NYCC - In The Loop - March 30, 2007

Make a note of our next monthly NYCC Salons: April 22 and May 20. We meet from 2-5pm, again in the Ellington Room.

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Thanks to all the terrific performers who made last night's Recorded Reading a success: MARY BARTO and AKI KASUGA, flute, BEN RINGER, clarinet, JANNINA BAREFIELD, violin, LAURA METCALF, cello, MONICA CHUNG, piano, SUSAN TALAMINI, viola. In various instrumental combinations, we heard (and tested) new pieces by EUGENE MARLOW, RICHARD RUSSELL, KEVIN McCARTER and JACOB GOODMAN.

Thanks also to the good people at Frank and Camille's Fine Pianos, 29 West 57th Street, for hosting us.

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CESAR VUKSIC's composition "Nana" for MezzoSoprano, Violoncello and piano will be performed at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music (58 Seventh Avenue, Brooklyn. Train Q to Seventh Avenue Station) on Saturday, March 31 at 8pm by Christine Moore as part of her Program "From Andalucia to the Americas...an Odyssey of Spanish Song". Vuksic will also accompany Ms. Moore at the piano in Manuel de Falla's Suite "Seven Spanish Songs" as well as in Songs by Granados, Silvestre Revueltas and Ginastera."

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EUGENE MARLOW, NYCC's Director of Media Relations and Membership Coordinator, reports that his tone poem for big band "The Woman In The Golden Light"--an aesthetic "homage" to composer Maria Schneider--will be performed this coming Monday night, April 2, 2007 at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola (Jazz at Lincoln Center, Columbus Circle). The nine-minute piece will be performed by the Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Grammy-nominated maestro percussionist Bobby Sanabria. First set starts at 7:30 p.m.

NYCC - In The Loop - March 23, 2007

NYCC Executive Director JOHN DE CLEF PIÑEIRO received an email from Craig Carnahan of the Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute, which we pass along to you. "With the deadline three weeks away, there's still enough time to put the final touches on your orchestral score to submit for October's Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute. Working closely with acclaimed composer Aaron Jay Kernis and Minnesota Orchestra Music Director Osmo Vänskä - praised by Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times for his "blazing, incisive and risk-taking" performances  - has been life-changing for many Institute alumni. Please contact Vice President of Programs Craig Carnahan at ccarnahan@composersforum.org or by phone at 651.251.2833 if you have any questions. Best of luck to you!"

The deadline is April 12; details, addresses, instrumentation, etc. can be found at: http://www.composersforum.org/programs_detail.cfm?oid=1811

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NATALIYA MEDVEDOVSKAYA writes that she recently won the Honor Award in the Great American Song Contest for her popular song, "Inside Out." For details about this competition, go to 

http://www.greatamericansong.com/honorary.html (Natliya's song is in the Pop/Adult contemporary category.) You can also listen to the song itself by visiting http://www.myspace.com/NataliyaMedvedovskaya

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GENE MCBRIDE writes in with a reminder (and a few more details) that that this Sunday, March 25, Downtown Music Productions is presenting a program called The Poet of Bleeker Street IV. All compositions on the program are settings of the poetry of Ilsa Gilbert. Gene's piece is a setting of the poem, The Young Sleep, for baritone, violin, cello, and piano. The Downtown Chamber Trio and baritone Anthony Turner will be performing the premiere; Mimi Stern-Wolfe is the pianist in the piano trio, she is Downtown Music Productions director. The program starts at 3pm and the venue is St. Marks In The Bowery (10th Street & Second Ave.) Suggested donation is $10. More info at (212) 477 1594; dmpmimi@msn.com and at downtownmusicproductions.org

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MADELEINE SHAPIRO, director & cellist of ModernWorks, along with the Duo Alterno of Torino, Italy, present Continental Drift: Works by Italian and American Composers. Composers are John Cage, Earle Brown, Salvatore Sciarrino, with a world premiere by Riccardo Piacentini and a NY premiere Ada Gentile. Performers are Madeleine Shapiro, cello, Riccardo Piacentini, piano, Tiziana Scandaletti, soprano, Mara Plotkin, clarinet, and Michael Dobson, percussion. Wednesday, April 11, 2007, 8:00 PM, Christ and St. Stephen's Church, 120 W. 69th Street (east of Broadway). Suggested donation: $10, students $5. More info at www.ModernWorks.com

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SEAN HICKEY will have a premiere presented by the Metro Chamber Orchestra (led by maestro Phil Nuzzo) on April 27 at the Thalia at Symphony Space. Sean is composer-in-residence of the MCO, and they will premiere his Clarinet Concerto, written for soloist David Gould. Also on the program are pieces by Jennifer Higdon and a premiere by Hector Berlioz. (Yep -- you read that correctly. Well, it's an orchestration of Les Nuits d'ete, by David Matthews..) Details: April 27th at 7:30 PM (please note time), Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre at Symphony Space, Broadway at 95th St.

