Charles Wuorinen: Craft and Communication

Charles Wuorinen

Music critic Michael Steinberg famously observed that the music of Charles Wuorinen manages something which perhaps seemed impossible throughout much of the early twentieth century:  a musical reconciliation of the Schoenbergian and Stravinskian compositional traditions. Indeed, in Wuorinen one can hear both the muscular physicality and quick wit of Stravinsky and the structural rigor and systematic consistency of late Schoenberg, both traditions connected and extended into a dynamic new compositional language.

The first word that occurs to me when I think of Wuorinen's music is craft.  Having composed over 260 works, Wuorinen's output is one based in a meticulous study of past styles, and written with painstaking exactitude.  Works like the third Piano Sonata, Archæopteryx, and Epithalamium require a certain diligent focus and calculated intentionality on the part of the performer, but on hearing such works it's difficult not to hear the same diligence on the composer's part.  Wuorinen is famously a composer who wakes each morning and composes for most of the day, and this devotion to craft is clearly audible in his work.  Take for instance, his recent Trio for flute, bass clarinet, and piano (2008), in which snaky, angular lines create tense, constantly transforming contrapuntal webs, which occasionally erupt into sonorous bursts of energy.  The piece virtuosically weaves a narrative through which the ensemble acts both as a trio of independent agents and as a unified body moving together with the agility of a school of fish (listen below).

It is perhaps this devotion to craft that inspired Vera Stravinsky to entrust some of her late husband's unfinished compositional fragments to Wuorinen, which the composer used to construct A Reliquary for Igor Stravinsky (1975), a work which contains both a simulacrum of Stravinsky's late style and a clear expression of Wuorinen's own voice.  Indeed, Wuorinen's voice, both through his singular musical output and his lectures and writings, has been one of the most passionate and eloquent advocates for American serialism, most notably in his 1979 compositional treatise, Simple Composition.

Charles Wuorinen conducting at Guggenheim

After receiving acclaim for a number of early works (including his chamber concertos for 'cello and flute), Wuorinen was appointed to a teaching post at Columbia University in 1964.  There, he worked with the now-legendary RCA Mark II Synthesizer at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center.  Despite being a ground-breaking piece of equipment which is frequently mentioned in histories of electronic music, the Mark II was used in the creation of only a small handful of pieces, one of which was Wuorinen's Time's Encomium, a thirty-minute electronic tour de force which won the composer the 1970 Pulitizer Prize, making Wuorinen the youngest composer at the time to be awarded the honor.  Since then, Wuorinen has received numerous awards and fellowships, including a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship, and an induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

One of Wuorinen's significant early achievements was the founding of the Group for Contemporary Music in 1962 with Harvey Sollberger (another JiB faculty composer) and Joel Krosnick.  The first new music ensemble to be based at a university and directed by composers, the GCM quickly received acclaim for its virtuosic performances (including Wuorinen's own skilled piano playing and conducting) and innovative programming (the ensemble premiered significant works by Wolpe, Babbitt, Carter, and Davidovsky).  The  GCM's success inspired the Rockefeller Foundation to fund several similar composer-led ensembles at other universities, including UB's Center for the Creative Associates, an ensemble which regularly included Wuorinen's work in their programming.  The June in Buffalo festival was established in 1975 partly as a way for the Creative Associates to take advantage of Rockefeller funding during the slower summer months, branching out from an innovative ensemble to a widely respected international festival.

Wuorinen speaking at JiB 2013 after receiving his honorary doctorate

We are thrilled that Charles Wuorinen will be joining the June in Buffalo faculty during this anniversary year.  Wuorinen's connection to the festival stretches back many years, and he has been a frequent member of the June in Buffalo faculty.  When David Felder restarted the festival in 1986, Wuorinen was one of a core group of composers who quickly lent their support, and contributed to the festival's revitalization.  At June in Buffalo 2013, Wuorinen was presented with an honorary doctorate by UB, at a brief ceremony preceding a concert that featured a performance of the composer's It Happens Like This by the Slee Sinfonietta.  June in Buffalo has been the site of many exciting performances of Wuorinen's work, including a memorable performance of The Dante Trilogy at June in Buffalo 2003.  This year, we can look forward to the New York New Music Ensemble's performance of New York Notes (1982), and the Meridian Arts Ensemble's performance of Wuorinen's Brass Quintet (read more about the former in last week's interview with Jean Kopperud).

