Slee Sinfonietta: A History

As we approach the 30th anniversary of this ensemble, we here at Edge of the Center thought it appropriate to write a short history celebrating the Slee Sinfonietta. The Sinfonietta was co-founded by David Felder and Magnus Mårtensson  in 1997. From its outset it was a unique ensemble in the chamber orchestra milieu. It is typical for chamber orchestras to be a rather fixed group, perhaps a work here or there will add or subtract a few musicians, but overall the core group remains the same. It is also typical for a chamber orchestra to be specialized in one era of music. For example, the Handel Haydn Society or the Boston Modern Orchestra Project are both chamber orchestras which specialize in their respective eras. The Slee Sinfonietta is different. Felder and Mårtensson founded the group with flexibility as a core value, both in instrumentation and programming. The desire was for the ensemble to specialize in the overlooked, underperformed pieces both in historic eras and the contemporary repertoire. The result of this was that both the personnel on stage and programming was extremely varied. 

Mårtensson leading the early Sinfonietta

In the early years of the Sinfonietta, the programming would playfully combine 18th-Century works with the contemporary. Composers of our own time and the 18th-Century both enjoyed writing for chamber orchestras, both looking on either side of the 19th-Century bloat. The very first performance of the ensemble was on April 15, 1997 and featured Wagner, Mozart and Bartok, names we don’t often associate with the Slee Sinfonietta. A more typical program of the early years is the performance on January 26, 1999 whose program included Handel, Felder, Franco Donatoni, Schnittke, Knussen, and Shostakovich. Here you can see the inclusion of 18th-Century works in Handel, with less performed contemporaries like Italian, yet Cage-influenced Franco Donatoni and the Soviet iconoclast, Alfred Schnittke who was recently deceased at the date of the performance. We will spotlight one more program to complete the image of the early years which occurred on April 16, 2002 under the baton of Mårtensson:

Nils Vigeland – To Jenter
Nils Vigeland – Songs Without Words
C. A. Hall – Elegy
CPE Bach – Concerto in D Minor
Luigi Nono – Canti per 13

Again we see an imaginative combination of the contemporary and the 18th-Century.

Of course, we cannot go any further without discussing June in Buffalo. The Sinfonietta has always had a duel function: to showcase underperformed works to the UB community and to serve as the de facto ensemble-in-residence at June in Buffalo. The programming at June in Buffalo for the ensemble is much more closely tied to the visiting senior composers. A snapshot of any June in Buffalo program communicates who is there during that year’s festival. June of the year 2000 gives us a program including Bernard Rands, Roger Reynolds, and Augusta Read Thomas. June of 2003 has a program of Philip Glass, Charles Wuorinen and John Corigliano. The flexibility and diversity behind the impetus to start the Slee Sinfonietta equally has gone into the planning for June in Buffalo. The composers listed for the two programs have great theoretical and stylistic diversity and have often been used by those making polemics. Yet, here their music sat together under the direction of Mårtensson.

An extraordinary moment in the Sinfonietta’s history is the inaugural concert of the Center for 21st-Century Music which coincided with a visit to UB from the 14th Dalai Lama in September 2006. To celebrate this historic moment, the Center for 21st-Century Music invited Philip Glass, who had recently written the score for the Martin Scorsese film Kundun which depicts the early life of the Dalai Lama. The performance included David Felder’s Chasmal, Charles Wuorinen’s Epithalamium, and Glass’s Songs of Milarepa and Symphony No. 3. Songs of Milarepa takes its text from an 11th-Century Tibetan Buddhist poet and saint, Milarepa. The celebration featured a screening of Kundun and a question and answer session with Glass following the concert.

The Slee Sinfonietta has a deep relationship with Charles Wuorinen, as can already be seen in the programs described above. His name appears often on Sinfonietta programs throughout the history of the ensemble. Wuorinen himself has often led the ensemble, for example during an all-Wuorinen performance in April 2011, and again at June in Buffalo 2013. The composer was a faculty member of the department, a frequent senior composer at June in Buffalo and indeed was the recipient of an honorary doctorate from SUNY in 2013. 

Wuorinen leading the Sinfonietta

After Magnus Mårtensson’s departure from Buffalo, the Sinfonietta has worked with some of the great conductors of the world. These include James Baker, Christian Baldini, Brad Lubman, Jeffrey Millarsky, Matthias Pintscher, Andrew Rindfleisch, Gil Rose, Case Scaglione, Harvey Sollberger, and Robert Treviño. 

A number of phenomenal guest soloists have performed with the Sinfonietta, including sopranos Laura Aiken, Julia Bentley and Lucy Shelton; bass-baritone Nicholas Isherwood; bass Ethan Herschenfeld; violinists Irvine Arditti, Jaime Laredo, Tim Fain, Viviane Hagner and Yuki Numata Resnick; pianist Ursula Oppens; flutists Pierre-Yves Artaud, Mario Caroli, and Tara Helen O'Connor; and French hornist Adam Unsworth. The ensemble has had recorded releases on Mode, Coviello and Albany Records. 

