The Composer's Voice Concert Series is an opportunity for
contemporary composers to express their musical aesthetic and
personal "voice" created in their compositions.
This is Composer's Voice Spring String Celebration.
Program:
15-Minutes-of-Fame
Joshua Backes
Jay C. Batzner
David Bohn
Alex Chilvers
John Michael Hunt
HyeKyung Lee
Paul Lombardi
John Melcher
David Morneau
Ken Paoli
Ronald Keith Parks
Sam Pender-Bayne
Russell Podgorsek
Malina Rauschenfels
Bob Siebert
Zentripetal
Lynn Bechtold, violin
Jennifer Devore, cello
Peace Pipe
Ben Allison
Chris Bonner, double bass
Petronila & Manuel
Douglas DaSilva
Kenji Haba, guitar
Gregory Durozel, violin
String Theory
Dan Cooper
Dan Cooper, 7-string bass guitar
Javier Diaz, percussion
Daniel Palkowski, piano
Four Angels
Paolo Marchettini
Shelby Yamin, violin
Hayne Kim, violin
Midori Witkoski, Viola
Jae Kyung Oh, cello
Performers
Lynn Bechtold
Violinist Lynn Bechtold has appeared in recital throughout the
U.S., Canada, Holland, and Switzerland. An advocate of
contemporary music, she has worked with composers Gloria
Coates, George Crumb, John Harbison, and Morton Subotnick,
and has premiered works on the Princeton Composers' Series
and Composers Concordance. In 2001, she gave the premiere of
"Violynn," a work for violin and electronics written for her by Alvin
Lucier. As a member of the Lumina String Quartet, the East
Village Opera Company (rock/opera band), the SEM Ensemble,
and the New York Symphonic Ensemble, among others, Ms.
Bechtold has performed around the world. Other programs have
been with the Absolute Ensemble, North/South Consonance,
Parsons Dance, the Paul Taylor Dance Company, the Vermont
Symphony, and the VOX Opera Readings.
Chris Bonner
Chris Bonner came to New York City in 2001 to attend NYU's
jazz performance program. While there he studied with a group
of outstanding musicians and teachers including Mike Richmond,
Ron McClure, John Scofield, Billy Hart, and Don Friedman.Since
his time at NYU, Chris has been extremely active in the New
York City music scene, playing with dozens of artists in all
different styles. You can currently find him supplying low end for
artists such as Dusty Brown, Melanie Penn, and even the Polka
Brothers.
Javier Diaz
Javier Diaz, a native of Cuba, is a percussionist with the
American Symphony Orchestra and with several chamber music
groups and Latin Jazz Bands in the New York Area. He has
performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Metropolitan
Opera Orchestra, New York Chamber Symphony, New Jersey
Symphony, New York Perspectives Ensemble, Zankel Hall New
Music Band, Hilliard Ensemble, Broadway's productions of Man
of La Mancha, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Brooklyn, Tarzan, Guys
and Dolls, The Wiz, Women on the Verge of a Nervous
Breakdown and The Lion King. His studio credits include ECM's
Tituli by Stephen Hartke with the Hilliard Ensemble, awardwinning
films such as Tango Flush and Jesus Camp and many
TV and radio commercials.
Jennifer DeVore
Cellist Jennifer DeVore received her BA in Art History from
Harvard University before earning her Masters from the New
England Conservatory. An active chamber musician, she has
appeared at Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, Zankel Hall, Weill Hall
and the Musicorda, Yellow Barn and Spoleto festivals. She has
played with the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Pi,
the Jose Limon Dance Company, and the Metamorphosen
Chamber Orchestra. As a member of the Lumina String Quartet,
Ms. DeVore has toured Russia and the Ukraine. A champion of
contemporary music, Ms. DeVore has worked closely with
composers John Cage, Ornette Coleman, and John Zorn, has
premiered many solo and chamber works, played in the Bang-
On-A-Can Marathon and on WNYC's "New Sounds."
Gregory Durozel
A native of south Florida, Gregory Durozel began his violin
studies at the age of ten under Dr.Lee Stone and Guan Shu
Song. From 2004-2006, his studies continued with Professor
Thomas Moore. During this time, he was a prize winner at the
New World School of the Arts, Sewanee and Ars Flores concerto
competitions. In 2006, he performed as one of the featured
soloists in the American Ideal which was broadcast by WLRN. At
the 2nd Annual Haiti Tourism Development Summit, He had the
honor of playing for the President of Haiti ,Rene Preval . Gregory
received his Bachelors of Music Degree from the Manhattan
School of Music in 2010 under Peter Winograd. He is currently
pursuing a Masters degree at The Juilliard School under Ronald
Copes.
