Presentation by Dani Dobkin and Matt Sargent

The Center is pleased to welcome Dani Dobkin and Matt Sargent (UB PhD, '18) for a presentation about their aesthetic and philosophical orientation toward American and European experimental and minimalist music. 

Details:

November 15, 1:00 - 4:00 pm

Baird Recital Hall

This lecture is FREE and open to the public.

For a sampling of their collaborative work, see their new album, Bend, out now. 

Bend

Sargent's compositions have been described as “bringing a sharpened sense of the transcendental into the 21st century.” (Paul Muller, Sequenza21) On Ghost Music, Bill Meyer writes, “this music isn’t about following in anyone’s footsteps; it uses bare resources to establish a bounded and essential place.” (The Wire Magazine) His guitar work on Bend, a duo album with synthesist Dani Dobkin, was described as “a guitar record retrieved from far in the future.” (Antonio Poscic, Research Music)

Matt is currently engaged with expanding available repertoire for the pedal steel and electric guitar. In 2022, he commissioned new music for solo pedal steel from Michael Pisaro-Liu, Carl Stone, and Nomi Epstein. He co-composed a new work for just intonation guitar with Robert Carl, Splectar, which can be heard on Carl’s Infinity Avenue (Neuma Records, 2024). His solo pedal steel performance of Kevin Good’s Trails (2019-2022) was released by Sawyer Editions in 2023. His recording of James Romig’s hour-length piece for electric guitar, The Fragility of Time was released on A Wave Press in 2024.

Talea Ensemble Residency

“The Talea Ensemble makes modernist music not just accessible but positively engaging through its combination of commanding virtuosity and infectious commitment.”  -TimeOut New York

We are pleased to welcome Talea Enemble for the first part of a two part residency this academic year! Talea will be performing a concert of contemporary music on October 22 (tickets available here) followed by a workshop of student works the next day. The concert includes works by current UB faculty members Tiffany M. Skidmore and Ming Tsao and features the conducting talents of Jim Baker, returning to UB after conducting multiple ensembles during June in Buffalo 2024.

 

Concert Program

 

October 22, 7:30 | Lippes Concert Hall

 

Olga Neuwirth - Quasare / Pulsare II (2016) for Violin, Cello, Piano

Tiffany M. Skidmore* - The Night of Enitharmon’s Joy (2015) for Flute, Bass Clarinet & Fixed Media

Igor Santos - Lamento (2016) for Flute, Clarinet, Piano, Percussion, Violin, Cello, Electronics

INTERMISSION

Pascale Criton - Process (2013/24) for Flute, Trombone, Guitar, Violin, Cello **US Premiere**

Luigi Nono - A Pierre. Dell'azzurro silenzio, inquietum (1985) for Bass flute, Contrabass clarinet, Electronics

Ming Tsao* - Not Reconciled (2002-03) - Clarinet, cello, trombone, guitar, percussion, conductor ~15 min

 

*UB faculty. 

 

Their spring visit will conclude the residency with a premiere concert on Friday, March 14 at 3:00 p.m.(free to the public!), including works written for them by UB graduate student composers Sohwa Lee, Andres Bonilla Garcia, Chi Yen Huang, Jackson Roush, Francisco Corthey, and Lihuen Sirvent.

A Sample of Talea's Work

Preview of Stephen Takasugi's Sideshow

Work with Olga Neuwirth

A Visit to Ciminelli Hall with Tomás Henriques

 🎵Meet Me in Ciminelli, Meet Me at the Hall… 🎶

The Center is pleased to announce a fruitful collaboration has begun through a co-sponsored event, our first of the new academic year. The graduate composers of the UB Music Department made a trip to Ciminelli Hall at UB’s fellow SUNY school, Buffalo State, to hear two presentations by Buffalo State professor Tomás Henriques (PhD in Music Composition, UB ‘97), one about his own musical practice and composition, and the other a talk on spatialized audio focused on its realization in Ciminelli Hall. Dr. Henriques specializes in electronic-human musical interfaces, most notably musical instruments which while electronic in nature provide haptic (physical) feedback to performers similar to videogame controllers or a buzzing cell phone.  Not only does he fabricate internationally acclaimed new hardware (2010 Guthman Award), Dr. Henriques has a unique technological skillset, allowing him to match his excellent hardware with his own excellent software, writing programs to take advantage of his invented instruments or which are themselves instruments, as well as writing CIM, a software system which allows the integration of Ciminelli Hall’s three different speaker systems.