For tickets, visit www.symphonyspace.org or call 212-864-5400. Tickets: $30; Symphony Space members and seniors: $25; Students: $20; Children: $15 (Order before April 12 for $20 discount tickets.)

In The Loop, March 16, 2007

Come sunshine or snow, our next monthly Salon is this Sunday, March 18 from 2-5pm at the Ellington Room, Manhattan Plaza 400 West 43 Street. Enter at Ninth Avenue, head up to the second floor.
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We are a busy bunch of spring composers, so now, on with the concert announcements! (I'm pretty sure I've got these in chronological order...)
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NYCC guitarist OREN FADER's new music ensemble, Glass Farm, presents "Serenade for a Satellite," with Taimur Sullivan, saxophone, Oren Fader, el.guitar, Matthew Gold, percussion, and Yvonne Troxler, piano. The date is this Saturday, March 17, 8pm, at the Tenri Cultural Institute, 43 A West 13th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues). Suggested donation $15. Composers on the bill include Maderna, Veldhuis, Fankhauser, Latham, and Hoffman. For more information go to www.glassfarm.org, (212)244-6422, glassfarm@yahoo.com

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NYCC violinist ANA MILOSAVLJEVIC performs with Numinous+ on March 20,
at 8:00 pm, at Makor, 35 West 67th Street. Tickets are $15 at the door. More info at www.numinousmusic.com and www.ana-violin.com

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Several NYCC folks heard RICHARD RUSSELL's Three Elegies at the Thalia last Friday evening. The performers, NYCC percussionist STEPHEN SOLOOK and soprano Tiffany DuMouchelle perform it again on Sunday, March 25, at 7:30pm. The venue is Mannes College of Music, 150 West 85th Street, in Goldmark Hall on the third floor. They will be joined by guest artist Evi Jundt. Other composers on the bill include Alejandro Vinao, Giacaomo Manzoni, Minoru Miki, David Loeb and David Zannoni. This is a free concert, so if you were unable to hear it at Symphony Space (or just want to hear it again!) please do tune in.

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Spend an easy going early evening in the East Village on Wednesday, March 28th, at the performance friendly venue, SideWalk, 94 Ave A at East 6th Street, 212-473-7373. Arrive at 7PM to socialize, at 7:30 -8 unique half-hour piano set by PETER DIZOZZA (collect them all), beginning a full night of music that goes until 12. Two-for-one drinks, good food, cover charge is at audience discretion. "See you sooner!" says Peter.

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For those who are curious about the piece that earned the Pulitzer Prize for this year's NYCC Honorary Composer Member PAUL MORAVEC, it is being performed on March 29 at 7:30 at the Thalia at Symphony Space (95th and Broadway). The piece is called Tempest Fantasy, and was the 2004 winner. Also on the concert is Piazzolla's Le Grand Tango and Mendelssohn's Trio in C minor. The performers are Trio Solisti, joined by Adam Kay on the clarinet. This is Concert IV of Paul's ongoing concert series "The Composers Project." Ticket info can be found at http://www.symphonyspace.org/genres/seriesPage.php?genreId=1&seriesId=90

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Longtime members of the NYCC will remember composer Edward Ficklin. Well, TAMARA CASHOUR is the pianist for a performance of his MASS for soprano, countertenor, tenor, bass and piano, in conjunction with a dance festival sponsored by The Bang Group. Festival is entitled Soaking Wet/Delicately Hinged; Mr. Ficklin's piece is the accompaniment to the piece Soaking Wet #8. Performances are at the West End Theatre, 263 West 86th St., second floor, March 29, 30, 31 @ 7p.m., and April 1 @ 3:00 p.m. Tix: $15. Reservations: (212) 337-9565.

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The first recorded reading of the season is March 29, where KEVIN McCARTER, EUGENE MARLOW, JACOB GOODMAN, and RICHARD RUSSELL will all have pieces read. There is still space on the April 19 Reading. If you are interested, please get your information to Richard.Russell@mac.com. (Information would be title, length of piece, instrumentation...)

NYCC at the Symphony Space's Thalia

If you look really close, you can see our name up in lights! It reads: "Tonight!! New Music from the New York Composers Circle" (Click image for a larger view.)

Our Executive Director, John de Clef Piñeiro, had many wishes of thanks to offer. He wrote the following note of thanks and congratulations:

After the December concert at Baruch College, I wrote to you hoping you wouldn't tire of hearing good news. Clearly, from comments received or overheard, the NYCC had another concert success last night -- proving yet again that our NYCC is moving in the right direction as a place for composers and performers, and as a venue for new music!
 
