Category: Headlines

News In Brief 1/28/05

And the Oscar Nominees Are…

The nominees for the 77th annual Academy Awards have been announced. The list includes three of the usual suspects: James Newton Howard for The Village, Thomas Newman for Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, and John Williams (his forty-third Academy Award nomination—including five wins!) for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. But there are also two newcomers to the race for Oscar, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek for Finding Neverland and John Debney for The Passion of The Christ. The winners will be announced during the televised glitzfest on Feb. 27.

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Bright Sheng Commissioned by International Violin Competition of Indianapolis

Composer Bright Sheng will write a piece for the seventh International Violin Competition of Indianapolis to be performed by the sixteen semi-finalists.

This six to nine minute-long piece for violin and piano is intended to test the interpretive skills of the young artists in playing a piece that has no performance history. “In one sense” said Jaime Laredo, president of the jury for the 2006 competition, “each player will invent the work, and try to communicate the composer’s intent in ways that are intellectually meaningful and emotionally satisfying.” The work will be sent to admitted applicants to the competition in June 2006 in order for them to have two months of preparation time.

Underwritten by the Christel DeHaan Family Foundation, their support also includes the $1000 prize awarded for the Best Performance of the Commissioned Work.

Previous commissions include Finnish composer Joonas Kokkonen’s Improvvisazione (1982); Leon Kirchner’s untitled work (1986); George Rochberg’s Rhapsody and Prayer (1990); Witold Lutoslawski’s Subito (1994); Ned Rorem’s Autumn Music (1998); and Richard Danielpour’s As Night Falls on Barjeantane (2002).

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Norman Wins 25th Annual ASCAP Rudolf Nissim Award

Andrew Norman has been named winner of the 25th annual ASCAP Rudolf Nissim Award for his Sacred Geometry, a ten-minute work for orchestra. The award includes a $5,000 cash prize. Sacred Geometry was commissioned by the New York Youth Symphony and was also selected for the Minnesota Orchestra Composer’s Institute Readings. The Nissim competition, named in honor of the former head of ASCAP’s International Department, is open to concert works requiring a conductor that have not been professionally performed.

Visconti Named Third Winner of Kronos: Under 30 Commission



Dan Visconti

Dan Visconti has won the third commission offered through the Kronos: Under 30 Project. The 22-year-old composer, currently pursuing a master’s degree in composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music, will write a new work for Kronos and be in residence with the quartet at the Hopkins Center in Hanover, New Hampshire, in January 2006.

Unsurprisingly, Visconti is pretty excited about the chance to write for and work with the ensemble. “When I was growing up,” explains Visconti, “I became absorbed in the Kronos Quartet’s visceral and adventurous recordings in much the same way that many adolescents obsess over the albums of the great, iconic rock bands.”

A student of Margaret Brouwer and Zhou Long, Visconti teaches composition and popular songwriting through the conservatory, and also serves as a faculty member of the Young Composers Program at CIM.

He has won awards and scholarships including a BMI Student Composer Award, two consecutive first-place awards in the ASCAP/Victor Herbert Young Composers Competition, the NFMC Devora Nadworney Award for Vocal Writing, the 2004 BMI Foundation Boudleaux Bryant Commission and a 2005 Copland House residency. His recent commissions include works for the Moore/Better Duo, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, the Cleveland Museum of Art’s AKI Festival and Antares.

More than 300 composers from 35 countries applied to the Project, which is a collaboration of the Kronos Quartet and the Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, in cooperation with the American Music Center.

The Kronos: Under 30 Project was created in 2003, Kronos’s 30th anniversary year, to support the creation of new work and to help Kronos cultivate relationships with the next generation of composers. In previous rounds they have commissioned work from Alexandra du Bois (String Quartet: Oculus Pro Oculo Totum Orbem Terrae Caecat, premiered in 2003) and Felipe Pérez Santiago (CampoSanto, premiered in 2004). Both works have been subsequently programmed on a number of international Kronos appearances and both will be featured on their February 2005 concert at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall in New York.

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A quick Q&A with Dan Visconti

Molly Sheridan: Can you tell me a bit about the piece you submitted to win the commission?

Dan Visconti: I submitted several pieces and movements of pieces on a demo CD which ranged from an amplified cello piece to some short songs to some selections for string quartet. But the score I submitted had not been recorded yet—I kind of went out on a limb in sending it, actually! It’s an orchestra piece, titled Graffiti commission by the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra.

Here’s the program note:

I’ve long been interested in the ways “serious” art and the vernacular interact; in Graffiti, I was inspired by the selfsame act of creative vandalism and the musical opportunities this suggested to me. Specifically, I was interested in certain walls and even whole alleys that had been covered with so many layers of paint that they appeared more like vast, intricate murals than a rather minor form of crime.

The raw, communicative urgency of these collages—each one created by many different people, often rivals from different factions—suggested to me a musical landscape in which many distinct elements are thrown into violent juxtaposition with each other. I borrowed from the rough, expressive language of rock n’ roll for a good deal of the material, and attempted to weave the sounds into a complex tapestry in order to create a musical metaphor for my experience. The way in which certain, newer, portions of a graffiti mural sometimes blend into, distort, or even completely obliterate previous contributions ended up influencing the development of the piece as well.