Tom Randle and Daniel Okulitch in Brokeback Mountain

One of Wuorinen's most ambitious projects in recent years has been the 2012 opera, Brokeback Mountain, based on the same Annie Proulx short story that inspired the 2005 film.  The opera, composed for Madrid's Teatro Real, concerns itself with a star-crossed love affair, but unlike traditional operatic subjects, the focus on gay love in an hostile environment (both social and physical—the opera is set in the wild Wyoming mountains) creates a subject matter which, in the composer's words, "has some resonance today, unlike the old-fashioned operatic issues, which are of no interest whatever, in the social context today" (click here to see the composer discuss the opera in detail).  Centered essentially around what Zachary Woolfe calls "a tragedy about the inability to communicate", the opera moves gradually from Schoenbergian sprecstimme to traditional operatic singing, exploring the difficulty of emotional expression.  It seems oddly fitting that an opera about the inability to communicate should be written by a composer with such a strong and fluent compositional voice.  Indeed, it necessitates such a composer, who through years devoted to his craft can eloquently express anything, including the very trials of expression itself.

—Ethan Hayden

Next week at the Center: Signal Ensemble, Brad Lubman, and Larry Groupé

Last year, the Slee Sinfonietta began their season with a program centered around Pierre Boulez's monumental Dérive 2 for 11 instruments.  Conducted by Case Scaglione, the Sinfonietta expertly wound their way through Boulez's labyrinthine gestures and abrupt texture changes, a feat which you can hear on the recording below:

On October 7, the Slee Sinfonietta will present Ensemble Signal, under the direction of Brad Lubman, kicking off the Center's fall season with Dérive 2's older sibling.  While composed for a smaller ensemble (pierrot ensemble plus vibraphone), and unravelling over a brief six minutes, Dérive 1 (1984) is no less significant than its successor.  Its title evokes the idea of "drift", and can also be translated as "derivative," the latter a reference to the fact that much of the piece's material is derived from Répons, a large-scale work for six soloists and electronics composed three years earlier.  Répons itself was derived from material from Boulez's Messagesquisse, notably a six-note chord based on the patron Paul Sacher's last name (S-A-C-H-E-R or Eb-A-C-B-E-D).  This same chord is the pillar that supports Dérive 1, reappearing in various combinations over the course of the work.  The piece unifies many of the characteristics so common to Boulez's music:  his "smooth time" marked by chaotic, irregular gestures; the "striated time" represented by rapidly articulated repeating notes; and the "metrical time" which made its first appearance in Répons, a grounding in an (admittedly highly-ornamented) regularity.  The piece is led by the piano which, in addition to introducing the piece's primary sonority, provides a subtle harmonic backdrop by using the sostenuto pedal to allow its lowest octave to resonate throughout the piece.

A fitting companion to Boulez's piece is Elliott Carter's Triple Duo.  Composed a year before Dérive 1, and for a similar instrumentation, Carter's piece is a trialogue between three instrumental pairs:  flute/clarinet, violin/'cello, piano/percussion.  This witty, mercurial piece features a number of quick cuts between differing sections, with each duo occupying its own registral and gestural spheres.  The composer David Schiff, in his monograph on Carter describes the ensemble as a 'raucous band':  "the woodwinds gurgle, shriek, and coo like a pair of amorous birds, the strings scrape and pluck comically, and the percussion and piano evoke the more angular variety of free jazz."  That final comparison is perhaps most apparent during the piece's finale, a dynamic escapade marked by syncopated tuttis, arabesque lyricism, and jerkily disjunct gestures, or as Schiff refers to it, "ultra-bop."

Charles Wuorinen's New York Notes, composed just a year before Carter's piece (1982), also divides the ensemble into three duets of related instrumental pairs, while also allowing each performer moments of virtuosic flair.  The piece is divided into a traditional fast-slow-fast three-movement structure, however, as Wuorinen explains, "The tempo is always the same, so that the differing speeds contained in the work are all expressed through note-value alterations rather than pulse changes."  This is no doubt a challenging element for Lubman and the musicians, but they are certainly up to the task!

