JACK Quartet, Eric Huebner, Jonathan Golove, Talujon, kick off opening weekend of June in Buffalo 2013!

We’re looking forward to the opening weekend of June in Buffalo 2013! The festival will kick off with a concert by the JACK Quartet on Thursday, May 30, at 6:30 p.m., at One M&T Plaza, a special historical building in downtown Buffalo which was designed and built in 1966 by Minoru Yamasaki, the architect for the World Trade Center in New York City. In addition to opening JiB 2013, the concert is also part of the Center for 21st Century Music’s Music in Buffalo’s Historic Places series (more on the event and the series here), and will open with a brief presentation by UB Professor of Architecture, Brian Carter, who recently published M&T Bank, a book detailing the history and design of the building. 

The concert, which starts at 7:00 p.m., will consist entirely of Morton Feldman’s String Quartet No. 1, performed by the JACK Quartet. There will be a nice reception with wine and light snacks before the concert, hosted by M&T Bank, and it’s likely the concert will sell out, so we recommend you RSVP.

Eric Huebner

Jonathan Golove

The concert on the following day will be held here at UB in Slee Hall on Friday, May 31st, at 7:30 p.m., and will feature soloists Eric Huebner on piano, and Jonathan Golove on cello and Theremin cello. The program will include Iannis Xenakis' Kottos for solo cello (1977), Roger Reynolds' imAge/E and imagE/E (2007), Edgard Varése's Density 21.5 (1936, revised 1946) arranged for Theremin cello by Jonathan Golove, the world premiere of Eric Wubbels' Psychomechanochronometer (2013), which was commissioned with support from the Mikhashoff Trust for New Music, Elliott Carter's Sonata for cello and piano (1948), and some selections from György Ligeti's Études (1985-94).

Saturday, June 1st, boasts another concert of virtuosic contemporary music in Slee Hall, this time performed by the Talujon Ensemble. Their concert will feature Brian Ferneyhough's Fanfare for Klaus Huber (1987), Charles Wuorinen's Marimba Variations (2012), Marc Mellits' Gravity (2013), Ross Bauer's Echometry (2013), and Iannis Xenakis' Okho (1989).

Talujon Ensemble

RSVP here for the inauguration of the June in Buffalo Performance Institute on Thursday, May 30th, at 6:30 p.m., with the JACK Quartet -- we'll be keeping everyone updated on June in Buffalo 2013 at the Center for 21st Century Music, as well as through facebook and twitter. Also, stay tuned for more on our finale concert on Sunday, June 9th, at 2:30 p.m. with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of JoAnn Falletta, with pianist Geoffrey Burleson, featuring the work of JiB faculty composers at the University of Buffalo in Slee Hall.

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The 'A Musical Feast' Spring 2013 concert season begins!

The Center for 21st Century Music will be co-sponsoring two events with 'A Musical Feast' for their Spring 2013 concert season at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. 'A Musical Feast' has been putting on high-quality performances and concerts of contemporary music, as well as music from all periods, for many years now at the Burchfield Penney. The press release below offers some great background and information on the first concert, on Sunday, March 10th:

   ‘A Musical Feast’ Sunday March 10 @ 2:00 PM

                                           

Snapshot of a Century of Music

      ‘A Musical Feast’ offers a taste of music spanning the last 100 years

On Sunday, March 10, at 2:00 p.m., the independent, cutting-edge musical group known as ‘A Musical Feast’ offers its winter concert, in its home in the acoustically superior Peter & Elizabeth C. Tower Auditorium of the Burchfield Penny Art Center. Western New York lovers of classical music have come to expect every musical program put on by ‘A Musical Feast’, the chamber music group founded by Charles Haupt, the now retired, longtime concert master of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, to offer something out of the ordinary, an expectation that the group has never failed to fulfill.

