Some of the 20th century's most admired composers restricted their work to very specific genres, instrumentations, or even durations, exploring possibilities within tight constraints. But in the 21st century, an increasing number of artists are exuberantly embracing a variety of artistic roles, participating in flexible ensembles, composing for unusual forces, and even composing in collaborative ways. There may not be a better prototype for this type of multifaceted artistry than Carla Kihlstedt, who will be featured as both a performer and composer at Other Minds 15.
Kihlstedt first emerged as a talented and virtuosic classical violinist, having graduated from Oberlin. After moving to the Bay Area, though, her musical projects became many and varied: Tin Hat Trio, an avant-garde chamber group; rock bands like Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and Charming Hostess, Two Foot Yard, The Book of Knots... the list goes on and on, reaching from violin concertos composed for her, to free improvisation, to her own work as a composer.
One lasting collaboration for Kihsltedt has been with another OM 15 composer, Lisa Bielawa. Kihlstedt will perform Bielawa's Kafka Songs on the first concert (March 4) of OM 15, and on the third and final concert (March 6), audiences will be treated to her new work, Pandæmonium, in a co-presentation with ROVA:Arts and featuring the ROVA Saxophone Quartet, with readings by Matthias Bossi and Joan Mankin.
>>Read more about Carla and listen to her music
>>Purchase tickets for OM 15
2. OM 15 Artist Preview: Pawel Mykietyn
In 2008, at the age of 37, Pawel Mykietyn (b. 1971, Olawa, Poland) was awarded Poland's top arts prize, the OPUS award. This was yet another milestone on this young composer's rapid rise to what amounts to stardom in the new music world. Other Minds Director Charles Amirkhanian describes his recent discovery of Mykietyn:
When Pawel Mykietyn's Symphony No. 2 was premiered at the 2007 Warsaw Autumn Festival under Reinbert de Leeuw, I was reminded of an urban landscape in which car alarms of every description and pitch range started going off intermittently over a long period of time. If the effect hadn't been so profound it would have been hilarious. I immediately decided he should be invited to Other Minds and made sure to do so last year. This year the Del Sol String Quartet will play his equally amazing Quartet No. 2 that begins with the intricate peeping of hocketing harmonics. And his piano and tape work, Epiphora (1996), goes nuclear with Eva-Maria Zimmermann at the keyboard. The work took first place for young composers in the International Rostrum of Electro-Acoustic Music in Amsterdam. Fasten your seatbelt for another exciting Other Minds discovery debuting in San Francisco.
Mykietyn's works will be presented on the second concert of OM 15, March 5, 2010.
>>Read more about Pawel and listen to his music
>>Purchase tickets for OM 15
3. Now available for free listening on radiOM.org
Charles Amirkhanian introduces works by Henry Brant, Nicolay Medtner, and Bonifazio Asioli. The first work, Millennium IV by Henry Brant, is a piece of spatial music for brass quintet. Next are two piano sonatas performed by Vladimir Pleshakov. The first is the Sonata-Ballada by Russian composer Nicolay Medtner, followed by the Sonata in C Major by Bonifazio Asioli. Henry Brant was one of the principal pioneers of 20th-Century spatial music, writing works in which the planned positioning of the performers throughout the hall, as well as on stage, is an essential factor in the composing scheme. Nicolay Medtner was both a composer and pianist, and all of his many compositions include a part for the piano. Born in 1769, Bonifazio Asioli was an Italian composer, as well as a musical theorist and playwright.
Morning Concert: The Music of Alvin Curran (1991)
Alvin Curran is one of the most active and inventive avant-garde and electronic music composers of the current and past century. He was a co-founder of the radical music collective, Musica Elettronica Viva (MEV), and has taught at the Accademia Nazionale d'Arte Drammatica in Rome, as well as at Mills College in Oakland, California, where he was a visiting Professor of Music from 1991 to 2006. He specializes in works for keyboard, percussion, winds, voices, and natural sounds, often performed at outdoor sites. In this program, recorded in March of 1991, Curran introduces a number of his works, including Erat Verbum and Electric Rags II. Curran's pieces incorporate ambient and musical sounds in a startlingly complex and lyrical evocation of the human spirit. (from KPFA Folio)
Other Minds Presents: Henry Cowell: The Whole World of Music (2009)
Concert One
Concert Two
On November 12 and 13, 2009, at the Valley Presbyterian Church in Portola Valley, CA and the Presidio Chapel in San Francisco, CA, Other Minds presented two concerts dedicated to the music of Henry Cowell. The first concert featured a wide selection of his works, including not only his compositions for solo piano, but also a selection of songs, a string quartet, and other chamber works. Performers include pianist Sarah Cahill, mezzo-soprano Wendy Hillhouse, and the Colorado String Quartet. The second evening began with a panel discussion, moderated by Charles Amirkhanian, and featuring John Duffy, a composer and former student of Cowell's, Anahid Ajemian, a violinist and friend of Cowell's, George Avakian, a record producer and husband of Ajemian, Joel Sachs, a musicologist and Cowell biographer, and Sarah Cahill, a pianist famous for her repertoire of new music. The discussion was followed by a concert that included solo piano music, a set of art songs, two string quartets performed by the Colorado Quartet, and chamber music featuring a rare performance by renowned violinist David Abel.