Lubman and Signal are not the only guests visiting the Center next week, film composer Larry Groupé will be the first speaker in the Visiting Lecture Series.  Groupé has composed scores for several well-known films, including Straw Dogs (2011), Nothing but the Truth (2008), Resurrecting the Champ (2007), and, perhaps most notably, The Contender (2000).  He also acted as the co-composer and conductor for the progressive rock band Yes's 2001 album Magnification, while also writing overtures, arrangements and conducting for their Symphonic Tour of the World.  Groupé's score to the 2004 ABC series Line of Fire was nominated for a primetime Emmy, and he has received two Emmy awards for his work on the documentaries Jonas Salk: Personally Speaking (1999), and Residue (2008).  In a particularly interesting project, Groupé scored the film I Woke Up Early the Day I Died (1998), which was based on camp director Ed Wood's final, unfilmed script and starred Billy Zane and Christina Ricci.  No stranger to the avant garde, Groupé studied composition at UC San Diego with Roger Reynolds, Toru Takemitsu, Pauline Oliveros, and Bernard Rands, and computer music at Stanford with John Chowning and Leland Smith.  We look forward to hearing his presentation on October 6, at 3:00pm in Baird Recital Hall!

—Ethan Hayden

June in Buffalo Performance Institute concert June 7th!

Eric Huebner, JiB Performance Institute Director

The June in Buffalo Performance Institute has been going strong since last Thursday, May 30th, when the JACK Quartet inaugurated the Institute with a gorgeous performance of Morton Feldman’s String Quartet No. 1 at the beautiful M&T Bank in downtown Buffalo. Since then Performance Institute participants have been working closely with the JACK Quartet, Eric Huebner, and Tom Kolor and members of the Talujon Percussion Ensemble preparing for Friday (June 7th) night’s concert at 7:30 p.m. in Baird Recital Hall at the University at Buffalo.

The full list June in Buffalo Performance Institute participants:

Ross Aftel, percussion

Hangyu Bai, piano

T.J. Borden, cello

Jade Conlee, piano           

Nicholas Emmanuel, piano

Matthew Geiger, percussion

Manuel Laufer, piano

Michiko Saiki, piano

Friday night's concert will also feature a guest appearance by violinist Irvine Arditti, who will perform Brian Ferneyhough's Intermedio alla Ciaconna, the full program is below.

June in Buffalo Performance Institute Concert, June 7th, 7:30 p.m., UB Baird Recital Hall

Chinary Ung:  Spiral no. 1                                               

Ross Aftel, percussion, T.J. Borden, cello, and Nicholas Emmanuel, piano                                                                                                      

Anton Webern:  Bagatelles, op.9                                               

members of the JACK Quartet with T.J. Borden

Brian Ferneyhough:  Intermedio alla Ciaconna                                   

Irvine Arditti, violin

                                               

                                             ---  intermission ---

Ralph Shapey:  Gottlieb Duo                          

Matthew Geiger, percussion, Manuel Laufer, piano

Anton Webern:  Two Pieces (1899), Three Little Pieces op. 11   

Hangyu Bai, piano, and Jonathan Golove, cello

                       

Charles Wuorinen:  Fifty-Fifty                                                 

Jade Conlee and Michiko Saiki, pianists           

The next day, on Saturday, June 8th, JiB Performance Institute faculty and participants will perform works by JiB composers Clint Haycraft and Megan Buegger, and works by Zimmerman, Cage, Babbitt, Carter, Stockhausen, Sciarrino, and Rivas. The concert will begin at 3:45 p.m. in B1 Slee Hall for the first piece by Megan Beugger, and then move up to Baird Recital Hall at 4:00 p.m. for the rest of the program. Check out the Performance Institute website, like their page on facebook, or follow the Center for 21st Century Music on twitter for more updates.

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Charles Wuorinen receives honorary doctorate from UB, conducts Slee SInfonietta at June in Buffalo 2013!