With 111 tickets issued by the Thalia box office to paying new music concert-goers and complimentary attendees, we had a nearly full house. As the very much impressed Thalia House Manager put it to me, "for a new music concert, it was a great turnout!"
 
As happened at the last concert in December, not only did members and performers and audience alike express enthusiasm about how the concert went,and not only did we do well in ticket sales with more than 60 full-priced ticket purchasers,and not only did we have the benefit of one of the top new music venues in the city, and not only did we have an aesthetically satisfying concert hall experience, and not only did all of our featured and volunteer composers give of themselves as if to support their own families, but all of this happened again on one of the coldest nights that the NYCC is likely to have this concert season!
 
The spirit of cooperation among our Members and performers is showing us all how to make a successful presentational statement!
 
Credits and Special Thanks
-to Richard Brooks for producing a concert that worked;
-to Jacob E. Goodman for an elegantly-designed program;
-to Honorary Member Composer John Eaton for the privilege of premiering one of his recent works; 
-to our featured composers (Tamara Cashour, John Eaton, Jacob E. Goodman, Donald Hagar, Noah Haverkamp, Eugene McBride, Nataliya Medvedovskaya, Yekaterina Merkulyeva, and Richard Russell) for providing the many ways in which we can reach our audience;
-to our fine roster of performers, members and non-members alike (Mary Barto, Adam Berkowitz, Tamara Cashour, Tiffany DuMouchelle, David Eggar, Sarah Hatler, Ani Kalayjian, Karl Kramer [conductor], Chi-Chi Lin, Margaret Lancaster, Linda Larson, Ron Lawrence, Eugene McBride [conductor], Nataliya Medvedovskaya, Ana Milosavljevic, Christopher Oldfather, Vassa Shevel, William O. Smith, Stephen Solook, and Cesar Vuksic) for sharing their artistry;
-to Richard Russell for handling venue and contract matters, and performer engagement;
-to Eugene Marlow for his press outreach and related publicity;
-and, finally, to all of our members and performers who notified others of, or encouraged attendance at, our concert.
 
Thank you all again for showing the NYCC spirit!
JOHN

NYCC - In The Loop - March 7, 2007

Looking ahead to the rest of March...

On March 18 we'll have our monthly Salon at the Ellington Room in Manhattan Plaza. (And while you have your calendar out, add April 22, also at the Ellington Room.) We meet from 2-5pm.

On March 29 we'll have a Recorded Reading session at Frank and Camille's Fine Pianos, 29 West 57th Street, second floor, from 6:30-8:30. Composers being performed are KEVIN McCARTER, JACOB GOODMAN, GENE MARLOW and RICHARD RUSSELL.

(We'll have another Recorded Reading on April 19 -- members: if you want to have a piece read, please contact Rich Russell at intheloop@nycomposerscircle.org.)

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The aforementioned GENE MARLOW, NYCC Director/Media Relations and Membership Coordinator, asks if any NYCC member or a friend of a member would be interested in writing three short poems (8-12 lines each) that would accompany the three pieces for flute/alto flute he is currently revising. The umbrella title of the three pieces is "Chansons Pour Une Poetess."

His concept is that each poem would be read prior to the playing of each of the three pieces in performance. The three pieces are called "Lyric Glances," "Poignant Touch," and "Dance." In total the three pieces run about 10 minutes. "Lyric Glances" is very neo-Romantic in tone. "Poignant Touch" is written in whole tone primarily, and "Dance" is quite up-tempo. All three pieces will be read at the NYCC reading at Frank and Camille's on March 29. Mary Barto is one of the players.

Any takers? You can contact Gene at MEIIEnterprises@aol.com

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Friend of the NYCC cellist MADELEINE SHAPIRO writes in with a concert that will be of interest to new music audiences: ModernWorks in collaboration with the Electronic Music Foundation will present a concert Tuesday, March 13th at 8:00 PM. The venue is Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South. The concert is being called WILD AND WIRED! and features works for violin, cello, accordion and dancer, featuring both taped and interactive electronics and video.

The pieces and composers are:

Anthony Cornicello, Spiral Jetty-world premiere-Meet the Composer Commission; Judith Shatin, El Grito Del Corazon- inspired by Goya's Black paintings; and the moving and mystical Silenzio by Sofia Gubaidulina. Plus, Burton Beerman's work for cello, computer electronics, dancer and video, "A Still, Small Voice;" and "Many Times Madeleine" by EMF founder Joel Chadabe.

Performers are Madeleine Shapiro, director/cello, Airi Yoshioka, violin, William Schimmel, accordion and Celeste Haraszti, dancer.

For more information plus detailed program notes visit:

www.emfproductions.org/year0607/shapiro.html

March 9 Program

Thanks to JACOB GOODMAN for creating our program. Click for larger size.