Ars Nova Dallas

A Performer's Perspective: Ways of Listening

2011-10-31T22:07:00.003-05:00

When I imported a recording of Elliott Carter's Triple Duo into my iTunes, the program categorized it as “Easy Listening.” I think I laughed out loud when I saw that. Carter's music is many things – rigorous, inventive, beautiful, complex, fascinating – but “easy” is not an adjective that springs to mind, either for playing or listening. It made me start thinking, though: what do we mean by saying that music is difficult or easy to listen to? Why is some more “difficult” than others? I associate the term “easy listening” with a bland, saccharine wash of sounds that makes no demand on the ear or the intellect. (Think smooth jazz, soft rock, and cheesy massage CDs with fake fountains splashing.) Yes, sometimes we want to listen to music that is relaxing, that can soothe or entertain. But music can be beautiful, graceful and pleasing without being soporific. And it can create many kinds of experiences, not all of them relaxing. Sometimes it can be more like a fast train, or a steep climb, or a bracing sea breeze. It might be a demented puzzle, or a cathartic wail, or a deep meditation, or a moment of flying.

As a musician, and as a listener, I want music to be all these things and more. The festival's directors invited me to do some blog posts from a performer's perspective, and I want to share a few thoughts here on various ways of listening as related to the process of practicing and rehearsing for the festival concerts.

Carter's music is notated in very clear and specific detail, and requires much individual attention by the players before and throughout the rehearsal process. Working on a piece alone in the practice room might be likened to a laboratory. Is it calm, sterile, a controlled environment: just you, the music, and the metronome. Bringing it into rehearsal, the first step out into the real world, you hear it all differently. It's not the same as studying the score and listening to the recording. Suddenly, other people are involved, and like most human endeavors, this makes the musical experience both richer and more complicated. Several members of the ensemble mentioned this in rehearsal: the way it sounds and feels so different to put it all together, the way that hearing the other parts changes your perception of your own.

I spent most of Saturday rehearsing the Carter, and the evening at a Bach Festival concert in which a friend was playing. Listening to Bach, I thought again about this idea of easy versus difficult listening. I don't think many people would describe Bach as “easy listening.” His harmonies and counterpoint are extremely complex. In fact, I was also struck by the way that both Bach and Carter, though working with different materials, have a similarity in their deeply structured music and use of overlapping layers. However, Bach is more familiar to many listeners (and many performers as well), and therefore is often perceived as easier to listen to.

Music that is less familiar challenges us to release our conditioned responses and expectations. Carter's Triple Duo consists, as the title suggests, of three pairs of instruments (winds, strings, and piano/percussion). Each pair is closely connected, often interlocking, and uses the same primary rhythmic subdivision (the winds have groups of three and six, the strings two and four, the percussion five). These rhythmic layers form an intricate counterpoint, sometimes dense and frenetic, at others suddenly calm and floating.

Do you need to know these things in order to listen to the piece? No. Does knowing them change the way you listen? Probably. Is one way “better” than the other? I don't think so. As with any piece of music, the experience of listening for the first time will be different from repeated hearings. But I think there is a magic to that first time: a sense of the whole, of a new discovery, of the “beginner's mind.” And listening to something unfamiliar, while it may not be “easy,” doesn't have to be viewed as difficult. You don't necessarily have to follow anything in particular or “figure it out.” I think a lot of people have this fear about new music – that they won't “get it,” that there's some secret they're missing. I don't think that's true. I firmly believe that no specialized training – no training at all! - is necessary in order to appreciate this music. All that is required is curiosity. The way you listen, the way I listen, the way the pianist or the clarinetist or the conductor or your grandmother listens – these are all equally valid experiences.

So why not try this? Open your ears to the sounds. Let them wash over you. See what catches your attention. Let your mind follow whatever it wants to. Maybe patterns emerge, maybe they don't. Maybe you notice relationships growing and changing. Maybe thoughts or emotions arise. Maybe the music meets your expectations, maybe it contradicts them; maybe it leads you to form new expectations and fulfills them and then contradicts those, too. Whatever you hear, trust your own way of listening.

We look forward to sharing the experience with you this week. There's nothing quite like being in the middle of music while it's being made, that sense of connection, of shared endeavor and energy. When the audience arrives, they add the final piece. This is the last step into the real world, out of the lab. The music is alive, in this moment, and people are listening.

Composer Paul Thomas

2011-10-30T18:03:00.003-05:00

This Thursday and Friday, come hear the world premiere performance of Paul Thomas' new work, Two Manifestations. Selected from our world-wide Call For Scores, Paul's music has an electricity and depth that will reward you for days after the performance!

Paul’s acoustic and electronic music has been presented throughout the United States and Europe including the SCI Student National Conference, Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival, Electronic Music Midwest, Most Significant Bytes Festival, Threshold Electroacoustic Music Festival, among many others. He has had the privilege of having his works performed by such ensembles as the Mendelssohn Piano Trio, Ensemble Green, Zen Franglais, and the Delta State University New Music Ensemble, and on Thursday, Ars Nova Dallas.

Join us later this week for incredible concerts that will energize and excite you! More information is always available at www.dallasmodernmusic.org

Composer Monica Lynn

2011-09-28T22:32:00.003-05:00

This November, join us at the Dallas Festival of Modern Music as we present the world premiere of Monica Lynn's A Soldier's Heart Beats, a new work created as the special companion piece to Igor Stravinksy' The Soldier's Tale. Lynn's music has been performed across America, Europe, and Asia, and she has garnered significant recognition, placing as a Finalist in the 2011 International Music Prize for Excellence in Composition and serving as Featured Guest Composer for the 9th Annual Woman Composers Festival at the Hartt School of Music. Join us on November 3 or 4 to experience the exhilarating synergy of Stravinsky and Lynn. More info is always available at www.dallasmodernmusic.org

We did it!

2011-09-04T19:37:00.003-05:00

Thanks to the wonderful support of modern music fans across Dallas, the state of Texas, and America, the Dallas Festival of Modern Music has successfully completed our 2011 Kickstarter fundraising campaign! Words cannot express how grateful we are to everyone who pitched in, but we will try with a huge THANK YOU! With your help, this year's festival will be the best yet!

Nicole Murphy

2011-09-04T07:48:00.002-05:00

The Dallas Festival of Modern Music has a history of drawing on talent from across the world, and our involvement this year with composer Nicole Murphy is no different. An Australian composer of significant note, Murphy is the winner of multiple awards and has had her music performed by orchestras including the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and the Ku-ring-Gai Philharmonic. In addition, she has been commissioned by the Australian Ballet, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestra Victoria to create new music.

On November 5 and 6, 2011, Ars Nova Dallas will be presenting a world premiere by Ms. Murphy, so make your plans to attend this amazing concert or any number of other fantastic offerings. More information is always available at www.dallasmodernmusic.org

Composer Timothy Kramer

2011-08-20T15:57:00.002-05:00

Timothy Kramer is a composer you need to know! And fortunately, you can get to know his music at this year's Dallas Festival of Modern Music. Kramer is one of the featured winning composers from this year's Call for Scores, and his "Three Pairs Suite" is the perfect musical response to Elliot Carter's "Triple Duo." Kramer is currently the Chair of the Music Department at Illinois College, and his music has been performed by noted ensembles including the San Antonio, Detroit, and Indianapolis Symphonies, as well as as the SOLI and ONIX ensembles. Hear his music this November 5 and 6, and learn more at www.dallasmodernmusic.org

Introducing Composer Jeremy Beck

2011-08-17T21:03:00.003-05:00

The Dallas Festival of Modern Music is pleased to introduce you to composer Jeremy Beck, one of our featured composers from this year's Call for Scores. Ars Nova Dallas will be performing his exhilarating "In Flight Until Mysterious Night," scored for the set of instruments famously known as the "Pierrot Ensemble," the versatile instrumentation first used by Arnold Schoenberg in his "Pierrot Lunaire." A widely recorded and performed composer, Beck's music perfectly walks the line of being both extremely accessible, but also firmly rooted in high art. Learn more about Jeremy Beck at http://bit.ly/oH8dbO.

2011 Call For Scores Results Announced

2011-08-10T22:43:00.002-05:00

The Dallas Festival of Modern Music is pleased to announce the results from our 2011 Call For Scores. The quality of the field was especially high this year, but 80 applicants and 3 days of judging later, we have named our award winners!

The following winners have been selected to have a work of theirs performed by Ars Nova Dallas at the festival this November.

WINNERS

Timothy Kramer of Jacksonville, Illinois
Nicole Murphy of Queensland, Australia
Paul Thomas of Denton, Texas
Monica Lynn of Santa Cruz, California
Jeremy Beck of Louisville, Kentucky

The finalists listed below were not selected, but their contributions are deserving of particular note.