Kenji Haba
Kenji Haba is a guitarist who is exclusively sensitive to timbres
in appreciating and expressing the beauty of guitar. Haba
believes that the guitar is the perfect instrument to express his
musical ideas because of its beautiful tones and its countless
timbres. Recently, he has been focusing on impressionistic
music, especially that of Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and
Toru Takemitsu.
In 2006 Haba began studying classical guitar under renowned
guitarist, Kevin R. Gallagher and Oren Fader. With his passion
driving his learning ability, after one year of studying, he was
accepted into the Manhattan School of Music in Master of Music,
and there worked with Mark Delpriora.
Hayne Kim
Korean-American violinist Hayne Kim, a native of Lansing,
Michigan, began her studies on the violin at the age of ten. She
made her Carnegie Hall debut six years later performing
Prokofiev's Violin Concerto no. 1 with the American Fine Arts
Festival. As an avid participant in the summer music festival
scene, Ms. Kim has attended the Meadowmount School of
Music, Summit Music Festival, Heifetz International Music
Institute, and the Texas Music Festival, among others. Trained
under both the Galamian and Russian traditions of violin
pedagogy by her teachers Lyman Bodman, Dmitri Berlinsky, and
currently Grigory Kalinovsky, she is now pursuing a Bachelor's
degree in violin performance at the Manhattan School of Music.
Jae Kyung Oh
Jae Kyung Oh, cellist, comes from Seoul Korea where she
began her musical studies at the age of five on piano, and eight
on cello. At the early age of eight years old, Jae won the Dong-
Ah Youth competition and held a recital debut in Seoul. She
went on to winning awards and prizes from the Seoul Baroque
Ensemble, Segye Ilbo, Seoul Symphony Orchestra, Kyung Hee
University, Arts pool competition, and Lilian Fuchs Competition.
Now in New York City, Jae has been playing co-principal with
The New York Chamber Virtuosi and is a member of the
Manhattan Symphony, and SIA Ensemble in the United States.
She has worked chamber music with American String Quartet,
Mr. Clive Greensmith from Tokyo String Quartet, Ms. Sylvia
Rosenberg, Mr. Nicholas Mann.
Daniel Palkowski
Daniel Palkowski is a composer, performer, sound designer &
new media developer. A specialist in electronic music, he has
taught composition, theory, electronic music, & audio technology
at Columbia University, the Manhattan School of Music, New
York University, & the Hoff Barthelson Music School. He has
written music for films, orchestras, operas, plays & multimedia
works. Commissions include the Westchester Philharmonic,
Music from China, the Sydney Alpha Ensemble, CD-ROM's by
HarperCollins, MacMillan Digital & the Voyager Company,
Disney Online, & Ernst & Young, where he currently holds a full
time position as senior producer in audio-video, webcaster, &
engineer. Palkowski's CD of electronic compositions, "Electria",
is available through all major digital distributors.
Midori Witkoski
Midori Witkoski, Violist, is a proud advocate of all music, both
new and old. Her passion for playing contemporary works has
led her to premiere many new works in student composer
concerts at the Manhattan School of Music, where she is
expected to graduate in May 2011 with a Bachelors degree in
Viola Performance. She has worked with and been coached by
world renowned chamber musicians such as Lawrence Dutton of
the Emerson String quartet, and members of the American String
Quartet including Daniel Avshalomov (viola), Peter Winograd
(violin), and Wolfram Koessel (cello). She currently coaches with
contemporary violinist Curtis Macomber, on works such as the
Prokofiev wind quintet and Schoenberg's Transfigured Night.
Shelby Yamin
As a soloist, violinist Shelby Yamin has performed with the
Rockland Symphony and Tappan Zee High School Chamber
Orchestras. She has won competitions sponsored by Rockland
County Music Teachers Guild, NY State and Eastern Division
MTNA, Arts Council of Rockland and Morning Music Club. She
held concertmaster/principal positions in orchestras at Manhattan
School of Music (MSM), Boston University Tanglewood Institute,
and Heifetz International Music Institute. Shelby participated in
the New York Youth Symphony, MSM's Kurt Masur conducting
seminar. She has had performances in Weill Recital hall of
Carnegie Hall with the New York Youth Symphony's Chamber
Music Program.. She performs with the Cicada Chamber
Players, collaborating with professional musicians, including
members of the New York Philharmonic.