Anyway: It’s a very challenging, detailed score, one that could easily be something of a put-off to most reviewers, especially without the aid of a recording. Even as I hesitated to send the piece, something about it felt right for Kronos, and I hoped that the work’s bold spirit of experimentation might come across to an ensemble that has itself been boldly crossing boundaries for the past thirty years.

Molly Sheridan: Any ideas yet for the new work, even just a sense of what you might want to say using a string quartet? I know you’ve been a fan of the quartet for some time…

Dan Visconti: My ideas for the work are admittedly a bit vague at this point, but there are a few I’ve been tossing around. I’m currently finishing another commission for a really stellar group of players, Antares. That work, Psychedelic Rainbow Blues, explores the sound world of late-’60s studio experimentation in a series of very short movements that are strung together in a way that resembles a rock album more than a concert piece—I was really concerned with capturing that kind of raw detail and manipulating it to my own ends. For example, there’s a movement that’s supposed to sound like an old LP that’s been beat up a bit, which fades in from the middle of nowhere at the pindrop, and another movement which has “remixed” material, which returns all dubbed out with sudden rewinds that scratch like turntables…you get the picture.

In the piece I’m about to begin writing for Kronos, I’ve already decided that I’d like to write one longer movement with a little more breathing room, and also that I’d like to restrict myself somewhat in terms of how the whole drama plays out. That is, I’d like to establish a strong premise and make the piece grow out of that premise by the rigorous logic of the musical ideas I’ve put forth; I’m very interested in the music achieving some startling expressive turns, but I think it would really be musically interesting to make those turns grow out of a logical process, but in a way that couldn’t have been foreseen.

I’ve been a real fan of Kronos since I was a teenager, and I also have had experience playing violin in a quartet when I was younger. In my previous works for string quartet, I’ve been very keen on expressing musical detail, and I hope to refine that impulse during my work with Kronos and strip my language down to what is absolutely essential.

Molly Sheridan: The two previous winners have gotten quite a bit of exposure from their commissioned works, much more than a one-night premiere would offer. What sort of impact do you expect/hope this commission will have on your professional career? What about artistically?

Dan Visconti: This commission is such a great honor for such a variety of reasons that I think it would be very easy to lose sight of its primary importance for me at this stage in my career—that of a learning experience. I’m hoping to really stretch myself and keep reaching for the kinds of experiences I want my music to be about, and working with Kronos is sure to provide me both with great ideas and encouragement. I’m thrilled that Kronos is committed to the piece so strongly before I’ve even written a note—just knowing that the quartet intends this to be the beginning of a longer relationship instead of the kind of stillborn, one-shot-deal that is lamentably so frequent in the new music world inspires me to try for something that will last, or hopefully is at least worthy of lasting.

Molly Sheridan: Oh, and of course I want to hear your “how I found out” anecdote…

Dan Visconti: My phone didn’t ring one morning, as it is wont to do at the most infuriating times. I checked my messages and there was one that began “Hi Dan, this is David Harrington…” I didn’t believe it! Then I sat there for a moment and replayed it, let it sink in. I didn’t know for sure that I won at this point, just that Kronos wanted to speak with me, and I had to sit and fester pretty much the whole day, trying not to get my hopes up too much. Then we finally connected later and the bomb hit. It means so much to me when performers like your music to the point of wanting to play it—much more than when other composers review my work, which is usually the case with competitions. Before I write for audiences, even, I write for performers, and it’s deeply satisfying to have the chance of writing for performers I so deeply respect.

Daniel Kellogg Wins Philly Orchestra Commission

Daniel Kellogg has won a $25,000 commission to write a work for The Philadelphia Orchestra in celebration of the 300th anniversary of Benjamin Franklin’s birth. The orchestra will premiere the new piece as part of a citywide celebration in November 2005.

Kellogg seems undaunted by the challenge of writing a work tied to such a culturally significant personality. “The possibilities for artistic response to such an individual are limitless,” he explains. “I hope the music will capture his curiosity in all things, his flirtatious fun, his wit, and the spirit of the amazing time in which America was born.”

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Daniel Kellogg

Kellogg, a Young Concert Artists Composer-in-Residence, has been awarded the Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as the 2003 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award for his work and the dust shall sing like a bird. His compositions have been performed at New York’s 92nd Street Y, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, and the Kennedy Center, and have been broadcast on National Public Radio’s Performance Today. His piece Divinum Mysterium was recently released on eighth blackbird’s Beginnings [Cedille Records].

He holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and the Yale School of Music, where he is currently a candidate for a doctor of musical arts degree. His teachers have included Don Freund, Ned Rorem, Jennifer Higdon, Joseph Schwantner, Ezra Laderman, and Martin Bresnick.

The competition was administered by the Philadelphia chapter of the American Composers Forum. Kellogg was chosen from among more than 100 applicants by a panel of five composers and Philadelphia Orchestra Director of Education and Community Partnerships Sarah Johnson. The orchestra’s music director, Christoph Eschenbach, made the final selection.

