| < | June 27, 2014 | > |
Overcoming Shortcomings
In the Pringler Family Orchestra, everybody played an instrument. Beano played the cello (the only conventional instrument of the lot), Mama the banjoneon, Meptang the woodhinky, Papa the 37-string klangkarp, Parveen the acoustic catarrh, Dagmar the violynch, and Zagnold played Baby Eva. By twisting an arm here or yanking on an ear there, Zagnold could coax a seemingly unending assortment of sounds from his little sister. Sure, pitch was sometimes hard to control—never mind the rhythm—but the visual aspect of Zagnold’s performance always overcame any of Eva’s musical shortcomings. 
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Bang on a Can Marathon ReviewLast Sunday’s Bang on a Can Marathon was truly a spectacle, featuring performances by some of the most renowned names in new music. The marathon lasted nine hours (from 2pm-11pm) and featured performances by 12 ensembles/performers and music by 21 composers, including the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Roomful of Teeth, So Percussion, Meredith Monk, Theo Bleckmann, Andrew Norman and Bang on a Can co-founders Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe. Held at the Winter Garden at Brookfield Place, a glass-enclosed, spacious atrium, the marathon was very relaxed and casual, much like its audience. Listeners, many of whom stumbled upon the concert by accident, would walk around the space, converse with friends, and get up to leave whenever they felt it was time to move on. The audience changed from piece to piece, made up of musicians and non-musicians, adults and children, and even a few people who attended the first marathon in 1987. One of the highlights of the marathon was Meredith Monk and Theo Bleckmann’s performance of selections from Monk’s Facing North. No stranger to the marathon stage, Monk and Bleckmann gave a stunning performance of her songs inspired by the Arctic in a way that seemed playful and effortless. Another highlight was the performance of Andrew Norman’s Try by New York-based ensemble Contemporaneous and it’s conductor David Bloom. Over the course of the piece, Try moves from dense, frantic spurts of energy to a sparsely orchestrated and serene ending heavily featuring the piano. Contemporaneous performed the work with great precision and clarity under Bloom’s energetic conducting. The three co-founders of Bang on a Can were also represented in this year’s marathon by the wood and the vine and Head, Heart (from love fail), Lang’s songs about love based on the story of Tristan and Isolde and modern texts performed by vocal quartet Anonymous 4, Big Beautiful Dark and Scary, Wolfe’s reaction to the 9/11 attacks performed by the Bang on a Can All-Stars, and Timber, Gordon’s 50-minute work for six amplified planks of wood performed by Mantra Percussion. These works were representative of each composer’s strengths and highlighted the diversity of the music being produced by Bang on a Can. The most impressive aspect of the marathon was that, while it lasted nine hours, it did not feel too long. True, some pieces did drag on longer that one might have hoped, but overall, the performances seemed well paced and the marathon ended at what felt like the right time. This is probably due to the fact that it was stocked with some extremely impressive performers playing a diverse range of interesting music. This kept the marathon perpetually interesting and entertaining for the ever-changing audience. You can find more as well as see and hear some of the performances at the following link: http://artsbrookfield.com/event/bang-on-a-can-marathon/#.U6uBukCCl8E 
Joseph Bohigian |
Circuit BridgesDid you miss the last Circuit Bridges at the Gallery MC in New York City? You can see and hear some of the performances at the following link: www.circuitbridges.com |
Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame
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Upcoming Performances |
EDENDALE UP CLOSE CONCERTS PRESENTS
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Composer’s VoiceSunday, June 29th, 2014 at 1:00 PMListed as “One of the premier showcases for promising composers” by Time Out New York, this performance includes world premieres from Cheryl Krugel-Lee, Dosia McKay, and Andrés Soto and works by Fahad Siadat, Bettina Sheppard, and Hayes Biggs, reflecting the curator’s aesthetic and experiences. These composers’ works have been performed around the world at such prestigious venues as Alice Tully Hall, the American Cathedral in Paris, Barrow Street Theatre, and more by NeoQuartet, Asheville Ballet, California EAR unit, the TOCCATA Orchestra, and the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic. 
This concert will be guest curated by Cheryl Krugel-Lee. Krugel-Lee is a Brooklyn-based composer, arranger, and orchestrator whose work spans both the commercial and classical worlds. She has composed scores for theatre productions and films, orchestrated for musical theatre, collaborated with choreographers, and created numerous works for a concert setting. Cheryl is also the personnel manager and librarian of ensemble mis-en, a contemporary music ensemble based in New York City, and has worked as a contractor for numerous musical productions. The concert will feature performances by members of C4: The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective. The New York City-based chorus strives to enrich artists and audiences alike through passionate advocacy of new choral works by performing pieces written within the last 25 years, premiering and commissioning new choral works, and mentoring emerging singers, composers, and conductors of contemporary choral music. C4 has premiered over 100 works and was recently honored with the 2014 Chorus America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming. Composer's Voice Concert Series has had more than 100 concerts in New York City. Works are chosen from a wide range of contemporary composers and performed by dedicated musicians devoted to new music. The series has presented the works of hundreds of living composers from around the world. Concerts are held two times a month in the afternoon on the second and last Sundays of most months. The performances are recorded and archived to further promote the new music, performers, and composers. Audio, video, scores, and programs can be found on the Composer’s Voice website. www.ComposersVoice.com The Composer’s Voice Concert Series is a collaboration between Vox Novus and Jan Hus Church. Performances are short chamber concerts held at Jan Hus Church and are an opportunity for contemporary composers to express their aesthetic and personal voice. The June 29th afternoon concert will feature the work of a wide variety of composers and performers, including members of C4 Choral Composer/Conductor Collective and Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: Nautilus Brass. Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: Nautilus Brass will feature fifteen one-minute works by fifteen composers, written specifically for the Nautilus Brass Quintet. The purpose of Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame is to promote a great variety of contemporary music to audiences hungry to hear what living composers are writing today. Founded in Boston in 2010, Nautilus Brass Quintet’s mission is to proliferate the accessibility of cultivated brass chamber music through educational outreach and artistically relevant performance. They will perform one-minute works by composers Greg Bartholomew, Erik Branch, David Bohn, Dave Collins, Jay Anthony Gach, Barry Hartglass, James Henry, David A. Jones, Spiros Mazis, Robert Percy, Etienne Rolin, Juan Maria Solare, Ray Strobel, Phil Taylor, and Marco Vignali.
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