Dearest friends!

First off, this Sunday I will be performing with one of my favorite new music bands, Alarm Will Sound. Although I’ve  known these folks for many years, and feel like an honorary member of their ensemble, this will be my first time soloing with the group. I’m so thrilled to take part in their John Cage show this Sunday afternoon at 3pm, at the Abrons Art Center where we will perform selections from Cage’s Song Books in addition to portions of  Atlas Elipticals, and Concert for Piano and Variations. Putting this together has been an amazing experience, and it is such a joy to work with Alan Pierson, Nigel Master , AWS’ resident staging director; and noted John Cage expert Rob Haskins. We’ll be touring selections of this program in the midwest the last week of March and more in Europe this summer.

My second series of performances this month is a premiere of a new 30 minute work by David T. Little for the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. “Brooklyn Village” is a multimedia event seeking to pair works of the past with world premieres centered around Brooklyn’s rich and diverging history. This concert will feature works of Beethoven, Bristow and Aaron Copland, as well as works of Sufjan Stevens, and a world premiere of Sarah Kirkland Snider, in addition to David T. Little’s piece “Am I Born”, which you may have heard a sneak peek of back in October at the World Financial Center. “Brookyln Village” premieres March 24th and 25th at 7:30 pm at the new Roulette location in Brooklyn.

Hope to see some of you at these shows, and please drop me a line if you have questions about tickets. I often have comps and discount codes handed to me.

ALARM WILL SOUND
March 18, 2012 at 3:00pm
Abron Arts Center, New York City

John Cage, short theatrical works

BROOKLYN VILLAGE
March 24, 2012 at 7:30 pm
Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn NY

David T. Little, Am I Born to Die

BROOKLYN VILLAGE
March 25, 2012 at 7:30 pm
Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn NY

David T. Little, Am I Born to Die

ALARM WILL SOUND
March 28, 2012 at 8:00pm
Bowling Green State University, Ohio

John Cage, short theatrical works

ALARM WILL SOUND
March 30, 2012 at 8:00pm
Oakland University, Rochester, MI

John Cage, short theatrical works

ALARM WILL SOUND
March 31, 2012 at 8:00pm
Fontana Chamber Arts, Kalamazoo, MI

John Cage, short theatrical works

I’m so thrilled to announce that on January 19th I will perform Mohammed Fairouz’s “Tawidah” with world renowned klezmer clarinetist David Krakauer at Weill Hall. Please join me for an evening of Mohammed’s vocal and chamber music by stellar performers such as the Imani Winds, the Transatlantic Ensemble, and many others. 

Here is the repertoire that Trinity will be performing beginning on Monday September 4th. All of these concerts/masses are free and open to the public. In addition to these concerts, there are many others that are being offered as part of the same week of concerts, but I’ve only listed the ones that Trinity Choir will be participating in. For a full list please go here.

