NYCC | In The Loop | June 21, 2010

Just one more event to wrap up the 2009-2010 season, and that is next weekend’s JUNE SALON, to be held Sunday, June 27, at 3:30pm. We’ll be meeting in the Symphony Space Rehearsal Room, Broadway and 95th Street (entrance on 95th Street). Many thanks to RICHARD McCANDLESS for organizing the program:




Program
1. Discussion of Organizational Matters and Reports
John de Clef Piñeiro, NYCC Executive Director, will bring us up to date on administrative matters. This will be his valedictory Salon as NYCC Executive Director, concluding his second two-year term. (Approx. 30 min.)


2. Audition of Members' Works
Aleksei Stevens -- "Movement for Piano" with pianist Na Rong performing. Mr. Stevens' presentation is in response to the NYCC's American Music Center opportunities listing.
(Approx. 7'30")


Gene Marlow -- "Bilbililos" and "Adon Olam" for saxophone, piano, bass, drums and percussion featuring composer member Gene Marlow's "The Heritage Ensemble" in a studio recording.
(Approx. 17 min. for both pieces.)


Dana Richardson -- "Dark Energy" for piano four hands featuring Stephanie Ho and Saar Ahuvia on a CD recording.
(Approx. 7'30")


David Picton -- "Adirondack Nostalgia" for baritone voice and piano. This will be a live performance, performers to be announced.
(Approx. 3 min.)


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




3. Conclusion and Refreshments
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JOSEPH PEHRSON writes, "On June 21, 2010, I will have the privilege of having my music played on a concert organized by Patrick Grant called H2Opus, part of "Make Music New York." The time is 7-9PM and the location is Waterside Plaza, NYC, 23rd Street & the East River.” This is a FREE event and I will also be performing keyboard in all the pieces with a terrific ensemble consisting of:


Patrick Grant, - composer/keyboard/electric guitar,
Kamala Sankaram - composer/voice/accordian,
Gene Pritsker - composer/ electric guitar,
Dan Cooper - composer/electric bass,
John Ferrari - drums, marimba,
Kathleen Supove - keyboard,
Lynn Bechtold - violin and
Marija Ilic -keyboard


This should be a fun concert, right on the river with a "water based" theme. Specific information and directions can be found here on Patrick Grant's website:
http://www.patrickgrant.com/H2Opus.html
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JOSEPH PEHRSON and performer member CHRISTINA ASCHER figure in our next item, in which Christina presents a recital called “Perchance to Dream” featuring John Patrick Popham on cello. “Perchance to Dream” is a program exploring dichotomous states of perception and spaces between dreams and reality and includes three world premieres.


CHRISTINA ASCHER, contralto
JOHN PATRICK POPHAM, cello
Present music by
ALICE SHIELDS, JULIA WERNTZ, JOSEPH PEHRSON, MICHAEL OESTERLE, MOHAMMED FAIROUZ, VIERA JANARCEKOVA


Sunday, June 27, 2010, 8 p.m.
Tenri Cultural Institute
43A West 13th Street, New York, NY 10011
(212) 645-2800
Admission: $20 / seniors & students - $10
tickets at the door.
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ROGER BLANC writes: “I'm performing an original piece of mine for electric guitar and digital piano on Sunday, June 27 at 1:00 PM at Jan Hus Church, 351 East 74th Street, NYC (between 1st and 2nd Avenues) as part of the "Composer's Voice" concert series (http://www.voxnovus.com/, http://www.janhus.org/). Transportation - take the 6 train to 77th and Lexington, walk south and east. Please view the attachment for further details, and I hope to see you there!”
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RICHARD RUSSELL will have two song cycles performed at Mannes College of Musc on June 30 at 8pm. Performer member SOFIA DIMITROVA will perform “Time is Not an Option,” the Voices Up! awarded commission recently performed at Fordham University. Sophia Munoz will be the accompanist. Also, a premiere of “Four Shakespeare Songs in Madrigal Style” will be performed by Sofia Dimitrova and mezzo Christina Goyne. Mannes is at 150 West 85 Street, and the concert is free.

Announcing the 2010-2011 NYCC season!

Dear NYCC Community,

This is to announce the Program Committee's approved works for performance during the NYCC's 2010-2011 season, it's ninth consecutive season of public concerts.

After examining all of the works submitted for next season, the Program Committee determined that all were acceptable and suitable for performance and programming at the NYCC's record fourth season of four public concerts.

Shown below are the final selected compositions with their instrumentations.