Kellogg says he is just now beginning to sketch the piece while doing quite a bit of reading about Franklin and even exploring some of the music that influenced the American diplomat and inventor. “He was very interested in music and even wrote some pieces. There is a librarian at Yale that knows a good deal about his interest and involvement with music. I am hoping she can direct me towards tunes or pieces that he loved in addition to giving me copies of pieces he wrote. Possibly I will find some good melodies or motives in this process.”

As his plans stand now, Kellogg will write an 18-minute, multi-movement work which incorporates a narrator reading brief excerpts of Franklin’s writings before each movement. Divided in this way, each section would be designed to reflect a particular facet of Franklin’s personality—his wit and humor, his love of women, his inventiveness, and his political involvement in the foundation of the country.

The Philly commission, a milestone in any young composer’s career, will be especially meaningful to Kellogg, who regularly attended Philadelphia Orchestra concerts as a student. Several of his Curtis classmates who performed his student compositions are now members of the orchestra.

Regardless of the shape the piece finally takes, Kellogg says he has plenty of material from which to draw. “The life of Benjamin Franklin could supply the stories for 100 operas. I am in awe of all that he did and how we connect with this person daily through his imprint on America.”

The 300th anniversary of Benjamin Franklin’s birth, January 17, 2006, will be the culmination of a multi-year, international celebration. The Federal Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary Commission, along with a consortium of five Franklin-related Philadelphia cultural institutions have joined forces to coordinate a major traveling exhibition, special events, and educational programs to commemorate the occasion.

News in Brief 12/31/04

2004 is closing out with a bang not a whimper, news-wise at least. Among the headlines of note…

After ten years on the NYC music scene, the EOS Orchestra has announced it will be closing up shop. No concerts are planned for 2005. Under the baton of conductor Jonathan Sheffer, the orchestra was known for presenting unconventional classical concert experiences, efforts which received their share of praise and criticism.

Sheffer is also the artistic director of a similarly unconventional ensemble, Red {an orchestra} in Cleveland.

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The Bang on a Can All-Stars have been named Ensemble of the Year for 2005 by Musical America International Directory of the Performing Arts. Other winners included Arvo Pärt, Composer of the Year; Minnesota Orchestra Music Director Osmo Vanska, Conductor of the Year; Finnish soprano Karita Mattila, Musician of the Year; Christian Tetzlaff, Instrumentalist of the Year; and Joseph Polisi, president of the Juilliard School, as Educator of the Year. The awards were presented December 6 in New York City.

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Craigslist.org, that indispensable cyber bulletin board for those seeking a new apartment or a slightly worn coffee table, now has something else to offer composers. This posting went up on Dec. 10:

New Classical Music Label Seeks composers’ original compositions!

Volitional Music, a new classical music label, is looking for contemporary composers. The objective of the label is to rediscover the aesthetic philosophies of the past, not in order to repeat or copy its product, but in order to create original, exultant music.

We welcome you to submit recordings of your own original works for consideration. The craigslist email system will not deliver an attachment of the size of an MP3, so email us first stating your interest and we will send you our email address and postal address. You may then either submit your recording electronically or send a CD or cassette tape to our postal address. (We are based out of Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States of America.)

The quality of the *recording* is of zero importance. The quality of the *music* is.

Unlike most record companies, we publish composers on a per-opus basis, as opposed to a per-album basis. This helps you maintain your creative freedom by not having to commit to future releases, while enabling us to market your music online through a series of singles before committing to album production.

The startup label stresses that it’s looking for new classical works in the classical or romantic aesthetic (as opposed to the new age or postmodern classical). Interested parties can email Jared Rhoads at [email protected].

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Osvaldo Golijov and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra are teaming up for a two-year performance and recording project. Plans include two recordings with Deutsche Grammophon, tentatively scheduled for release in 2006. Recordings of Oceana and Last Round were made in November. Ainadamar, a one-act opera depicting the last days of Spanish playwright Federico Garcia Lorca, will be recorded in November of 2005, along with Three Songs, featuring Dawn Upshaw.

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Boosey & Hawkes has signed an agreement to provide classical ringtones to distributor The Music Solution. TMS will convert the music into formats compatible with over 1900 models of mobile phones, and will manage the selling and distribution of the ringtones, with a royalty payable to Boosey & Hawkes. Deals are already in place with network providers in the USA and Europe.

Though the list includes “several hundred musical excerpts suitable for ringtones,” as of this writing, no living composers will be included.

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Just in time for the holidays, the Hyperscore technology—developed by the MIT Media Laboratory and used in Tod Machover’s Toy Symphony project—has been incorporated into a new Fischer-Price toy. Symphony Painter is a musical composition software program for use with the Color Pixter (a handheld toy PDA marketed to kids, stocked with puzzles, games, etc.). The software enables children without any previous musical training to draw music and have it played through the toy, in essence composing a piece of music by drawing colored lines on a screen. The Hyperscore program then translates the drawing into color-coded musical materials such as chords, melodies, and other sounds to create a full composition.

