February 10, 2013

COMPOSER’S VOICE

3rd Annual Trajetória Brasileira

15 one-minute selections for Maria Carolina Cavalcanti

Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame is a collection of 15 one-minute works composed specifically for a performer or ensemble. 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. The project seeks one minute music compositions from composers working in any style and aesthetic. Vox Novus places a call for scores and 15 pieces are chosen from the works submitted. The works are then premiered on the Composer Voice concert series in New York City. The idea grew out of a celebratory concert in 2009 for the birthday of Robert Voisey who is the founder of Vox Novus and known for his 60x60 project.

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  Distant Dream of Chapada Diamantina

  Brian Belet

  Brian Belet lives in Campbell, California (USA), with his partner and wife Marianne Bickett. Here he composes, hikes, and tends to his fruit trees and roses. He performs with the SoundProof ensemble. To finance this real world he works as Professor of Music at San Jose State University. www.societyofcomposers.org/members/BrianBelet/

  I dreamed of hiking among the plateaus, cliffs, valleys, and caves of the Chapada Diamantina region (even if for only 60 seconds). Formed by the patient powers of uplifting and erosion, this land reminded me of my early years in western South Dakota and Wyoming in the United States.

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  Serenai, verdes mares...

  Erik Branch

  ERIK BRANCH (b. 1966) is a native of New York City, and received a BA and MA in Music (Composition) from Hunter College. He lives near Orlando, Florida, where he is active as a pianist, musical director, composer/arranger, opera chorister, and actor on stage and screen.

  I am deeply inspired by language. When I sought inspiration for this piece, a Brazilian friend suggested Iracema as a source, and recited Alencar’s beautiful opening lines. The phrase “Serenai, verdes mares” stuck in my mind instantly as a title and its images suggested an immediate musical idea

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  Nocturne

  Dominic Blake

  Dominic Blake is an Australian composer currently studying at Sydney’s Conservatorium of Music. His experience in composition is closely linked to his singing in the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and playing the piano, organ and harpsichord.

  "Nocturne" makes use of the warm lower register of the alto flute. The melody progresses from playful chromatic movement to expressive descending passages. There is an almost constant exchange between major and minor, which gives this work a particular romantic sound.

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  Pensativo

  Roger Blanc

  Roger Blanc, M.M., studied with David Diamond and taught Ear Training at Juilliard for three years. His music has been performed at Alice Tully Hall, The Whitney Sculpture Court, and overseas. He has worked in music for television (Tonight Show), film (Frida), recording (Barbra Streisand), and live performance (Miles Davis).

  “Pensativo” for solo flute is a brief rumination that utilizes melodic material reflective of the Moorish influence in music stemming from the Iberian Peninsula, including that impacting Brazil. In mood as well as technical material, it portrays the darkness and longing that is a part of Middle Eastern musical tradition.

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  Macaco Atrevido

  Oliver Cameron

  Australian composer Oliver Cameron is a violist and pianist currently studying at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Recently, Oliver had his piece, Giverny Revisited, debuted as part of Vox Novus' 15 minutes of fame series in New York.

  In "Macaco Atrevido" I have tried to capture a cheeky monkey's antics. Fast quaver passages, chromatic runs and metre changes all add to the momentum of the piece, creating quite a gymnastic flute solo with an emphasis on pulse, reminiscent of traditional Brazilian music.

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  A Noite na Caatinga

  Douglas DaSilva

  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.

  Brazil is more than rainforests, beaches, futbol, and samba. Avoiding any stereotype, I composed a melodic figure representative of the sounds one may hear at night in the caatinga. Is it the call of an animal or the cry of a spirit lost among the thorny branches of this harsh landscape?

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  Ecoando do uirapuru

  David Drexler

  David Drexler has composed miniature works for many groups, including the New York Miniaturist Ensemble, the Chicago Miniaturist Ensemble, a very small consortium, and ThingNY.

  The Uirapuru, also known as the Musician Wren, is a bird native to Amazon rainforests. "Ecoando do uirapuru" borrows bits of its very melodic song, and adds a rhythmic accompaniment meant to suggest the whispered ghost of a bossa nova.

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  Rousseff's Dream

  Vincent Euliano

  I am a student at the University of South Florida studying music composition. My interests include writing and studying compositions from around the world. I live in Tampa Florida and aside from studying classical composition at school I enjoy studying Latin music culture in Tampa.

  Researching Brasil and its contributions to the world was fascinating. Rousseff's Dream is centered around one tetrachord. The melodic contour captures the rich culture and folk traditions of Brasil. The diversity and evolution of the country's history is reflected in the piece through transposition and inversion of the one tetrachord.