 Jonathan Golove is the current the director of the Sinfonietta, and under his direction the ensemble has continued its tradition of performing underperformed contemporary repertoire. The ensemble is still made up of the fine performance faculty in the Music department as well as Buffalo-area musicians, many of whom are associated with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. At any Sinfonietta concert the reader may attend an exciting and innovative program is sure to be found, as well as an unpredictable instrumentation on stage. We at Edge of the Center look forward to the future of the Slee Sinfonietta to discover yet more overlooked masterpieces and present new works of today!

Please look below this text to hear an excellent recording from Slee Sinfonietta's history, David Felder’s Inner Sky with flute soloist Mario Caroli.

 

 

 

 

June in Buffalo 2026 Schedule

The 2026 Festival schedule is here! Only 12 days until the festival begins! 

Please note that all JiB events are free of admissions. 

 

Monday, June 1

 

Open Rehearsals: Lippes Concert Hall

When attending an open rehearsal, please enter and exit discreetly and maintain silence.

1:45-2:50 Jason Thorpe Buchanan, Like a Scattering from a Fixed Point

3:10-4:15 David Fulmer, Autumn Light

Composer lecture: Baird Recital Hall (250 Baird Hall), 4-6pm

Jason Thorpe Buchanan

with Tyler J. Borden, cello (Like a Scattering from a Fixed Point, cello soloist)

Opening concert: Baird Recital Hall, 7:30pm

Participant composers perform their original solo works. 

Tuesday, June 2

 

Composer lecture: Baird Recital Hall, 4-6pm

Christian Baldini

with Isabel Ong, violin (Whimsical Spheres for solo violin)

  

Evening concert: Lippes Concert Hall, 7:30pm

Slee Sinfonietta Program #1

All works conducted by their composers.

Tyler J. Borden, cello soloist

Tiffany Du Mouchelle, soprano soloist

Jason Thorpe Buchanan, Like a Scattering from a Fixed Point (2025)

Manel Paret, O, the unknown, I cry for thee

HsinYi Lisa Tseng, Chapter 1

Jinxin Fu What is Poetry?

Zachary Blakeslee Reid, io

David Fulmer, Autumn Light (2023-25)

Wednesday, June 3

 

Afternoon Concert: Baird Recital Hall, 4pm

Chamber and Solo Works #1

JiB Composers 

Maze Drum, Movements 2 and 3 from String Quartet no.1

Isaac Barzso, Ended still then (glacial erratic) for cello

David Dzubay, Delicious Silence for violin

David Fulmer, Verlöschend (Part 3 – On Night) for soprano saxophone

Evening concert: Baird Recital Hall, 7:30pm

Participant composers perform their original solo works. 

Thursday, June 4

 

Open Rehearsals: Lippes Concert Hall

When attending an open rehearsal, please enter and exit discreetly and maintain silence.

12:45-1:35 Ziyi Tao, Spring, and Autumn, or Tautology and Simultaneity

1:35-2:25 Jiaqi Wang, Ephemeral Existence

2:25-2:45 break

2:45-3:15 Guang Yang, Drop then fade

Composer lecture: Baird Recital Hall, 4-6pm

David Fulmer

with Susan Fancher, saxophone (Verlöschend, Part 3 – On Night, for solo soprano saxophone)

 

Evening concert: Lippes Concert Hall, 7:30pm

Slee Sinfonietta Program #2

All works conducted by their composers, except where noted.

Ziyi Tao, Spring, and Autumn, or Tautology and Simultaneity

Ziyi Tao and David Dzubay, conductors

Christian Baldini, As if Making a Confession

Guang Yang, Drop then fade

Jiaqi Wang, Ephemeral Existence

David Dzubay, PHO (2018)

Friday, June 5

 

Composer lecture: Baird Recital Hall, 4-6pm

David Dzubay

with Shannon Reilly, violin (Delicious Silence for solo violin)

 

Evening concert: B1 Baird Hall, 7:30pm

Composer’s Cabaret Improvisation Ensemble

JiB participant composers present the results of their late-night improvised encounters in an informal, spontaneous and uncurated setting! 

 

Saturday, June 6

Open Rehearsals: Lippes Concert Hall

When attending an open rehearsal, please enter and exit discreetly and maintain silence.

