tower-poster

NewMusicBox LIVE! Presents Joan Tower

To conclude our first NewMusicBox LIVE! event, we invited Joan Tower to share her some of her acerbic wit and wisdom with us. Joining her to perform two of her dazzling virtuoso solo compositions were rising star violinist Bella Hristova and the iconic new music pianist Ursula Oppens.

Written By

Frank J. Oteri

Frank J. Oteri is an ASCAP-award winning composer and music journalist. Among his compositions are Already Yesterday or Still Tomorrow for orchestra, the "performance oratorio" MACHUNAS, the 1/4-tone sax quartet Fair and Balanced?, and the 1/6-tone rock band suite Imagined Overtures. His compositions are represented by Black Tea Music. Oteri is the Vice President of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) and is Composer Advocate at New Music USA where he has been the Editor of its web magazine, NewMusicBox.org, since its founding in 1999.

To conclude our first NewMusicBox LIVE! event, we invited Joan Tower to share her some of her acerbic wit and wisdom with us. It was yet another fascinating twist to an evening that had already showcased saxophonist/sound experimentalist Matana Roberts and singer/songwriter Gabriel Kahane. Though seemingly unrelated, having these three musical creators share the stage is an accurate reflection of what a big tent new music has become in the 21st century. Tower opined that there used to be only “three choices” for composers—“uptown, midtown, and downtown”—and no matter what you wrote, it would “usually hang out with dead white European males,” but now we have “God knows, fifty choices” even though all too often “we live in a world of compartmentalized music.” Joining her to perform two of her dazzling virtuoso solo compositions were rising star violinist Bella Hristova and the iconic new music pianist Ursula Oppens.