Composers
Ben Allison
Bassist/composer Ben Allison is one of a few band lead- ers
working in jazz today who has developed his own in- stantly
identifiable sound. Known for his inspired arrange- ments,
inventive grooves and hummable melodies, Ben draws from the
jazz tradition and a range of influences from rock and folk to
classical and world music, and seamlessly blends them into a
cinematic, cohesive whole.
With his groups The Ben Allison Band, Man Size Safe, Peace
Pipe, and Medicine Wheel, Ben has toured exten- sively
throughout North America, Europe, and Brazil, win- ning fans
and building new audiences with an adventur- ous yet accessible
sound and a flair for the unexpected.
Dan Cooper
Dan Cooper has degrees from Columbia, The New England
Conservatory, & Princeton. His teachers include John Heiss,
Steve Mackey, Paul Lansky, & Otto Luening. As composer: 2000
Aaron Copland composition fellow - Tanglewood; original scores
for Shakespeare & Company productions; plus awards,
commissions & residencies from Albany Symphony, Artists
International, ASCAP, Cary Trust, Empire State Youth Orchestra,
Engine 27, Fontainebleau, Imani Winds, International Street
Cannibals, NARAS, New York New Music Ensemble, &
Palisades Virtuosi. Specializing in 7-string bass guitar & flute with
electronics, Cooper has performed most notably as a member of
singer Ute Lemper's trio. Cooper endorses Overwater basses of
Carlisle, U.K. He is currently a music professor at SUNY/FIT.
Artistic Director of the Composer's Voice concert series,
Douglas DaSilva
Douglas DaSilva is a composer, guitarist, educator and curator
in New York City. He composes in various styles including jazz,
pop, children's music, chamber music and experimental. Much
of his writing is influenced by Brazilian music and self-inflicted
stress. His compositions have been described as "very
individual, and to us has a very clear personality" in Classical
Guitar Magazine. His pieces Sarabande; How to Build a
Totalitarian State and Contrails have been included in 60x60
projects. His works have been performed in Brazil, England,
Italy, Germany, Brazil and throughout the United States.
www.myspace.com/douglasdasilva
Paolo Marchettini
Paolo Marchettini is an Italian composer and clarinetist, born in
Rome. He studied at the "Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia" in
Rome Composition (with Ivan Vandor), Choral Music and Choral
Conducting (with Claudio Dall'Albero), clarinet (with Gaetano
Russo). He specialised in composition at the "Accademia
Nazionale di Santa Cecilia" with Azio Corghi. His compositions
have been played several times in the course of important
musical reviews and in prestigious concert halls as: "Biennale di
Venezia"; "The Italian Experience" at the Hofstra University (New
York), Villecroze (France), the " Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia"
Academic Hall in Rome (Easter Wings for baritone and
orchestra) the Conservatorio "G. Verdi" in Como, the Auditorium
Parco della Musica (Rome), the Teatro Savoia (Campobasso),
the Chigi Saracini Palace (Siena).
Composers for Fifteen Minutes of Fame
You Filthy...!!
Joshua Backes
Joshua Backes is a Missourian and veteran of "Indie" rock and folkish bands. After several years of shows, tours and recording, he turned to composing for piano and other instruments. He now studies at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and expects to earn a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Composition and Technology in two years.
"You Filthy...!!" is a raucous collage. The piece is agitated at times and breathy at others. Fifty-eight seconds of quick gestures that cycle through composed variations. It blows by, and it's over.
No.
Jay Batzner
Jay C. Batzner is currently on the faculty of Central Michigan University where he teaches music technology, electronic music composition, and music theory courses. Prior to this position Dr. Batzner was on the faculty of the University of Central Florida, Kansas City Kansas Community College, Metropolitan Community Colleges (Kansas City area), and Indiana University Southeast. He earned his doctorate in composition at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and holds degrees in composition and/or theory from the University of Louisville and the University of Kansas.
Fossil Gas
David Bohn
David Bohn lives in West Allis, Wisconsin. He is an associate lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, music director at St. John's Lutheran in West Milwaukee, President of the Wisconsin Alliance for Composers, and vice president of the Wisconsin Chapter of the Organ Historical Society.
The title "Fossil Gas" is an anagram of G(Sol)-fis-as, the primary pitch material of the composition.