The wide-range of represented composers range from Belgian composer Eugène Ysaÿe, whose 1895 romantically elegant Poème élégiaque, will be performed by Eastman School of Music virtuoso violinist Charles Castleman, and Buffalo’s favorite pianist Claudia Hoca, to SUNY at Buffalo distinguished professor David Felder, whose work A Garland (for Bruce) received its premiere just this past September. Also on the program are works by Debussy, Stravinsky, Hindemith, Piazzolla and J.T. Rinker. Charles Castleman and Claudia Hoca will also perform “Minstrels”, a violin and piano version of the 12th and last of the Preludes (Book I) by Claude Debussy. Pianist Claudia Hoca will be joined by UB professor of cello Jonathan Golove in a performance of selections from Stravinsky’s “Suite italienne”, derived from the music for the neo-classical score of his later 1920 ballet Pulcinella. Wildy Zumwalt, professor of saxophone at the Fredonia School of Music will be joined by Diane Hunger, a native of Kiel, Germany, who is currently pursuing her Doctorate at the Eastman School of Music, in a rare concert performance of Hindemith’s 1933 Konzertstück für Zwei Altsaxophone. The late Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla can be justly credited with bringing the attention of the classical music world to the tango, the quintessential dance form of his native land. Saxophonist Wildy Zumwalt, pianist Claudia Hoca, and cellist Jonathan Golove will be joined by Moshe Shulman playing the bandoneón, or Argentine concertina, and instrument essential to a tango ensemble, in Three Dances by Piazzolla, including the irresistible “Oblivion”.

Tom Kolor performs J.T. Rinker's Frigate

Moving up to the present, UB professor of percussion Tom Kolor will perform Frigate by J.T. Rinker. The 2008 piece is written for crotales, a percussion instrument made up of small, tuned brass disks, as well as electronic sounds – the delicate filigree of sound produced is pleasantly surprising.

David Felder, coordinator of composition at the UB Department of Music wrote A Garland (for Bruce) in 2012 as, he says, “a small tribute work for cello and electronic sound with photo images shot by Bruce Jackson. It is dedicated to Bruce Jackson in friendship and with admiration!” Cellist Jonathan Golove will perform the piece honoring Jackson, whose works are currently on view in the “Being There: Bruce Jackson, Photographs 1962-2012” exhibit at the Burchfield Penny Art Center.

The full program for the concert follows: 

                   ‘A Musical Feast’ Sunday March 10 @ 2:00 PM

Frigate  (2008)                                                          J.T. Rinker (1974)

Tom Kolor, percussion

Konzertstück für Zwei Altsaxophone (1933)             Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)

I. Lebhaft

II. Mäßig langsam   

III. Lebhaft

Diane Hunger, saxophone, Wildy Zumwalt, saxophone

A Garland (For Bruce) (2012)                                  David Felder (1953)

Jonathan Golove, cello

"Minstrels"                                                                 Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

From Preludes (December 1919/January 1910)

12 Minstrels

Claudia Hoca, piano, Charles Castleman, violin

Poème élégiaque, Op. 12 (1895)                               Eugène Ysaÿe (1858-1931).

Claudia Hoca, piano, Charles Castleman, violin

                                               --Intermission--

"Suite italienne" (from Pulcinella, 1932)                   Igor  Stravinsky (1882- 1971)

Claudia Hoca, piano, Jonathan Golove, cello  

Three Dances                                                            Astor Piazolla (1921 – 1992)

Invierno Porteño

La Muerte del Àngel

Oblivion

Wildy Zumwalt saxophone,  Claudia Hoca piano,

Jonathan Golove cello, Moshe Shulman, bandoneon

David Taylor on the cover of
"Trombone" magazine

The second 'A Musical Feast' concert of the Spring 2013 season, on Friday, April 12th, at 8:00 p.m., will feature long-time friend of the Center David Taylor, a veteran and explosive New York trombonist with over four decades logged into performances, recordings, and tours. This concert will feature original compositions by David Taylor, as well as a piece by recently graduated UB composer John Bacon. The evening will also feature David Taylor's arrangement of Franz Schubert's Der Doppelgänger, arranged for bass trombone. The concert will conclude with Karlheinz Stockhausen's Signs of the Zodiac. The program follows:

                  ‘A Musical Feast’ Friday April 12 @ 8:00 PM                             

Song and Dance                                                           David Taylor (1944)

