NYCC | In The Loop | Sep. 20, 2008

We hope to see everyone at our first meeting of the year tomorrow, Sep 21, as we kick off our seventh season! We are meeting from 2-5pm, at the Ellington Room at the Manhattan Plaza. The address is 400 West 43, enter at Ninth Avenue, and head up to the second floor. We'll be hearing two special presentations, one from GENE MARLOW and another from ADAM BERKOWITZ. Also, GENE MCBRIDE will be presenting music from his opera,  On Burning Ground.

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Percussionist STEPHEN SOLOOK is offering a course in "Writing for Percussion." He writes: "This Fall composers will have an opportunity to finally understand and collaborate with a percussionist about what is possible and what is not to a point that they will feel functional.  This 14 week course is dedicated to understanding the fundamentals of writing percussion. The class is geared towards composers of the college level and beyond, and was started because of how often myself and peers were approached about what is possible and what is logical. The class will be held in the centrally located area of Mid-town Manhattan at the French American School of Music."

 

Highlights include:

- Small Classes

- Weekly Assignments

- A Focus on Fundamentals

- All Standard Classical Percussion Instruments

- Drumset

- World Instruments

- Solo, Chamber, and Orchestral Settings

- Commissioning Project

- Possible Guest Lectures

 

Seating is limited! Call the French American School of Music at (212) 246-7378 for more information.

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MADELEINE SHAPIRO cellist and director of ModernWorks, writes in with a concert of interest to the NYCC: An evening of Interactive Cello and Dance Performance, in collaboration with the PalindromePerformanceGruppe, Robert Weschler, director and Dan Hosken, music and sound design

 

"View a sneak preview of what PalindromePerformance Gruppe is taking to

Istanbul, Turkey in November. Cello, dance, electronics and eye-poping technology combine for an informal evening, with a Q and A included. This demonstration and public showing of a new work-in-progress features ModernWorks' cellist/director MadeleineShapiro, and dancers of the PalindromePerformance Gruppe from Stuttgart, Germany. Composition and interactive music programming is by Dan Hosken. Using infrared technology, motion tracking technology and real-time digital signal processing the stage environment is influenced by the performers. Stage lighting and music are controlled by the movements of musicians and dancers in seldom-seen ways."

 

Tuesday, September 23 at 8pm at The Construction Company

10 East 18th Street, third floor buzzer

(Between 5th Avenue and Broadway)

Admission: $15.00, $10.00 students/seniors (tickets at the door)

212 924-7882

 

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Violinist MIRANDA CUCKSON writes: "I'd like to let you know about my upcoming Transit Circle concert on September 21 at Mannes College (150 W 85th street). I hope you can come! This is the second TC concert that I am directing- a contemporary music concert in which I and colleagues of mine will perform recent works by living composers. I'll be joined on the 21st by pianist Blair McMillen, flutist Christoph Bösch, violist Daniel Panner and cellist Sophie Shao. Admission is FREE and it's at 7:30pm."

 

The program:

Stefano Gervasoni:  Due Voci for violin and flute

Beat Furrer:  Presto for flute and piano

Michael Hersch: the wreckage of flowers  for violin and piano

Robert Cuckson:  String Trio

Mario Davidovsky:  Quartetto for flute and strings

Program for Sep 21 Salon

New York Composers Circle

First Salon of the Season.

Sunday, September 21, 2008, 2 p.m.
Manhattan Plaza Ellington Room
400 West 43rd Street

Program

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 Presentations
Clarinetist Adam Berkowitz will give a special presentation on extended clarinet techniques. He will demonstrate circular breathing, multiphonics, vocalization, double tonguing and other techniques on clarinet and bass clarinet. He will discuss this from both the perspective of a clarinetist and of a composer.
(Approx. 1 & 1/2 hours)

Gene Marlow, NYCC Director of Media Relations, will give a talk entitled "Two Conventions: One a Microcosm of the Other." Marlow attended the National Performing Arts Convention, and the Jazz Radio Programmers Annual Conference. He will recommend that what was learned at these conferences can be and should be applied to the NYCC.
(Approx. 1/2 hour.)

3. Audition of Members's Works
[Due to the length of the presentations at this Salon, our customary music portion of the Salon must be abbreviated.]

Gene McBride -- Act 1, Scene 1, No. 4, from his opera "On Burning Ground." This recording features live singers with a Sibelius orchestra.
(Approx. 10 minutes.)