FINALISTS

Stephen Cohn of Los Angeles, California
Gregg Wramage of Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey
Greg Dixon of Denton, Texas
Charles Halka of Houston, Texas
Alex Silva of New York, New York

One award was also granted to a young composer with significant potential, and an already well developed artistic voice and craft.

EMERGING ARTIST AWARD

Miles Friday of Bellingham, Washington

Thank you to all 80 applicants for your interest in our project! Check back next spring for information regarding our 2012 Call for Scores!

Kickstarter Donor

2011-08-01T19:36:00.002-05:00

Find out why Kenneth Pyron is a great guy! http://ow.ly/5QLoZ

Kickstarter Initiative Launched!

2011-07-29T23:21:00.004-05:00

We've officially kicked off our Kickstarter campaign and donations have begun to come in! This initiative will provide the bulk of our funding for the 2011 Dallas Festival of Modern Music, so we encourage everyone who supports our vision to donate what you can and spread the word!

Remember:

Our concerts are always free
Educational initiatives are a big part of the festival
We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, so donations are tax-deductible

We also invite you to explore our new website, which includes audio and video from last year's festival. Thanks for your support as we work to plan the best-yet Dallas Festival of Modern Music!

2011-07-29T15:03:00.001-05:00

Huge thanks to Neena Weng, our first Kickstarter funder! Thanks Neena! Everyone else check out http://ow.ly/5QLoZ and do your part!

Hello from Dr. Rachel!

2011-07-11T12:15:00.003-05:00

I'm happy to announce that I have joined the Dallas Festival of Modern Music team as Executive Director! I've been a fan of this project since the beginning, and last year became more involved both as a clarinetist and volunteer. Now, I'm excited to take on a larger role and help make the Festival the best it can be!

A bit about me and my background... I currently make my living as Adjunct Professor of Clarinet at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, and private teacher and freelance musician in the DFW area. I recently completed my D.M.A. in Clarinet Performance at the University of North Texas where I studied clarinet with James Gillespie and contemporary music with Elizabeth McNutt. At UNT, I also had the privilege of being a Priddy Fellow in Arts Leadership for the 2007-2008 school year. This gave me a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to immerse myself in the world of arts administration and advocacy, and led to my internship with Dallas new music ensemble Voices of Change.

My interest in new music dates back to my undergraduate years at Ball State University, where I first began collaborating with composers to perform new works for clarinet. I was hooked, and since then new music has always been a big part of my identity as a performer. Since coming to Denton, Texas in 2006, I have had the chance to work with student and faculty composers at UNT's Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia on pieces for clarinet and electronics. Chamber music is another passion of mine (I currently perform with the Madera Wind Quintet and the Chameleon Chamber Group), so working with the Dallas Festival of Modern Music is right up my alley!

I am now hard at work with Jordan, Ryan, and the rest of the team on planning this year's festival. In the coming days and weeks, look for a new website, announcements about programming and guest artists, and the launch of a fundraising initiative (not to give anything away, but it starts with "K" and ends with "ickstarter"). We'll keep you posted!

To learn more about me and what I do, please visit my website.

Festival 2011

2011-02-06T22:10:00.003-06:00

The Dallas Festival of Modern Music is pleased to announce our 2011 festival dates! Mark your calendars now to hear great music November 3-6.

2011-02-06T08:06:00.001-06:00

RIP Milton Babbitt. Love or hate his music, he served an indispensable role in the history of musical thought. http://ow.ly/3R9aj

Weill Violin Concerto

2010-11-09T18:14:00.001-06:00

Be sure to join us for the final concerts of the 2010 season. This Friday and Saturday (November 12 and 13), Ars Nova Dallas presents the riveting violin concerto of Kurt Weill, a composer better known for his Broadway and theater music, with virtuosic soloist John Gilbert. Also on the program is the lush Chanson et Danses by Vincent D'Indy and the world premiere of Federico Garcia's new work, Festive Fugue. More info at www.dallasmodernmusic.org

2010-11-05T11:36:00.001-05:00

WRR Classical 101.1 FM: WRR Classical 101.1 FM Live Radio interview today! http://ow.ly/355CW

Opening Night!

2010-11-05T08:58:00.001-05:00

Join us for opening night tonight! At 7pm, Ars Nova will present music by Boulez, Zare, and Garcia at Lakewood United Methodist Church. At 9:30, move to Good Records for the Chameleon Chamber Group. www.dallasmodernmusic.org for more info!

2 Days to Go!

2010-11-03T20:58:00.001-05:00

Only 2 days until the 2010 season of the Dallas Festival of Modern Music opens! Join us Friday or Saturday night at Lakewood Methodist Church (7pm) for Boulez, Garcia, and Zare, presented by Ars Nova Dallas! Afterwords, move to Good Records for Chameleon Chamber Group (Friday) or Zanzibar Snails (Saturday). More info at www.dallasmodernmusic.org

Composer Roger Zare

2010-11-01T07:20:00.001-05:00

The Dallas Festival of Modern Music is pleased to welcome composer Roger Zare to this year's festival. In addition to Ars Nova Dallas' performance of his Songs of Li Po on November 5 and 6, a number of his works will be performed on Fox 4's Good Day on Wednesday, November 3. Tune in during the 7am hour for this incredible event! Learn more at www.dallasmodernmusic.org

2010-10-27T22:47:00.001-05:00

Following Friday, November 5th's Ars Nova Dallas concert, join us at Good Records for the Chameleon Chamber Group! http://ping.fm/iP6w5

Chameleon Chamber Group

2010-10-24T16:27:00.001-05:00

This year, the Dallas Festival of Modern Music is pleased to welcome the Chameleon Chamber Group to its Taste the Music series. Come experience this unique and theatrical ensemble as they present their engaging program of classical and rock fusion. Chameleon will be at Good Records on Friday, November 5, following the Ars Nova Dallas performance (approx. 9:30pm). Make plans to attend now, or learn more at www.dallasmodernmusic.org

Zanzibar Snails

2010-10-20T17:27:00.001-05:00

The Dallas Festival of Modern Music is pleased to welcome Zanzibar Snails to the 2010 Taste the Music series. Widely regarded as DFW's favorite experimental rock ensemble, the Snails will be performing at Good Records on Saturday, November 6, following the Ars Nova Dallas performance (approx. 9:30pm) Join us for a night of great music, food, and drink! More info at www.dallasmodernmusic.org

NT3 Percussion Trio

2010-10-03T22:35:00.000-05:00

On the text

2010-09-21T14:42:00.002-05:00

So, I promised to write a little about the text of my piece, and how I found it. The best way to introduce this is probably to show part of what I'm doing with it.

Beyond the meaning, inherent rhythm, or accent patterns of the text, for this piece I was interested in the semi-random arrangements of sounds, coming and going, returning or being abandoned for a while, that show up in any text. (In general, I like these semi-random processes, that are the result of systems and mechanisms, but as by-products, not as their main point; think of the random motions inside a typewriter, ... or, for that matter, those inside a piano.)

So, for example, the first line of the poem: Aquel que al verme, has sounds a-k-e-l-k-e-a-l. Only four sounds. "k" always followed by "e", "a" and "l" as appendices. Imagine "a" as an introduction to a statement ("k-e"), after which a rebound ("l") fades out. Then a pause, and according to the text the statement is then re-stated ("que"), and the other motives close off ("al"). A non-trivial unit of discourse!

And then the poem continues, after "verme" (variations on the k-e theme, with the predominance of the "e" motive), with "supuso mi paso". This is a whole new soundworld: the s-p-s interplay takes over, the e has disappeared for a little.

This is the kind of process I wanted for the piece. I had some texts in mind, that I've wanted to set to new works for a while, but somehow they didn't fit this idea as much. They were either too long (imagine a long poem set with every letter being a motive), or too meaningful, so that the references of its meaning would be too weighty to allow my very autonomous handling.

So I called my brother, who knows a lot about poetry. Who, what period, should I look into? As I was trying to explain what I needed, he offered several suggestions, but each had something that didn't appeal to me. Little by little we defined what it was I was looking for, and when he thought he had understood---wanting to confirm---he said: "oh, something like 'aquel que al verme...'"

---Yes, yes, something like that, let me see, let's write it down... Wow, this works, and, here, this is great, wow! What was it? "no supo", or "ignoraba"?
---Oh, it was "ignoraba", but "no supo" makes more sense, with the reference to "supuso"

And so on. After that conversation I knew the piece was coming along.

An update: today I finished the score of the "Festive Fugue" for Ryan Ross. I look forward to this!