Check out the full program guide, complete with extensive biographical details, historical photographs, and a complete description of each composition here.
4. Special Offer: 10% off Wozzeck at YBCA
Wozzeck
by Alban Berg
Featuring Ensemble Parallèle, cond. Nicole Paiement
Bojan Knezevic (Wozzeck), John Duykers (captain)
Saturday & Sunday, January 30-31, 8pm
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
10% OFF FOR MINDALERT READERS
use code 5206 here
Ensemble Parallèle presents Alban Berg's Wozzeck in fully staged chamber opera performances at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Nicole Paiement, founder and artistic director of Ensemble Parallèle, conducts the West Coast premiere of composer John Rea's orchestration. The cast features bass-baritone Bojan Knezevic, a graduate of the Adler Fellowship and Merola programs, as Wozzeck and tenor John Duykers as the captain. Director Brian Staufenbiel and Media Artist Austin Forbord's film noir staging uses multimedia projections evocative of German silent films of the 1920s. Don't miss this rare opportunity to experience Berg's searing musical drama, presented by Ensemble Parallèle, resident ensemble at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. For complete information visit the ensemble website.
5. Special Offer: 20% off King's Singers
King's SingersWednesday, February 17, 8pm
Herbst Theatre, San Francisco
20% OFF FOR MINDALERT READERS
use code KSOM here
Vivacious and versatile, the King's Singers possess an "impeccably manicured vocal blend, enchanting the ear from first to last note." (Gramophone) With a dozen commissions since 2000, they now bring Tres Mitos de Mi Tierra (Three Myths of My Land), a world premiere by the Bay Area's Gabriela Lena Frank. The remainder of the program includes works by John Bennet, Heinrich Schütz, Thomas Weelkes, Monteverdi and Saint-Saëns.
6. Terry Riley interview online
Listen to Terry Riley (OM 2) in a recent interview with Jari Chevalier of Living Hero, a multidisciplinary podcast program.Terry on Living Hero
Also don't miss these historical interviews with Riley, available on radiOM.org:
Thin Air Interview with Terry Riley (1969)
Terry Riley on Pandit Pran Nath (1971)
Interview with Terry Riley (1983)
7. Eventwire: Sonatas and Interludes by John Cage
Sonatas and Interludes by John CageAdam Tendler, prepared piano
Friday, January 22, 8pm
Old First Church, San Francisco
Completed in 1948 and dedicated to pianist Maro Ajemian, Sonatas and Interludes by combines an astounding number of John Cage's interests and innovations, including its highly advanced use of the prepared piano, direct connection Hindu philosophy, and numerous technical feats, especially his use of "square-root" structures.
Adam Tendler is a celebrated pianist, composer, and classical music advocate who began his career with his 88x50 tour, in which for one year he lived out of his car presenting free lecture-recitals of modern American music in all fifty states with no outside funding. Tendler continues to perform, compose, and teach in New York City, and is currently in the final stages of editing Dissonant States, a memoir detailing his search for national, artistic, and sexual identity within the context of his landmark America 88x50 tour.
8. Eventwire: 10 new works plus Ligeti's Chamber Concerto
In choosing the Concord Sonata for orchestral treatment I felt, above all, that here Ives had achieved his most complete and comprehensive expression, and that of all his works, this was the one with the most immediate appeal. Henry Cowell agreed, and encouraged me to go ahead with the project... My task throughout was illuminated by Ives's own "Essays Before a Sonata" and his collected "Memos," and in some cases Ives's words helped me decipher what at first seemed baffling in his printed music... As the present millennium departs, I invite you all to welcome one of our century's musical monuments, in its new orchestral environment.