11:05-12:00 Gabriel Fynsk, a barely suppressed hysteria

1:15-2:30 Nathaniel Otley, of light and smoke emitting forth in the night

2:30-2:50 break

2:50-3:45 Camden Boyle, Ideas of Utopia

Composer lecture: Baird Recital Hall, 4-6pm

Ming Tsao

with a screening of short films relating to his work Refuse Collection

 

Evening Concert: Baird Recital Hall, 7:30 pm 

Solo and Chamber Works #2 

William Lang, trombone

Jonathan Golove, theremin cello 

 

Jonathan Golove, The Dream of Radio (2026)

Endong Li, The Voyage of Dream

Iannis Xenakis, Keren (1986) 

Marti Epstien, Abluvion (2022)

B.K. Zervignon, Past Forgot (2026) 

Sunday, June 7

Closing concert:  Lippes Concert Hall, 3pm

Slee Sinfonietta Program #3

All works conducted by their composers, except where noted.

Ming Tsao, Refuse Collection

David Dzubay, conductor

Camden Boyle, Ideas of Utopia

Gabriel Fynsk, a barely suppressed hysteria

Nathaniel Otley, of light and smoke emitting forth in the night

Oliver Dubon, 90

 

Reception to follow the concert

We look forward to seeing you during the festival!

2026 JiB Senior Composer Introduction Series: Christian Baldini

We are proud to introduce Christian Baldini, the final senior composer to be introduced in this series.  

Christian Baldini

 

 EofC: Describe the moment when you discovered your calling to music.

 I think it began very early, though not in a single dramatic instant. As a child, I was already deeply drawn to the expressive and emotional world of music, but also to something more mysterious: sound itself, its color, its atmosphere, its ability to suggest entire inner worlds. Over time, I realized that I was living two parallel musical lives. One was inward and solitary, the life of the composer, listening inwardly and imagining sound before it exists. The other was outward and communal, the life of the performer and later the conductor, working with others to bring music fully to life. I never felt I had to choose between them. They seemed to belong together from the beginning.

 

EofC: This is the JiB year of the composer/conductor. How do composing and conducting relate to each other in your practice?

For me, they are profoundly connected. Conducting is, in many ways, the life of an extrovert: it is about people, communication, rehearsal, trust, energy, and helping a room full of musicians move in a shared direction. But it is also deeply introspective work, because one must spend so much time analyzing and studying scores, internalizing the music itself. In that sense, it is closely linked to the life of a composer. Composing is perhaps even more inward: one makes plans, listens inwardly, analyzes, imagines, constructs, and lives through the inner ear. The two nourish one another constantly. Conducting has taught me clarity, pacing, balance, and how musical ideas behave in real time with real performers. Composing has made me more sensitive as a conductor to texture, structure, sonority, and the inner logic of a work. In both cases, one is shaping time, sound, and meaning.

 

EofC: What place does the audience have in your compositional process and what place do they have while conducting?

 The audience matters greatly to me, though in different ways in each case. As a composer, I do not try to predict or control the listener’s response, but I care deeply about communication. Even when the language is abstract, experimental, or highly textural, I want the music to feel alive, necessary, and emotionally or imaginatively resonant. Emotional connection is always a top priority for me. That does not necessarily mean pleasing the listener, or expressing only joy or beauty. It means provoking something real in whoever is listening. As a conductor, the audience is immediately present. You feel the shared ritual of performance very strongly. There is something extraordinary about a room full of people listening together, breathing together, and being transformed together by sound. That human connection is central to why music matters.

 

EofC: How do you approach giving masterclasses?

My goal is to approach masterclasses with seriousness, generosity, and openness. Young composers and conductors need honesty, but they also need encouragement and space to discover their own voice. I do not think of teaching as imposing aesthetic answers or interpretive choices. I think of it more as helping someone hear more clearly what is already emerging in their work: what is strongest, what is most distinctive, what might be refined, and how their intentions can be communicated more effectively to performers. Because I also conduct, I often think very concretely about notation, rehearsal process, pacing, and the practical life of a score. Ideally, a masterclass should be both rigorous and liberating.

 

 EofC: How do you approach giving public lectures?

I try to make public lectures open, inviting, and human. Even when speaking about challenging music, I do not think one has to become overly technical or dry. I like to offer listeners a way in: through sound, imagery, history, structure, and the emotional or dramatic life of the piece. Music can be intellectually rich, but it is also something we encounter personally and physically. A good lecture should deepen listening without taking away the mystery. If something we say can help someone connect with music with open ears, without fear or judgment, then so much the better.

 

We thank Christian Baldini for this interview, and look forward to seeing him soon in Buffalo! If you are interested in hearing some of his music, please look below to see Christian Baldini conduct one of his works.  

 

 

 

 

2026 JiB Senior Composer Introduction Series: Jason Thorpe Buchanan

It is our pleasure to introduce Jason Thorpe Buchanan.

EofC Describe the moment when you discovered your calling to music.