Coatroom Concerts

2010-09-19T17:57:00.001-05:00

I get quite a few press releases about very interesting new music events every day, but a concert series in a coat closet? This feels like a first. Chris Kallmyer has organized "four resident ensembles, 96 composers, 350+ new works, and over 400 concerts inside a coatroom, under the stairs in the lobby of the Hammer Museum" in Los Angeles. The performances take two minutes a piece and are performed for the gathered Saturday afternoon audience members two at a time. Also, it is free. For once, I really wish I lived in L.A. To read more, visit http://ow.ly/2GAmh

My introduction (Federico Garcia, featured composer)

2010-09-16T14:47:00.004-05:00

Hi everyone! I'm so excited to be the featured composer at Dallas this year! It's a great opportunity to get to meet and work with people who believe as much as I do in new music and in sharing it with the public.

I'm writing two pieces for the festival, one each for co-directors Jordan and Ryan. I'll be sharing the instrumentation of the rest of their programs: one of the pieces goes with Le Marteau (wow, I'd be excited even just to get to hear this live!), and therefore I am writing for mezzo, guitar, flute, viola, and three percussionists... the other one is for a larger ensemble, namely the 'orchestra' of Kurt Weil's violin concerto (ditto about hearing this).

So, two pretty different pieces. The chamber wind ensemble (the piece for Ryan) is a 'festive fugue'. Upbeat, fun, a little flashy... I'll be done with it very soon. The other one is one of those things... I have thinking about it for months, and each step is a major effort.

I was just working on it, and made a big step. Feeling a little drained for the day, I decided to start my posts on this blog. First time I do something like this (talk, let alone write, much less blog, about a piece I'm writing), but it adds to the excitement.

So for today I'll leave you guys with the text of the piece. It's by my brother, who has written some wonderful texts in the past (one of them I already set to music). I'll tell you how I (we) got to this text in a future entry. But here it goes:

Aquel que al verme
supuso mi paso muy firme
y al irme
me auguró ventura,
no supo que yo a esas alturas
tornaba y no iba del alba al ocaso
(Nicolás García De Castro, Colombia, 2000)

It's dense in meaning (each word meaning several different things) so it's been hard to translate. This is my current version:

He who in seeing me
took my step for quite firm,
and as I left
bid me good fortune,
did not know, by that point,
that I turned, did not go, from dawn to sunset.

Vocal Phenom Bryn-Julson Advises Festival

2010-09-15T21:34:00.002-05:00

Recognized as one of the most authoritative interpreters of vocal music of the 20th century, Phyllis Bryn-Julson commands a remarkable repertoire of literature spanning several centuries. Born in North Dakota, she began studying the piano at age three. She enrolled in Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, studying piano, organ, voice and violin. She received an Honorary Doctorate from Concordia in 1995. After attending the Tanglewood summer music festival, she transferred to Syracuse University, studying voice with Helen Boatwright, completing her BM and MM degrees. During these college years, she made her debut with the Boston Symphony in Boston, Providence, RI, and Carnegie Hall in New York. She ultimately sang with this orchestra and the New York Philharmonic dozens of times.

Ms. Bryn-Julson collaborated with Pierre Boulez and the Ensemble Intercontemporaine for much of her career, taking her to numerous festivals in Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the former Soviet Union, and Japan. She has premiered works of many 20th century composers, some of which were written for her. Included in this list are Boulez, Messiaen, Goehr, Kurtag, Holliger, Tavener, Rochberg, Del Tredici, Rorem, Carter, Babbitt, Birtwistle, Boone, Cage, Felciano, Wuorinen, Aperghis, and Penderecki.

In recent years, Ms. Bryn-Julson gave performances of Kurtag's Kafka Fragments in New York at the Guggenheim Museum with Violaine Melançon, violinist. She took part in the Radical Past series in Los Angeles, giving four performances of the great works of Milton Babbitt, John Cage, Cathy Berberian, and Luciano Berio. She toured with the Peabody Trio throughout the United States and Canada, and recorded works of Samuel Adler for the Milken Foundation in Barcelona. She also toured with the Montreal Symphony, performing the award winning opera Il Prigioniero by Dallapiccola. Performances occurred at Carnegie Hall, and in Montreal. Following this, she premiered the same work in Tokyo, Japan, where it was staged and televised. With Southwest Chamber Music Society, Ms. Bryn-Julson has performed and recorded the complete works of both Ernst Krenek and Mel Powell. Last season she premiered and recorded An American Decomeron by Richard Felciano, commissioned by the Koussevitsky Foundation, and written for her and the Southwest Chamber Music Society.

With over 100 recordings and CD's to her credit, Ms. Bryn-Julson's performance of Erwartung by Schönberg (Simon Rattle conducting) won the 1995 best opera Grammaphone Award. Her recording of the opera Il Prigioniero by Dallapiccola won the Prix du Monde. She has been nominated twice for Grammy awards; one for best opera recording (Erwartung), and best vocalist (Ligeti Vocal Works). She has received the Amphoion Award, The Dickinson College Arts Award, The Paul Hume Award, and the Catherine Filene Shouse Award. She was inducted into the Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame in 2000. She was the first musician to receive the United States - United Kingdom Bicentennial Exchange Arts Fellowship. She received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Syracuse University, the Peabody Conservatory Faculty Award for excellence in teaching, and the Peabody Student Council Award for outstanding contribution to the Peabody Community.

Ms. Bryn-Julson has appeared with every major European and North American Symphony Orchestras under many of the leading conductors such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Simon Rattle, Pierre Boulez, Leonard Slatkin, Leonard Bernstein, Claudio Abbado, Seiji Ozawa, Zubin Mehta, Gunther Schuller, and Erich Leinsdorf.

Ms. Bryn-Julson's students continue to win prizes and awards, and have made careers in some of the leading opera houses and orchestral venues. They have had contracts in opera houses in Zurich, Duesseldorf, Vienna, Paris, Lyons, London, and Sydney, and in America, the Metropolitan Opera, Houston, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

The Dallas Festival of Modern Music proudly welcomes Ms. Bryn-Julson to the festival's Artistic Adisory Board. Phyllis was gracious in her praise of Dallas' newest contemporary music organization.

"It is always a great pleasure to support a festival that aims to bring the new to its audiences with not only solid performances, but fundamental knowledge and education as well. Congratulations to this wonderful group of performers." The Dallas Festival of Modern Music will be held this November 5-14, 2010 in venues across Dallas. For more information, visit dallasmodernmusic.org or facebook.com/dallasmodernmusic.

NOVA

2010-09-11T17:29:00.001-05:00

The Dallas Festival of Modern Music is proud to present, from the University of North Texas College of Music: NOVA, the nationally recognized new music ensemble. This concert will take place in Dallas on Monday, November 8.

Nova is the new music ensemble of the University of North Texas. Nova’s mission is to provide students and audiences with an engaging diversity of musical, aesthetic, and cultural experiences. Repertoire includes classics of the modern era alongside music by younger and less familiar composers. Nova provides students with the opportunity to perform fresh and exciting contemporary works. Collaborations with faculty and guest composers give students insight into the process of creating new music.

Recent performances have included music of Elliott Carter, David Lang, Frederic Rzewski, Steven Stucky, Giacinto Scelsi, Nick Didkovsky, Libby Larsen, Judith Shatin, James Tenney, Isang Yun, Christian Wolff, John Cage, Stefan Wolpe, and Charles Ives. Nova has recently collaborated with guest composers Augusta Read Thomas, Mario Davidovsky, and Dexter Morrill, as well as UNT faculty and student composers.

The ensemble’s instrumentation varies by semester. Projects each term include solo, chamber, and large ensemble works. Faculty and guest performers often join the ensemble, further enhancing students’ understanding of contemporary performance issues.
NOVA is lead by distinguished flutist and interpreter of contemporary music, ensemble director Elizabeth McNutt.

Noise: Yo-Yo, Chacona

2010-09-10T13:25:00.001-05:00

Juan Arañés's "Un sarao de la chacona," from Villancicos y Danzas Criollas; Jordi Savall leading Hespèrion XXI and La Capella Reial de Catalunya; Alia Vox 9834, also download.

Tickets for the New Yorker Festival are now on sale. I have two events in the mix: an evening of conversation and music with a promising young cellist named Yo-Yo Ma, on Saturday, Oct. 2, at 7PM; and an audio-driven lecture entitled "Chacona, Lamento, Walking Blues," on Sunday, Oct. 3, at 4PM.

Read the rest: http://ow.ly/18X8jP

Cage at 98

2010-09-05T13:23:00.001-05:00

Noise: Cage at 98 - Laura Kuhn has an update on recent Cage doings.

http://ow.ly/18Sriz

John Cage - 4'33" by David Tudor

Schoenberg's Poetry

2010-08-29T17:48:00.003-05:00

When the pianist Steven Beck played Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Debussy at Bargemusic on Friday evening, the intellectual rigor of the early-20th-century works on the program was a palate cleanser after the heady emotions in the flurry of Schumann and Chopin bicentennial events this season.

