duoATL concert November 4 at 3pm

duoATL will perform this Sunday (11/4) at 3pm at Northside Drive Baptist Church: 3100 Northside Drive, Atlanta, GA 30305.

Here's the program:

Caprice(1999)- Katherine Hoover (b. 1937)

Jarcias (1992) I, II, III - Antonio Ruiz-Pipo (1934-1997)

Sonatina, for Flute and Guitar, I. Cantanda con simplicidade - Radames Gnattali (1906-1988)

Libertango - Astor Piazzolla (1921 - 1992)

West End Funk (2007) - Brian Luckett (Atlanta Composer)

--Intermission--

Primera Crónicas del Descubrimiento (1988) I. Leyenda Taina, II.Danza - Roberto Sierra (b.1953)


Histoire du Tango (1985), I. Bordel 1900, II. Cafe 1930, III.Nightclub 1960, IV. Concert d'aujourd hui - Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)


I Loved Lucy (1996) - Michael Daughtery (b.1954)

Thanks from Five Points Ensemble

[Posted at the request of Albert Ahlstrom and the Five Points Ensemble.]

We had a great show and a very good turnout for our first program.

We want to thank James Paulk for a very nice review/article that appeared on Wedenesday in the AJC. James is a new writer who is working with Pierre at the AJC.

We are organizing new concerts now. We are open to all professional performers interested in presenting 21st century music, or composers that would like to submit music to our expanding core group, or have other professional performers in mind.

We had quite a diverse audience and some of the audience members told me that, though they might not have understood all of the music, they did enjoy hearing the music played so well. This is our goal- interesting, varied and professionally performed programs of 21st century music, with Atlanta music being part of the focus.

—Albert Ahlstrom

ASO gets Mellon Grant

Some information about the ASO's latest grant it was awarded. Part of it dedicated for new music: http://www.atlantasymphony.org/documents/Release_102507_Mellon.pdf

Midtown Brass Performs Work by Atlanta Composer, Erik Kofoed

(Submitted by Erik Kofoed, composer, and Paul Poovey, trumpet for Midtown Brass)

Sunday,10/21 from 3-4:30pm at the Florence Kopleff Recital at Georgia State University

For anyone who is interested the Midtown Brass Quintet is playing my piece, 'The Green Movement' this Sunday afternoon at Georgia State University. I will also be MCing the concert for them. They are a fanstastic ensemble and have a very cool program. Come out and support live, new music. The details follow.

MIDTOWN BRASS QUINTET IN RECITAL

For those that missed us at the 5 seasons in Alpharetta back in August, we’re giving a recital(free event) at Georgia State University on Sunday,10/21 from 3-4:30pm at the Florence Kopleff Recital Hall Here are directions from the GSU website:

http://www.music.gsu.edu/locations.aspx

For those of you who haven’t seen us live yet, we try to cover all the bases when we perform. You’ll hear music from Bach, the Beatles, the Swing era, and we’re please to feature several new works for brass quintet,including a really nice piece by film composer Michael Kamen, and a couple more by up-and-coming local composer, Erik Kofoed.

Again, I hope many of you can come out and support LIVE music, and don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions!

Five Points Ensemble to debut Oct. 22

[The following announcement was submitted by composer Albert Ahlstrom.]

Five Points Ensemble
Mon. Oct. 22nd, 7:30 at GSU

Everyone is invited to the first program by Atlanta'a newest new music group "Five Points Ensemble" Mon. Oct 22 at 7:30 at GSU. This is a group that will be playing only music of the 21st century (no historical music from the 60s and 70s) that interests the performers. We want this group to be a performer/composer collective that will program works by many composers in the Atlanta area, as well as new music from around the world.

Kenneth Long, clarinet - Nickitas Demos, Tonoi III for solo clarinet (2001)
Christopher Rozmarin, trombone - Jean-Francois Michel, Homage for Jean Tinguely
Sarah Ambrose, flute - Andrew Rindfleisch, Tears for solo flute
Albert Ahlstrom, piano/composer - Summer Sky for solo piano (2006)
Adam Pendleton, saxophone - Zachary Crockett, Fight to Flow Between for solo saxophone (2006)

Here are the goals of the group:

1. Performer driven
    Repertoire selected by a professional performer or group - professional as in faculty at music school or regularly performing in public throughout the metro area.