I remember participating in a 4th or 5th grade "assembly" where a guest teacher demonstrated each of the orchestral instruments that we could choose from to play in the elementary school band. I was immediately drawn to the flute and played that for a couple of years before moving on to guitar. At some point I began transcribing rock songs using the flute as a tool to do so. From that point forward I was obsessed with music and listening, and through the guitar, drum set, and a bit of piano, I eventually found my way to music theory. Around age 12 or 13 (1998-99), I was layering overdubs ad nauseam with an old 4-track Tascam recorder, and I remember thinking to myself there must be a better way to do this, because I could only record two channels at a time and then overdub the next two onto the opposite side. When I was about 14 I distinctly recall trading in my alto saxophone (my technique was garbage--I never formally studied it...) for my first 12 or 16 channel digital recording device, and then eventually moving to Pro Tools a few years later, perhaps around 2001. I finally discovered "new music" and formal composition a bit before university as I was studying for my undergrad entrance exams (2005). Through my interest in studio work and audio engineering, I eventually began to gravitate toward a more experimental practice and computer music. But it took a while for me to shake some of the weird aesthetic baggage that academic institutions sometimes instill in young composers, particularly American institutions with more conservative performance programs. But I never really understood what a composer 'did' until I had already decided to study composition in college, I just knew that I wanted to make music. I essentially had zero frame of reference for this, so before university I was starting from almost nothing, just some guitar chops and a bit of theory. There is a part of me that believes this actually allowed me to break with some conventions and compositional phenomena that are typical of young American composers who spent their youth steeped solely in classical music. I actually gave up the guitar and piano entirely because I felt that my established habits (jazz and rock improvisation, extended harmony) and pre-occupation with pitch organization were getting in the way of thinking more creatively, audiating and imagining musical situations beyond my own limited abilities while composing.

 

EofC This is the JiB year of the composer/conductor. How do composing and conducting relate to each other in your practice?

This is a complex question but my relationship to classical music has always been, perhaps, a bit abnormal (for a composer with a notational practice). I grew up playing rock music and only really beginning to engage with conducted ensembles when I started university, so I was never steeped in classical repertoire until I began to study it formally at University. In fact, I was acquainted with the music of Ligeti earlier than, for example, the music of Beethoven or Mozart. And this had a massive influence on my compositional thinking. So, having had only a handful of experiences working with conductors, when I began conducting during my bachelor's and master's, it was almost exclusively the work of my peers -- other composers I went to school with -- and once in a while my own music as well. I studied conducting a little more formally in my Masters, and then when I arrived at Eastman for my Ph.D., I reached out to Brad Lubman. Brad, needing an assistant conductor that year to rehearse the new music ensemble while he was away on professional gigs, offered me the opportunity to work with the Musica Nova ensemble, and to be perfectly honest, I was really thrown into the deep end, but in the best way possible. I was surrounded by musicians with literally decades more experience in classical music than myself, conducting them in rehearsals of Boulez, Abrahamsen, Unsuk Chin, Wuorinen, Czernowin, Lang, Zorn, etc. Out of necessity, I quickly learned "good" rehearsal technique from watching Brad, and then eventually conducting more and more with [Switch~] when we founded the ensemble in 2012 and a bit with Ossia and the Graduate Composers Sinfonietta. Even though I don't conduct as much these days as I am more focused on composing and teaching, having experience as a conductor absolutely informs my compositional practice deeply, in that I can better understand what sorts of things get in the way of musicians being as musical and expressive as possible, what can be achieved quickly, and what might be an unnecessary burden for musicians. I try to incorporate this into my practice with electroacoustic and intermedia composition, in that I am always thinking about optimal expressivity and efficacy with regard to the relationship between the ensemble and the technology, attempting to work toward the strengths of each of these two complementary entities and not getting in the way of what musicians can do.

   

EofC What place does the audience have in your compositional process and what place do they have while conducting?

In the same way that I feel it isn't really an artist's place to decide how their own history will be written, I don't necessarily believe that it is beneficial to composers (or any artists, really) to worry too much about how their work will be received. An interdisciplinary practice that engages with exploring new aesthetic trajectories, trying out new ideas with other musicians and artists, and investigating new technologies is fundamentally more engaging (imho) than emulating old and tired historical practices inherited through tradition (sorry, everyone). My hope is that through striving to create new and sometimes challenging (or abnormal) musical situations, someone listening might be able to find something that they can latch on to and appreciate. That is really the most one can hope for, isn't it? But I have absolutely zero interest in making "accessible" or marketable art, at least, in the sense that the term "accessible" is often thrown around these days, particularly in American institutions. I think if a composer wants desperately to be loved by the masses, they should probably choose another career path. But that said, artists these days are all unfortunately competing for a relatively scarce quantity of resources in order to create art (unless you are independently wealthy, in which case: call me). So everyone is inevitably thinking about what they can do to obtain said resources, and sadly I feel many composers and conductors become preoccupied with how their work is received rather than just trying to make the best art that they can and hoping that it will resonate with someone. 

