleb Burhans. The musicians are Oren Fader, guitar, Elizabeth Janzen, flute, James Johnston, piano, Leigh Stuart, cello. Details: "Members of the Fireworks Ensemble play Tenri" TONIGHT: Saturday, April 18th at 8 pm. Admission by donation at Tenri Cultural Institute, 43A West 13th Street, NY, New York 10011.