Charles Wuorinen

We’re looking forward to Tuesday, June 4th, when University at Buffalo President Satish K. Tripathi will present June in Buffalo 2013 Faculty Composer Charles Wuorinen with an honorary doctorate from UB. The brief award ceremony will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Slee Hall, after which two recent works by Charles Wuorinen will be performed. First will be Wuroinen’s Piano Quintet, to be performed by the JACK Quartet and pianist Eric Huebner. Wuorinen will then pick up the baton and lead the Slee Sinfonietta in his It Happens Like This, a dramatic and sometimes jocular cantata in which the composer has set text from seven poems by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet James Tate. It Happens Like This will feature 12 members from Slee Sinfonietta, who will be joined by four vocalists: soprano Sharon Harms, alto Laura Mercado Wright, tenor Steven Brennfleck, and bass Ethan Herschenfeld.

The Slee Sinfonietta performing Ligeti's Piano Concerto

Charles Wuorinen has been a friend to the Center for 21st Century Music for many years now – his full biography can be found on our new webpage: Slee Sinfonietta Artist Bios, which includes full biographies and pictures of all of the composers, performers, and staff that make up the Slee Sinfonietta.

The Sinfonietta presents a series of concerts each year that feature performances of challenging new works by contemporary composers and lesser-known works from the chamber orchestra repertoire. Founded in 1997 by composer David Felder, and comprised of a core group including UB faculty performance artists, visiting artists, national and regional professionals and advanced performance students, the group is conducted by leading conductors and composers. More can be found on the history of the Sinfonietta at their program archives. 

Like us on Facebook and/or follow us on twitter for more updates on the Slee Sinfonietta and June in Buffalo 2013. 

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Charles Wuorinen to receive SUNY Honorary Doctorate at June in Buffalo 2013!

Our Spring 2013 season here at the Robert and Carol Morris Center for 21st Century Music is off to a rollicking start – Tim Fain’s acclaimed multimedia work Portals was a huge success here at UB last week, and is enjoying very positive reviews. Our friend Daniel J. Kushner wrote a terrific review in the Buffalo News, which you can read here.

We have some exciting news to report: June in Buffalo 2013 Faculty Composer Charles Wuorinen will be awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the State University of New York! The award ceremony will occur prior to the 75th birthday concert on June 4th, where Wuorinen will conduct the Slee Sinfonietta in a performance of It Happens Like This, his humorous and dramatic cantata on seven poems by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet James Tate.

Charles Wuorinen has been a long-time friend of the Center for many years now, and is one of our most frequent faculty composers at the June in Buffalo Festival. For the uninitiated, a few excerpts from his bio shines light on his inspiring history:

Charles Wuorinen with his cat Lepton

“In 1970, Wuorinen became the youngest composer to win the Pulitzer Prize (for the electronic work Time's Encomium). The Pulitzer and the MacArthur Fellowship are just two among many awards, fellowships and other honors to have come his way.

“Wuorinen has written more than 260 compositions to date. His newest works include Time Regained, a fantasy for piano and orchestra based on early music (Matteo da Perugia to Orlando Gibbons) for Peter Serkin, James Levine and the MET Opera Orchestra, Theologoumenon, an orchestral tone poem commissioned for James Levine's 60th birthday, Eighth Symphony and Fourth Piano Concerto for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Metagong for two pianos and two percussion. He has recently completed an opera on Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain with libretto by Proulx for the Teatro Real in Madrid. Wuorinen's previous opera Haroun and the Sea of Stories (1997-2001), based on the novel of Salman Rushdie, was premiered by the New York City Opera in fall 2004.

“His works have been recorded on nearly a dozen labels including several releases on Naxos, Albany Records (Charles Wuorinen Series), John Zorn's Tzadik label, and a CD of piano works performed by Alan Feinberg on the German label Col Legno.

“Wuorinen's works are published exclusively by C.F. Peters Corporation. He is the author of Simple Composition, used by composition students throughout the world.”

Read his full biography at our brand new webpage: Slee Sinfonietta Artist Bios, which includes full biographies and pictures of all of the composers, performers, and staff that make up the Slee Sinfonietta, as well as friends and other guests of the Center.