 

EofC How do you approach giving masterclasses?

I've always appreciated my own teachers who really put in the time to understand what I was trying to do rather than making assumptions based on their own compositional practice or experiences. So for me, a big part of working with student composers is simply trying to meet them where they are at and providing guidance and hopefully a bit of wisdom to help them achieve their own artistic goals. Or perhaps, arrive at some clarity regarding what those goals might be. Working with younger composers with limited experience, that could simply mean exposure to new ideas, new works, new methodologies that will broaden their compositional thinking, stimulate creativity, and lead to greater technical fluency and clarity of conception. In a masterclass this could manifest in all sorts of ways, but I think what is more useful than a critique of existing work is to try to take a more holistic approach to understand what their underlying motivation as a composer or artist might be, and then figure out how to more precisely achieve whatever it is they are attempting to do. I would much rather understand something about a student's artistic identity and come to some sort of mutual understanding than spend a half hour debating their musical notation or signal routing (that said, clarity of intention in the score is crucial!).

 

EofC How do you approach giving public lectures?

Really, the crux of my practice for the last eleven or so years has been exploring the relationship between live performance and technology. In a lecture on my compositional work, I try to demonstrate how this has developed over the course of my career, starting with purely acoustic notated music and then gradually moving toward a more interdisciplinary approach incorporating graphical elements, theater, improvisation, aleatory, video, generative or gesture/audio-reactive systems, etc. I find the compositional process itself fascinating and have always enjoyed learning how other artists work. I suppose my hope is that through sharing a glimpse of my own workflow, system design, and compositional practice, student composers might take something from it that they can begin incorporating into their own practice or, at least, reflect on what sorts of things work well for them and what might getting in the way. Take what is useful, and throw the other stuff in the bin.

  

We thank Jason Thorpe Buchanan for the interview. If you would like to discover some of his work, please check out the videos below!

 

2026 JiB Senior Composer Introduction Series: David Fulmer

We continue our series with David Fulmer.

David Fulmer

EofC Describe the moment when you discovered your calling to music. 

Music has always been central, and I began violin and solfege lessons just after my third birthday. I looked forward to weekly lessons because my teachers were all very animated and made music look and sound so interesting. Around 6th or 7th grade, I had simply assumed that I’d always be making music and that my studies would lead to a career as a performer. From the support of many (parents, friends, teachers, mentors), it was only natural to continue my studies in college and beyond. I can think of no work more rewarding than a life in music. I’m fortunate to be able to composer, conduct, and perform as a violinist and violist.

EofC This is the JiB year of the composer/conductor. How do composing and conducting relate to each other in your practice?

The relationship between composing and conducting is both simple and complex. On a very basic level, I think all composers are inherently conductors in private, especially at their work desk. When writing a work, whether for solo flute or grand orchestra, we composers tend to sing, move, gesture, dance, and architect a pathway through the navigable musical surface. Inevitably, composing becomes a necessity. More complex than that, we can look through our wonderful musical canon and come to see that MOST composers of the past were also conductors. Composers naturally have an “ear” for all the instruments in the orchestra (or band, or chorus) that motive a certain instinct to conduct. For me, the connection between the two disciplines is quite physical and appears in plain sight; I often compose gestures, phrases, and musical cell structures that sway a certain way in relation to the natural anatomy of the instrumental technique. I enjoy thinking of the apparatus that is needed to conduct a Josquin Mass, a Mozart symphony, a Verdi opera, or a dense Schoenberg string quartet. If I reverse-engineer my finished scores, I believe strongly that I connect with the physical gestures of the conducting that inform my musical construction (instrumentation, phrase, tempo, articulation).

EofC What place does the audience have in your compositional process and what place do they have while conducting?

The audience is essential to my creative process; whether I’m composing a single note, or conducting an entire program of classical music, I’m interested in inviting the audience into the sound! I’m interested in drawing the audience onto the edges of their seats to get closer to the sound production of the performance. We see this often in chamber music settings – when the dynamics become barely audible, and on the cusp of cognition, audience members will quite literally move closer, off the edges of their seats, in order to get their ear closer to the surface of the music. I love this philosophy of sensitive music making where an effort to draw our audiences into the musical fabric builds in important relationship to the composer AND the performer! I want each performance to be different, no matter the aesthetic principals or dimensions of the sonic design.

EofC How do you approach giving masterclasses?

Masterclasses are a joy to share with musicians, composers, and audience members. I like to bring alternative perspectives to the musical surface while providing theoretical and historical data to support the lenses through which we understand a work of music. I enjoy musicians that challenge traditional interpretation and are prepared to explore a different stylistic outlook.

EofC How do you approach giving public lectures?

