News In Brief: 2/25/04

News In Brief: 2/25/04

NWS Takes Auditions High Tech; ACF Launches Training Program for Native American Composers; ArtistShare Offers Marketing/Recording Alternatives; Academy of Arts and Letters Elects Beaser and Rands; 18th Annual Izzie Nominees; National Performing Arts Convention Online Registration Opened

Written By

NewMusicBox Staff

In This Issue

  1. NWS Takes Auditions High Tech
  2. ACF Launches Training Program for Native American Composers
  3. ArtistShare Offers Marketing/Recording Alternatives
  4. Academy of Arts and Letters Elects Beaser and Rands
  5. 18th Annual Izzie Nominees
  6. National Performing Arts Convention Online Registration Opened

Audition in Your Bunny Slippers? NWS Takes It High Tech

The Miami-based New World Symphony will hold what are likely the first-ever online auditions this week, taking advantage of its continuing relationship in the development of the ultra-high speed Internet2 technology (about 200,000 times faster than standard high-speed office connections). A group of Arizona State University string, woodwind, and brass players will vie for the highly competitive slots in the professional training orchestra from the ASU campus. The New World selection committee will listen and watch from the institution’s headquarters in Miami Beach.

Though still a developing (and expensive) technology, NWS Admissions Director Michael Linville explains that it “allows musicians to perform and communicate across vast distances as if they’re in the same room, without any loss of nuance or meaning, via high-fidelity audio and video…We think online auditions will help make the whole process less costly, time-consuming and stressful for artists and orchestral institutions.”

In Their Own Voice: ACF Launches Training Program for Native American Composers

Composer Brent Michael Davids has been named Artistic Advisor for the newly formed First Nations Composer Initiative (FNCI), a new chapter of the American Composers Forum. Composer Apprentice National Outreach Endeavor (CANOE) is one of the first initiatives, bringing the opportunity of composing to Native American students age 14 to adult. Georgia Wettlin-Larson, from the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana, will serve as the program’s administrative assistant.

CANOE is a series of composer “lessons” (both group and individual): each student learns to read written music notation, creates their own written music, and translate that into a string quartet example.

Brent Michael Davids explains, “The overflowing use of written notation worldwide probably came from the western European push for writing things down—in contrast to the exclusively oral ways of American Indians—but we can use this literary flood to our advantage. We can write music that tells of our experience, our thoughts, our lives in contrast to the mass of written music that sometimes contradicts who we are.”

Recording Industry Blues? ArtistShare Offers Alternatives

Maria Schneider has announced her partnership with ArtistShare, a web content publishing and management system designed to help artists design creative business models tailored to their needs. Schneinder is something of a poster child for the fledgling initiative, which also boasts names like Trey Anastasio and Jim Hall.

Her entire recorded catalogue will now being sold exclusively through her website (CDs will no longer be found in stores). She is also preparing to go into the studio to record her next album, and has invited fans to participate via ArtistShare in “The Studio Recording 2004 Project.” Account holders will have access to streaming media, downloads and exclusive news. “I am documenting every step and am very excited to share everything I learn with you,” announces Schneider on her homepage. “You’ll get a taste of being in my rehearsals and conversing with my musicians. You’ll witness the entire process.” An initial 10,000 copies of the new disc will be pressed for sale with additional orders filled only by download.

Scores and parts, as well as study scores, will also be available as downloads. Schneider points out the advantage that if she should edit a part or make a correction after “publication” parts can be edited, musicians emailed, and parts reprinted.

Academy of Arts and Letters Elects Composers Robert Beaser and Bernard Rands

The Academy of Arts and Letters has elected nine new members, including two composers. Robert Beaser and Bernard Rands will be among the new members inducted at the Academy’s annual ceremony in May. The annual election fills vacancies in the Academy’s membership of 250 American artists, architects, writers, and composers. The Academy was founded in 1898 to “foster, assist, and sustain an interest in literature, music, and the fine arts.”

18th Annual Isadora Duncan Dance Awards Announce 2002-03 Season Nominees

In the Music/Sound/Text Category:

  • Patrick Grant for music; Fractured Fictions (Margaret Jenkins), for Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, at the Herbst Pavilion
  • Rob Bailis, Nathan Breitling, Phyllis Kamrin, Jeff Watson, Matt Ingalls, Chris Froh, Richard Worn, and Christopher Jones, for their performance at Summerfest’s Choreographers and Composers Consortium, at McKenna Theater
  • Emily Fox, Nils Frykdahl, Carla Kihlstedt; Jeannie Mckenzie, Dawn McCarthy, Dan Rathbun, Sten Rudstroem, and Allen Willner for text, sound, and music; Heaven’s Radio (Shinichi Momo Koga, Tanya Calamoneri, and Alan Willner), Inkboat, at Venue 9
  • Reverend Markus Hawkins for music composition and performance; ElsewhereHere (Ledoh), at Noh Space
  • David Worm and SoVoSó for music; Sans Instruments (Sonya Delwaide), for AXIS Dance Company, at the Alice Arts Center Theatre

National Performing Arts Convention Online Registration Opened

The first National Performing Arts Convention has opened registration on their website: www.performingartsconvention.org.

Some 5,000 delegates are expected in Pittsburgh during the landmark event, hosted and planned by a consortium of national service organizations including the American Symphony Orchestra League, Chorus America, Dance/USA and OPERA America. The American Music Center and Meet The Composer are among the associations also hosting meetings during the marathon affair.