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  Mulher Solitária

  Murray Gross

  An award-winning composer and conductor, Murray Gross studied at New England Conservatory, Oberlin College, and Michigan State University. Currently on the faculty at Alma College (Michigan), his compositions have been performed by the New York New Music Ensemble, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and numerous professional and collegiate ensembles.

  Mulher Solitária (Lonely Woman) is a reflective, wistful piece – a brief nostalgic interlude ideally suited to the expressive qualities of the alto flute. We hear fleeting allusions to a Brazilian song, Pirulito (lollipop), but this children’s tune is completely overshadowed by other thoughts and memories in this evocative meditation.

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  Aspiration

  Richard Pressley

  Richard Pressley lives in Columbia, South Carolina 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.

  "Aspiration" is a short meditation on the poem of the same name by Brazilian poet, Mario de Andrade (1893-1945), about (literally) ‘dissolving’ oneself into a shared existence within a single human family of equals. In this work, pitches emerge, dissipate, and blend in a constantly dissolving and elusive melody.

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  Conflux

  Robert Reinhart

  Robert Reinhart is a Chicago-based composer whose background includes bassoon and voice performance. Honored by ASCAP, the Julius F. Jezek prize, and the Union League Civic and Arts Foundation, he has been performed by Ensemble Dal Niente, trombonist Mike Svoboda, and gambist Mary Springfels. He currently teaches at Northwestern University.

  "Conflux" is inspired by one of Brazil's defining features, the Amazon river basin. The diversity of the land and cultures it involves, and more specifically the idea of watery convergence toward a goal that is itself kinetic, are the primary ideas behind this piece.

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  Shot

  David Rhodes

  David holds performer-composer MFA and BFA degrees from the California institute of the Arts where he studied composition with Michael Jon Fink, Wolfgang von Schweinitz, and Ulrich Krieger and piano with Vicki Ray. David lives in Los Angeles where he composes, teaches, and performs. Visit davidrhodesmusic.com for more information.

  The title “Shot” comes from the idea of a shot glass. A very small container for something that is usually very strong. I have never visited Brazil, but in my experiences with people from the Brazilian culture, I imagine it to be a place where the smallest places are full of cultural potency.

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  Painting I: Rio Amazonas

  Aurelio Scotto

  Young Italian composer. His music has been performed in Italy, Russia, Usa, Malta, Japan, Swizterland, and published by Wicky Music Editions, Taukay Music Editions, Master Symphony Editions, Universal Music Publishing Ricordi Editions. Winner of many National and International Composition Competition.

  "Painting I: Rio Amazonas" ...dreaming a walk on the river bank...

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  Before Corcovado

  Robert Voisey

  “With few opportunities and much competition, ... composers show creativity in just getting heard.” And in Chris Pasles’s article in the Los Angeles Times, Robert Voisey is highlighted as one of those composers. Composing electroacoustic and chamber music, his aesthetic oscillates from the romantic to the Post Modern Mash-Up. His work has been performed in venues throughout the world including: Carnegie Hall, World Financial Center Winter Garden Atrium, and Stratford Circus in London. As a producer, Robert Voisey is known for his work at Vox Novus producing 60x60, Composer's Voice, and Fifteen Minutes of Fame.

  Corcovado is a mountain in central Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The 710-metre peak is located in the Tijuca Forest, a national park. Corcovado hill lies just west of the city center but is wholly within the city limits and visible from great distances. It is known worldwide for the 38-metre statue of Jesus atop its peak, entitled Cristo Redentor or "Christ the Redeemer". The peak and statue can be accessed via a narrow road or by the Corcovado Rack Railway. The railway uses two electrically powered trains. The rail trip takes approximately 20 minutes and departs every half hour. Due to its limited passenger capacity, the wait to board at the entry station can take several hours. From the train terminus and road, the observation deck at the foot of the statue is reached by 223 steps, or by elevators and escalators.

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  Caipora

  Kezia Yap

  Kezia Yap is a Sydney-based pianist and composer, currently studying at the Sydney Conservatorium of music. She enjoys are large range of music, including that of the 20th century as well as music of today, thus draws influence and inspiration from the different styles of pivotal composers of these eras.

  Caipora is a mythological creature, found in Brazilian folklore. As the protector of the forest, Caipora has been described in different ways, possessing great strength and powers to protect flora and fauna, resurrecting slaughtered animals. This piece captures the mystic and prowess of Caipora, as he protects the forest