Below is a terrific video containing excerpts of Wuorinen’s It Happens Like This, performed by Ensemble SIGNAL and conducted by Brad Lubman, and featuring commentary by Wuorinen himself:

Link to this post here.

Performer Profile: Violinist Yuki Numata

We've been enjoying having Yuki Numata in town for rehearsals for the Second Fall Slee Sinfonietta concert on Tuesday, October, 30, at 7:30 p.m. Wildly praised by the New York Times as a violinist with “virtuosic flair and dexterous bravery,” Numata is rapidly gaining attention as a charistmatic virtuoso, having performed frequently as a soloist with our own Slee Sinfonietta, the New World Symphony, the Wordless Music Orchestra, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra and the Eastman Philharmonia Orchestra. Numata was recently invited to perform Charles Wuorinen’s Rhapsody with the Tanglewood Orchestra, and, at the composer’s request and as a last minute replacement, she performed Wuorinen’s Spin Five with The Slee Sinfonietta. 

Yuki Numata

A few words from Numata’s impressive biography:

“Yuki has an avid interest in new music and as a result, has had the opportunity to work closely with some of today’s foremost composers. These include Charles Wuorinen, Steve Reich and John Zorn. At the Tanglewood Music Center, Ms. Numata was invited to be a New Fromm Player, focusing specifically on the performance of contemporary chamber music repertoire. Yuki holds a great deal of respect for composers of her own generation and has collaborated with many of them including Jeff Myers, Caleb Burhans, Nico Muhly, Andrew Norman and Timothy Andres.

“Additionally, Yuki is an active freelancer and has performed with the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), the String Orchestra of New York City (SONYC), Alarm Will Sound, Signal, East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO) and counter)induction. In true New York freelancer style, she wears many hats and has played and/or recorded for bands and artists including Passion Pit, The National, Grizzly Bear, Jóhann Jóhannsson and Max Richter. Yuki was a featured soloist on the Duncan Theater’s 2009-2010 season and has appeared at numerous summer festivals including Music in the Vineyards, Tanglewood, Music Academy of the West and The Banff Centre.

Yuki Numata 

“Born in Vancouver, Canada, Yuki received a Bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music and a Master’s degree from the University of Michigan. Her principal teachers include Andrew Jennings, Zvi Zeitlin and Gwen Thompson. Yuki completed a three-year fellowship at the New World Symphony, has served on the faculty of the University at Buffalo and currently resides in New York City.”

Recently, our own University at Buffalo graduate composer Robert Phillips had the opportunity to work with Numata on his piece Shindō no su, for flute, bass clarinet, keyboard + laptop, glockenspiel, violin, viola, and cello. Shindō no su was performed by the Talea Ensemble as part of the Harvard University Summer Composition Institute last August, and conducted by Eduardo Leandro. Robert reports, “Yuki is absolute magic on the violin. She has an incredibly powerful musical imagination and delves into pieces with fierce interpretive rigor, energetically exploring new works with profound curiousity and openness, and shows up at rehearsals with exciting ways of being in the music. She breathed fluidity, dynamism, and fire into Shindō, much of which I had never imagined, and I am very grateful to her for that.”

Come see Yuki Numata perform with visiting hornist Adam Unsworth, UB pianist and New York Philharmonic pianist-in-residence Eric Huebner, and the rest of the Slee Sinfonietta this Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

Slee Sinfonietta

Tuesday, October 30, 2012, 7:30 pm

Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall

Daniel Bassin, conductor

Yuki Numata, violin

Adam Unsworth, horn

Eric Huebner, piano

Ticket information can be found here. 

Link to this post here. 

June in Buffalo 2013 call for scores announced!