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The first ASCAP/Lotte Lehmann Foundation Song Cycle Competition has been announced. Only composers under the age of thirty writing for voice will be eligible. First Prize will be a $3,500 commission for a song cycle for voice and piano, publication by E.C. Schirmer of the completed work, and performances of the song cycle in three major American cities, including New York. Second Prize ($1,000) and Third Prize ($500) will be awarded to commission two new songs for voice and piano. The deadline for entries is September 15, 2005. Guidelines and application can be found at www.ascap.com/concert/lottelehmann.

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New Music for Young Ensembles recently celebrated its 30th-anniversary. Founded by Claire Rosengarten in 1974, the organization’s mission is to promote accessible new music to a wider audience with an emphasis on short, intermediate-level compositions scored for three to five players. Ezra Laderman’s Cadence was NMYE’s first commissioned work. Their anniversary concert, held earlier this month at Weill Recital Hall, included a performance of that work, as well as pieces by Ned Rorem, David Tcimpidis, and Joe Ambrosio.

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The Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts has awarded the $20,000 biennial John Cage Award for Music to New York composer/artist David Behrman. Behrman toured as composer/performer with the Cunningham Dance Company from 1970 through 1976. During that period he assisted John Cage with several projects. Merce Cunningham commissioned him to compose music for Company repertory pieces in 1968, 1976, and 1984.

Foundation grants of $10,000 each went to ten additional artists, including composer Marc Mellits. An additional sum of $41,000 was divided among 32 arts organizations, primarily in the New York area, including Artists Space, BOMB Magazine, The Drawing Center, Independent Curators International, and White Columns.

Copland Fund for Music Grants $500,000

The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, created by the composer to encourage and improve public knowledge of contemporary American music, has announced another round of awards. Grants totaling $500,000 have been distributed to 79 organizations across the country through the Performing Ensembles Program for 2004.

Interested in Applying?

Complete guidelines and applications are available online at www.amc.net. The next deadline is June 30, 2005.

The Fund received applications from more than 150 organizations requesting a total of more than $1.6 million. From these, a five-person panel reviewed the applications and made award determinations in the areas of general operating and project support.

Among the organizations supported are the Albany Symphony Orchestra, the Da Capo Chamber Players, the Jazz Arts Group of Columbus, the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati, the American Composers Orchestra, and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. A complete list of grantees, project descriptions, and award amounts follows below.

“The passion, persistence, and excellence represented by the performing groups who have applied to the Copland Fund are cause for celebration,” commented John Harbison, president of the Fund. “The patience and expertise of our panel—faced with evaluating increasing numbers of worthy proponents of new music—again earns the gratitude of the Fund’s directors.”