In all, 26 works by NYCC Composer Members, Honorary Members, and our annual Composition Competition winner, will be performed at public concerts next season, in addition to which will be other works (not yet determined), included as part of our Community Encores outreach recital series. 

This demonstrates yet again how and the extent to which the NYCC provides continuing annual opportunities for its members to have their work publicly presented.

As always, many thanks are due to our fellow members (several of them new this round) who served on the Program Committee, chaired by Honorary Member John Eaton, for performing this indispensable function for our organization. 

Yours in music,

John de Clef Piñeiro

NYCC Executive Director

Concert 1:

Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2010: Saint Peter's Church, Citigroup Center

     

Richard Brooks  Impressions, Two Songs on poems of Oscar Wilde, for high voice and piano

Don Hagar  Four Songs Old and New, for tenor and piano

Martin Halpern  The Testament of Koheleth, for baritone and piano

Debra Kaye  Finding Accord, for piano trio

Eugene McBride  Chancy, for violin and cello

Christopher Montgomery  Grasping the Present, for unaccompanied cello

Frank Retzel  Three Songs of Seamus Heaney, for soprano and piano

Concert 2:

Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2011: Saint Peter's Church, Citigroup Center

John Eaton  Piano Variations 1957

Jacob E. Goodman  Three Bagatelles, for piano

Carl Kanter  Suite for Violin and Piano

Paul Moravec  Impromptus for Piano (1999)

Dana Dimitri Richardson  Für Elitza, for piano

Concert 3:

Tuesday, April 5, 2011: Saint Peter's Church, Citigroup Center

Brian Fennelly  Sock Monkeys, for two clarinets

Eugene Marlow Three Pieces for Woodwind Trio (fl, cl, alto sax)

Peri Mauer  Rhapsodance, for clarinet and piano

Gayther Myers  Sonata Solo, for unaccompanied bassoon

David Picton  Music for the Birds, for woodwind quintet

Richard D. Russell  Fast Tides, Slow Tides, for flute and piano

Cesar Vuksic  Tango Variations, for clarinet and piano

Concert 4:  

Saturday, June 4, 2011: Thalia Theatre (at Symphony Space)

Roger Blanc  Poem for Guitar and Harp

John Eaton  Elegy for Jane, for mezzo soprano, mandolin, guitar, and harp  (world premiere)

Hubert Howe  Timbre Study No. 7. CD (electronic) and dancer

Richard McCandless  Rivers, for two percussionists

Joseph Pehrson  Motorfogger, for electric cello

Robert S. Cohen  An Ant's World, for 5-octave marimba

And the NYCC's Fourth Annual Competition Winner, to be announced

NYCC | In The Loop | June 4, 2010

Hold the date: Our JUNE SALON is Sunday, June 27 at 3:30pm. We’ll meet in the rehearsal studio of Symphony Space, 95th street and Broadway; all are invited!
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JOHN DE CLEF PIÑEIRO’s piece "Minute Square" was one of the works performed in the 10-hour music and dance extravaganza that took place May 30 at the FOFA Gallery, at Concordia University, in Montreal. John’s piece was part of the 60x60 Dance Order of Magnitude presentation, in which Vox Novus presented ten hours of music, dance, and video, featuring one-minute works by 600 composers, the most ever to be programmed in a single show. The show is part of Congress 2010, the largest annual interdisciplinary gathering in North America, expecting approximately 10,000 visitors this year.
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DANA RICHARDSON’s “Reverie and Dance” for marimba and flute will receive its world premiere on June 10 at 9:30pm at The Tank, 354 West 45 Street. The program, “From Earth with Love,” exploresa series of musical postcards from six countries written for flute and marimba. Each work dates from the last 25 years and celebrates the unique and beautiful voice of a different cultural perspective. The program includes music by Gareth Farr, Peter Maxwell Davies, Jean-Michel Damase, Astor Piazzolla, Tsuneya Tanabe, and features a world premiere by Long Island composer Dana Richardson. (just)music is a flute and percussion duo that was formed by two graduates of SUNY Purchase in a Brooklyn basement in 2009. Alice Jones (flute) and Cesare Papetti (percussion) have performed in New York City at Symphony Space, The Stone, the Look and Listen Festival, the Composers Now! Festival, as well as across Europe and China. Tickets are $10. For more information, see www.TheTankNYC.org.