June in Buffalo 2013 call for scores announced! June in Buffalo will be very special this year with the addition of the Performance Institute, which will begin on Thursday, May 30th, and then run concurrently with June in Buffalo from Monday, June 3 – Sunday, June 9th. This will be the first year ever where emerging contemporary music performers and ensembles will be studying, practicing, and workshopping alongside participant composers. We expect one of the most dynamic, collaborative, and compelling June in Buffalo Festivals ever this year, as young contemporary music performers and composers blend together and form relationships with not only faculty composers and performers, but each other as well. Full details on applying as an auditor or participant composer below: 

June in Buffalo

Presented by the Department of Music and The Robert and Carol Morris Center for 21st Century Music, June in Buffalo, a festival and conference dedicated to composers, will take place from June 3 -9, 2013 at the University at Buffalo. June in Buffalo offers an intensive schedule of seminars, lectures, workshops, professional presentations, participant forums and open rehearsals as well as afternoon and evening concerts open to the general public and critics. Each of the invited composers will have one of his/her pieces performed during the festival. Evening performances feature faculty composers, resident ensembles and soloists renowned internationally as interpreters of contemporary music.

Artistic Director

David Felder

Senior Faculty

David Felder

Augusta Read Thomas

Charles Wuorinen

Yehudi Wyner

Resident Ensembles

Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra

Ensemble Linea

JACK Quartet

SIGNAL

Slee Sinfonietta

Talea Ensemble

Talujon Percussion Ensemble

APPLICATION PROCEDURES

To apply to June in Buffalo, please send all materials by mail. Applications must include the following materials:

1. A résumé or curriculum vitae detailing your education, experience, and creative activity.

2. A letter of reference from someone acquainted with your current compositional activity.

3. A proposal (including score and brief description) requesting the performance of a recent work for

a) Percussion Quartet (or subset)

b) String Quartet (or subset)

c) flute, clarinet, piano, percussion, violin, cello (or subset)

d) solo for any orchestral instrument

e) works with electronics will be considered

f) other instrumentations will be announced shortly

4. One or two scores that demonstrate your recent work and accompanying recordings, if available.

5. A $25 non-refundable processing fee. Checks or money orders should be made payable to June in Buffalo. Foreign applicants must pay by international money order in US currency. Do not send cash.

6. A SASE for the return of materials (optional) and an e-mail address at which you can be easily contacted.

If the performance of a selected work by a participating composer becomes impossible due to circumstances beyond the control of the June in Buffalo festival, every attempt will be made to arrange a substitution where possible.

To apply as an auditor, please send a résumé and the processing fee. Auditors attend all June in Buffalo events, but will not have a piece performed.

All application materials must be postmarked by

FEBRUARY 15, 2013.

Mail to:

June in Buffalo

220 Baird Hall

Music Department

University at Buffalo

Buffalo, NY 14260-4700

Fees

Tuition fee: $700

Auditing fee: $350

Housing

On-campus housing, 7 nights, single occupancy: $300. Additional: $30/night. No double occupancy discounts; no meals included.

For general information, contact J.T. Rinker

phone: (716) 645-0624

fax: (716) 645-3824

email: jtrinker@buffalo.edu

Link to this post here.

Tom Kolor showcases "Made in the U.S.A."

We at the Center are pleased to announce that UB faculty percussionist Tom Kolor will be treating us to a solo recital of contemporary pieces by American composers this week. His recital, titled “Made in the U.S.A.”, will be on Tuesday, October 9, at 7:30 p.m., in Lippes Concert Hall. Tom Kolor is a specialist in 20th and 21st century percussion music, is one of New York City’s most in demand chamber musicians, and is the Principal Percussionist with UB’s Slee Sinfonietta.

Tom Kolor performing J.T. Rinker's Frigate

As a soloist, Tom Kolor has given dozens of premieres by American composers such as Milton Babbitt, John Zorn, Wayne Peterson, Tania Leon, and Jerome Kitzke. He has recorded for Bridge, New World, Albany, Capstone, Innova, Wergo, Naxos, CRI, Koch, Tzadik, North/South Consonance, and Deutsche Grammophon labels. Tom Kolor is a member of the NYC-based percussion septet, Talujon Ensemble, whose concerts have been hailed by the New York Times as "frenzied explosions of percussion madness”. He also performs throughout the U.S. and Europe as a member of Manhattan Sinfonietta, Ensemble 21, Sospeso, American Modern Ensemble and Newband. In addition, he is a frequent guest of such ensembles as the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, New York New Music Ensemble, Speculum Musicae, Continuum, Da Capo Chamber Players, Group for Contemporary Music, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

Tom was a featured performer last summer at the Sound Res Festival in Leche, Italy, where he gave the European premiere of Marimba Variations by Charles Wuorinen, a sophisticated 15 minute-long Marimba solo he commissioned from the composer. Tom will perform Wuorinen’s Marimba Variations during the first half of his faculty recital.