4. Conclusion and Refreshments

NYCC | In The Loop | Sep 7, 2008

Here's hoping everyone had a restful and productive summer – the New York Composers Circle is now entering its seventh season, and it is time to get things started! Our first Sunday Salon this year will be on September 21 from 2-5pm, at the Ellington Room at the Manhattan Plaza. The address is 400 West 43, enter at Ninth Avenue, and head up to the second floor. If you haven't had a chance to attend one of our get-togethers yet, we sure hope to see you there

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We'll be entertaining two special guests at the Sep 21 Salon. First, clarinetist ADAM BERKOWITZwill offer a presentation and demonstration of four extended techniques, namely: circular breathing, multiphonics, vocalization, and double tonguing on clarinet and bass clarinet. He will discuss these techniques from a clarinetist's perspective and how composers could use them in their work. Many of you will remember that Adam has performed for the NYCC before, and we are very fortunate that he has graciously offered to give us this very worthwhile "tutorial" in contemporary clarinet techniques.

Also, NYCC Director of Media Relations GENE MARLOW will offer a presentation, "Two Conventions: One a Microcosm of the Other." Gene will discuss his observations of the June National Performing Arts Convention (NPAC) held in Denver, and the Jazz Radio Programmers Annual Conference in Rochester, New York. Gene indicates that "While the NYCC is small in comparison to some of the organizations and 4,000 people who attended the Denver conference, NYCC's mission, activities, and challenges are part of the overall performing arts industry in the United States. What was learned by the attendees at the NPAC can be and must be applied to the NYCC."

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For those interested in dance projects, here is some information about about Dance/NYC. They are a service organization dedicated to supporting the 5500+ dancers and the 500+ dance companies in New York City. They are currently working on two initiatives to bring together composers/musicians with dancers/choreographers who are interested in commissioning work for dance compositions. There will be a workshop on October 1st in conjunction with G. Shirmer, which will include a panel of freelance musicians. This is a wonderful opportunity for musicians and dance artists from the New York community to meet. They report: "We would love to have musicians in attendance at this event. Additionally, we will be adding a "Musicians/Composers Resource Directory" to the Dance/NYC website, where dance artists can find a listing of musicians/composers interested in working with dancers/choreographers."

If you are interested in being included in the Dance/NYC resources guide, please forward your contact information and a brief description (50 words or less) of your work to info@dancenyc.org or call 212.966.4452 for additional information.

If you are interested in attending the October 1st event, please RSVP at www.dancenyc.org. Look to the bottom right hand corner of the home page under "what's happening".
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Keep your announcements, concerts, and good news coming to your friendly In The Loop editor, Richard Russell, at InTheLoop@nycomposerscircle.org. (And let me know if you prefer to be removed from the list.) Until next time, let's keep each other In The Loop!

Second Annual Composition Competition

The New York Composers Circle, the largest New York area composers' cooperative, is pleased to announce its second annual composition competition, open to composers of all ages who live in the New York metropolitan area, other than NYCC members. The winning composition will be performed at one of the NYCC's concerts during the 2008-2009 season, and the winner will also receive one year's free membership in the NYCC. Please submit no more than one score, together with a CD (or tape), of a solo or chamber ensemble work preferably 6-12 minutes in length, but in any case not more than 15 minutes, and scored for not more than six performers. The work should not have been previously performed. Include in your covering letter a brief bio, a brief program note for your work, and contact information (phone, and e-mail and postal addresses). All submissions must be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope, or they will be discarded after the winner is announced. The deadline for receipt is Monday, Sept. 8th.
Send your submission to:
New York Composers Circle
c/o Jacob E. Goodman
310 West 72nd St., 16A
New York, NY 10023
Phone: (212) 787-8309
E-Mail: jgoodman@ccny.cuny.edu
Submissions may also be left with the doorman at that address.

Elliott Carter to be Next Honorary Member

A LETTER FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR:
Dear Members,

It is with a sense of pleasure and deep satisfaction that I want to share with you who our newest Honorary Member is, and at the same time I want express my appreciation for all of you who have in various ways contributed so much to making the New York Composers Circle what it has now become and will become in the new music community now and in years to come.