2004 Performing Ensembles Program Awards

  • 20th Century Consort, Takoma Park, MD, General Operating, $1,000
  • Absolute Ensemble, New York, NY, General Operating, $7,500
  • Alarm Will Sound, Rochester, NY, General Operating, $1,000
  • Albany Symphony Orchestra, Albany, NY, General Operating, $24,000
  • American Brass Quintet, New York, NY, General Operating, $4,000
  • American Composers Orchestra, New York, NY, General Operating, $15,000
  • Anti-Social Music, Astoria, NY, General Operating, $3,000
  • Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, New York, NY, a four-concert series featuring seven AACM composers, $10,000
  • Auros Group for New Music, Boston, MA, General Operating, $4,000
  • Bang on a Can, Brooklyn, NY, General Operating, $12,000
  • Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, Berkeley, CA, the continuation of the Under Construction program, $5,000
  • Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Roslindale, MA, General Operating, $15,000
  • Boston Musica Viva, Cambridge, MA, General Operating, $12,000
  • Brooklyn Sax Quartet, Brooklyn, NY, General Operating, $3,500
  • Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Santa Cruz, CA, General Operating, $12,000
  • California EAR Unit, Castaic, CA, General Operating, $10,000
  • Chamber Music Austin, Austin, TX, General Operating, $1,000
  • Chameleon Arts Ensemble of Boston, Boston, MA, General Operating, $1,000
  • Chicago Chamber Musicians, Chicago, IL, “Composer Perspectives,” a series of three concerts, each curated by a different composer, $12,000
  • Chicago Jazz Ensemble, Chicago, IL, General Operating, $5,000
  • Chicago Sinfonietta, Chicago, IL, General Operating, $12,000
  • Collage New Music, Boston, MA, General Operating, $8,000
  • Contemporary Music Forum, Washington, DC, General Operating, $1,000
  • Continuum, New York, NY, General Operating, $6,000
  • Core Ensemble, Lake Worth, FL, General Operating, $5,000
  • counter)induction, Riverdale, NY, General Operating, $1,000
  • Cygnus Ensemble, Mt. Vernon, NY, General Operating, $4,000
  • Cypress String Quartet, San Francisco, CA, General Operating, $8,000
  • Da Capo Chamber Players, New York, NY, General Operating, $5,000
  • Degenerate Art Ensemble, Seattle, WA, concert of ten world premieres by emerging American composers, $8,000
  • Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble, Boston, MA, General Operating, $1,000
  • Downtown Music Productions, New York, NY, General Operating, $1,000
  • eighth blackbird, Evanston, IL, General Operating, $15,000
  • Ensemble 21, New York, NY, a concert of new American songs, $1,000
  • Ensemble X, Ithaca, NY, General Operating, $3,000
  • Ethel, Sunnyside, NY, General Operating, $8,000
  • Gamelan Galak Tika, Cambridge, MA, performance tour to the 2005 Bali Arts Festival, $3,000
  • Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus, Glen Ellyn, IL, General Operating, $5,000
  • House Foundation for the Arts, New York, NY, General Operating, $5,000
  • Jazz Arts Group of Columbus, Columbus, OH, General Operating, $12,000
  • Jazz Composers Alliance, Allston, MA, General Operating, $5,000
  • Kronos Quartet, San Francisco, CA, General Operating, $8,000
  • League of Composers/ISCM, New York, NY, General Operating, $1,000
  • Manhattan Brass Quintet, New York, NY, General Operating, $7,000
  • Minnesota Orchestra, Minneapolis, MN, the Minnesota Orchestra Reading Sessions and Composer Institute, $10,000
  • MOSAIC, New York, NY, two concerts of commissioned American works, including a world premiere of a commissioned work by Randy Steiger and Vibeke Sorensen, $7,500
  • Music from China, New York, NY, “Chinese Composers in America/2005”, a concert season of new music, $5,000
  • Music of Remembrance, Seattle, WA, two chamber music concerts and pre-concert lectures, $4,000
  • Music Theatre Group, New York, NY, development of “The Loving Family” by Derek Bermel, $10,000
  • Nashville Chamber Orchestra, Nashville, TN, General Operating, $2,000
  • New Century Saxophone Quartet, Columbia, SC, General Operating, $5,000
  • New Music Works, Santa Cruz, CA, General Operating, $4,000
  • New York City Opera, New York, NY, world premiere of Charles Wuorinen’s “Haroun and the Sea of Stories”, $10,000
  • New York Festival of Song, New York, NY, General Operating, $1,000
  • New York New Music Ensemble, Staten Island, NY, General Operating, $4,000
  • Newband, Nyack, NY, General Operating, $5,000
  • NewEar, Kansas City, MO, General Operating, $5,000
  • Oakland East Bay Symphony, Oakland, CA, General Operating, $15,000
  • Orchestra 2001, Wallingford, PA, General Operating, $12,000
  • Orchestra of St. Luke’s, New York, NY, “Second Helpings,” a series of performances of works by young American composers, $3,000
  • Paul Dresher Ensemble / Musical Traditions, San Francisco, CA, General Operating, $12,000
  • Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Pittsburgh, PA, General Operating, $1,000
  • Present Music, Milwaukee, WI, General Operating, $15,000
  • Quintet of the Americas, Douglaston, NY, General Operating, $5,000
  • Rejoicensemble, New York, NY, a world premiere and retrospective of works by David Hurd, $1,000
  • Relache, Philadelphia, PA, General Operating, $5,000
  • Riverside Symphony, New York, NY, General Operating, $4,000
  • Rova Arts, San Francisco, CA, General Operating, $2,000
  • San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, San Francisco, CA, General Operating, $10,000
  • Santa Fe New Music, Santa Fe, NM, General Operating, $1,000
  • Santa Fe Opera, Santa Fe, NM, “Ainadamar,” an opera by Osvaldo Golijov, and “The Three Hermits,” and opera by Stephen Paulus, $5,000
  • Seattle Chamber Players, Seattle, WA, General Operating, $7,000
  • Sequitur, New York, NY, General Operating, $1,000
  • Third Angle New Music Ensemble, Portland, OR, General Operating, $1,000
  • Vanguard Jazz Orc
    hestra, New York, NY, the 2005 national performance and workshop initiative, $12,000
  • Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, General Operating, $6,000
  • VocalEssence, Minneapolis, MN, General Operating, $8,000
  • Washington Square Contemporary Music Society, New York, NY, General Operating, $2,500
  • Zeitgeist, St. Paul, MN, General Operating, $8,000

$300,000 Awarded in 2005 Live Music for Dance Grants

2005 LMD Grants: By the numbers…

The 2005 granting round distributed $300,000 in funding, which affects:

  • 43 dance companies
  • 120 dance performances
  • 180 musicians
  • 21 composers

Over the past 20 years, Live Music for Dance has distributed over 400 grants totaling $4.75 million to over 150 dance companies.

If the Opera Company of Brooklyn’s proposed use of the Sinfonia (the computerized “virtual orchestra machine”) has got you wringing your hands over the decline of live music in so-called live theater, the announcement of the American Music Center’s Live Music for Dance grants may cheer you. $300,000 has been awarded to 43 dance companies in New York City and New Jersey as part of the 2005 LMD granting round. The program helps underwrite musicians’ rehearsal and performance fees, and also provides funding for composer commissioning fees and copying costs for performances.

The effect of the grants are felt across artistic disciplines. “Aside from the thrill of having live music at all performances,” Marvin Preston IV, Executive Director of the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, said about the Graham Center’s 2004 LMD grant for musicians, “what was most exciting about those two weeks was watching the mutual respect and enthusiasm between the dancers and the musicians….I cannot imagine a more successful outcome.” The Graham Center also received funds this year for musicians and a new commission by Franco Piersanti.

