Le Laiton Canadien

The Washington Post once named them the “world’s leading brass ensemble,” but in their early days, the Canadian Brass had some serious issues with intonation, basic rhythm, and, not least, dipsomania.

David Gunn
www.DavidGunn.org

Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame on the
Brand Associates Music Series

The first two concerts in the Brand Associates Music Series to celebrate the reopening of Brand Library & Art Center were on April 6 with pianist Mark Robson and on May 4 with cellist Maksim Velichkin, both venerated virtuosos. What both concerts had in common was a segment of new music called Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame, a competition in which composers from around the world wrote one minute works for these musicians who then selected fifteen to be performed at the concert. It’s a great way to give many composers exposure in one concert. Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame is administered by the New York based new music organization Vox Novus (www.voxnovus.com). The pieces expose audiences to an amazing variety of styles in the span of 15 minutes, creating thrilling musical adventures that has been very popular at Vox Novus concerts in New York. Both Mark and Maksim played to enthusiastic overflow crowds in the Brand Library Recital Hall.

The Brand Associates have been hosting a chamber music series at Brand Library since 1969, a mixture of standard repertoire and new music. Usually each musician or group is given a full hour long recital (or longer if they want) which is free and open to the public. What I've done is encouraged the musicians on the series to work with Vox Novus on a Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame call for scores. It's a pretty easy sell as it is attractive to the musicians to work with so many composers at once. I think Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame is also an attractive format for general audiences as well due to the brevity of the pieces and the variety of styles they are exposed to in a short period of time. Sometimes the most complex music can be more accessible when the pieces are short. And it's easy to tie it in with the educational component of the library, new music is alive and well and there are many composers who deserve to be heard (some may even live in your neighborhood!). We had a great start with these first two concerts. - Blair Whittington

Captions for photos: April 6 composers in attendance(left to right)– Alan Shockley, Mark Robson, Burton Goldstein, Matthew Hetz, Adam Zahller, James SoeNyun, Vera Ivanova.

Mark Robson performed larger works by Maurice Ravel, film composer Gerard Schurmann, Chapman University professor Vera Ivanova and Mark Robson. Mark’s theme for the Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame section was Four Elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water and the composers could write for piano or toy piano. The selected composers were from California, Wisconsin, Michigan, Texas, New York, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Portugal and Italy. The five Southern California composers were present at the concert and one composer came from Nebraska! Details on Mark’s Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame selected composers are here: http://www.voxnovus.com/15_Minutes_of_Fame/featuring/Mark_Robson/

Photo 2- May 4 composers in attendance (left to right) - Nick Gianopoulos, Blair Whittington, Warren Sherk, Matthew Hetz, Mark Robson, Elliott Goldkind, Veronika Krausas, Rocco Harris, Carol Worthey, Maksim Velichkin and Adrienne Albert.

Maksim Velichkin performed on cello with larger works by J.S. Bach, Hans Werner Henze, Blair Whittington and George N. Gianopoulos. The theme of his Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame was Homage to Bach and the composers were required to use the notes of Bach’s name (b-flat, a, c, b-natural) in their pieces. For this concert Maksim emphasized Los Angeles composers so 11 of the 15 composers were from Southern California with others from Louisiana, Oregon, Canada and England. Ten California composers were present at the concert. Mr. Velichkin received almost 100 submissions from his call for scores so he plans to have another selection of fifteen pieces for a future concert. Details on Maksim’s Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame selected composers are here: http://www.voxnovus.com/15_Minutes_of_Fame/featuring/Maksim_Velichkin/Homage_to_Bach/

A very special thank you to Douglas DaSilva and Robert Voisey from Vox Novus in New York for their work in administering both calls for scores. Many in the audience were thrilled with the amazing variety of short pieces on these programs.

Blair Whittington
Music Librarian/Recital Hall Manager
Brand Library & Art Center
Glendale, California

Summertime Classics series

The New York Philharmonic performed music by Russian composers on July 3rd as part of its Summertime Classics series. Rather than attempt to discuss the quality of the performance (it was excellent), I will be discussing the programming of this concert and the orchestra’s presentation of the selected works.

While this concert was part of the Summertime Classics series, the program was rather narrow in terms of composers and time period. The seven works that were performed were by only four composers and all of the works fit into an 87 year time-period (1867-1954). As one would expect, many of the big names in Russian music were present on the program. Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, and Mussorgsky were all represented, some more than others (Rachmaninoff had two pieces and Tchaikovsky three). This being the Summertime Classics series, one wouldn’t expect the Philharmonic to be playing any new music by living Russian composers. However, there is much more to Russian music than selections from The Nutcracker and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1. A little more diversity in the programming would have helped liven up the performance for the audience.

Despite the narrow programming, the way in which the pieces were presented to the audience did liven up the concert and kept the listeners entertained and engaged. Between each piece, the conductor, Bramwell Tovey, gave a short, and at times humorous, explanation of the upcoming work. Tovey was very personable and funny (he told several viola jokes before Tchaikovsky’s Marche Slave that got a good laugh from the audience) and his explanations were very informative and helped put the music into a historical context. This break from the tradition of the silent conductor and the serious classical music audience kept the concert entertaining and made the performance feel more personal.

Joseph Bohigian
http://josephbohigian.wix.com/composer
Joseph Bohigian is a composer from Fresno, California and is interning for Vox Novus. He will be sharing his experiences on the New York New Music scene.

Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame Video

If you weren’t able to make it to hear the World Premiere of Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: Nautilus Brass, you missed a great performance! Hearing these 15 wonderful pieces live at the Historic and beautiful Jan Hus Church was a first-rate experience. However, we were able to capture their performance on video! You can enjoy these 15 pieces 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, L. Ray Strobel, Phil Taylor, Marco Vignali, on our newly updated video page!

You can see and hear the performance at the following link:
www.Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame.com/video

Upcoming Performances

Composer’s Voice presents:
MaD Circle

Sunday, July 13th, 2014 at 1:00 PM

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 July 13th MaD Circle Dance concert will feature the work of a wide variety of composers and choreographers from around the world.

This concert will be curated and directed by Erin Bomboy and Callie Hatchett.

Erin Bomboy is a dance writer, choreographer, and arts administrator whose professional career has encompassed performing as a professional classical ballet dancer and placing as a United States finalist in competitive ballroom dancing. A graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with a Master of Fine Arts in Dance, Erin held her first solo show, The Public Decides, in conjunction with Composer’s Voice in 2012.

Callie Hatchett is a choreographer who has performed in the works of Deborah Jowitt, Cherylyn Lavagnino, Sydney Skybetter, Thaddeus Davis, Charles Weidman, and Terri Weksler. She has presented her choreography at Dancenow’s RAW Festival, NYC10, Music and Motion, the Bessie Schonberg Choreography Intensive, and for Andalusia Ballet.

Listed as “One of the premier showcases for promising composers” by Time Out New York, this performance includes works from a unique set of composers: Beth Anderson, Gary Edwards, Gerardo Gerulewicz, Petri Kuljuntausta, David Morneau, Larry Matthew Gaab, David Jason Snow, and Gay Pearson, which reflect the curators’ aesthetic and experiences. These composers’ works have been performed around the world in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa by such ensembles as the New Juilliard Ensemble, Ensemble Intercontemporain, American Brass Quintet, Harvard Wind Ensemble, and Eastman Percussion Ensemble.

The performance will feature the work of choreographers Nicole Bugge, Callie Hatchet, Betty Skeen, Maxx Passion, Natalie Kolbo, Jennifer Roit, Carson Reiners, and Nicole Spinelli. Their work has been presented around the world at Dancenow’s RAW Festival, NYC10, Music and Motion, Andalusia Ballet, Lincoln Center, One World Symphony, Greenspace, Dixon Place, Spectrum, the FAB! Festival, Bryant Park, Brick Theatre, Secret Theatre, West Fest, Kodafe festival, and more. Each choreographer was assigned a piece of music written specifically for this project based on the outmoded forms of Tango and Waltz and challenged to revitalize it for a new generation.

Calendar

Announcing results for
Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: Video Game Music
with Katarzyna _Bryla and Hui-Chuan Chen

Vox Novus called for one-minute pieces for Katarzyna Bryla, violin and Hui-Chuan Chen, piano. Composers were asked to submit their ideas for a video game and the music that would be its theme! The premiere will be performed on the Composer's Voice concert series, September 28, 2014, at the Jan Hus Church in New York City.

A virtuoso violinist with diverse musical interests, Katarzyna Bryla made her debut as a soloist with Zielona Gora Philharmonic at the age of 14 and in Royal Albert Hall with Poznan Chamber Orchestra, and recently performed at the J.F.Kennedy Centerin Washington D.C. Katarzyna has won an impressive number of international competitions, including 1st prize at the National Children’s Art Competition in Warsaw, 2nd prize at the National J.S.Bach competition, where she was awarded a special prize for the best performance of Bach, and 3rd prize at the Krzysztof Penderecki International Competition, after which she was invited by Maestro Penderecki himself to perform as a soloist with Sinfonietta Cracovia in the International Maazel/Vilar Conducting Competition. She performs frequently as a guest artist at many top music festivals.

Pianist Hui-Chuan Chen has performed widely throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. An active chamber musician, in 2003, she accompanied soprano Shou- Hua Su in concert at the National Recital Hall in Taipei, Taiwan. In 2004, she collaborated with mezzo-soprano Chi-Chun Chan in the same hall. Hui-Chuan has also participated in many festivals, including the Chigiana Accademia in Siena, Italy, and Universität Mozateum in Salzburg. In the summer of 2009, Hui-Chuan was awarded the fellowship in the field of instrumental collaborative artist to attended the Aspen Festival of Music, where she was invited back as a staff accompanist in 2011. The past summer, Hui-Chuan participated in Songfest, where she performed Schumann's Spanish Lieder for vocal ensemble under the instruction of Graham Johnson.

All the works for this Fifteen Minutes of Fame written for Katarzyna Bryla and Hui-Chuan Chenhave a theme of video game music.

Works selected for this Fifteen Minutes of Fame include:
Stage to Stage by Rodrigo Baggio,
Sword of Blood and Silver by Erik Branch,
Returning by Inna Buganina,
Level Up! by Faye Chiao,
Level 1 Prelude by Luke Deane,
Into the World by Abraham Devenport,
One by Gregory J. Jackson,
Whitechapel, 1888 by Gareth Rhys Jones,
Condensation by Shigeru Kan-no,
Yorkville Separatist by Laszlo Kékszakállu,
Boss Battle:Gearbox by Michael Maiorana,
High Levels in One VIdeo-Game by Daniel Mihai,
Cantavile by Eurydice V. Osterman,
Level-Up by Jody John Ramey,
and Unfated End [Game Over] by Alexander Simon

You can find more information here
http://www.voxnovus.com/15_Minutes_of_Fame/featuring/Katarzyna_Bryla_Hui-Chuan_Chen/

Opportunities on Music Avatar

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