By your contribution of efforts, talents and works, you have made it possible to create a new home for new music that can welcome the world-class reputations of our current honored roster of Honorary Members: Tania León, Ezra Laderman, John Eaton, Paul Moravec, Dinu Ghezzo, and now, perhaps this country's most celebrated and esteemed creator and steadfast champion of new music, Elliott Carter.

This year, on December 11th, Mr. Carter, and many of us here and around the world, will be celebrating his centennial anniversary as the most senior and singular artistic and productive force in new music still with us today. In an amazingly productive career spanning most of the 20th century and the beginning of this 21st century, his extraordinary output of marvelously opulent and complex landmark works has expanded the boundaries of what new music can successfully express and deliver in our most complicated and challenging times.

In his honor and in special recognition of this "landmark" year in his creative life, the NYCC will be featuring one of Mr. Carter's chamber works at our first inaugural concert of the 2008-2009 concert season that will also take place in early December.

I'm confident that I speak for all of us at the NYCC in extending our most heartfelt welcome to Elliott Carter as our newest Honorary Member.

John de Clef Piñeiro
NYCC Executive Director

In The Loop | Jun 6, 2008

The NYCC 2007-08 Season comes to a close tomorrow evening, Saturday, as we present our annual year-end concert at Saint Peters Church at the Citigroup Center, 619 Lexington Avenue at 54th Street.  We'll be hearing the musical talents of over 15 different performers, playing the works of ROGER BLANC, TAMARA CASHOUR, MARGARET FAIRLIE-KENNEDY, JACOB E. GOODMAN, KEVIN MCCARTER, NATALIYA MEDVEDOVSKAYA, GAYTHER MYERS, and CESAR VUKSIC. Looks like there will be something for everyone! The concert starts at 8pm and the suggested donation is $15; A reception will follow! 

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RICHARD BROOKS writes that his Third String Quartet was presented yesterday at the Symphony Space Thalia during the Annual American Composers Alliance Festival. Also, next week will afford six chances to see the Golden Fleece Ltd. production of his new opera, "Robert and Hal." This is being presented of the Composers Chamber Theatre under the auspices of the 16th Annual Commissioned operas. In addition to Richard's opera, the opening scene of "Antigone" by Lou Rodgers will be staged. Musical Direction is by Thomas Carlo Bo, Stage Direction by Lou Rodgers. The dates are June 12 & 13 at 8 pm, June 14 at 4 pm and 8 pm, and June 15 at  3 pm and 7 pm. General admission: $20; Students & Seniors: $15. The venue is the Sanford Meisner Theatre, 164 11th Avenue, (between 22nd and 23rd Streets). Reservations and more information available at (212) 691-6105.

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Apologies for CESAR VUKSIC for getting this out so late, but he writes: My piece "Queens Rhapsody" is being perform one more time. This time at the same place it was premiered 2 years ago: the "Kew Gardens Community Center" at 80-02 Kew Gardens Road, Suite 202. Friday, June 6th at 1pm. This is a few steps from the intersection of Queens Boulevard and Union Turnpike and also a few steps from the F and E Express at the Union Turnpike Station." Cesar also notes that the Community Center received a Grant for a Series of Concerts, and happily have invited Cesar and his performers again. Performers include NYCC's Performer Members STEPHEN SOLOOK (percussion) and HAIM AVITSUR (trombone), with Cesar on piano.

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Soprano PATRICIA SONEGO will give the world premiere of "In Darkness" for soprano and computer. Composed for the singer by award-winning composer John Melby, this beautiful and complex 18 minute "symphony" is "a setting in one uninterrupted movement for soprano and computer-synthesized sounds of three poems by the American "imagist" poet Amy Lawrence Lowell (1874-1925): At Night, New York at Night, and In Darkness, which all deal with very different images of night. The work was composed in 2007 for Patricia. Presented by the ACA Festival of American Music 2008 at the Thalia Theater, Symphony Space, 95th St. & Broadway. Tickets are $15 General Admission, $5 Students, and there is also a $50 Festival Pass (5 Events). See http://www.symphonyspace.org/series/126  or call: (212) 864-5400. For more information visit http://www.PatriciaSonego.com.

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EUGENE MARLOW, NYCC's Director, Media Relations Membership Coordinator, wishes to announce the recent launch of a new service out of his company MEII Enterprises. It's called Bio-Write. The purpose of Bio-Write is provide people specifically in the fine and performing arts (whether in the early part of their career or well-established professionals) with strategically effective biographies for a variety of purposes, among them web sites, concert and exhibit programs, CD tray cards, and teaching grant applications. To find out more about this service go to www.bio-write.info.