Waiting For Yasi
Alex Chilvers
Alex Chilvers (b. 1985) is an Australian composer and writer, currently studying at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Over the past two years, he has studied with Michael Smetanin, Matthew Hindson and Paul Stanhope. He also regularly contributes to the Australian classical music and arts magazine Limelight (print and online).
At approximately midnight on February 2, 2011, Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi wreaked havoc on the north-eastern coast of Australia. This short piece, inspired by the Fifteen Minutes of Fame project and Zentripetal, was composed prior to impact. Evolving combinations of density and intensity are created by mixing and manipulating motives.
Danza Vigorosa
John Michael Hunt
John Michael Hunt (b. 1986) was born in Shreveport, Louisiana and grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He has background in jazz and classical saxophone, piano, voice, dance, musical theater, and conducting. He is currently pursuing his Master's in Composition at the University of Texas at Austin studying with Dr. Donald Grantham.
The piece was conceived with the feel of a vigorous, driving texture and conjured the image of frenetic dancing, perhaps just within the boundaries of control. Formal development was a tricky but fun challenge within the confines of one minute; two themes are stated and developed, sandwiched between an intro/outro motive and transitional material that leads into and out of the brief formal sections.
Shaddowing
HyeKyung Lee
HyeKyung Lee is currently teaching at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. She received her doctoral degree in composition and Piano Performance from the University of Texas at Austin. Her music can be found on Innova, Vienna Modern Masters, Aurec, Capstone, Mark Custom, New Ariel, Equilibrium recordings, and SEAMUS CD Series Vol.8
Two instruments follow each other, sometimes honestly, diligently, and sometimes hesitantly, and in disguise.
Fragment
Paul Lombardi
Paul Lombardi holds a Ph.D. in music composition from the University of Oregon, and has studied composition with David Crumb, Robert Kyr, Stephen Blumberg, and Leo Eylar. His music has been performed in more than 20 states across the US, as well as in other areas in North America, South America, and Europe. Recordings of his music are available from Capstone Records, Zerx Records, and ERMMedia. Many groups have played his music, notably the Kiev Philharmonic, the East Coast Composers Ensemble, Third Angle, and Hundredth Monkey. He is the winner of the 2011 Renee B. Fisher Piano Composition Competition, and has received numerous commissions including one by Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium in honor of George Crumb on the occasion of his 75th birthday. Some of his scores are published in the Anthology of Contemporary Concert Music (currently in press). Dr. Lombardi's theoretical work focuses on mathematics and music, and is published in the Music Theory Spectrum, Indiana Theory Review, Mathematics and Music (forthcoming), and Mathematics and Computers in Simulation. He has presented his research at numerous theory conferences, both national and regional. He was the pianist for the Hundredth Monkey Ensemble from 2000 to 2003, and was a soloist for the Siskiyou Community Orchestra in 1994. He has been a member of the theory and composition faculty at the University of New Mexico since 2003, and was a member of the faculty at the Shenandoah University in 2010.
Please listen and enjoy.
Just a Minute
John Melcher
John Melcher was born in Indiana in 1951, studied at Juilliard, lived in San Francisco for many years, and moved to Thailand in 1997. In 1983, he developed the first commercially-available MIDI recording application, and continues to use computers as a virtual orchestra to realize his compositions.
"Just a Minute" is from a set of short pieces drawing inspiration from the Gleichniszahlen Reihe, or the "speak-and-say" number series (1, 11, 21, 1211, 111221, 312211...) The violin and cello parts are based on iteration number 17 of the series, but in opposite directions.
Chaiku
David Morneau
David Morneau is a composer of an entirely undecided genre, a provider of exclusive unprecedented experiments. In his work he endeavors to explore ideas about our culture, issues concerning creativity, and even the very nature of music itself. Learn more @ http://5of4.com
Infused with spicy rhythms and the finest harmonic sophistication, this caffeinated composition packs quite a kick.
Violin a1/Cello
Ken Paoli
Ken Paoli is currently a professor of music at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, IL. He was a faculty member at DePaul University and chairman of Music Theory and Composition at Western Illinois University. His latest multi-channel work "Analogic" was premiered at WOCMAT in Taiwan last November.
"Violin a1/Cello" was generated using an object oriented algorithm that makes use of Gaussian and Cauchy probability curves for the elements of pitch and rhythm. The generated material was then compositionally manipulated to create an inversional dialogue between the cello and violin.