Read more at http://ow.ly/2wt27

The Passenger

2010-08-22T06:10:00.001-05:00

Dmitri Shostakovich recognised it 42 years ago, when his composer-friend showed him the score. Russian critics said it when the opera finally received a concert premiere in December 2006. Packed houses in the Bregenz Festspielhaus for the first staged production have been in no doubt about it, and nor has the German press: The Passenger is a masterpiece.

Read more at http://ow.ly/2sFRg

Chance Encounter on the Tiber

2010-08-20T17:55:00.001-05:00

For centuries, the most well-known transformations of public space have been massive, expensive architectural interventions. The High Line in Manhattan is just one of the most recent examples. In the 1980’s William Whyte highlighted the success and failures of public spaces in New York in his study, The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. Whyte pointed the way towards a viable, low-cost, high-impact alternative way to revitalize public space that did not rely only on design.

To read more, go to http ://ow.ly/2sFPk

Glass Cello Concerto: Review

2010-08-17T09:30:00.001-05:00

Cabrillo festival wraps up with Philip Glass's Cello Concerto and Other Delights -

SAN JUAN BAUTISTA -- The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music wrapped up here Sunday with a formidable program in the historic Mission. The place was redolent of frankincense -- Latin Mass had ended only an hour before the music began -- and the festival orchestra played like a bunch of sharpshooters under the baton of Marin Alsop...

http://ow.ly/2qvwZ

Berg at Bard

2010-08-16T21:19:00.001-05:00

“My job tonight is to allay any residual fears you might have,” the conductor Leon Botstein said from the stage of the Sosnoff Theater at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College here on Friday night.

Enlarge This Image

Was there a hint of concern in his statement? Perhaps. For the 21st season of the Bard Music Festival, which started on Friday, Mr. Botstein and his collaborators are focusing on the life and times of the 20th-century Viennese composer Alban Berg.

Read more at http://ow.ly/2qvw1

Innovative Programming

2010-08-16T16:45:00.001-05:00

Muse: Arts, Culture & Lifestyle News - Bloomberg http://ow.ly/2pBrF We need this kind of programming in Dallas.

Smith receives Bruno Walter Conducting Fellowship

2010-08-15T11:53:00.007-05:00

Congratulations to DFMM Artistic Director and Conductor Jordan Randall Smith for receiving a Bruno Walter Conducting Fellowship with the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. Smith led the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra in Roger Zare's 'Aerodynamics' in the world premiere of the version for small orchestra. The performance was featured on the festival opener, the "In the Works" concert featuring the works of three up-and-coming composers, including

Mr. Zare and performances by seven young conductors, including Mr. Smith. The festival closes this weekend.

Smith said of the experience, "this year was my second time to attend the Cabrillo Festival, but nothing can prepare you because no two years are ever alike at this festival. It may be in the same quirky town of Santa Cruz, same fantastic weather, but every year occupies a completely different sound world as different composers come and contribute their unique voices."

Jordan Smith was one of seven conductor-participants in the Conductors Guild Workshop (partnering with the Cabrillo Festival) chosen from over 100 applicants from across the world to come to Santa Cruz, California. There, he had the opportunity to work with musical luminaries such as the legendary Gustav Meier, MacArthur Genius Grant recipient and world-renowned conductor Marin Alsop, and members of the Billboard sensation Eighth Blackbird in the world-famous summer hub for contemporary music performance. (Eighth Blackbird and Cabrillo Festival Orchestra Violinist Matt Albert pictured is pictured above in the workshop with Jordan Smith conducting.)

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Composer Jennifer Higdon said "[He's] doing a great job. [Jordan's] conducting is full of energy, and it really adds a lot to the performance. You can really sense that."

Cabrillo Music Director and Conductor Marin Alsop said that his work was, "well done, very good."

Marin Alsop coaches Jordan Smith at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music

Jordan Smith and Roger Zare have marked this performance as the beginning of a fruitful composer-conductor relationship. Mr. Smith spoke about Zare's score, "It is a fantastic piece of music, simply electric from tiny sparks to giant cracks of lightning." The concert was unusually well-attended considering that the concert contained no headliners; it was completely full of young conductors performing as-yet unknown composers. However, they were most appreciative, giving the performers a "curtain call" of sorts (the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium did not have a literal curtain but the conductors and composers were called back to the stage at the end of the performance). After the performance, Smith immediately began to make plans to engage Zare for this year's Dallas Festival of Modern Music. "Roger is an extremely gifted composer with very mature musical thinking and offers a very compelling musical story in each of his pieces. I can't wait to work with him again."

This year's Dallas Festival of Modern Music takes place this November 5-14, 2010. For more information, visit www.dallasmodernmusic.org

For more information about Jordan Smith, visit www.jordanrsmith.com

For more information about composer Roger Zare, visit www.rogerzare.com

Harmonium

2010-08-12T22:32:00.001-05:00

YouTube - John Adams: Harmonium (1980) - excerpt

http://ow.ly/2p0K3

More great american composers at www.dallasmodernmusic.org.

Cabrillo Festival

2010-08-09T08:45:00.001-05:00

Review: Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music kicks off fantastic 48th season « All the conducting masterclasses

For adventurous listeners, the search for new music can be an exercise in frustration. Even the most forward-thinking orchestras tend to relegate contemporary works to opening-act status: a single piece at the start of a concert as a kind of aural appetizer.

At the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, new works are always the main course. Under music director Marin Alsop, the annual event offers a total immersion experience, exploring a full range of stylistic concerns and often presenting young composers before they become household names. In the process, Cabrillo has become a summer mecca for musicians and a premier musical destination for audiences.

Read the rest: http://ow.ly/2mMJ9

Batter my heart

2010-08-08T14:35:00.001-05:00

Always a great source for information on contemporary composers.

Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise: Batter my heart (redux) http://ow.ly/2mDws

Paulo Moura, Force in Brazilian Music, Dies at 77

2010-07-20T22:43:00.001-05:00

Paulo Moura, a virtuoso instrumentalist and a composer, arranger and orchestrator of numerous styles of Brazilian popular music, died on July 12 in Rio de Janeiro. He was 77.

Read the rest: http://ow.ly/2eifi

Petroushskates

2010-07-19T11:11:00.001-05:00

YouTube - Ryan Ross Conducts Joan Tower's Petroushskates.

more - http://ow.ly/2dtj6

Music Review - Philharmonic and Shanghai Symphony in Central Park

2010-07-17T19:00:00.001-05:00

Mother Nature must have been watching out for the New York Philharmonic on Tuesday night when this summer’s Concerts in the Parks series began on the Great Lawn at Central Park. For the first time in the 46-year history of this summer music tradition, the Philharmonic was sharing a parks program with a guest ensemble, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. All day Monday the forecasts were predicting a strong likelihood of thunderstorms.

Read the rest - NYTimes.com http://ow.ly/2bJmy

What Composers Talk About

2010-07-16T09:16:00.001-05:00

I'll bet that if you ran a new-music series and gave composers the following choice - "We'll either give you a $500 honorarium, or you can have $100 and talk about yourself to the audience for 20 minutes" - almost all composers who aren't in dire financial straits would choose the latter option. When the subject is ourselves, we do not like to shut up. I was on a panel of composers last night preceding the Cutting Edge series concert at Symphony Space, and the desire to chatter on was palpable. William Bolcom was the grand old man of the group, and seemed accustomed to occupying a stage by himself; we all deferred to him and let him talk most. Two of the other composers had, in fact, been students of his. Composer Victoria Bond, who runs the series, has clearly been in the moderation business a long time. She cut off each composer as graciously as though he had come to the end of a prepared text.

Read the rest - http://ow.ly/2cqKb

2010, here we come

2010-07-11T22:37:00.000-05:00

Whew! It's been a while. So many things to report, so little time...

Hang on folks, we're only days away from significant changes to the site. If you want a sneak peak, visit us here, but BE WARNED. The site is under massive construction and may have a few things out of place.

To give you a little taste, this upcoming season’s highlights include:

· Ars Nova Dallas performances of Kurt Weill’s Violin Concerto, with violinist John Gilbert, and Boulez’s Le Marteau sans Maître

· World premieres from the pen of Columbian composer Federico Garcia

· Guest artist Jeffrey Vickers

· Thousands of children involved with Musicalive!

Mark your calendars for November 5-14^th and check back soon for more details!

Bernstein's Mass

2009-12-22T23:22:00.001-06:00

http://bit.ly/60EiOi Alex Ross discusses Bernstein's Mass. Worth a read, and a wonderful piece worth getting to know.

How we hear Boulez

2009-12-13T20:32:00.000-06:00

From Bis Morgen:

Even a surface sweep over Arnold Schönberg's output shows him to be a romantic at heart, even through the most prickly musical passages. The same can't always be said of Pierre Boulez. What to make of this character? Is this music relevant? We have an expansion of the (a)tonal practices of Schönberg, a development of the rhythmic resources of Stravinsky, but with close links in orchestrations to his French forefathers. (And let us not forget that the very concept of hyper-organization in music which Boulez so epitimizes was virtually invented by Franco-flemish composers, his heritage, over 500 years ago!) . What to make of his music? When asked once about the fact that his music did not seem to share his own very charming personality, his wit and humor, he said of the humor in his music, "it's in there."