Public lectures are a time to share vital universal properties and very intensely unique details of musical research. My lectures often include performance, variation of perspective, and an invitation to the audience to join the examination of a musical surface to discover and perhaps uncover some novel and extraordinary features of the structure that would reveal greater appreciation and fascination. I often re-perform passages that are informed by scrutinizing a multitude of musical domains (rhythmic, temporal, dynamic, harmonic).

We at Edge of Center thank David Fulmer for the interview. If you are interested in hearing his work, please see the videos below!

 

 

 

JiB 2026 Senior Composer Introduction Series: Ming Tsao

To continue our series, we have the pleasure of introducing Ming Tsao, Birge-Cary Chair in Composition at the music department here at UB.

EofC: Describe the moment when you discovered your calling to music.

 

Tenth grade in high school is when I discovered my calling to music. This is the moment when I switched from playing violin in the school orchestra to learning the electric bass and forming my jazz/fusion band. I also began composing pieces at this time for my bandmates.

EofC:This is the JiB year of the composer/conductor. How do composing and conducting relate to each other in your practice?

I don't conduct my music but have, over the years, formed relationships with conductors of my music where I trust them to interpret my music. Occasionally, this has led to a collaboration where a conductor would suggest modifications to help the performance situation which I usually agree to.

EofC: What place does the audience have in your compositional process?

I think it is important to respect the intelligence of the audience (or listener) during my compositional process by making each piece ambitious as to require effort and a reorientation from a listener. In other words, to offer a listener an experience which at a first listening may not sound like music. My goal is for a listener to sense their full human potential in grasping an experience that can be both difficult and rewarding, and for each listener to apprehend that they are capable of much more than what is often prescribed for them. Listening is an attribute of intelligence, and the goal of a composer is to create works that can challenge one's capacity for intelligence.

EofC: How do you approach giving masterclasses?

I always try to meet a student where they are and challenge them from their vantage point. As a composer is more experienced, my approach becomes less involved with practical matters and craftsmanship and more centered around aesthetics.

EofC: How do you approach giving public lectures?

The importance of public lectures is to give the public an intellectual context for a musical work so that they have some ideas before experiencing the piece, since artworks should form part of a larger cultural discourse. The ideas should never be directed as if to instruct a listener as to how a piece should be heard but rather, to give background contextual information so that a listener's experience can be an informed one.  It is always important to maintain a balance between giving a context for a composition and describing the composition. Giving a context is open ended and traces some of the ideas that prepared the piece from which a listener can build their own experiences.

Edge of the Center thanks Ming Tsao for the interview. We hope it will help you, the reader, to come to know him. If you are interested to hear a work from the composer, look below where you'll find a recent performance of Ming's by Neuevocalsolisten Stuttgart here at UB!

JiB 2026 Senior Composer Introduction Series: David Dzubay

This is the first of a series of posts which will be introducing our five senior composers for the 2026 June in Buffalo festival. We at Edge of the Center have sent a few questions to each of the senior composers to help introduce themselves to you, our readers.

We begin with David Dzubay.

EofC Describe the moment when you discovered your calling to music.

Dzubay A moment? That is hard. I was lucky in my high school years to play trumpet in one of the best and oldest youth orchestras - the Portland Youth Philharmonic. Highlights that I'm sure tilted me toward a lasting love for music were playing Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms, Holst Planets, and one year, both Rite of Spring and Daphnis et Chloe on tour to the Spoleto Festival. At the same time, my high school had an incredible arts program, with an hour of trumpet class and an hour or two of jazz ensemble every day. Many fantastic experiences.

EofC This is the JiB year of the composer/conductor. How do composing and conducting relate to each other in your practice?

Dzubay After years as a fairly serious trumpeter, sort of wrapping up playing in the National Repertory Orchestra for two years, composing and conducting took over, and I have always been doing both. My early model was Harvey Sollberger, who was a frequent JIB guest, and I played under his direction for years as a student at IU. Conducting has certainly informed my approach to many aspects of composing, but particularly choice of meters, use (or not) of fermatas, score organization and clarity of intent, strategies for more complex textures, rhythms, balances, etc.

EofC What place does the audience have in your compositional process and what place do they have while conducting?

Dzubay I do want my music to be heard by an audience, so that is important! But, my first audience is myself....I try to write music that is personally compelling, and have to trust that if I'm excited about hearing a piece, at least some others might be. I do think a conductor helps the audience understand the music, not unlike how the conductor leads the way for the musicians. Gestures and expressions at least partly lead an audience through the expressive experience.

EofC How do you approach giving masterclasses?

Dzubay In masterclasses, usually we are reviewing existing work, so it is a bit different than in a lesson focusing on a work in progress. It would be more of a conversation about the piece, identifying aspects that worked well and perhaps some that didn't quite hit the mark, identifying things to keep in mind for the next project, or potentially adjustments that might yet be made to the piece being presented.