Ordinarily, speaker systems which are themselves controlled by proprietary software, such as the Yamaha AFC (“Active Field Control”) system, cannot exchange information or be controlled by third parties. Yet, through his own communication skills, persistence, and technological wizardry, Dr. Henriques has managed to integrate the three speaker systems, controlling them through bespoke software. The graphical, intuitive interface he fashioned fascinated the UB composers. CIM is able to move a sound’s source anywhere in the concert hall, from a far back corner to the stage, at almost any speed. Multiple spatial effects, including bouncing a sound source off a wall, the Doppler effect, and even a sonic game of Pong, are all possible.

“Ciminelli Hall is one of Buffalo’s best-kept secrets,” he said.

“But, you don’t want it to be?” this author asked.

“No – tell everyone!” Henriques replied.

After the presentations, two fifth-year PhD candidates were persuaded to consider bringing their dissertation works to the hall in the next year – Lihuen Sirvent (title TBD for chamber ensemble, electronics, spatialized sound, video) and Jonathan Rainous (Meeting Place, ca. 50 minutes, for solo sax and electronics, performance in late spring or early summer). Stay tuned for performance details and other collaborative efforts!

 Double Slide Controller, Song of Solomon

 

 Sonik Spring Demonstration

June in Buffalo 2024: [Switch ~ Ensemble] Back in Buffalo

We are pleased to welcome back the [Switch ~ Ensemble] for June in Buffalo 2024. A dynamic group committed to collaboration and artistic expansion, the ensemble will perform works by participant and senior composers in several concerts and sessions throughout the festival, including two public concerts on Wednesday, June 12 at 7:30pm and Thursday, June 13 at 4pm in Slee Hall.

These concerts are free and open to the public. 

Read more about [Switch ~ Ensemble], their previous June in Buffalo performances, and their recent residency with the University at Buffalo here.

June in Buffalo 2024: The Arditti Quartet Celebrates 50 Years

Irvine Arditti Photo by Octavio Nava

The illustrious Arditti Quartet returns for June in Buffalo 2024. A momentous occasion, this festival, for which the quartet has been in residence several times (see here and here), falls within the ensemble’s fiftieth anniversary season. Founded by Irvine Arditti (violin) in 1974, the quartet has established itself as innovative and masterful interpreters of new music. Its membership currently includes Arditti, Ashot Sarkissjan (violin), Lucas Fels (cello), and Ralf Ehlers (viola). They will spend several hours in collaborative rehearsals and recording sessions with participant composers, and can be heard in a concert featuring works by senior composers this Friday, June 14 at 7:30pm in the Lippes Concert Hall.

The concert is free and open to the public.

Friday, June 14, 7:30pm:

 

Jonathan Golove EQ 

Karola Obermüller xs

Amy Williams Richter textures   // 

Hilda Paredes Hacia un Bitácora Capilar

Helmut Lachenmann Grido

June in Buffalo 2024: Opening Concert with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra

June in Buffalo 2024 begins this Sunday, June 9, with a scintillating program by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Assistant Conductor and BPO Diversity Fellow Fernanda Lastra. Ushering in what promises to be a week of outstanding performances, this concert features works by this year’s senior composers–Amy Williams, Hilda Paredes, and Karola Obermüller, as well as participant composer Anna Heflin.

Musician Profile: Fernanda Lastra

We are thrilled to welcome Lastra to the stage for her first June in Buffalo appearance. She was appointed Diversity Fellow of the BPO in 2022 and promoted to Assistant Conductor in 2023. In addition to leading the orchestra throughout their regular season Classics, Pops, and Family concerts, Lastra serves on the organization's Diversity Council. She vociferously advocates for broad and creative approaches to musical performances, and particularly champions emerging and underrepresented artists. Lastra, accompanied by June in Buffalo Director Jonathan Golove and senior composer Amy Williams, discussed the state of music and the upcoming concert on Visit Buffalo Niagara's Hear Here: Live Music in Buffalo, NY podcast, linked here.