Other 2005 grantees include the Alborada Spanish Dance Theatre for musicians and a new commission from Carlos Revollar; the Paul Taylor Dance Company for musicians at its New York City Center season; the Mark Morris Dance Group for musicians at its Brooklyn Academy of Music summer season; and Yass Hakoshima Movement Theatre for live music by the Da Capo Chamber Players at its Morristown, New Jersey, performance. A complete list of grantees, project descriptions, and award amounts follows below.

The Live Music for Dance program was founded as the Pocket Orchestra Project in 1986 by the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), and the American Music Center. NYSCA conceived the idea for the Pocket Orchestra Project and co-administered the program for its first three years. From 1989 to 2003, Live Music for Dance was a program of the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, administered by the American Music Center.

Beginning with last year’s round of grants, AMC assumed sole responsibility for the program, including fundraising, application review, and grant administration. This is the first year New Jersey-based companies have been invited to apply.

2005 Live Music for Dance Grants

  • American Ballet Theatre, NY, live music by the American Ballet Theater Orchestra during the Spring 2005 season at the MET, $5,000
  • American Tap Dance Foundation, NY, live music by the The Larry Ham Trio and The Frank Kimbrough Trio for the 2005 New York City Tap Festival performances, $8,000
  • Anemone Dance Theater, NY, live music by the Slow Six at the 2005 Evolving Arts Theater season, $3,000
  • Battleworks Dance Company, NY, a new commission by John Mackey and live music by Antares during the 2005 New York season, $8,000
  • Bebe Miller Company, NY, a new commission and live music by Albert Mathias for performances of Landing/Place, $7,500
  • BIGMANARTS, NY, a new commission and live music by Geoff Gersh for performances of Julius Caesar Superstar, $3,500
  • Buglisi/Foreman Dance, NY, new commissions by Jennifer Higdon and Daniel Binelli and live music by the Binelli-Ferman Duo, Maya Beiser, Glen Velez, Caroline Stinston, and Daniel Bernard Roumain during the 2005 season at the Joyce Theater, $7,500
  • Dance Brazil, NY, a new commission by Tote Gira and live music by Tote Gira, Eduardo Santos, Marcelo Santos, and Edmilson Santos for performances of Retratos da Bahia, $10,000
  • Dance Theatre Etcetera, NY, new commissions by Todd Reynolds and Bob Goldberg and live music by Still Life with Microphone and the BAN Radio Orchestra for performances of two site-specific works, $7,500
  • David Dorfman Dance, NY, a new commission by Frank London and live music by a Frank London quartet and Michael Wall for performances of Old Testaments/New Visions, $8,000
  • Douglas Dunn & Dancers, NY, a new commission by Bill Cole for performances of a new hour-long piece, $3,000
  • Eric Hawkins Dance Foundation, NY, live music by the Eric Hawkins Theatre Orchestra during the Spring 2005 season at the Rose Theater, $7,500
  • Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana, NY, live music by Calvin Hazen, Jose Alconcel, Terence Buttler, Jose Salinas, Gonzalo Grau, and Monica Matos for rehearsals and performances of Navidad Flamenca, $9,000
  • H.T. Dance Company, NY, a new commission by Zhou Long and live music by Music from China for performances of Heart of Grace, $11,500
  • Jennifer Monson Dance, NY, a new commission by David Kean and live music by David Kean, Zeena Parkins and Sean Meehan for performances of Flight of Mind, $7,500
  • John Jasperse Company, NY, a new commission and live music by Zeena Parkins for performances of Prone, $7,500
  • La Troupe Makandal, Inc., NY, live music by Frisner Augustin, Steve Deats, Guy de Chalus, Kesler Pierre, and Rosena Philippe for performances of Bwa Kayiman and Rising Sun, $2,500
  • Lubovitch Dance Foundation, NY, live music by Kurt Elling & The Laurence Hobgood Trio for performances of Love Stories, $5,000
  • Mark Morris Dance Group, NY, live music by the Mark Morris Dance Group Ensemble and guest vocalists for the 2005 season at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, $10,000
  • Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, Inc., NY, live music by Patrick Doherty and orchestra for the 2005 season at City Center, $15,000
  • Merce Cunningham Dance Company, NY, live music by the Essential Music Orchestra for performances of Ocean, $15,000
  • Nina Winthrop and Dancers, NY, a new commission by Jon Gibson for performances of Self Service, $3,000
  • Paul Taylor Dance Company, NY, live music by the Orchestra of St.Luke’s and Margot Leverett & the Klezmer Mountain Boys for performances during the company’s 50th anniversary season, $15,000
  • Peter Boal and Company, NY, live music for the New York 2005 season, $3,000
  • Rebecca Stenn/ PerksDanceMusic Theatre, NY, live music by the FLUX Quartet for performances of “Home”, $4,000
  • Sean Curran Company, NY, live music by Ricky Ian Gordon, Michael Arden, Rosina Hill, Scott Murphree, and Diane Sutherland for performances of Art/Song/Dance, $6,500
  • STREB, NY, a new commission and live music by RECON for performances of a new work, $7,500
  • The Armitage Foundation, NY, a new commission by Annie Gosfield and live music by Annie Gosfield, Stephen Gosling, Anthony Costanzo, and Roger Kleier for the fall 2005 Armitage Gone! Dance season, $7,500
  • The House Foundation for the Arts, Inc., NY, live music by Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble for performances during the ensemble’s 40th anniversary season, $7,000
  • The New York Baroque Dance Company, NY, live music by Concert Royale for performances of Terpsicore, $10,000
  • The Parsons Dance Company, NY, live music by Milton Nascimento and his band for performances of The Nascimento Project, $7,500
  • Thomas/Ortiz Dance, NY, live music by Janey Choi, Katie Kresek, K.Lippman, Loren Dempster, and Ana Milosavljevi for performances
    of two new pieces, $3,500
  • Time Lapse Dance, NY, live music by Jeffrey Middleton for performances during the 2005 season, $2,000
  • Trisha Brown Dance Company, NY, live music by Pedja Muzijevic, Mario Caroli, and Curtis Bahn for performances during the 2005 season, $7,000
  • Wally Cardona Quartet, NY, a new commission by Phil Kline and live music by Ethel and a marching band for performances of a new work, $10,000
  • Alborada Spanish Dance Theatre, NJ, a new commission by Carlos Revollar and live music by the Alborada Ensemble, Coolmagort, and Orensano Centro for performances during the 2005 season, $12,000
  • American Repertory Ballet, NJ, live music by Michael Pratt and orchestra for performances of a new work, $3,500
  • Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company, NJ, a new commission by Sarah Plant and live music by Dawn Aver, Edson Aparecide da Silva (Café) for performances of A LITTLE PIECE DIES…, $7,500
  • Danmari Ltd., NJ, live music by the Da Capo Chamber Players for performances of Duality, $5,000
  • Freespace Dance, NJ, live music by Josh Vallo, Abu Natraj, Benoir, Heath Mensher, Carlos Gonzoles and Michael Lawson for performances of a new piece for the 2005 season, $2,500
  • Julia Ritter Performance Group, NJ, a new commission and live music by Bradford Reed for performances of Odd Sympathies on the Wayside, $5,000
  • LKB Dance, NJ, a new commission by Kurt Coble and live music by the P.A.M. Band for performances of blue, $4,500
  • Randy James Dance Works, NJ, a new commission by Mark Zuckerman and live music by Bart Feller for performances of a new work for the Fall 2005 season, $5,000

