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A new disc from Albany offers a sweeping cross-section of 1962 Pulitzer Prize winning composer Robert Ward's non-vocal output, spanning a period of more than 60 years but presented in reverse chronological order. But although the material featured here spans many generations, Ward's formal and harmonic language remains remarkably consistent; it's straight out of mid-20th century American neoclassicism with some very occasional voice-leading reminiscent of the early American Moravian composers or even Charles Ives—which keeps everything ever-so-slightly comfortably off-kilter, at least for my sensibilities.
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Boston Modern Orchestra Project Launches The Score Board
Thirty-six composers have joined forces to form The Score Board in support of the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. The Boston-area composers have committed themselves to "sustaining, generating, and organizing composer activities" in support of the ensemble. Through membership donations, volunteerism and brainstorming in partnership with BMOP's administration, The Score Board will support an array of composer activities, everything from concert curation to composer hospitality.
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Published: 7/1/2009
Caleb Burhans Awarded Annenberg Fellowship
Caleb Burhans has recently received a Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in the Performing and Visual Arts. The grant assists promising young artists in the pursuit of successful careers in their respective fields. The fellowships are part of a philanthropic initiative established in 2007 by Leonore Annenberg and were awarded for the first time last year. Burhans, one of only four artists to receive a Leonore Annenberg Fellowship this year, and the only musician to be so honored, will be awarded a two-year grant of $153,000. The other grant recipients include visual artist Ángel Otero, dancer Constance Stamatiou, and theater artist Jonathan Martin.
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Published: 7/1/2009
Four Composers Selected for EarShot/Colorado Symphony Readings
Compositions by four emerging composers—Yotam Haber, Angel Lam, Jeremy Podgursky, and Tim Sullivan—will be featured by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra in their first-ever new music readings on July 16-17, 2009 at Denver's Boettcher Concert Hall. The readings, which are free and open to the public on the second day, will be under the direction of conductors Delta David Gier and Fergus Macleod. The four works that will be read were selected from a national call for scores that yielded 180 submissions and were chosen under the auspices of EarShot, the recently created National Orchestral Composition Discovery Network which had previously coordinated a series of new music readings by the Memphis Symphony in May 2009.
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Published: 6/30/2009
NAACP Centennial Convention to Feature Newly-Commissioned Musical Works
Meet The Composer, in collaboration with arts activist and educator Dr. Rae Alexander-Minter, has commissioned two musical compositions for the NAACP Centennial Convention on July 12, 2009 at New York's Hilton Hotel Ballroom. The first, by Guthrie P. Ramsey Jr., is a setting of "Praise Song for the Day," the Elizabeth Alexander poem read at President Obama's inauguration. The second is a multimedia remix of "Go Down Moses" by Paul D. Miller (a.k.a. DJ Spooky) comprising recorded voices and images from the civil rights movement as well as a live performance by the duo Black Violin.
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Published: 6/30/2009
Sara Jacovino wins 2009 BMI Foundation Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Prize
Sara Jacovino conducts the BMI/New York Jazz Orchestra
Photo by Jamil Walker, courtesy BMI
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Sara Jacovino was awarded the BMI Foundation's ninth annual Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Prize for her big band work Mental Block during the 21st Anniversary Summer Showcase Concert of the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop, which was held on Friday, June 26, 2009 at Christ and St. Stephen's Church in New York City. The concert featured the BMI/New York Jazz Orchestra, a 17-piece modern repertory ensemble made up of leading New York musicians. Jacovino received a cash award along with a $3,000 Manny Albam commission, named in memory of the Workshop’s co-founder and longtime musical director, to compose a new piece for the next year's concert.
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Published: 6/29/2009
A Day of Music
Once a year, on the summer solstice, amateur and professional musicians and listeners take to the streets of NYC for the simple pleasure of playing, listening to, and sharing music. Here are some photo highlights from the 2009 edition of Make Music New York: twelve hours worth of musicians of all ages, creeds, and musical persuasions playing everything from hip-hop to opera to Latin jazz to punk rock, performing anywhere they can fit for whoever comes out to listen or happens to be walking by.
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By Clara Schuhmacher
Published: 6/26/2009
First Nations Composer Initiative Announces Grantees
The First Nations Composer Initiative, a community program of the American Composers Forum, has announced the fifth round grantees in its Common Ground funding initiative. The goal of Common Ground is to support activities that boost traditional and contemporary Indigenous creative musicians, such as commissions, residencies, performance and production, travel/study, and outreach.
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Published: 6/19/2009
2009 JJA Jazz Awards Winners Announced
The Jazz Journalists Association has announced the winners of the 2009 Jazz Awards, honoring more than 40 musicians, presenters, jazz supporters, and jazz journalists for their achievements.
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Published: 6/17/2009
Composers Back In Cowtown: An Update from the 2009 Van Cliburn Competition
Twelve days before the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition actually drew to a close in Fort Worth, a winner was declared: composer Mason Bates. Yes, yes, the real winners of the 17 days of concerts were pianists. Two gold medals were awarded this year: one to Nobuyuki Tsujii, 20, of Japan and one to Haochen Zhang, 19, of China.
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By Joseph Dalton
Published: 6/17/2009
ASCAP Adds Seven to Jazz Wall of Fame; Celebrates Vanguards and Young Composers
ASCAP has added seven music greats to the ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame: Jon Hendricks, Johnny Mandel, Annie Ross, and Randy Weston; and posthumous honorees John Coltrane, Dave Lambert, and Tito Puente. In addition, violinist and composer Regina Carter has been honored with The ASCAP Foundation Vanguard Award for her innovative musical activity, and the first-ever ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame Prize was presented to clarinetist/saxophonist/composer Anat Cohen for her promise in Jazz composition and musicianship. The seventh annual ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer Awards have also been recognized.
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Published: 6/17/2009
Chamber Music America's Classical Commissioning Program Awards $181,500
Chamber Music America will award $181,500 in grants for ten commissioning projects in six states. The awards, made through CMA's Classical Commissioning Program, will fund the creation of a wide range of new works written by such rising young composers as Huang Ruo and Kurt Stallman, as well as established masters Steve Reich and David Del Tredici.
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Published: 6/16/2009
Bush Foundation Awards $50,000 Fellowships to 15 Artists
The Bush Foundation has awarded fellowships to 15 artists, chosen from a competitive field of 414 applicants. They will each receive a total of $50,000 in unrestricted funds and professional development support designed to deepen and advance their work and to foster their careers as artists. Those with connection to music performance and composition are: Keith Bear; Maura Bosch; Greg Herriges; Laura MacKenzie; Peter Mayer; Thomas Scott; and Dáithí Sproule.
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Published: 6/16/2009
Chorus America/ASCAP Adventurous Programming Awards Announced
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and Chorus America have honored four choral ensembles for their adventurous programming during the 2008-2009 concert season. The awards were presented to the winning organizations on June 13 during Chorus America's 32nd Annual Conference in Philadelphia.
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Published: 6/15/2009
Trio Cavatina Wins Naumburg 2009 Chamber Music Competition
The Walter W. Naumburg Foundation has announced the Trio Cavatina (Harumi Rhodes, violin; Priscilla Lee, cello; and Ieva Jokubaviciute, piano) as the winner of the Naumburg 2009 Chamber Music Competition. The prize will include a recital at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall to take place in 2010, as well as a composition to be written for them by Richard Danielpour.
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Published: 6/15/2009
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