EofC How do you approach giving public lectures?

Dzubay I usually try to offer some general information about my process of composition and go through a few specific examples. In a talk for music specialists, I enjoy getting into the nuts and bolts, answering questions, having a discussion. If you mean for a general audience, it would of course be less technical

If you would like to discover some of David Dzubay's music, see the video below!

Solstsice Reed Quintet plays UB composers at Hallwalls

We are quickly approaching the culmination of yet another collaboration between the UB graduate composers and a professional ensemble! The Solstice Reed Quintet will be in Buffalo on Monday, April 6th as part of the Music Department concert series at Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center. The concert will take place at Hallwalls on Monday, April 6th at 7:30 PM.

Reed quintets are a rather new ensemble in the chamber music scene, and one that is growing in popularity. Distinct from a wind quintet (flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon), the reed quintet consists solely of instruments which have reeds, as the name would suggest, while the wind quintet includes other instrument types. The reed quintet was first developed by the Dutch ensemble, Calefax Reed Quintet as recently as 1985! They did this by bringing together oboe, clarinet, saxophone, bassoon, and bass clarinet. As with the birth of any new ensemble, the group is obliged to seek composers and arrangers to create a repertoire of pieces for the ensemble to play. It is impressive how quickly a repertoire has come into being, and likewise how quickly the reed ensemble has become an established ensemble within chamber music more broadly. The Solstice Reed Quintet hails from the University of Southern Mississippi, first coming together in 2022. They are firm champions of the unique ensemble, and in their words, their “mission is to present music that challenges, inspires, and offers fresh perspectives on the unique possibilities of this distinct ensemble.” The ensemble has a strong belief in the power of music to build community, and wish to leave a lasting impression on their diverse audiences. They have won a number of competitions, including first prize at the Mississippi Music Teachers Association competition, and were finalists at the North American Saxophone Alliance Flex Competition. Solstice is building a name for themselves, and has a robust schedule of performances at colleges, universities, festivals, and various music venues. This concert will feature new works by Mark Bogacki, Garrison Bouchard-Ferdon, Andres Bonilla Garcia, Sohwa Lee, Thomas Little, Giovanni Maraboli and Jackson Roush. This group of composers comprises both PhD and Master’s students. It is sure to be a memorable night at Hallwalls, again on Monday, April 6th at 7:30, and it is an exciting opportunity to hear a distinct and recent addition to chamber music ensembles!

Spring Festival featuring Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart

Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart

 

We are quickly approaching a not-to-be-missed visit from Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart starting on Wednesday, April 1^st. This visit will mark the opening of our Spring Festival: The Expanded Musical Canon, a series of four concerts and one lecture. The festival’s concerts will include music from the early Renaissance to our current day.  

As of this writing, UB's Birge-Cary Professor of Composition, Ming Tsao, is in Stuttgart, Germany meeting with Neue Vocalsolisten for a performance similar to the one they will give in Buffalo. The next time Neue Vocalsolisten and Ming Tsao are together will be in our own Lippes concert hall for the April 1^st concert featuring his Das wassergewordene Kanonbuch (2016-17) and Immaterial (2021) by Chaya Czernowin. The concert will also feature the UB Chamber Choir under the direction of Claudia Brown performing Johannes Ockeghem’s Missa Prolationum (late 15th-Century) and Ludovico da Viadana’s Exsultate Justi (early 17th-Century), adding a visit from the Renaissance to the concert experience.

This opening of the Spring Festival will be followed on Thursday the 2^nd with an afternoon lecture on the music of Helmut Lachenmann given by our PhD student composers, and then an evening concert by Neue Vocalsolisten performing works from these same UB composers. Will Brobston, Francisco Corthey, Chi-Yen Huang, Jackson Roush, and Maria Lihuen Sirvent have been working with Neue Vocalsolisten for months now preparing the pieces which you will hear at this concert. It is a phenomenal opportunity for our young composers to work with a world-class ensemble and is sure to be an exciting and ground-breaking concert experience.

Barret Ham

The festival continues on Friday the 3^rd with two more concerts featuring a trio of musicians. The reader will be familiar with the brilliant pianist and UB Professor of Music Eric Huebner, and he is joined by cellist Christopher Gross and clarinetist Barret Ham. Gross has been praised by the New York Times for his “lustrous tone”, and is highly active in the New York contemporary music scene – he is a founding member of the prominent Talea Ensemble. Ham is a Lecturer at Boston University and member of the New York Philharmonic. These three musicians will perform Lachenmann, Tsao, and Brahms (yes, Johannes Brahms) over the two concerts on the 3^rd.

Christopher Gross

 

Below you’ll find a complete listing of the events of the festival.