OBITUARY: Frederick Fennell (1914-2004)



Frederick Fennell
Photo courtesy of the Dallas Wind Symphony

Famed band conductor Frederick Fennell died Tuesday at his home in Siesta Key, Florida. He was 90.

Founder of the Eastman Wind Ensemble in 1952, Fennell is generally recognized as the leader of the wind ensemble movement in the U.S. His conducting career placed him on the podium before a countless number of ensembles, including the Dallas Wind Symphony and the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra in Japan. He also recorded extensively; 22 albums with the Eastman Wind Ensemble were released by Mercury Records in the 1950s alone.

Fennell is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, and a daughter, Cathy Fennell Martensen. There will be a small Memorial Service at a church in Siesta Key. No date or time has been set.

  • READ a memorial by Jeff Spevak, staff music critic at the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
  • READ a memorial posted on the website of the Dallas Wind Symphony, where Fennell had served as principal guest conductor.

John Williams Among 2004 Kennedy Center Honorees



John Williams
Photo courtesy of the Kennedy Center

John Williams was one of six artists to be honored at the 27th annual Kennedy Center Honors. He was recognized for his lifetime contribution to American culture, both in the concert hall and on the big screen. When making the announcement, Kennedy Center Chairman Stephen A. Schwarzman called Williams “one of the most influential American composers of the past four decades.”

The 2004 Honorees were honored at a gala performance in the Kennedy Center’s Opera House on December 5. The event, a much-coveted ticket in the nation’s capitol, was attended by the President of the United States and Mrs. Bush, and by artists from around the world. It will be broadcast on CBS later this month as a two-hour prime time special.

Also been honored in this year’s class: Actor, producer, writer and director Warren Beatty; husband-and-wife actors, writers and producers Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee; singer and composer Elton John; and soprano Joan Sutherland.

And the GRAMMY nominees are…



For those who like to compare their year’s “Top 10” recordings list with the music industry machine at large, the nominations for the 47th Annual GRAMMY® Awards were released today. Take a break from the blue state/red state comparison editorials and see what jazz and classical-type albums are up for honors. A few of the nominees are highlighted here, but you can find the complete list on the GRAMMY website.

For Best Classical Album, recordings featuring John Adams’s On The Transmigration Of Souls(Lorin Maazel; Brooklyn Youth Chorus & New York Choral Artists; New York Philharmonic); Elliott Carter’s Symphony No. 1/ Piano Concerto/Holiday Overture; and Jennifer Higdon’s City Scape/Concerto For Orchestra (Robert Spano; Atlanta Symphony Orchestra) will compete against Britten and Mozart. The Adams and Higdon discs are in the running for Best Orchestral Performance, and also earned the composers nominations for Best Classical Contemporary Composition. Andre Previn is also up in the later category for his Violin Concerto “Anne-Sophie.”