Details of the complete program and ticket information below:

Made in the U.S.A.

Tom Kolor, Percussion

Tuesday, October 9, 7:30 pm in Lippes Concert Hall

Elliot Carter: Three pieces for Four Kettledrums (19500-66)

Charles Wuorinen: Marimba Variations (2008-09)

---Intermission---

Ralph Shapey: 2 for 1 (1988)

Ralph Shapey: Soli for Solo Percussion (1985)

Tickets are $10 for the general public, $5 for UB faculty/staff/alumni, seniors, and non-UB students. All UB students with a valid ID receive complimentary tickets to all faculty recitals.

SurPlus value

Among the noteworthy ensembles participating in June in Buffalo 2010, one name in particular may be unfamiliar to American new music fans: Ensemble SurPlus. But this highly accomplished German group plays an important role in this year's JiB, performing works by Augusta Read Thomas, Lukas Foss, Harvey Sollberger, Alvin Lucier, Charles Wuorinen, and Brian Ferneyhough on June 1, and playing participant composers' pieces on June 2. (A full concert schedule is available here.)

Based in Freiburg, Ensemble SurPlus was founded in 1992 by the eminent pianist and conductor James Avery (1937-2009). The Ensemble performs chamber music ranging from duos to large instrumental combinations, and aims to give new or unknown works optimal performances, regardless of compositional style or technical and intellectual demands. Its credits include performances at numerous European festivals including Darmstadt, Musica Viva, Donaueschingen, and others. Ensemble SurPlus has also collaborated closely with the Experimental Studio of the German Radio (SWR). Numerous CD productions and recordings (Ferneyhough, Clark, Spahlinger, Mahnkopf, Wolpe with Heinz Holliger) document the great versatility of the ensemble. For further information and sound samples, visit the Ensemble SurPlus website.

"Inspiring and rewarding:" John Bacon Jr. on June in Buffalo

Composer/percussionist John Bacon, Jr. has been a mainstay of Buffalo's jazz and new music scenes since the 1980s. As a performer, his impressive resume includes stints with the Buffalo Philharmonic, trombonist Roswell Rudd, Bobby Previte's Voodoo Orchestra West, the Maelström Percussion Ensemble, and many others. His compositions have been performed by the Amherst Saxophone Quartet and violinist Leroy Jenkins, among others. He is now enrolled in UB's doctoral program in composition. John offers the following thoughts on June in Buffalo:

"I have been living in the Buffalo area and working as a professional musician for many years.  My involvement with June in Buffalo has been as a student in the 1980's, as a performer in the 1980's and 90's and as an audience member throughout most of the life of the festival.  I recall meeting David Felder at an early festival when he first arrived at UB. He was investigating some specifics about almglocken in B-1 Slee and I tried to help him as best I could. I remember performing in the percussion section with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra with Charles Wourinen conducting. I remember Steve Reich crediting the great Jazz drummer Kenny Clarke with being the inspiration for the rhythmic drive in his music.

"In 2009 I was finally able to participate as a composer. I have enjoyed all of my experiences with the festival and each of them holds something unique in my musical life, but participating as a composer was by far the most engaging of these experiences...You can't help but feel that the whole festival is happening for you.  The senior faculty  serve as mentors, inspiring and guiding the composers. The ensembles dedicate themselves to the wide variety of music. The staff organize and accommodate efficiently and effectively. The other composers bring their excitement and enthusiasm.  This mixture creates  an inspiring and rewarding experience.

"Last year I attended every event that the festival offered. Although quantity doesn't always equate with quality I must say that in this case, where the quality of every event is so high, seeing more of them is better... I am looking forward to this year's festival and again participating as a composer.  I will try to attend every event this year also.  I hope to see you there."