Wednesday April 1
Event: Concert #1
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Lippes Concert Hall
Program: Neue Vocalsolisten & UB Chamber Choir
Missa Prolationum (excerpts) - Ockeghem
Das wassergewordene Kanonbuch - Tsao
Immaterial (excerpt) - Chaya Czernowin

Thursday April 2
Event: Perspectives on Helmut Lachenmann's Allegro Sostenuto
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Location: Baird Recital Hall

Program:

PhD composition students present Lachenmann's Allegro Sostenuto (1988).  

Event: Concert #2 

Time: 7:30PM

Location: Lippes Concert Hall

Program: Neue Vocalsolisten performs UB PhD Student Composers

ah neehat - Jackson Roush

the breath fails, reaching the screaming beneath the rubble - Chi-Yen Huang

Cosas calladas - Francisco Corthey

Imitaciones - Maria Lihuen Sirvent

TERNION - Will Brobston 

Friday, April 3 

Event: Concert #3
Time: 4 p.m.
Location: Baird Recital Hall
Program: Christopher Gross, Barret Hall
Pression - Lachenmann
Dal Niente - Lachenmann
Canon - Tsao

Event: Concert #4
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: Lippes Concert Hall
Program: Christopher Gross, Barret Hall, Eric Huebner
Clarinet Trio in A Minor, Opus 114 - Brahms
Allegro Sostenuto - Lachenmann

Jon Nelson on Why Music Matters Podcast

UB's own Jon Nelson was recently a guest on the Why Music Matters Podcast hosted by Jeff Miers. Miers was the music critic for The Buffalo News from 2002-2023, where he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2008. No stranger to podcasting, in his credits is "Gusto Sessions with Jeff Miers" which he co-hosted with Robby Takac of Goo Goo Dolls fame. Miers was inducted into the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame in 2014 as a musician and journalist. Alongside his journalism career, he has been a mainstay in the Buffalo and Western New York music scenes as bandleader and sideman. In 2022 he released his debut solo album Dharma for None. 

 

Check out the interview below: 

 

Slee Sinfonietta to Play Buffalo Composers

  

The Slee Sinfonietta will be performing a potpourri of short solo works honoring composers associated with the city of Buffalo on Wednesday, March 4^th at 7:30PM. This unique concert will feature faculty and student performers from Music Department at UB. The concert will feature a wide array of soloists: hornist Ariel Arney, violist Leanne Darling, cellist and artistic director of the Sinfonietta Jonathan Golove, oboeist Megan Kyle, soprano Tiffany Du Mouchelle, guitarist Sungmin Shin, percussionist Steve Solook, and violinist Melissa White.

Readers of the blog who attended the Morton Feldman @100 festival will be delighted to know that this concert will feature rarely performed shorter works of the venerated composer, including two pieces which each clock in at only one-and-a-half minutes! Rarely will you hear the composer in a more distilled fashion! 

 

Morton Feldman at UB with Creative Associates: Julius Eastman, Jan Williams, William Appleby, David Del Tredici. 1972.

A work of Paul Hindemith will be making an appearance, as the composer did himself at UB at Cameron Baird’s request in 1940. Former faculty composers David Felder and Jeffery Stadelman will also be featured, neither strangers to Slee Hall. Bringing the concert into the Buffalo of today are works by guitarist Sungmin Shin, violist Leanne Darling, and PhD student Jackson Roush. Along with being accomplished composers in their own right, Shin and Darling are also beloved professors in the Music Department. Please join us for this delightful concert!

 

 

 

Slee Sinfonietta Plays Composers of the African Diaspora

    We at the Center for 21^st Century Music would like to send you warm regards on this Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day and announce the upcoming concert by the Slee Sinfonietta featuring music of the African Diaspora. This Wednesday evening, January 21^st at 7:30 in Lippes Concert Hall, the Sinfonietta will be featuring an exiting program of contemporary voices, trailblazers, and under-performed historic masterpieces. Included in the program is Dorothy Rudd Moore, founding member of the Society of Black Composers, whose piece Transcension was written in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1986 for the recognition of his birthday as a national holiday. 

Dorothy Rudd Moore

 

Also on the concert is Samuel Coleridge-Taylor whose career spanned the previous turn of the century. His Nonet in F Minor from 1894 is a rare dip into late Romanticism by the Sinfonietta. 

 

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

 

 Coming into this century, Adolphus Hailstork’s Behold, I Build a House (2018) presents Biblical versus sung by baritone Jaman Dunn-Danger, our evening’s conductor, set against marimba played by John Dawson from the Eastman School of Music. Jonathan Bailey Holland’s The Clarity of Cold Air (2013) is a spacious work that may evoke for many the sublime beauty of the winter season. 

 

Below is a recent performance by Slee Sinfonietta.  

 

 

Ticket information is available here. As always, UB students with a valid ID are entitled to one complimentary ticket.