John Adams may just become a household name by the time this is over. He also got a nod in the Best Chamber Music Performance category or the Nonesuch recording of Road Movies featuring Leila Josefowicz, violin and John Novacek, piano as well as a nomination for Best Long Form Music Video for the London Symphony Orchestra production of The Death Of Klinghoffer.

The Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance with Orchestra nominees include pianist Mark Wait for his performance with Nashville Symphony Orchestra of Carter’s Piano Concerto and Anne-Sophie Mutter with the Boston and London Symphony Orchestras led by André Previn in performances of his Violin Concerto “Anne-Sophie” and Bernstein’s Serenade.

Among the nominees for Classical Producer Of The Year, David Frost is a standout for his work with contemporary composers. Higdon-disc engineer Jack Renner has also been singled out.

No recordings of new American work were selected in the Best Opera Recording or Best Choral Performance categories.

Stephen Sondheim will vie against the composers/lyricists of Broadway hits Assassins, Avenue Q, The Boy From Oz, Wicked, and Wonderful Town for the Best Musical Show Album. Jon Brion as well as usual suspects Thomas Newman, Danny Elfman, John Williams, and Howard Shore, will compete based on recent work in the Best Score Soundtrack Album For A Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media category.

Bucking the industry, Maria Schneider’s web-only ArtistShare release, Concert In The Garden is among the Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album nominees. Schneider will compete against herself in the Best Instrumental Composition—both “Bulería, Soleá Y Rumba” and “Three Romances” have been nominated.

Alan Broadbent, Don Byron, Herbie Hancock, Donny McCaslin, and John Scofield will compete for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo. Bill Charlap Trio, Roy Haynes, Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock & Jack DeJohnette Trio, Branford Marsalis Quartet, and McCoy Tyner (With Gary Bartz, Terence Blanchard, Christian McBride & Lewis Nash) will duke it out for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group.

The awards are for recordings released during the eligibility year October 1, 2003 through September 30, 2004. The winners will be announced on February 13, 2005.

Tsontakis’ Violin Concerto No. 2 Wins $200,000 Grawemeyer Prize

name
George Tsontakis


Listen to an excerpt from George Tsontakis’s Violin Concerto No. 2


The 2005 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition has been awarded to George Tsontakis’s Violin Concerto No. 2.

Violinist Steven Copes premiered the work with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Miguel Harth-Bedoya in April 2003. A recording of the 20-minute concerto will be released on KOCH next year as part of a disc devoted to the composer’s works.

Tsontakis’s award-winning violin concerto capitalizes on the fact that it is scored for soloist with chamber orchestra (as opposed full symphony accompaniment). Though the soloist does take star turns, the composer doesn’t relegate the ensemble to a mere supporting role.

Tsontakis studied composition with Roger Sessions at The Juilliard School. A faculty member of the Aspen Music School since 1976, he was the founding director of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble from 1991 until 1998.

Previous Winners

  • 2004: Unsuk Chin—Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
  • 2003: Kaija Saariaho—L`amour de loin
  • 2002: Aaron Jay Kernis—Colored Field
  • 2001: Pierre Boulez—Sur Incises
  • 2000: Thomas Ades—Asyla
  • 1999: Not Awarded
  • 1998: Tan Dun—Marco Polo
  • 1997: Simon Bainbridge—Ad Ora Incerta—Four Orchestral Songs from Primo Levi
  • 1996: Ivan Tcherepnin—Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra
  • 1995: John Adams—Violin Concerto
  • 1994: Toru Takemitsu—Fantasma/Cantos for Clarinet and Orchestra
  • 1993: Karel Husa—Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra
  • 1992: Krzysztof Penderecki—Adagio for Large Orchestra
  • 1991: John Corigliano—Symphony No. 1
  • 1990: Joan Tower—Silver Ladders
  • 1989: Chinary Ung—Inner Voices
  • 1988: Not Awarded
  • 1987: Harrison Birtwistle—The Mask of Orpheus
  • 1986: Gyorgy Ligeti—Etudes for Piano
  • 1985: Witold Lutoslawski—Symphony No. 3

Tsontakis has twice received Kennedy Center awards, in 1989 for String Quartet No. 4 and in 1992 for his orchestral work Perpetual Angelus. Pianist Stephen Hough’s recording of Ghost Variations was nominated for a Grammy Award for best contemporary classical composition. He received a lifetime achievement award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1995 and was the Vilar Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin in 2002.

Tsontakis is the 19th winner of the Grawemeyer music prize and the third to win for a violin concerto. The Grawemeyer Foundation at the University of Louisville annually awards $1 million—$200,000 each for works in music composition, education, ideas improving world order, religion, and psychology.

The Grawemeyer Music Award Committee invites the submission of scores premiered between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2004. To be considered for the 2006 award, completed entries must be received by Jan. 24, 2005. See the website for details and instructions.