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JOHN EATON’s latest opera premieres on Tuesday, June 15th at 8pm at Symphony Space in the Peter J. Sharp (large) Theater
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Composed by John Eaton with a libretto by Estela Eaton
$30 General Admission
Members, Students, Seniors $20
Day of Show $32 (2-hour adv Rush tickets available $10)
BUY Event tickets online, or call 212-864-5400


THE CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY OPERA (CCO) presents THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON by John Eaton with the participation of THE POCKET OPERA PLAYERS, AT THE 2010 ACA FESTIVAL OF AMERICAN MUSIC.


Following his success with the hilarious stage opera, Pumped Fiction (2007), John Eaton and the Pocket Opera Players, present Eaton’s new work, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Featured artists will include Chris Trakas, Baritone, Linda Larson, Soprano, Jennifer Connor, soprano, Jennifer Roderer, Mezzo-soprano, Tony Boutté, Tenor, and Dominic Inferrera, Bass-baritone. Karl Kramer is conducting and the director is Marco Capalbo.


John Eaton comments on the choice of this story: “It was that dramatic line that attracted me to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in the first place. The author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, always remembered to keep the surface level of his writing engaging and amusing. The story of Benjamin Button is full of surprises, hilarious incidents, and completely ironic situations that keep you on the edge of your seat. So often in theater experiences, and especially in opera, you find yourself wondering if the author really asked himself if anything was happening on the stage-to paraphrase the composer-critic, Virgil Thomson. The first scene of my opera is taken almost verbatim from the Fitzgerald story. There is an abundance of movement and excitement throughout this production-much of it taken directly from the original story.”


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Every summer Mannes College of Music hosts the Institute and Festival for Contemporary Performance. Directed by Marc Ponthus, the IFCP brings together a diversity of approach, talent, and experiences during a week and a half of workshops, master classes, lectures, and symposium. Daily concerts feature some of the most significant performers, composers, and thinkers working in contemporary music today. This year’s opening concert (JUNE 15) features a work by the NYCC’s own BRIAN FENNELLY. Hair-raisingly virtuosic pianist Marc Ponthus, mesmerizing violinist Rolf Schulte and “Revolutionary Flutist and Composer” Robert Dick perform:
Pierre Boulez: Sonatas 1 and 3 (including Constellation Miroir with two pianos),
Elliott Carter: Four Lauds
Brian Fennelly: Sigol Musings
Luciano Berio: Sequenza (for flute)
Robert Dick: Heat HIstory (for flute with Glissando headjoint) [World Premiere]


The concert is June 15 at 8pm at Mannes, 150 W 85th Street, (212) 580-0210 x4884. Admission for events at Mannes:
$20/$10 for students
$8 for individual master class or lecture; please email ifcp@newschool.edu to reserve a seat
Student performances are free of charge; Tickets are available at the door beginning one hour prior to each event
For more information and other concerts in the series, see http://www.ifcpny.com/


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RICHARD BROOKS’s String Quartet #4 will receive its world premiere by the Zukofsky Quartet at the Thalia, Symphony Space on June 19, 2010 at 4 pm during the American Composers Alliance Annual Festival. As you can probably guess, a fair number of NYCC composers are represented in the year’s festival taking place June 15-19, including the aforementioned John Eaton opera… see also Richard McCandless and Margaret Fairlie-Kennedy, along with others who have been guests of the NYCC in the past at http://composers.com/June-Festival-2010.


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MARTIN HALPERN’s ”Triptych,” a bill of three new one-act chamber operas by Martin Halpern, will be performed at the New York New Church, 114 East 35th Street in Manhattan, on June 24, 25 and 26 at 8 PM.


The first opera, The Stronger, is freely based on the play by August Strindberg; the second, The Sculpture, is freely based on Henrik Ibsen’s When We Dead Awaken; the third, The Proposal, is freely based on the play by Anton Chekhov. Taken together, the three operas are a set of variations on the theme of requited and unrequited love.


Featured in the cast are sopranos Judith Barnes and Nancy Loesch, mezzo-soprano Darcy Dunn, tenor Michael Boley, and baritone Vaughn Lindquist. The pianist is Earl Buys, whose performance in Mr. Halpern’s chamber operas Purgatory and The Death of Oedipus in October, 2009, earned this accolade from reviewer Joel Benjamin: “In an intensely satisfying evening of music and drama, his playing was as thorough-going and passionate as any orchestra’s.”


Music direction is by Mr. Halpern, and Aram Tchobanian is stage director and production coordinator.
Tickets, at $20 for each performance, may be reserved by calling Theater Mania at 212-352-3101 or online at www.theatermania.com.