This inaugural concert will take place in Slee Hall at 2:30pm. Tickets are $10 (Free with a valid UB student ID) and open to the general public. They may be purchased from Ticketmaster or at the Slee Hall box office.

 

Program: 

Amy Williams Flood Lines

Karola Obermüller Im Vorraum

Anna Heflin Symphony N. 993 

Hilda Paredes Zaztun  

For more information about the festival, keep an eye out for future Edge of the Center posts, and read the recent Buffalo Spree article, featuring comments from Golove and Williams.

June in Buffalo 2024: Jonathan Golove

 Jonathan Golove

University at Buffalo website

In addition to directing this year’s festival, Jonathan Golove will act as a senior composer in the upcoming 2024 June in Buffalo. Golove is an associate professor of music, composition and cello, at the University at Buffalo and directs the Center for 21st Century Music. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of California at Berkeley, graduate studies in cello performance at the University of Southern California, and PhD in composition at the University at Buffalo.  

An accomplished cellist, Golove has performed with ensembles across Europe and North America. He has performed on traditional, electric, and theremin versions of the instrument and recorded with several world-renowned ensembles, including Michael Vlatkovich Quartet, Ubudis Trio, and Vinny Golia’s Large Ensemble. He has been featured as soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Slee Sinfonietta, New York Virtuoso Singers, and, as a baroque cellist, with the USC Early Music Ensemble.  

Read more about Golove in this Edge of the Center post from last year:

Jonathan is by no means a newcomer to JiB! His first year as a performer and participant composer was 1994, and he has been active at the festival in various capacities nearly every June since then. In 2001, he served as senior composer, and in 2013 and 2015, as artist faculty for the June in Buffalo Performance Institute, which ran concurrently with the main festival. He has appeared as a soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic (Morton Feldman’s Cello and Orchestra), as a member of the Slee Sinfonietta and Baird Trio, among other ensembles, and as a solo performer. Among his original works heard at June in Buffalo are E.Q. for electric string quartet, Closely Related Fungi for saxophone quartet, and (Max’s 24 Hours) Pray-O-Mat for two cellos and IRCAM Signal Processing Workstation.

Mr. Golove’s original compositions have been performed at venues including the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C., Venice Biennale, Festival of Aix-en-Provence, Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society II, Encuentro Internacional de Jazz y Música Viva (Monterrey, Mexico), Centre Court Festival (Cologne, Germany) and the Kitchen. He has received awards and grants for his work from organizations including ASCAP, the Yvar Mikhashoff Trust for New Music, and Meet the Composer.

One of only a handful of players of the theremin cello, Golove has appeared as soloist with the Asko/Schoenberg Ensemble, London Sinfonietta, and International Contemporary Ensemble, and he is a member of the 1. Deutsche Stromorchester. As an electric cellist, he is particularly active in the fields of creative improvised music and avant-garde jazz. He has performed and recorded with jazz groups including the Michael Vlatkovich Tryyo and Quartet, Ubudis Quartet, and Vinny Golia’s Large Ensemble, and made appearances at the Vancouver Jazz Festival, the Eddie Moore Jazz Festival (Oakland), and the International Meeting of Jazz and New Music (Monterrey, Mexico). He has recorded for the Albany, Centaur, FMR, pfMENTUM, and Nine Winds labels, and his performances and interviews have been heard in broadcasts by numerous National Public Radio stations, as well as on Radio Nuevo León, West German Radio, CBC, and Radio France. Jonathan is an Associate Professor in UB’s Department of Music and served as department chair for the past six years. He looks forward to welcoming an inspiring group of participant composers to June in Buffalo 2023! He is also excited to work with performer colleagues from JiB’s resident ensembles to present a trio of his original works spanning several decades. Golove is honored to be joined by Arditti Quartet cellist (and founding member of Ensemble Recherche) Lucas Fels in Some Road Signs in Southern France (1988/89) for cello duo, a set of miniatures he composed during a year studying in Cologne. Talujon will partner with soprano Tiffany DuMouchelle to perform Here and There (1993) for soprano and percussion ensemble, with text by the award-winning poet Susan Lewis. Tiffany will also sing Imaginary Songs II (2004), a second collaboration between Golove and Lewis, in the company of flutist Nicole Murray and cellist Katie Weissman of the Slee Sinfonietta

Mental Radio

Jonathan Golove