In The Loop | May 30, 2008

A large round of loud applause to RICHARD BROOKS for producing our May 20 concert at Frederick Loewe Theater, and also to DINU GHEZZO for being an invaluable link to New York University. And to all the volunteers who so ably assisted, and to our musicians, and our audience, yes, give yourself a hand, too! Believe it or not, our final concert of the year is almost upon us, coming up on June 7 at 8pm at the our annual season-closing venue, Saint Peter's at the Citigroup Center. Head over to nycomposerscircle.blogspot.com to download the flier. Please help spread the word and forward it on to your own mailing list, and we'll see you there.

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Our final SUNDAY SALON of the season is this Sunday, June 1, at the Ellington Room, Manhattan Plaza 400 W 43, second floor (enter 9th Avenue). We get started at 2pm and have a special guest, agent Jeffrey James, and several live performances on tap to boot. The full program is listed at the end of this In The Loop.

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DON HAGAR's piece on last week's Xanthos Ensemble concert was mentioned in the New York Times. Steve Smith wrote, "Donald Hagar's playful "I Am Not a Clock" alternated between bustling, mechanical rhythms and slow, dreamy interludes." (5/26/08) I think we first heard this piece at an NYCC Salon this year, no? Anyway, congratulations, Don!

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OREN FADER and the Fireworks Ensemble perform Saturday, May 31, 2008 at 7:30 pm at the Peter Norton Symphony Space (Leonard Nimoy Thalia) 2537 Broadway at 95th  street, New York. The program is Adam Silverman's Spark in the Shoe; Robert Kyr's Working Fire/Fireworks Variations; David Del Tredici's A Field Manual (Poems of Edward Field). Tickets: $21 general admission, available online at http://www.symphonyspace.org/event/2344 or by phone at (212) 864-5400

Special guests Chris Trakas: baritone; Melissa Fogarty: soprano; David Del Tredici: conductor and guest composer. The Fireworks Ensemble is: Brian Coughlin: bass; Oren Fader: guitar; Jennifer Grim: flute; Michael Ibrahim: saxophone; James Johnston: keyboards; Lisa Liu: violin; Eric Poland: percussion; Leigh Stuart: cello.

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Not new music, but perhaps a new take on an old lady? In continuing with her penchant for assuming salient character personae, TAMARA CASHOUR will sing the role of The Witch in Brooklyn Repertory Opera's production of Hansel & Gretel. Production, with orchestra, takes place June 21-29 at the Brooklyn Lyceum Theatre, 4th Avenue and Union St (directly at the Union St. stop on the R train). Tamara will sing the June 22 and June 28th performances, both beginning at 3:30pm. More info:  www.broopera.org. Tamara is currently perfecting a new, diabolical laugh for this role, which she will essay at all performances. Have YOU eaten a child today? (!!)

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Here is the program for this Sunday's June 1 Salon, starting at 2pm.

1.   Discussion of Organizational Matters and Reports

2.   Special Guest Presentation: Well-known arts consultant Jeffrey James will be giving us a presentation that will be the main featured event at the Salon (lasting about 1.5 hours)

3.  Audition of Members' Works

DON HAGAR -- Skeleton Earth for voice and piano (to be performed live by  TAMARA CASHOUR and CESAR VUKSIC) 2 minutes

GENE MCBRIDE -- On Burning Ground for tenor and piano (an opera excerpt from Act One, Scene One, to be performed live by guest bass baritone Seth Gilman and Gene McBride)  1.5 minutes [Note:   Mr. Gilman and Gene McBride will also perform John Cage's settings of three very short and witty Gertrude Stein poems:  Twenty Years After - 1 minute; Is As It Was - 25 seconds; At East and Ingredients - 45 seconds]

Guest Soprano Arlene Travis will perform a set of songs on Robert Frost poems by Johannes Somary  with Cesar Vuksic at the piano 

A. Desert Places  3 minutes

B. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening  3 minutes

C. Fire and Ice  1 minute

Ms. Travis and Cesar Vuksic will also perform the first of Anton Webern's three songs from Viae Inviae  3 minutes

DANA RICHARDSON -- Allegro Appassionato for violin and piano  12 minutes

4.  Audition of Guests or of Guests' Works (time permitting)

5.  Conclusion and Refreshments

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