"The country owes Other Minds and its dedicated performers a significant debt for bringing Cowell’s contributions-and above all, his criminally underheard music-back to his home territory."
-San Francisco Classical Voice
Last Thursday and Friday, Other Minds evoked the spirit of Henry Cowell with two concerts of his music, an extensive exhibition, and a panel discussion with stories from his friends, students, biographer, and champions of his works.
Audiences were treated to a rich buffet of works by Cowell, performed by the stunning Abel-Steinberg-Winant Trio, pianist Sarah Cahill, mezzo-soprano Wendy Hillhouse, and many others, including the Colorado String Quartet, pictured here with legendary violinist Anahid Ajemian (photo by Ellen Shershow).
The program booklet is now available online, with complete program notes, exhibition catalog, and essays by Charles Amirkhanian and Adam Fong of Other Minds as well as Cowell biographer Joel Sachs.Check out the review from San Francisco Classical Voice to re-live the shows, give us your feedback by e-mail or on Facebook, and whet your appetite... the recordings will be up on radiOM.org in the near future!
2. Join the Gathering of Other Minds
The word is out—in the last year, Other Minds has been featured in media across the nation and world, including The Wall Street Journal, Gramophone, Chamber Music Magazine, Fanfare, and International Record Review. Journalists are reporting what you already know: that Other Minds offers a one-of-a-kind array of innovative programs, with concert presentations, radio broadcasts, CD releases, and an unparalleled online archive. The Financial Times summary: OM is "exuberantly unclassifiable."What FT did not mention is that all this exuberance needs committed sponsors like you who understand that the music we love is unclassifiable as self-supporting. Don't let the headlines die. Take a stand right now and help us call attention to the exceptional music that routinely falls through the cracks of musical convention.
Join the Gathering of Other Minds and make your donation online today!
3. OM 15 Artist Preview: Lisa Bielawa
She was born in San Francisco, but her dual career as a performer and composer has taken around the world, for performances in Austria and Armenia, Normandy and New Haven, and her new hometown, New York. Lisa Bielawa has become a fixture of New York's new music scene, having performed as part of the Philip Glass Ensemble since 1992, and co-founded the thriving MATA Festival, which celebrates works by young composers.
But don't mistake Bielawa for just one of many NY-based composers. Her undergrad degree from Yale was in Literature, and her works often reveal as much: in the last few years she's drawn inspiration from Rainer Maria Rilke's epic poem The Lay of the Love and Death of Christopher Rilke, re-envisioned a musical drama by Hildegard von Bingen, and won widespread acclaim for her Kafka Songs, which will be performed by Carla Kihlstedt at OM 15.
This year, Bielawa is in residence at the American Academy in Rome, as the winner of the 2009 Rome Prize. Perhaps a grand opera is next!
>>Read more about Lisa and listen to her music
>>Purchase tickets for OM 15
4. OM 15 Artist Preview: Gyan Riley
"Mind-blowing chops," declared Acoustic Guitar Magazine in 2003. While his virtuosity as a guitarist has landed him gigs with Zakir Hussain, Dawn Upshaw, the San Francisco Symphony, and his father Terry Riley (OM 2), Gyan Riley's compositional chops are now launching him into the world of elite composer-performers.
Ten years ago, Riley was the first guitarist to be awarded a full scholarship to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Just last year, he received a much different kind of award: a prestigious commission from the Paul Dresher Ensemble to compose a new work. The piece, titled Minor Distractions, was premiered last September at Theater Artaud.
With support from the American Composers Forum and the Zellerbach Family Foundation, Other Minds has commissioned a new work from Riley, which will be premiered at OM 15. When Heron Sings Blue will feature Riley on guitar in the context of his trio, with Timb Harris (strings), Scott Amendola (percussion), and special guest Michael Manring (bass). In the meantime, you can hear Riley perform solo at Old St. Mary's Cathedral on December 15 at 12:30pm, or with his trio at Yoshi's San Francisco on December 22.
>>Read more about Gyan and listen to his music
>>Purchase tickets for OM 15
5. Now available for free listening at radiOM.org
Re-live the Lester Bowie Tribute Concert!Other Minds Presents: Lester Bowie Tribute Concert (October 9, 2009)
Lester Bowie was best known as co-founder and leader of the Art Ensemble of Chicago from 1968 until his passing in 1999. This tribute concert was organized by OM Board Member Sukari Ivester (Bowie's daughter) with added assistance from Other Minds. The concert brought to San Francisco Art Ensemble members Roscoe Mitchell (reeds), Famoudou Don Moye (percussion), and special guests Corey Wilkes (trumpet), James Carter (saxophones), Frank Lacy (trombone), Jon Jang (piano), and Peter Barshay (bass). These stellar musicians paid homage to Bowie, whom The Village Voice declared "the wiliest jazz provocateur of his generation," by performing a selection of free-jazz improvisations, as well as a number of songs written or recorded by Lester Bowie. Ranging from the New Orleans jazz infused When the Spirit Returns, to the bluesy G Minor, and the more abstract avant-garde improvisations of Roscoe Mitchell, Frank Lacy, and the others, this concert brings the full-throttled sound and amazing innovation of Bowie's genius to the stage one more time. Introductions and some background information is provided by Greg Bridges and James Carter.
