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Composer's Voice Concert
October 09, 2011
Jan Hus Church
351 East 74th Street
New York
,
New York
10021-3798
Special Encore Presentations of Fifteen Minutes of Fame by Kenji Haba and Zentripetal
Jay C. Batzner is a composer, sci-fi geek, home brewer, burgeoning seamster, and juggler on the faculty of Central Michigan University where he teaches music technology and electronic music courses. He has been many places and has done several things, some of which are rather impressive.
"Number stations" are mysterious transmissions over short-wave radio frequencies. A typical transmission emerges from static, may include a recording of a folk tune, and then someone speaks a string of numbers. I've been listening to recordings of these a lot recently...
Justin Breame is a composer and teacher from England, UK. Justin has scored for numerous documentaries and short films and has also released a CD of his own compositions entitled ?Level Crossing'. Works range from choral and orchestral to solo works. His ?Counting Time' was featured on the 60x60 2004 recording.
For "Spin" I looked for a miniature version of what could be perceived as a life-cycle event. I found this in the short-lived journey of a spinning top. ?Spin' accompanies the top from the moment it is set spinning on it's journey until it finally slows and submits to gravity.
Musician and composer of the national orchestra of Algeria, Salim Dada has particularly on atypical musical course, from its personality and its lived. Thus its work grows rich progressively, in the crossing of meetings and experiments bringing the spirit and the expression of the Arab and Eastern music to the thought and the technique of Western writing.
Autodidact guitarist and then player of several string instruments and the percussions (oud, kwitra, mondole, double bass, douf, riq, etc.), the guitarist's approach of Salim Dada illustrates a technical and esthetic's syncretism of an instrument which considers very rich and finely expressive. "Istihlal", thus is a first impression of an Arab improvisation where the musician does nothing but cherish the cords of his instrument.
Douglas DaSilva is a composer, guitarist, educator and Artistic Director of the Composer's Voice Concert Series and Premiere Salon Concerts 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.
"Baiao" is a culture from Brazil's North East. Its spirit is expressed in the way-of-life, the dress, the food and most significantly, the music. The Bai?o rhythm has infected most of my compositions whether experimental of pop. Bai?o almost demands to be played on the guitar.
Joseph Eidson holds degrees in composition from the University of Kansas (DMA, BM) and University of Texas (MM). He particularly enjoys writing vocal music and works for winds, and is a self-proclaimed expert at Guitar Hero. For more information on Dr. Eidson's music, please visit www.josepheidson.com.
"Essence " 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.
Thomas Flippin is a classical guitarist and composer living in the New York City area. He is a graduate of the Yale School of Music and his work is published by Clear Note Publications. He is also a winner of the Olga and Paul Menn Foundation Composition Prize. www.thomasflippin.com
Framed within the intensity of a "New York Minute," New York, New York depicts the chaos, claustrophobia, and ultimately relief that one feels upon arriving to and departing from Grand Central. More broadly, it conveys the unrelenting industrial drive and political force that could create and sustain such grandeur.
Dai Fujikura was born in Osaka and moved to the UK where he went on to study with Edwin Roxburgh, Daryl Runswick and George Benjamin. He has been the recipient of numerous prizes, including the Huddersfield Festival Young Composers Award, a Royal Philharmonic Society Award, Internationaler Wiener Composition Prize, the Paul Hindemith Prize, OTAKA and Akutagawa awards.
Iman Habibi, MMUS (UBC 2010), is an award-winning composer and pianist, residing in Vancouver, BC. Hailed as a "giant in talent," his music has been programmed by organizations such as The Marilyn Horne Foundation (New York), The Canadian Opera Company (Toronto), Tapestry New Opera (Toronto). Read more at: http://www.imanhabibi.com/
A perfect stream of dualities, now shattered in three, for the wise men feared to ponder long ago!
Stavros Hoplaros holds a Masters in Music Composition from California State University Long Beach, where he studied with a Fulbright Scholarship. He has composed in a wide variety of musical styles and ensembles and received performances by many distinguished artists.
The pitch material of "ICOSAbarDRON" is mainly based on the Fibonacci numbers. The piece is consisted of 20 measures, as indicated in the title. The form of the piece satisfies the golden ratio. Therefore, the climax of the piece is found at roughly the phi point (at the middle of the twelfth bar). The piece is dedicated to Kenji Haba.
Born in Banciao, Taiwan, Chia-Yu Hsu was the winner of the Sorel Organization's 2nd International Composition Competition, the 7th USA International Harp Composition Competition, ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer's Awards, among others. Her work has been performed by various ensembles including the London Sinfonietta, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, Eighth Blackbird, and Prism Quartet.
"Sheng Sheng Man" was inspired by a poem of the same title by Li Quingzhao (1084-1155). In this poem, Li evokes her loneliness and sadness while enduring sickness. In my setting, the guitarist expresses the full palette of emotion that is depicted in the poem by both playing and singing.
Ashley John Long (b.1986) is a prize winning composer and virtuoso double bassist. His works have been released on the prestigious Signum Classics label, as well as the Fourier Transform, Autopoesis, Arse Deco, EMI, HQ and Anti Static record labels. His scores are published by Staunch Music and Alto Publications.
"Ashen Morning" was written for Kenji Haba as part of Vox Novus' "15-Minutes-of-Fame" project. The works takes its title from a poem by Horst Bienk. The main compositional technique employed in the piece is the constant transformation of a set of pitches and rhythmic values.
Oswaldo Torres Ortiz was born 1980 in Venezuela. In 1999 he enters at the National University of Arts to get a degree on Music Licentiate. In 2005 he received the Prize in the composition competition "II National Salon of Young Composers". His works have been played in Venezuela, Croatia, Argentina, Japan, China, Mexico and Chile.
"In Pulse," for guitar (2011), I worked the idea of pulse as an audible and periodic movement of the music, not only in the rhythmic appearance but also in: harmony, melody, and even in the timbre. This music is born from the silence, and violent and subtle gestures are confronted throughout the whole piece.
Richard Pressley teaches at Ball State University and has enjoyed performances in the U.S. and Europe. He attended Butler University, Cambridge, and the University of Minnesota, with post-doctoral study in Germany. His instructors include Wolfgang Rihm, Sandeep Bhagwati, Dominick Argento, Judith Zaimont, Alex Lubet, Daniel Chua, Michael Schelle.
"Susurration" (whispering, murmuring, rustling) is a short work consisting of a single melody that unfolds from within and around a sustained tone -- like a song emerging from within a fountain or from the leaves in a breeze -- which gradually ascends to a peak only to quickly cascade, evanesce, and disappear.
John Thompson directs the Music Technology Program at Georgia Southern University where he is Assistant Professor of Music. He seeks to highlight and follow new paths in music. John is an advocate for music that explores otherness, contemplation and alternate paths toward beauty.
"Creatura Theoricus" is pensive yet restless. Contemplative creatures are often so, fluidly tangled in a mesh of thoughtful churning. A complex harmonic field brings forth impossible spatial geometries. Creatura Theorica wanders along m?bius bands. arts into disparate areas.
Chris Vaisvil is a composer who works with various tunings and approaches. His works are realized through human and computer performance. Chris has earned an Associate degree in Music and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry. His music is often a blend of science and art mediated by his Chicagoan Lithuanian - Polish heritage.
"Ediacaran Garden" is a free form impressionistic study in harmonic guitar texture. The Ediacaran age was a time when multicellular creatures first developed. The most notable feature about this time in history is the absence of predators which suggests the inhabitants were living in a garden of Eden.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