When asked how long it would take for people to appreciate his music, he suggested that it would take "about 80 years."

Well, Mr. Boulez, it has been
almost 60 years since one of your most important landmark works, Le Marteau sans Maître. It's time to take stock. How well is your music being heard these days? Is the humor emerging upon frequent listening? Are people getting sufficient opportunities to experience your sound worlds? Is your music ready for the mainstream?

The plight of the modernist has certainly diminished in severity since the mid-80's, but how much so is another question. When is the last time any of us have heard a live performance of a work by Boulez? Indeed, when was the first, if there ever was even one time? Do we not hear it because there is no demand, or is there no demand because we do not hear it?

True, he 'grew up' alongside figures like Stockhausen (with whom he helped prepare the premiere of Gruppen, one of the only gems to escape the musical black hole of the euro pean post-war 1950's). However, Stockhausen's music probably gets more frequent hearing, perhaps due to it's almost fetish-like appeal as the "anti-music." (Perhaps if we smash his music into Mozart's at the speed of light, the Higgs Boson will finally appear!)

Although he would have to be seen in light of Stockhausen as slightly more conservative figure, he is still a highly radical composer, and was most especially so in his youth (the only less-than-radical thing about him now is the fact that his methods have become more-or-less institutionalized to varying degrees.) The problem with their earlier "experiments" (as which Stockhausen himself often referred to them.) tended to be the cognitive problems associated with their wealth of compositional material and the sheer density or seeming of presentation. ("The listener got in trouble with it... [The music] seemed to be meaningless, musically meaningless ") A critic might say that their compositional wealth left the listener bankrupt, but it would, by the composers' own admissions, not be an entirely unfair comparative analysis.

Stockhausen speaks at UCLA Part 1

Stockhausen speaks at UCLA Part 2

The remaining parts

Therefore, the real question is, are we on track to hear Le Marteau in the year 2034 (which will be the 80th anniversary of the work) as a work that is just as sensuous as it is serious, just as mournful as it is mercurial? And what to do with this man? On the podium, he is has made a successful career out of, to oversimplify, "taking himself too seriously," but his nature has often been described as warm, witty, charming, and equipped with a wry sense of humor! Are we simply witnessing an artist like all of the greats before him? Someone whose music will continue to make gains in stature long after he is gone, someone who simply cannot be appreciated in his own time?

This leads to another important direction. Is this 'ideal' of the misunderstood artist, of the genius rejected by the society that created him, is it the same one that inspired Franz Liszt? The same one that drove Robert Schumann to madness? I sometimes start to let myself believe the oft-spread lies that this all started in and around the time of Wagner, but that would ignore Beethoven entirely, for whose 7th symphony a critic likened to a bag of nails being dropped repeatedly on the floor. (Unlike modern times, where percussionists do bizarre things such as quite literally dropping a bag of nails on the floor, or smashing a pane of glass!) But it didn't start there did it? "Too many notes, my dear Mozart!" Sound familiar? What about Bach? Surely he endured? Let us never forget that, were it not for Felix Mendelssohn, the music of J.S. Bach was well on to going the way of the Dodo (extinct!). Imagine our lives to day without his music! Imagine MUSIC today without his inspiration to guide the last 7 generations of composers! It is truly unthinkable.

So if these questions aren't enough, let us now return to the original point of departure: what to do about Mr. Boulez. Is it a bitter pill that simply must be swallowed so that we may all have had our musical vitamins? Is his music extremely well-constructed yet ultimately irrelevant, like our favorite Turkish apartment building of viral video fame?

I would argue that upon repeated hearing, this music does indeed open itself up to the listener. It slowly, reticently yawns forth its secrets to the hearer in unexpected ways. His output is by no means monolithic either, with very thorny piano sonatas and sometimes breathless long-distance sprints like Sur Incises (cue the linked clip to 4:15 to hear this 'long-distance sprint'). contrasted by the eerily beautiful portions of Pli selon Pli and and richly colorful 'folds' of the aforementioned Le Marteau.

So how should we hear Boulez? My end-analysis brings me to the suggestion that we open ourselves to embracing this enigmatic figure, and not to shy away from the potential for deeply communicative performances that can communicate both a profound sense of humanity and a sugary sort of pleasure, in short, a modernist compositional grammar that can communicate to post-modern sensibilities. Given frequent listening, his music becomes at once a rich meal for cultivated pallets and a tasty confection that even children can enjoy. It is truly a 'Garden of Sound.'

Ars Nova Dallas - Concert Review

2009-11-11T20:33:00.001-06:00

From The Fort Worth Examiner

"Ars Nova" first appeared c.1320-22 in a treatise on a new 14th century music style denoted by increasingly liberal rhythmic notations that resulted in a new polyphony. Fast forward to its meaning in 2009 as "Ars Nova Dallas". "Ars Nova Dallas" aspires to present new music styles since the radical rupture of 1909-13 from Romanticism and Impressionism . Of the three pivotal works from this musical big bang -Elektra R.Strauss 1909, Pierrot Lunaire A.Schoenberg 1911, Rite of Spring I.Stravinsky 1913 - "Ars Nova Dallas" chose the nine instrument configuration of Pierrot Lunaire by Arnold Schoenberg.

The decision to launch a new music festival with Pierrot Lunaire is daring indeed. The impressive results speak volumes about the musical integrity of its founders, Jordan Smith and Ryan Ross. In the space of six months they obtained sponsorship, organized The Dallas Festival of Modern Music and assembled a collection of highly capable regional musicians - "Ars Nova Dallas" - to perform an inaugural concert series. Mr. Smith says his inspiration derived from synergy with the opening of the new AT&T Performing Arts Center and his desire to further expose under represented modern music repertoire. Included in Mr. Smith's future agenda will be equal proportions of 20th century musical icons alongside living composers who offer immediacy and relevance to the era in which we live.

This performance trend is not a Dallas phenomenon but rather indicative of a broader development of western cultural expression that has come of age. In significant music centers around this country and countries of western Europe, well trained classical musicians educated in 20th century music are making their voices heard by creating their own, often times non-traditional, venues. The previously thought difficult and unplayable is no more. Since 1964, with Terry Riley's In C, another reaction revolted against the established order. This time, in lieu of the exclusivity of abstract serial methods, composers began experimenting with new space-time tonal perspectives and rhythmic structures. Music is a language and a new language requires time to absorb into the social fabric. This passage of time has elapsed and the update is now in progress.

Artistic Director, Ryan Ross

Monday, Nov 9, evening's performance displayed full competence to deliver the rigors of this most varied and strenuous program. The theme of Pierrot dominated the program. The first piece introduced the Russian variant of Pierrot as Petrouchka in Petroushskates by Joan Tower (1980). Written for ice skaters, hence Petroush-skates, this inventive composition is an original rework of Igor Stravinsky's 3 act ballet Petrouchka. Ms. Tower followed the 3 act musical form as if she put Stravinsky's score into a grinder and then reassemble selected bits and scraps into her own condensed 12 minute version. The ensemble was conducted convincingly by Ryan Ross. Mr. Ross brought to life the carnival spirit of the beginning and ending, set between a brief middle section that alluded to Petrouchka's deep melancholy and disturbed behavior. Mr.Ross handled these tempi and dynamic contrasts with subtle control.

Next Mr. Ross conducted Barbara White's My Barn Having Burned to the Round, I Can Now See the Moonwritten in 2008. Ms. White has written many pieces with titles from Haiku and Chinese Proverbs. "My Barn..." refers to either a Chinese Proverb or Japanese Haiku. The meaning refers to sorry and grief: "Loss is guaranteed in life, yet so hard to see the beauty". Mr. Ross says that the piece is modeled on the sound of the Japanese shakuhashi flute. There are two sections: an opening section of loud attack and motion followed by several minutes of ever quieting and disperse decay into nothingness. Mr. Ross's beat was always clear and steady through the empty spaces. With a small ensemble, economy of gesture is appropriate. Mr. Ross conveyed an austere and abstract atmosphere.

Artistic Director, Jordan Smith

The center piece of the evening's program and Festival was Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire Op.21 written in 1912. Schoenberg expanded late German Romantic Chromaticism into "free tonality" and later into a realm of rigorously structured atonality - 12 Tone Technique. Schoenberg was also a intensively serious painter who knew and exhibited with Kandinsky in the 1910 "Der Blaue Reiter/ Blue Rider" show. These were the early years of German Expressionism when artists sought to express life through a subjective distortion of reality for an emotional angst effect.