1. song

2. dance  

David Taylor, bass trombone, Michael McNeill, piano

Waves at Matsushima (2011)                                        John Bacon

Rin Ozaki, marimba  

Der Doppelgänger                                 Franz Schubert (1797-1828)/Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)  

David Taylor, bass trombone                                                 arranged by David Taylor (1944)  

                                                      --Intermission--

Tierkreis (Signs of the Zodiac) (1975)                           Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007)

 Rin Ozaki, marimba    CAPRICORN

Dave Taylor, bass trombone   GEMINI

John Bacon, drums, percussion, vibes   AQUARIUS

Michael McNeill, piano   ARIES

Jonathan Golove, cello   LEO

Both concerts will be in the Burchfield Penney Art Center at Buffalo State College. Look forward to seeing you there!         

'A Musical Feast' Spring 2013 season

Burchfield Penney Art Center

Peter & Elizabeth C. Tower Auditorium      

Buffalo State College         

1300 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14222

716-878-6011

burchfld@buffalostate.edu

Tickets: $20; Burchfield Penny members/students: $10.

Phone: 716-878-6011.

Information: www.amusicalfeast.com, or: www.BurchfieldPenny.org

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June in Buffalo Performance Institute applications already rolling in

The Robert and Carol Morris Center for 21st Century Music is pleased to report that the applications are already rolling in for the first ever June in Buffalo Performance Institute, at June in Buffalo 2013.  We have an absolutely all-star performance faculty line-up, including the JACK Quartet, Talujon Percussion, Eric Huebner, Jonathan Golove, and Tom Kolor. This will be a great opportunity for contemporary music percussionists, string quartets, ensembles, and other musicians to work with some of the most engaging, talented, and virtuosic musicians of our time. The Performance Institute enriches the entire June in Buffalo experience, and provides a network for composers and performers, young and old, emerging and veteran alike, to be able to meet, brainstorm, workshop, and collaborate together in a supportive and dynamic environment specifically designed to explore new musical frontiers.

For more information visit our website at www.music21c.org or contact the June in Buffalo Performance Institute director Eric Huebner. The application deadline (postmarked) is February 15, 2013.

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Synaesthesia

Many's the listener for whom a musical experience conjures visual images. For some, however, the experience is involuntary: different pitches and chords consistently give rise to specific colors, a phenomenon known as synesthesia. Alexander Scriabin, Olivier Messiaen, and Michael Torke are among the composers who have reported these correspondences, and it has inevitably influenced their music.

This Friday (Feb. 11) at 8 pm at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center, the Center for 21st Century Music is co-sponsoring a concert by A Musical Feast, titled "Sensory Crossovers: Synesthesia in American Art." The program includes Robert Muczynski's Gallery: Suite for Unaccompanied Cello; Kreisler's Coat by Jonathan Golove for cello and piano; Sequence pour un hymne à la nuit by Alain Margoni (1979); Ruth Wiesenfeld's stories still for cello and pre-recorded tape with voice; and Kodály's Duo for violin and cello. Golove, Fang Hew, and Carter Enyeart perform (in different pieces) on cello, while Claudia Hoca plays piano, and A Musical Feast's founder, Charles Haupt, joins in on violin for the Kodály.

While none of these pieces are by synesthetic composers, nearly all of them are inspired by visual images. Muczynski's Gallery was suggested by Burchfield's watercolors; a recording of Carter Enyeart playing the piece has recently been issued on the Centaur label. Golove took his cue for Kreisler's Coat from a description by E. T. A. Hoffmann (of the eponymous Tales) of a character who wore "a coat the color of C-sharp minor with an E-major colored collar." French composer Margoni was a student of Messiaen; Golove, who performs the work, finds echoes of Messiaen's "color chords" in it.

An enigmatic image - "a rotating lamp, illuminating for a moment only what happens to be within its beam of light" - spurred Wiesenfeld's piece, which makes use of a text by Samuel Beckett. Full program notes are available here.

Kodály's Duo completes the program, and while it doesn't have any specific visual genesis, it's always worth a listen. Here it is in a fine performance by violinist Kurt Nikkanen and cellist Daniel Gaisford.