We're proud to make available the following program featuring John Duffy, founder of Meet the Composer and recent guest of Other Minds at Henry Cowell: The Whole World of Music.
Morning Concert: John Duffy & Heritage: A Symphonic Suite with Narration (1988)
Charles Amirkhanian interviews composer John Duffy, whose television series soundtrack Heritage: Civilization & The Jews, has been reworked into a suite for orchestra with narrator. Duffy, the founder of the Meet the Composer organization, which assists groups in bringing composers to meet their audiences, has had a revolutionary impact on the American music scene of the late 20th century. Now Charles Amirkhanian plays turnabout and brings you John Duffy himself, interviewed shortly after his 60th birthday in his Manhattan studio on October 9, 1988. In this wide ranging interview Duffy discusses the role of religion in his life, his early studies with Henry Cowell and Luigi Dallapiccola, and the philosophy behind the Meet the Composer series. (from KPFA Folio)
Michael Sellers Plays the Music of Dane Rudhyar and Leo Ornstein (1972)
Although any collaborative documentation is missing, and the identification of the compositions attributed to Dane Rudhyar is somewhat tentative, this does appear to be a concert of works by Rudhyar and Leo Ornstein as performed by pianist Michael Sellers. The concert took place in 1972, and is quite likely the KPFA sponsored concert held on March 5, 1972 at the Live Oak Theater in Berkeley California. In addition to what seems to be performances of Rudhyar’s Granites, Pentagram No. 3, and Syntony, two works by Leo Ornstein are also heard, Poems of 1917 and Danse Sauvage.
The Politics and Music of Cornelius Cardew (1975)
From a program recorded on January 25, 1975, Charles Amirkhanian interviews the British composer, pianist, and Socialist, Cornelius Cardew. Born in 1936, Cardew had a traditional music education, studying composition and piano at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In the late 1950s he became interested in avant-garde and electronic music, working with Karlheinz Stockhausen, and composing a series of aleatoric pieces influenced by the ideas of John Cage and others. In the late 1960s and 70s Cardew's interest in Socialist politics, the Chinese Revolution, and the teachings of Mao Zedong, led him to reevaluate the academic avant-garde, essentially rejecting it as elitist, and irrelevant to the struggles of the working class. He went on to be a founding member of both the Scratch Orchestra and the People's Liberation Music, both of which were non-hierarchical musical collectives with decidedly pro-Socialist intentions. In this program Cardew discusses the political aspects of his music as well as playing a selection of his protest songs and politically inspired solo piano works. Cardew died in 1981, the victim of a suspicious hit and run accident. This program concludes with a spontaneous performance art piece by Ingram Marshall, otherwise known as eating lunch, and a brief excerpt from a tape work by Anthony Gnazzo.
6. Just added to the OM Webstore: Textures and Timbres by Henry Brant
Textures and Timbres: An Orchestrator's Handbookby Henry Brant
Carl Fischer Music TXT6
$39.95
Henry Brant's (OM 4) new guide to orchestration is the result of his lifelong work as a conductor, composer, and teacher; its first page written in the 1940s, and its final page written in 2005. In observation of other orchestration texts throughout his life, Brant realized that many were incomplete, in that they gave instructions based on "hoped-for evocations of mystic visions" rather than the actual, practical qualities of instruments. Textures and Timbres focuses on the study of acoustic instrumental tone-qualities, offering comprehensive systematic procedures for balancing and mixing them, both in harmonic and linear contexts. The lessons and inspiration shared in this text span Brant's entire career, from his work in commercial radio to his orchestration classes at the Juilliard School and orchestrations of numerous Hollywood film scores.
7. Author's Query: Biography of David Tudor
What do you know about David Tudor?The authority on the subject, John Holzaepfel, is requesting your contributions for his forthcoming biography on the legendary American pianist and composer:
For the completion of my biography of the pianist, composer, and electronic artist David Tudor (1926-1996) I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has correspondence, programs, recollections, recipes and other records of Tudor’s life, work, character, commitment to anthroposophy, and other interests. I would be particularly grateful to hear from those who knew Tudor during his visits to India and Japan.
John Holzaepfel
522 Robert St.
Fort Atkinson, Wis. 53538
Phone: 920-568-0874
Click here to send him an e-mail
8. Eventwire: Alcatraz by Ingram Marshall