September 4th

9am Eucharist @ Trinity Church

Gabriel Fauré Messe Basse

Pie Jesu from Requiem

10 am Eucharist @ Trinity Church

J.S. Bach BWV 229 Komm, Jesu, komm

Julian Wachner Ave, dulcissima Maria

8pm Compline @ St. Paul’s Chapel

Improvised Chant

Julian Wachner, Ave, dulcissima Maria

September 5th

Bach at One @ St. Paul’s Chapel

J.S. Bach BWV 106 Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit

                  BWV 227 Jesu, meine Freude

                  BWV 225 Singet dem Herrn

September 6th

Bach at One @ St Paul’s Chapel

J.S. Bach BWV 131 Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir

                 BWV 228 Fürchte dich nicht

                 BWV 229 Komm, Jesu, komm

                 BWV 226 Der Geist hilft

September 7

Bach at One @ St. Paul’s Chapel

J.S. Bach BWV 106 Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit

                  BWV 227 Jesu, meine Freude

                  BWV 225 Singet dem Herrn

September 8

Bach at One @ St Paul’s Chapel

J.S. Bach BWV 131 Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir

                 BWV 228 Fürchte dich nicht

                 BWV 229 Komm, Jesu, komm

                 BWV 226 Der Geist hilft

September 9

Trinity Choir 6pm @ St. Paul’s Chapel

György Ligeti Lux aeterna

Herbert Howels Take Him, Earth, for Cherishing

Robert Kyr Selections from Songs of the Soul

Martin Amlin Time’s Caravan

Julian Wachner Four Scenes from the Rubaiyat

8:30 pm @ Trinity Church

Gabriel Fauré Requiem

Randall Thompson Last Words of David

Spiritual Soon ag Will Be Done

Lukas Foss Psalm 23

Anthony Furnivall Amazing Grace

Marjorie Merryman Windhover Fantasy

Johannes Brahms  Mvts V, VI, VII from Ein Deutche Requiem

Leonard Bernstein Chichester Psalms

J.S. Bach Dona nobis pacesm from BWV 232 Mass in B minor

September 10

Bach at One @ St Paul’s Chapel

J.S. Bach BWV 34 O ewiges Feuer, o Ursprung der Liebe

Martin Amlin Time’s Caravan

September 11

9am Eucharist @ Trinity Church

Roxanna Panufnik Westminster Mass

Virgil Thomson My Shepherd Will Supply My Need

Herbert Howells Coventry Antiphon

11:15 Eucharist @ Trinity Church

Herbert Howells Coventry Antiphon

John Tavener Sing for Athene

Antony Furnivall Amazing Grace

8pm Compline @ St. Paul’s Chapel

Improvised Chant

Carlyle Sharpe Peace

György Ligeti Lux aeterna

September 12

Bach at One @ St. Paul’s Chapel

J.S. Bach BWV 79 Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild

                  BWV 192 Nun danket ist alle Gott

October 12th

WNYC will host this special free concert featuring music by David T. Little, Corey Dargel, Mos Def, Derek Bermel, Lev Zhurbin and Frederik Rzewski.  I’ll be singing an excerpt of David T. Little’s “Winter Scene” a special collaboration between Little and librettist extraordinaire Royce Vavrek and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. The full production of this new commissioned piece will be March 24th and 25th. More information on that concert which will also feature works of Sarah K. Snider, Sufjan Stevens, and Bethoven’s 3rd! can be found here.

October 14th

Alex Temple has written a wonderful piece for ACO and myself with electronics. It is entitled “Liebeslied” and here are some of Alex’s notes to me on the piece:

In this piece, I’m trying to do two things at once:  first of all, to expose the hidden similarities between 1940s/50s jazz/pop/crooner ballads and 19th-century German orchestral lieder, and secondly and more importantly, to expose the secret creepiness of those mid-20th-century ballads.  Specifically, I’ve noticed that the metaphors that these songs use for love are often very surreal, and sometimes even disturbing if taken literally.  You’ve got people who can’t see anyone but their lover (“I Only Have Eyes For You”), people who can’t perceive the outside world until they meet their lover (“Till There Was You”), people living out an endlessly cyclical dream-fantasy à la Last Year at Marienbad (“Some Enchanted Evening”), mysterious music floating in the night (“Skylark”), and so on…..In each world, the music becomes more abstract and further removed from the exaggerated pop-ballad style that the piece opens with.  There’s more and more reverb on your voice, and in the last section, the reverb trail is actually pitch-shifted up and down, like a very, very slow vibrato.

Here is some additional info on the other pieces for the opening concert at Zankel 10/14

Orchestra Underground: 21st Firsts
George Manahan, music director & conductor
Kenji Bunch, amplified viola
Mellissa Hughes, soprano & electronics
Daniel Iglesia, videographer

Kenji Bunch – The Devil’s Box (World Premiere, Mary Rodgers Guettel/Meet The Composer commission)
Christopher Stark – …and start west (World Premiere, ACO/Underwood commission)
Alex Temple – Liebeslied with voice, electronics & orchestra (World Premiere, ACO commission)
Andreia Pinto-Correia – Elegia a Al-Mu’tamid (World Premiere, ACO/Patricia Wylde commission)
Wang Lu – Flowing Water Study II for Orchestra & Video (World Premiere, ACO/Jerome Foundation commission)

An all world premiere program featuring Orchestra Underground, ACO’s smaller, flexible, entrepreneurial orchestra that embraces electronics, multimedia, unusual instruments, new collaborations and new influences.

Big News!

Finally, I’m pleased to announce that I’m working this season with Emily Motherwell from OtherArts. Emily represents many other up and coming composers in my field, and has a special talent and affection for working with musicians in the new music community. She’s in largely unchartered territory and is already taking the city by storm!

Be sure to check back soon as I hope to have a post on the very special 9/11 remembrance concerts I will be taking part in, as well as a full listing of my concerts this season.

On Monday I had the privelege of dong a WQXR live chat hosted by the lovely Olivia Giovetti. Joining me was fellow Asphalt and SIGNAL flutist Jessica Schmitz, and the busy violist and composer Ljova Zhurbin.We talked of the upcoming opening concert for the Rite of Summer Festival this Saturday on Governor’s Island, and about the recent burst of outdoor free summer concerts. It was my first time participating in a Live Chat session, and I had a lot of fun. Read the full chat here.

Jessica, Ljova and I will all be participating in a massive 40 member production of Terry Riley’s In C on Saturday at Governor’s Island at 1pm and again at 3pm. Join some of NYC’s hippest musicians, led by piano impresario Jed Distler, for a FREE performance of a pinnacle work of Minimalism.

Music by Jacob Cooper

Text by Bansho

Photo by Jill Steinberg

A few weeks ago a video crew came to the apartment to film Matt talking about his music, how he composes and film a bit of  rehearsal. Although I spend most of Matt’s interviews and podcasts hiding in the bedroom, they asked me a few questions about how we had met and started collaborating. The whole piece ends with a modern dance performance of Matt’s “I Pretended” with the Brooklyn Brass Quintet. Totally worth a watch!