Pierrot Lunaire indeed does achieve an angst. During the 21 poem cycle, Pierrot starts on an unstable foot that leads down a path to deranged dissolution. At the end Pierrot somehow walks away from madness in a fog of resolve about his fate. To achieve this artistic state of being we heard Jessica Abel "sprechstimme" the role of Pierrot. Ms. Able, from the Peabody Conservatory, has been coached by an authority of sprechstimme, Phyllis Bryn-Julson. After the pitch is sung the voice deviates to speech quality creating an eerie unsettling feeling. Ms. Abel was perfect throughout her delivery as Pierrot, enhanced by appropriate costume and make-up for this concert version.

Pierrot Lunaire was composed in "free tonality". It was in 1908 when Schoenberg transitioned away from what he saw as tonal exhaustion of late German Romanticism. However Schoenberg never abandoned discipline. Pierrot Lunaire is a masterpiece of compositional technique that employed every known formula in the development of western music but literally inverted them all upside down, inside out and backwards. Rhythmically, it is all askew imposing a most difficult ensemble challenge.

Jordan Smith pulled together an array of musicians by colleague and Internet networking. This is a capable ensemble of the highest professional standard. There are no slackers here. All are dedicated to solid modern music performance. In the past there have been too many "new music ensembles" that fake it and do little better than sight read scores. "Ars Nova Dallas" demonstrated fluency, understanding, dedication, energy and passion for this score. Mr. Smith is to be commended and recommended for his achievement to organize, learn and conduct this landmark score of 20th century music. Mr. Smith drove an intensity in the air that this was an important performance even though the audience was few.

Schoenberg's foreword to the score states "The performer's task here is at no time to derive the mood and character of the individual pieces from the meaning of the words, but always solely for the music. To the extent that the tone-painterly representation ... will be found in the music anyway [not the text]." And this is exactly what happened. Mr. Smith conducted the score straightforward, no swinging arms, no jumping up and down, no swaying body to convey a message. Mr. Smith concentrated on musical execution to maintain necessary strict cohesion. There was a clean brilliance in instrumental execution from Mr. Smith's tight control throughout the score. Mr. Smith adhered faithfully to Schoenberg's foreword and thus the sounds of the spirit soared. All the "Ars Nova Dallas" members played as both soloist multiple times and in tuttis. All "Ars Nova Dallas" members performed the most gnarly difficult passages exquisitely. Ms. Abel captured the essence of the mentally unstable Pierrot executing the sprechstimme technique with intimate aplomb.

Nothing is perfect, so it must be said that the small Wynne Chapel within the gracious host's complex, Highland Park Presbyterian Church, is extremely dry and bright. This is an acoustical problem that caused the most dense passages of the Schoenberg to overwhelm Ms. Abel's voice. Also in this room the piccolo, which shrieked most accordingly, provokes a slight degree of short aural discomfort. Mr. Ross and Mr. Smith might like present this show to a larger audience at a higher venue. There are certainly enough people who would be very interested to hear this rare and important performance.

The Cast of musicians:

Jocelyn Goranson, flute/piccolo

Mary Druhan, clarinet/bass clarinet

Veronica Gan, violin/viola

Craig Leffer, cello

Rueben Allred, piano

Jessica Abel, sprechstimme

Ryan Ross, conductor

Jordan Smith, conductor

For more info:

Listen: Joan Tower - Petroushskates

Ars Nova BLOG

Ryan Ross Website

Further reading on Schoenberg "Pierrot Lunaire"

Complete Score: Schoenberg "Pierrot Lunaire" Op.21 (pages 61-144)

The Inaugural Year Comes to a Close

2009-11-09T23:55:00.000-06:00

http://gurdonark.livejournal.com/841700.html

A very nice review from a blogger.

Many thanks to our partners, friends, and colleagues for a wonderful inaugural festival.

The Excitement Begins

2009-10-29T18:12:00.000-05:00

http://lakewood-dallas.blackwhiteread.com/view/articles/15568?page=1

Christopher Theofanidis

2009-09-27T12:39:00.000-05:00

The Dallas Festival of Modern Music would like to congratulate Dallas born composer Christopher Theofanidis on the world premiere of his Cello Concerto by Nina Kotova and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. This is new music that even the most conservative audiences can get behind, however, it is still music that holds a true and firm connection with high artistry.

Music Director Jaap van Zweden and the DSO hit another one out of the park with Mahler's First Symphony. The baseball analogy continued with sports-worthy cheering by an appreciative audience.

For more great music like Theofanidis', plan your visit to the Dallas Festival of Modern Music, November 5-9, 2009.

Suzuki specialist Lucas Carter

2009-09-27T12:19:00.001-05:00

The Dallas Festival of Modern Music is much more than a simple collection of concerts by some of North Texas' finest musicians and ensembles. In addition to our many performances, the festival is pleased to offer a number of varied education programs that will reach hundreds of public school students all across Dallas. Today, we spotlight Lucas Carter, a Lubbock violinist who will be presenting string masterclasses to students throughout Rockwall and Dallas ISD.

Lucas Carter began playing the violin at the age of 15, and his first public performance was only six weeks later. At 17, he was accepted as a scholarship student to the Texas Tech School of Music. His teachers have been Sharon Mirll, Dr. Stephanie Ezerman, Dr. John Gilbert and Dr. Kirsten Yon. Mr. Carter also credits as major influences upon his career violinists Brian Lewis, Janet Sung, Simon Fischer (UK) and Jasper Wood (Canada).

Mr. Carter has been involved with STELR since the fall of 2002 and received his Suzuki training at the Santa Fe Suzuki Institute and Dr. Susan Baer. He has also attended the Hot Springs Music Festival, Pierre Monteux Festival, The Simon Fischer Residency at OU and The Starling-Delay Symposium at The Juilliard School.

Mr. Carter is the Founder and Executive Director of the West Texas String Association and performs regularly with several regional and community orchestras. In the summers he returns to HSMF as a Violin Associate. In the summer of 2009 Mr. Carter will be joining the faculty of Hummingbird Music Camp in Jemez Spring, New Mexico. Currently he has a studio ranging through all ages and levels in Lubbock, TX. He regularly performs the duties of a guest artist, clinician, orchestral contractor, adjudicator, orchestral musician, chamber musician and soloist.

Since 2002 Mr. Carter has served as an adjunct to the Lubbock Independent School District in several capacities. In the 2007-2008 academic year he was the interim violin instructor at Iles Fine Arts Magnet. An active performer of music of all genres, Mr. Carter has studied Medieval performance practice under Angela Mariani, the host of NPR's Harmonia. He can be heard in orchestral recording on the NAXOS and Albany recording labels. His work in the pop-culture industry includes concerts with Amy Grant and The Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Major performance venues have included Bass Performance Hall, Westminster Abby, Christ Church Cathedral and St Mary's Chapel at Oxford University.

Mr. Carter has performed across the United States, the United Kingdom and France. In the 2009 performance season he will be premiering a work that was dedicated to him by composer Sean Havrilla entitled Oberon a caprice for solo violin. Concerts are scheduled across New Mexico, Arkansas, Texas and Japan.

DFMM presents featured composer Barbara White

2009-09-26T08:56:00.000-05:00

As part of its inaugural season, the Dallas Festival of Modern Music and Ars Nova Dallas are pleased to be presenting three performances of My barn having burned to the ground, I can now see the moon, a work for Pierrot ensemble by American composer Barbara White.

Composer Barbara White was born in Boston and was educated at Harvard/Radcliffe Colleges (A.B.) and the University of Pittsburgh (M.A., Ph.D.). She also studied in Paris with Betsy Jolas under the auspices of Harvard’s Paine Traveling Fellowship. She is Professor in the Music Department at Princeton University, where she began teaching in 1998. White spent the 2000-01 academic year on sabbatical as a Bunting Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

White has received commissions from the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York New Music Ensemble, Boston Musica Viva, the Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players, the Fromm Foundation, the Koussevitzky Foundation, and marimbists Nancy Zeltsman, Dominic Donato, and Stephen Paysen. Her music has been presented by Speculum Musicae, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the New Millennium Ensemble, the Wellesley Composers Conference, the Fromm Foundation Contemporary Music Series at Harvard, the Longy School’s new-music group Longitude, Dinosaur Annex, and Music on the Edge. Recent honors and awards include an ASCAP Award to Young Composers, three awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (including a 2009 Academy Award in Music), a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Interdisciplinary Arts Award, and several MacDowell Colony residencies. She received a 2000 fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and a 2003 Guggenheim Fellowship.

White has a long-standing involvement in interdisciplinary collaboration, especially in composing for dance. She has worked extensively with choreographers Marcela Correa and Joan Wagman; in 1996, White and Wagman founded Momentum Interdisciplinary Arts, which has since premiered several of their collaborative dance works. In the last several years, White has been engaged to complete a number of community residency projects, commissioned by organizations such as Chamber Music America Rural Residencies the American Composers Forum and National Endowment for the Arts's Continental Harmony initiative. In 2007 she is completing an outreach residency with the M.O.R.E. Program at the Aspen Music Festival.

