Percussionist Patti Cudd comes to Buffalo to perform music by UB composers and offer a master class

Patti Cudd

We’re looking forward to welcoming all-star contemporary percussionist and UB alumna Patti Cudd to the University at Buffalo later this month for an exciting two-day residency. Her visit here will kick-off with the Hiller Computer Music Studios annual Electroacoustic Black Box concert in the Black Box Theatre in the Center for the Arts on UB’s North Campus, at 7:30 p.m., on Wedesnday, March 27th. For the concert, Cudd will perform a program of pieces for percussion and electronics written by University at Buffalo composers, both past and present. The next day, Cudd will give a master class to UB graduate percussionists where they will discuss and workshop approaches to performing and interpretting contemporary percussion music.

The press release from the Hiller Computer Music for the Black Box concert follows:

“The Hiller Computer Music Studios of the UB Department of Music will present its annual spring "Black Box" concert of electro-acoustic and computer music next month, featuring works for percussion and electronics played by internationally recognized performer Patti Cudd. A member of the new music ensemble Zeitgeist and professor of music at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, Dr. Cudd has given concerts and master classes throughout the United States, Korea, Thailand, China, Mexico, and Europe and has worked closely with some of the most innovative composers of our time, including Brian Ferneyhough, Morton Feldman, Roger Reynolds, Pauline Oliveros, John Zorn, and Frederic Rzewski.

Flyer for the Black Box Concert on March 27, 2013

“This year's black box concert will feature pieces by composers from throughout UB's history, including works by current and former faculty, students, and alumni. Dr. Cudd herself received her Master of Music Degree at UB, where she studied with percussionist Jan Williams. A wide variety of pieces for a wide variety of percussion instruments will be performed. UB associate professor Cort Lippe's Duo for Cajón and Computer is composed for the titular Afro-Peruvian instrument, a box-shaped drum on which the performer sits and plays by striking the box's front face with her hands. Current Ph.D. student Ethan Hayden's In Wahrheit saß ein buckliger Zwerg darin… is composed for the kalimba, a hand-held thumb piano from the Sub-Sahara. Works by UB alumni Jeff Herriott and Brett Masteller take two very different approaches at expanding the repertoire for bass drum and electronics while alum Barry Moon's Snare Alchemy explores and expands on the timbres of the solo snare drum. Former UB visiting professor Richard Dudas' piece will feature, among other instruments, the West African djembe, and rounding out the program will be an electroacoustic piece by alum Kostas Karathanasis entitled Trittico Mediterraneo.

“As a percussion soloist and chamber musician, Dr. Cudd has premiered over 150 new works, and this year's Black Box concert will feature five works composed especially for her, including two premiere performances by Dudas and Hayden. Put on with support from the Robert and Carol Morris Center for 21st Century Music and the UB Music Department, the concert will take place at the Center for the Arts Black Box Theatre on Wednesday, March 27th, at 7:30 p.m. Entrance is free.”

If you'd like to get a glimpse of Patti Cudd performing some contemporary music for percussion and live electronics, check out the video below of her interpretation of Cort Lippe's 2010 piece Music for Hi-Hat and Computer:

Hope to see you at the concert!

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Virtuosic violinist Tim Fain performs critically-acclaimed Portals at UB!

We’re excited to welcome the immensely talented and strikingly charismatic violinist Tim Fain to the University at Buffalo to perform his innovative and critically-acclaimed multi-media project, Portals, which integrates music, dance, spoken word, acting, and video, to explore longing and connection in the digital age. The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the University at Buffalo, along with media sponsor WNED, will present Tim Fain's Portals, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25, in the Drama Theater in the Center for Performing Arts on the University at Buffalo's North Campus in Amherst. Tickets range from $15 to $30 and are available by calling the Slee Hall box office at (716) 645-2921.

A brief excerpt from the program note outlines the artistry and depth of exploration in this profoundly relevant work:

Tim Fain performing Portals

“Combining music with film, dance and spoken word, Portals explores the ways in which we communicate, and, through communication, find meaning in the digital age. In an era when our expressions of love and sorrow, of togetherness and longing—such private emotions—are sometimes displayed so publicly on the web, the potential for artistic communication through digital media is endless. The creative team and I set out to expand the boundaries of possibility in live performance whereby the performers and artists appear onscreen as if signing on (over Skype, iChat, etc.), each from his or her respective private space, interacting with each other as well as with me on stage. 

“For example, at times one sees the performers readying themselves for performance, warming up, or just relaxing in their own private spaces, as if glimpsed by webcam. By contrast, at other times Nicholas and I meet in an imagined performance space which combines a feeling of an empty concert hall with a sound stage, (the empty chairs and pixilated projections) in which we perform together. Sometimes the two worlds collide and combine, as in Graceful Ghost, where we occasionally switch places, passing through these different worlds, real and imagined.  Though we're not always face to face or feeling someone's touch or the warmth of their breath, we are deeply connected.”

Portals was conceived by Tim Fain, who acts as the producer and creative director and is joined by co-producer and noted film director by Kate Hackett. It was born out of collaboration between Fain and Benjamin Millepied, the choreographer for the acclaimed 2010 film Black Swan starring Natalie Portman. As Fain plays his violin, actors, dancers, and other musicians accompany him on screen. Portals features the works of several composers, with the centerpiece being a new work by Phillip Glass specifically written for Fain. The project has been profiled in Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, and integrates original music by a a diverse collection of composers, including: Lev Zhurbin, Nico Muhly, Aaron Jay Kernis, Philip Glass, William Bolcom, and Kevin Puts; and features dancers Craig Black, Julia, Eichten, and Haylee Nichele. Nicholas Britell joins the cast on piano, along with spoken word actor Fred Child, who recites text written by the well-loved American poet and musician Leonard Cohen.