Music at First presents Provocative Vox and Saccharine Synths on March 25th

New York, NY – Brooklyn Heights-based Music at First Series announces its second concert of 2011, featuring sets from vocalist Mellissa Hughes and synthesizer player Lorna Krier. The “dazzling diva” (Time Out New York) Mellissa Hughes will perform works that explore topics such as death, sexuality, and Craigslist, by Jacob Cooper, Corey Dargel, Ted Hearne, Gabriel Kahane, Matt Marks, and Eric Shanfield. Lorna Krier continues to “break down the boundary between new classical and indie rock” (Lukas Ligeti) with Selected Saccharine Songs Without Words for synthesizers and drum machines, featuring special guests Dream Massage and bassist Eleonore Oppenheim.

Accompanied by the critically-acclaimed pianist Timo Andres, the first half of Mellissa Hughes’ set features a love poem by e. e. cummings set in dark tones by Ted Hearne, poems by Matthea Harvey—who enthusiastically endorses Eric Shanfield’s setting—and extractions from Craigslist posts, set by Gabriel Kahane. The second half of Hughes’ set draws inspiration from a Bashō haiku, set by Jacob Cooper for voice and track, the last words of executed offenders, set by Corey Dargel (also for voice and track), and Royce Vavrek’ s snapshots of a woman’ s sexual life, set by Matt Marks for voice and brass quintet.

Lorna Krier, founding member of Victoire and Love Like Doloreans, surrounds herself with electronics and guest musicians to present her genre-bending Selected Saccharine Songs Without Words. Joining Krier are the other two-thirds of LLD, as well as Stephen Greisgraber and fellow Victoire member Eleonore Oppenheim. Videographer Jon Williams complements the new wave-meets-minimalism songs with real-time editing in a Quartz patching environment.

Concert Details:
WHAT: Must at First Series featuring Mellissa Hughes and Lorna Krier
WHEN: Friday, March 25, 2011, 7:30pm
WHERE: First Presbyterian Church (Brooklyn Heights)
124 Henry St, Brooklyn, NY
2/3 to Clark St.; A/C to High St.; R/4/5 to Borough Hall
ADMISSION: $10
INFO: www.musicatfirstsite.com

About Music at First Series
Music at First is an exciting new concert series that takes place at First Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn Heights. It features a diverse mix of some of New York City’s best new music ensembles, performers, and composers, accessible to a wide audience of both community members and seasoned new music listeners. Concerts take place monthly at First Presbyterian Church and begin at 7:30pm with a $10 admission. www.musicatfirstsite.com

A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from The Notekillers guitarist and composer David First. We had collaborated together on a somewhat microtonal electronic piece in 2008, which we later went on to record. It’s an incredibly powerful piece to listen to, and one of my first attempts at blending classical and pop styles together. I found the following notes in an e-mail I sent to my parents about the piece:

“I had a stop watch, and a series of notes and text that I was supposed to get through to be somewhat in time with the music. You’ll notice that sometimes I line up with the changes and sometimes I blend through them. It was a blast to perform, and quite effective. To many people at the show, it was their favorite piece of the night. All of the musical changes corresponded to various lighting cues that I could never see, because my eyes were somewhat glued to my stopwatch…After every shift in the music, we rotate exactly 40 cents higher, which means after a while, I’m singing higher than I’m reading, which is why the under track sounds slightly out of tune, it isn’t tempered to be within a scale, the intervals are perfect, which we aren’t used to hearing… the result it somewhat “trippy” so I’m told..”

Let Us Sample Protection

Music by David First

Lyrics by Anselm Berrigan

When I was little I cut off the heads of many lords
I can’t count on the energy that took to rise in me at will
But I’ve strengthened my ability to activate a stand firm surface
A steady gaze will drive conflicted info away
Back to the abyss from whence it came
But I’ll be right here the morning after
Wracked in a private shame
Too awful to admit and of no consequence at all
I work very hard not to let myself go
Any channel can tell
Due process appears in beauty and misgiving all at once
An agility borne from creative malice
A benign insecurity misleading
The plain truth is I forget the curtains are open sometimes
And the hands wander constantly
The room stares back from its things
They understand the end of the world will not waste time feeling your pain
And everything tragic
In between
Need not be known
I don’t want love or remorse to follow
I want them in the way somehow
Things to burst through
Corrolaries to be roped and tackled by
Surprise, get killed, and thank you
Would your God be bored if everyone was happy?
One fate transforms into another
But I won’t touch that bandaged story
I won’t belong to that scripted conversation
Though I may play along
Identity theft accepting renewal orders
Copy cat pre-emptive attacks
An obscure murder string on the public glide by sight
The victim was a Johndoughnut pining for leadership from the passenger seat
The threat of meaning reassures
‘Cause I know it’s being made for me
Am I supposed to believe we’re receiving information?
Can I defect back to curiosity in the moonlight stone rabbit?
Hit on by Echo
I go cold for the love of my own exile
And while I hope
My flesh explodes
Into an arrangement of stars pestered by darkness
Those aren’t birds you hear
Just corresponding holes in the sky
I know all the bottled water isn’t fooling anyone