Six Moku Hanga
Ronald Keith Parks
Ronald Keith Parks has written for and been commissioned by Duo XXI, Charlotte Civic Orchestra, Out of Bounds Ensemble, NeXT Ens, NC School of the Arts Symphony, and many others. His compositions have been performed in numerous venues throughout North and South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.
"Six Moku Hanga", for violin and cello, was written for Zentripetal. Moku Hanga is the Japanese phrase for wood block printing (moku means wood and Hanga translates as print or graphic). The six moku hanga are each variations on one another and are played in succession.
60" Game
Samuel Pender-Bayne
Samuel Pender-Bayne is a composer, conductor and singer based in Sydney. His compositions take various paths depending on the nature of the commission he receives, sometimes lyrical and tonal, whilst other times adventurous and experimental. No matter the style, Samuel always aims to write consequential music that works.
60" Game is a work with an indeterminate score that requires improvisation from the performers. It is based on a table of graphics which were composed using a simple mathematical pattern, and represent various improvisational instructions. It's a bit of fun for quick and carefree enjoyment.
9.80665
Russell Podgorsek
Russell Podgorsek, violist and composer, is a DMA student at the University of Texas at Austin and a graduate of the Hartt School of Music (CT). He was recently commissioned by the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra (MD) for his "MicroSymphony" and the Sudbury Youth Orchestra (ON) for his "Lament and Lullaby".
"9.80665" - acceleration due to gravity. This piece is a micro-study in gravitation and acceleration towards and away, utilizing pitch, time, rhythm, articulation, and dynamics to "musicalize" these physical phenomena.
Hm
Malina Rauschenfels
Malina Rauschenfels studied cello and composition at Eastman and Juilliard. She loves to write tailor made pieces for specific people and to perform and create pieces that combine her love of music and dance where she seeks to break down the boundaries that separate the arts into disparate areas.
"Hm" is pronounced with a flat inflection and quickly, hence the staccato marking. It is the sort of response one may have to something perplexing or ambivalent - non-committal. "Hm" is intended to be a whimsical response to the dance of life and the surprising and ironic happenings that often coincide.
March in Jazz Time!
Bob Siebert
I received my Bachelor and Masters of Music Degrees from Manhattan School of Music, and have been a performer/composer/teacher in the New York area for the past thirty five years. My music runs the gambit from pop influenced electronic realism through reinvented jazz standards to experimental electronic pieces and music for the African thumb piano.
"March in Jazz Time!" is a jazz/blues inspired piece that combines my classical education in composition with the jazz skills I picked on the bandstand. A minimalist snapshot of a traditional jazz march. Catch the beat!
Program Notes
Support from the Puffin Foundation "...continuing the dialogue
between art and the lives of ordinary people."
Vox Novus is a collective of composers, musicians, and music enthusiasts collaborating together to create, produce, promote, and enjoy the new music of today. Our members are from a variety of composers committed to the creation and dissemination of new music. Their music is of a variety of styles, aesthetics, and ideologies.
Vox Novus produces and promotes new music. They are dedicated to contemporary music, the musicians who perform, and the composers that write the music of today. Their mission is to cultivate a music community and make their work available to the greater public.
Remarkable Theater Brigade founded by Christian McLeer, Dan Jeselsohn and Monica Harte, creates and produces new operas and musicals and takes children's versions out to special-needs and at-risk children free of charge.
Presenters:
Remarkable Theater Brigade
Remarkable Theater Brigade founded by Christian McLeer, Dan
Jeselsohn and Monica Harte, creates and produces new operas and
musicals and takes children's versions out to special-needs and at-risk
children free of charge.
Remarkable Theater Brigade creates and produces new works including
operas, orchestral pieces, ballets, musicals, and electro-acoustic works and
co-produces the Composer's Voice Concert Series concerts.
Remarkable Theater Brigade was founded in 2002 by Christian McLeer,
Monica Harte, and Dan Jeselsohn.
Jan Hus Church
This is the place you were welcome,
long before you arrived!
www.janhus.org
Vox Novus
Vox Novus promotes contemporary music and its creators through concerts,
recordings, publications, broadcasts, and online publicity.
Vox Novus believes strongly in the intrinsic value of contemporary music,
recognizing it as a force in the advancement of culture and art. Our goal is to
keep music alive by strengthening the connection between composer and
audience, providing greater exposure to new music.
Funding by
Puffin Foundation
Funding also provided by the Puffin Foundation, "...continuing the dialogue between art and lives of ordinary people."