Tim Fain’s biography reveals an exciting and productive career filled with music performances and collaborations in a variety of genres and contexts :

“Avery Fisher Career Grant-winning violinist Tim Fain was selected as one of both Symphony and Strad magazine’s “Up-and-Coming” musicians, and was, most recently, seen on screen and heard on the Grammy-nominated soundtrack of the hit film Black Swan, and heard as the sound of Richard Gere’s violin in Fox Searchlight’s feature film Bee Season. Recipient of the Young Concert Artists International Award, he made his debuts with the Brooklyn Philharmonic and Baltimore Symphony, with Marin Alsop conducting, and appeared as soloist with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, Mexico City Philharmonic, Maryland, Cincinnati Chamber Symphony, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and Curtis Symphony Orchestra at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, the Hague Philharmonic, among others.  Equally at home in virtually all genres of music, he is a fervent champion of 20th and 21st century composers with a repertoire ranging from Beethoven to Corigliano. His recitals have taken him to the Ravinia Festival, Kennedy Center, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Boston’s Gardner Museum, Mexico’s Festival de Musica de Camera, Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, California’s Carmel Mozart Society, and New York’s 92nd Street Y. Portals has toured throughout the world including to New York City’s Symphony Space, Santa Monica’s Broad Stage, Australia’s Melbourne Festival and beyond.

Tim Fain

“He has collaborated with such luminaries as Pinchas Zukerman, Richard Goode, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Mitsuko Uchida, has appeared with the Mark Morris Dance Group, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, and appeared onstage with the New York City Ballet, performing alongside the dancers in the acclaimed premiere of Benjamin Millepied’s Double Aria. He has also worked with jazz pianists Billy Childs and Ethan Iverson (The Bad Plus), guitarist Rich Robinson (Black Crowes), and appeared at Jazz at Lincoln Center with Rob Thomas (Matchbox 20). A sought-after chamber musician, he has toured with Musicians from Marlboro, appeared with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, performed at the Spoleto, Ravinia, and Santa Fe Festivals and continues to tour internationally in a duo-recital program with Philip Glass.

“His debut CD, Arches, combines old and new solo works, and his disc of American short works, River of Light, was recently released on Naxos. Tim Fain performs on a violin made by Franceso Gobetti, Venice 1717, the “Moller” on extended loan from Clement and Karen Arrison through the generous efforts of the Stradivari Society of Chicago.”

Be sure to join us the following day, at 10:30 a.m., on Saturday, Jan. 26, for a masterclass and question-and-answer session with Tim Fain in the Mary Seaton Room at Kleinhans Music Hall, 3 Symphony Circle, Buffalo. It is free and open to the public. The Mary Seaton Room will enjoy a coffeehouse feel, with complimentary hot beverages and pastries. More information on the masterclass session to come soon…

Tim Fain, Portals

7:30 p.m., Friday, January 25, 2013

Drama Theater in the Center for Performing Arts

University at Buffalo's North Campus

Tickets: $15 to $30, available at the Slee Hall box office, (716) 645-2921. 

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Working in Time: A Celebration of the Arts in Honor of Bruce Jackson

The Robert and Carol Morris Center for 21st Century Music and Lippes Concert Hall is proud to host Working in Time: A Celebration of the Arts in Honor of Bruce Jackson, presented by SUNY Distinguished Professors Bruce Jackson and David Felder, on Friday, September 21, 1:00 – 5:00 p.m., in Lippes Hall. 

The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the University at Buffalo Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development, and will celebrate the art of James Agee Professor of American Culture in the Department of English, Bruce Jackson, a Guggenheim Fellow whose interdisciplinary career as an artist and scholar integrates literature, music, ethnography, folklore, sociology, photography, and documentary film-making. He has written or edited 32 books, one of which is the recently published In This Timeless Time: Living and Dying on Death Row in America, in which he collaborated with UB English Professor Diane Christian, who will act as moderator throughout the day. Jackson has had 20 solo photography exhibits, including Death Row, on view this fall at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Next Spring, the Burchfield Penney Art Center will present an exhibition of more than 350 of his photographs.

Bruce Jackson

The day will open with greetings from UB President Satish K. Tripathi, who speaks with great respect about Jackson’s work, “UB has a long history of leadership in scholarly and creative excellence at the vanguard of the arts, and as we launch a new annual tradition that celebrates that tradition of cutting-edge work, Bruce really emerged as an ideal figure to spotlight in this inaugural event.

“Like much of the very best work in the arts and humanities, Bruce’s work defies easy definition. His films, photographs, social commentary and scholarship all cut across multiple fields and have tremendously broad relevance, from the academy to popular culture, to international social policy. The incredible scope and reach of those achievements embody the complex, interdisciplinary contributions of the arts—and of the research university itself.”

The celebration will feature a world premiere by UB Professor and Birge-Cary Chair in Composition David Felder, titled A Garland for Bruce, starring UB faculty cellist Jonathan Golove. Jackson describes Felder as “one of the people who makes UB a viable intellectual and artistic community.”

The day will also showcase images from Jackson’s forthcoming book Inside the Wire: Photographs from Texas and Arkansas Prisons, as well as music from Jackson’s Grammy-nominated album Wake Up Dead Man. American filmmaker and documentarian Frederick Wiseman will also participate, and screen his most recent film, Crazy Horse.

After the event, at 5:00 p.m., there will be a reception at the nearby UB Center for the Arts Atrium, where all will be invited to participate in an open discussion with Bruce Jackson, David Felder, and Frederick Wiseman.