As a clarinetist, White has performed her clarinet works with Momentum Interdisciplinary Arts, the Fromm Foundation Contemporary Music Series at Harvard, Tasto: Dois Compositores ao Piano (Rio de Janeiro), Frente de Danza Independiente (Quito, Ecuador), and the Florida International Festival of New Music.

White’s scholarship combines the analysis of the "nuts and bolts" of musical design with an investigation of cultural context, approaching such topics as jazz analysis, interculturalism, signification in contemporary opera, and the workings of gender in composition and analysis. Recent articles include “'As if they didn’t hear the music,’ Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Mickey Mouse," in Opera Quarterly; "Music Drama on the Concert Stage: Voice, Character and Performance in Judith Weir’s ‘The Consolations of Scholarship,’" in Cambridge Opera Journal; "Making Mischief in the Melting Pot: The Eclectic Music of Don Byron," in Intercultural Music 3, and "Difference or Silence? Women Composers Between Scylla and Charybdis," in Indiana Theory Review. Reviews and shorter pieces have appeared in Notes, Open Space, and newmusicbox.

DFMM presents featured composer Joan Tower

2009-09-20T21:08:00.000-05:00

As part of its inaugural season, the Dallas Festival of Modern Music and Ars Nova Dallas are pleased to be presenting three performances of Petroushskates, a work for Pierrot ensemble by American composer Joan Tower.

Hailed as "one of the most successful woman composers of all time" in The New Yorker magazine, Joan Tower was the first woman to receive the Grawemeyer Award in Composition in 1990. She was inducted in 1998 into the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters, and into the Academy of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University in the fall of 2004.

She was the first composer chosen for the ambitious new Ford Made in America commissioning program, a collaboration of the League of American Orchestras (at that time, the American Symphony Orchestra League) and Meet the Composer. In October 2005, the Glens Falls Symphony Orchestra presented the world premiere of Tower's 15-minute orchestral piece Made in America. The work went on to performances in every state in the Union during the 2005-07 seasons.

The Nashville Symphony and conductor Leonard Slatkin recorded Made in America, Tambor, and Concerto for Orchestra for the Naxos label. The top-selling recording won three 2008 Grammy awards: Best Classical Contemporary Composition, Best Classical Album, and Best Orchestral Performance.

Tower has added conductor to her list of accomplishments, with engagements at the American Symphony, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the Scotia Festival Orchestra, the Anchorage Symphony, Kalisto Chamber Orchestra and another eight of the Made in America orchestras, among others.

Since 1972, Tower has taught at Bard College, where she is Asher Edelman Professor of Music. She recently concluded her ten-year tenure as composer-in-residence with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, a title she has held at the Deer Valley Music Festival in Utah since 1998 as well as at the Yale/Norfolk Chamber Music Festival for eight years. Other accolades include the 1998 Delaware Symphony's Alfred I. DuPont Award for Distinguished American Composer, the 2002 Annual Composer's Award from the Lancaster (PA) Symphony, and an Honorary Degree from the New England Conservatory (2006). "Tower has truly earned a place among the most original and forceful voices in modern American music" (The Detroit News).

Among her recent premieres: Angels (2008), her fourth string quartet, commissioned by Music for Angel Fire and premiered by the Miami String Quartet; Dumbarton Quintet (2008), a piano quintet commissioned by the Dumbarton Oaks Estate (their third commission after Stravinsky and Copland) and premiered by Tower and the Enso String Quartet; Chamber Dance (2006), commissioned, premiered, and toured by Orpheus; and Copperwave (2006), written for the American Brass Quintet and commissioned by the Juilliard School of Music. As part of her appointment as Season Composer for 2007-08 by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, A Gift (2007), for winds and piano, was commissioned by Chamber Music Northwest and premiered by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center players Tara O'Connor, David Shifrin, William Purvis, Milan Turkovich, and Anne Marie McDermott in February 2008. Other CMS premieres included Trio Cavany (2007), performed by Cho-Liang Lin, Gary Hoffman, and André Michel Schub, and Simply Purple (2008) for viola, performed by Paul Neubauer.

Her compositions cross many genres: Can I (2007) for youth chorus and two percussionists; Copperwave (2006), written for the American Brass Quintet and commissioned by the Juilliard School of Music; DNA (2003), a percussion quintet commissioned for Frank Epstein and the New England Conservatory Percussion Ensemble, Fascinating Ribbons (2001), her foray into the world of band music, premiered at the annual conference of College Band Directors; Vast Antique Cubes/Throbbing Still (2000), a solo piano piece for John Browning; Big Sky (2000), a piano trio premiered by David Finckel, Wu Han, and Chee-Yun; Tambor (1998), for the Pittsburgh Symphony under the baton of Mariss Jansons; and Wild Purple (1998) for violist Paul Neubauer. Tower's 1990 Grawemeyer Award-winning Silver Ladders was written during her 1985-88 St. Louis Symphony residency, and was subsequently choreographed in 1998 by Helgi Tomasson and the San Francisco Ballet. Her 1993 ballet Stepping Stones was commissioned by choreographer Kathryn Posin for the Milwaukee Ballet.

Joan Tower's bold and energetic music, with its striking imagery and novel structural forms, has won large, enthusiastic audiences. From 1969 to 1984, she was pianist and founding member of the Naumburg Award-winning Da Capo Chamber Players, which commissioned and premiered many of her most popular works. Her first orchestral work, Sequoia, quickly entered the repertory, with performances by orchestras including St. Louis, New York, San Francisco, Minnesota, Tokyo NHK, Toronto, the National Symphony and London Philharmonia. A choreographed version by The Royal Winnipeg Ballet toured throughout Canada, Europe, and Russia. Tower's tremendously popular five Fanfares for the Uncommon Woman have been played by over 500 different ensembles.

In addition to two Naxos recordings, Tower's popular Petroushskates opens the new first recording by the innovative group, eighth blackbird, on the Cedille label. Fanfares Nos. 1-5, Duets, and Concerto for Orchestra with the Colorado Symphony (Marin Alsop) may be heard on Koch; and the disc "Four Concertos" — with Elmar Oliveira, Ursula Oppens, David Shifrin, Carol Wincenc and the Louisville Orchestra — is available on d'Note Records. Turning Points (1995), a clarinet quintet for David Shifrin and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, is on Delos. New World Records features her chamber music, including her first string quartet Night Fields. First Edition celebrates her legacy with the St. Louis and Louisville Symphonies with an all-Tower orchestral disc which includes Sequoia, Silver Ladders, Music for Cello and Orchestra, and Island Prelude for oboe and strings featuring soloists Lynn Harrell and Peter Bowman.

Joan Tower has been the subject of television documentaries on PBS's WGBH television station in Boston, on the CBS network program, Sunday Morning, and MJW Productions in England.

What's an Ars Nova?

2009-09-16T11:39:00.000-05:00

This blog is dedicated to covering the Dallas Festival of Modern Music and its Ensemble-in-Residence, Ars Nova Dallas. But what is ars nova?

Ars nova was a stylistic period in music of the Late Middle Ages, centered in France, which encompassed the period roughly from the preparation of the Roman de Fauvel (1310 and 1314) until the death of Machaut (1377).

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music defines Ars nova Thusly:

(Latin). New art. The new style of mus. comp. in Fr. and It. in 14th cent. Name derived from tract (c.1320) by Philippe de Vitry. Restrictions of ars antiqua were replaced by greater variety of rhythm, duple instead of triple time, and increased independence in part-writing. In Fr. Machaut was finest exponent of ars nova and in Italy G. da Cascia, J. da Bologna, and Landini. The It. madrigal was a later flowering of ars nova.

Simply put, ars nova, is simply new art. Ars Nova Dallas, therefore, is an ensemble dedicated to presenting thrilling artistic experiences for audiences in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. The ensemble will serve this function each fall as it offers performances for the Dallas Festival of Modern Music. This November 7-9, 2009, look for Ars Nova Dallas to perform at Highland Park Presbyterian Church and at a venue near you. Under the batons of conductors Jordan Smith and Ryan Ross, the musicians of Ars Nova Dallas will be performing works by Joan Tower and Barbara White. The ensemble will also be offering three encounters with the landmark Pierrot Lunaire by Arnold Schönberg with Soprano Jessica Abel performing the virtuosic Sprechstimme (speaking-song part).

Please stop by the festival website regularly for additional updates.

Women Composers

2009-09-13T10:49:00.000-05:00

In 1966, James Brown famously crooned that “It’s a Man’s World,” and as far as the world of classical music composers is concerned, this has generally been the case. The reasons for this are many. Most obvious is simply a lack of musical education. Until the 20th century, classical education tended to limit how far a woman would go in her schooling, and the only real chance a girl had at even a basic music education was to be born into a musical family, the aristocracy, or to be sent to a nunnery.

Other reasons that historical women composers are few and far between are darker. For much of the past millennium, it was generally held that the serious study of music was for men only. In the 19th century, Abraham Mendelssohn, father to Felix and Fanny, famously wrote to his daughter, “Perhaps for Felix music will become a profession, while for you it will always remain but an ornament; never can and should it become the foundation of your existence." With such a restrictive attitude very much the cultural norm, it should come as no surprise that Clara Schumann would confide a resulting lack of self confidence in her diary. "I once thought I possessed creative talent, but I have given up this idea; a woman must not desire to compose - there has never yet been one able to, and why should I expect to be the one?" Both Fanny and Clara have gone on to claim their rightful spots in history, but during their life, that was certainly not the case.

Much like Susan B. Anthony serves as the figure head of American women’s suffrage, Hildegard of Bingen may serve that role for women composers. Born in 1098, Hildegard was a Renaissance Woman 400 years before that was possible. Tithed to the church as a young girl, Hildegard’s creative and scholarly output is impressive; in addition to her composition activities, she conducted early studies in to linguistics, developed her own alphabet, was an accomplished naturalist, herbalist, poet, magistra, channeller, and founder of several spin-off monasteries. However, her place in music history is solid. While over 70 of her works survive today, her Ordo Virtutum (Play of the Virtues) is considered the oldest morality play with music. While Ordo Virtutum tells a story of the Devil and the Virtues battling for a human soul, the genre as a whole would develop in to a European institution for the next 500 years.

While a handful of other women composers’ names are sprinkled throughout the Middle Ages, the next woman composer of significance doesn’t appear until the middle Baroque in the 1600’s. Not only unique for publishing her music in single-composer volumes, Barbara Strozzi has been called "the most prolific composer-man or woman-of printed secular vocal music in Venice in the Middle of the century." However, for every woman composer we might think to mention for the next 300 years, the general musical public could more easily produce the names of dozens of male composers. Even given the quality of output by Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn, the average classical music concertgoer would be hard pressed to recall ever hearing a live performance of one of these composers’ works.

Thankfully, heading beyond 1900, that trend has very slowly begun to change. Amy Beach’s early 20th century American and European concert tours brought her music to the masses, and to this day she is the only woman included among the 87 composers listed on the Boston Pop’s “Hatch Memorial Shell.” And Nadia Boulanger, although not typically remembered for her own compositions, is considered among the greatest composition teachers ever, counting among her students Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, John Adams, Daniel Barenboim, Philip Glass, Astor Piazzolla, and hundreds of others. When asked about being the first woman to conduct the Boston Symphony in 1939, she replied, "Well, I have been a woman for 50 years now and have recovered from my initial astonishment." Perhaps it is this attitude that has begun to provide parity for women composers today.

In our inaugural season, the Dallas Festival of Modern Music is proud to present ensemble-in-residence Ars Nova Dallas, who will be presenting concerts featuring two of today’s leading women composers, Joan Tower and Barbara White. Visit our Performance Calendar for a list of performances and come hear the music of these remarkable women!

The Pierrot Ensemble

2009-09-05T20:51:00.000-05:00

As one might expect, great composers generally leave their marks on history directly through the sound and craft of their music. Bach's seemingly effortless mastery of counterpoint is revered and imitated to this day, and the sheer depth of Beethoven's music casted a shadow that fell the length of the 19th century. Other composers have left their marks in slightly other way - Rimsky-Korsakov and Ravel are both remembered today as among the greatest innovators and practitioners of orchestration while Joseph Haydn, despite his prolific and exceptionally remarkable output, still claims a special pedestal due to his early championing of the string quartet. And then we turn to Schoenberg.

Arnold Schoenberg's development of serial composition, also sometimes called twelve tone composition, is as important and influential as any of the innovators mentioned above. Indeed, a strong case can be made that nearly everything that happened musically in the 20th century was in some shape or form a reaction to Schoenberg's serial techniques. And while Schoenberg was certainly aware of the revolutionary implications of his serialism, he also unexpectedly left his mark on history through his choice of instrumentation for what might be considered his magnus opus, Pierrot Lunaire.

Completed in 1912, Pierrot Lunaire is a 21 poem melodrama based on a German translation of Albert Giraud's poem cycle of the same name. Written in his expressionist style, and thus pre-serial, the work is scored for an ensemble of six musicians: flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and a soprano "soloist." The flute player doubles on piccolo, the clarinet player doubles on bass clarinet, and the violin player doubles on viola. And in spite of the mixed reception the piece has received since its premiere, the core quintet of instruments has since become a standard chamber configuration known simply as "The Pierrot Ensemble."

The Pierrot ensemble not only survives, but thrives today. While the flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano are still sometimes complemented with singer (as Schoenberg did), or other times percussion, dozens and dozens of composers have found the core quintet more than adequate, with our without doublings. This is perhaps most due to the ensemble's brilliant spectrum of colors and versatility, here recalling a classical piano trio, but then perhaps quickly flirting with the colors of a woodwind quintet or even full orchestra! Indeed, it is a configuration important today not only for it's historical association with Pierrot Lunaire but also for its own exceptional merit.

This year, the Dallas Festival of Modern Music is proud to feature Ars Nova Dallas, performing as a Pierrot ensemble. With a tip of the hat to the creator, we present Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire with Sprechstimme soloist Jessica Abel. And with an acknowledgment of the new life that the Pierrot ensemble has taken on through the course of the 20th and 21st centuries, we offer Joan Tower's thrilling Petroushskates and Barbara White's introspective My barn having burned to the ground, I can now see the moon. Visit our Performance Calendar today to plan your visit!

Artist Spotlight: Jessica Abel

2009-08-26T07:49:00.000-05:00

Today's feature will cover information on American Soprano Jessica Abel, who will be making her north Texas debut this November as she performs the taxing Sprechstimme (speaking-voice) of Arnold Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire with our very own Ars Nova Dallas. Help to greet Jessica with a warm Texas welcome this November at the Dallas Festival of Modern Music.

Jessica is an avid promoter of contemporary vocal music and is a 2008 recipient of the Phyllis Bryn-Julson Prize for Commitment To and Performance of 20th and 21st Century Vocal Literature. Jessica recently performed the title role in a contemporary American opera Dora with the Peabody Chamber Opera, and gave a recital “Early Works of Contemporary Masters” at the Peabody Conservatory. Also, she recently commissioned and premiered the song cycle Six Significant Landscapes, by emerging American composer Evan Rogers and performed Libby Larsen's song cycle Try Me, Good King: Last Words of the Wives of Henry VIII on the Peabody Thursday Noon Recital Series.

Ms. Abel is equally at home performing the beloved standard operatic and art song repertoire. Jessica was recently in residence in Graz, Austria as a member of the Opera Studio at the American Institute of Musical Studies where she performed under the baton of Edoardo Müller and participated in a masterclass with soprano Patricia Craig. In the summer of 2008, Jessica performed the role of Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) under the direction of Matthais Kuntzsch with the Bay Area Summer Opera Theatre. She also recently appeared as Papagena in the Peabody Opera production of Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute). Past recitals have included works by Schubert, Schumann, Wolf, Fauré, Debussy, Poulenc, among others

As a musician who gained inspiration, motivation, and support from her pre-collegiate studies, Jessica believes strongly in music education as a foundation for cultivating the creativity and productivity of youths, as well as a means to foster appreciation for the arts. In 2007, she toured to local grade schools in the Baltimore area, performing the role of Pamina in the Peabody Opera Outreach production of an abridged version of the classic opera Die Zauberflote. Jessica has specialized graduate-level training as a vocal pedagogue. She runs a private studio in Baltimore, MD, and is on the faculty at the International School of Music in Bethesda, MD. She is committed to encouraging the talents of every youth to help create confident, well-rounded individuals.

Jessica holds a Master of Music in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, and a Bachelor of Music from the Florida State University College of Music. She currently studies with Marianna Busching and Phyllis Bryn-Julson.

InstantEncore

2009-08-23T22:36:00.001-05:00

The Festival now has an InstantEncore™ web presence. Please stop by and join in the conversation!

www.instantencore.com/dallasmodernmusic.

For those of you who don't know, InstantEncore is a wonderful place to connect with fellow musicians, alert them to your upcoming concerts, and share ideas with the best and brightest in the business. Check it out!

www.instantencore.com

The Beginning of a New Era

2009-08-23T02:42:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the Ars Nova Dallas Blog. Here, you will find information regarding the Dallas Festival of Modern Music, performing ensemble Ars Nova Dallas, festival founders Ryan Ross and Jordan Smith, as well as information about various artists and organizations affiliated with the festival.