2. Collective, No curatorial oversight
    The music will be selected by the performers and there will not be a theme or focus to the programs. Ideally there will be a mix of live, electronic interactive, edgy, somewhat traditional - all of which will be interested in conveying new ideas. This group is a collective gathering of people interested in hearing and performing new music. Hopefully our concerts will be engaging, stimulating, not fall into any set style of new music, and will reach out to a wide variety of audiences. I would love to see some jazz players, video artists, etc. blending on these concerts.

3. No funding or grant proposals
    New music groups in Atlanta often become bogged down in the funding process. The limitation and source of funds can limit the number of the programs presented, and often limit the programming. There will be no funds provided for performers. We want to present enough concerts that we will be seen as a regular source of new music, and we want our programs to be known as varied and engaging. As part of this idea we will present programs in places such as museums, libraries, art galleries, etc.

4. Be a venue for new music
    Rather than squeeze one new piece on a program with lots of old music, this will be a way for a group to present one new piece without having to prepare an entire program. Then the group will be able to enjoy hearing other new music without having to worry about performing several other pieces that same night. This of course implies that the performers have an interest in new music, and hopefully this will be a way to bring these performers and the composers in Atlanta together to build a community. To this end we are planning for simple receptions after the programs that will be opportunities for everyone to socialize.

5. An Atlanta Composer angle
    We will have several pieces on each program that will be written by Atlanta area composers. This will always be a key component of the group, but we do not want to limit the repertoire to exclude music from around the world. Part of our objective is to make the composition that is taking place in Atlanta a part of the world community of music.

—Albert Ahlstrom

neoPhonia 10/9/07

From Nick Demos -

You are cordially invited to the first neoPhonia New Music Ensemble concert of the 2007/08 season.

We take a look at all those mundane and seemingly unimportant moments in life: an unnoticed street performer, the smell of rain, a typical day in the life of a music school as well as the act of breathing and dancing. In the hands of skilled composers, these moments are revealed as extraordinary. Join us as we reveal the Extraordinary Ordinary... on the next neoPhonia concert.

The concert takes place at on Tuesday, October 9 at 7:30 PM in the Kopleff Recital Hall on the campus of Georgia State University in lovely downtown Atlanta and is, of course, FREE and open to the public.


program:

A Minute of News by Eugene NOVOTNEY
for solo snare drum

The premiere of Petrichor by GSU alumnus Adam Scott NEAL
for clarinet and computer generated sounds

09.17.2003 by Mike McFERRON
for Stereo Digital Audio Media

Balafon by Christian LAUBA
for solo alto saxophone

[Bi:guni chum] by Dohi MOON
for cello trio


The concert will feature GSU Faculty Artists Kenneth LONG, clarinet and
Adam PENDLETON, saxophone


The Kopleff Recital Hall is located within the Arts and Humanities Building which is on the corner of Peachtree Center Avenue and Gilmer Street in downtown Atlanta. Street parking may be available in this area, or you may use I-Lot (Peachtree Center Ave). For more detailed directions and maps, please check out the GSU School of Music website at

http://www.music.gsu.edu


As always, you will be able to meet and greet the composers and performers after the concert at a reception hosted by the GSU Student Chapter of the Society of Composers, Inc. (SCI).

Knox's Semordnilap No. 2 to be performed tonight at Bargemusic

Cary and Dorothy Lewis (former Atlantans, now based in Portland, Oregon) write to let us know about their NYC performance tonight which includes music by Atlanta composer Charles Knox:

"we are in nyc right now playing tonight at bargemusic including chas' 2002 ..." says Cary.

Bargemusic is Brooklyn's floating concert hall for chamber music, on an actual barge docked at the Fulton Ferry Landing on the East River.

Here's the whole program:

October 3 • Wednesday, 8 pm at Bargemusic
Charles Knox: Semordnilap No. 2 ("2002")
Edwin Robertson: Music for Cello and Piano
Mozart: Sonata in e minor, K. 304 (arr. for Viola and Piano)
Chopin: Piano Trio in g minor, Op. 8, CT. 206 (arr. for Viola, Cello and Piano)
  Daniel Avshalomov, viola
  Dorothy Lewis, cello
  Cary Lewis, piano

Composers: What ideas might Bargemusic suggest to you for alternative performance spaces around Atlanta? Let's hear your thoughts.

Atlanta Composers Myspace Submissions

Hello everyone,

You may remember from an earlier post that I have made a MySpace page to feature Atlanta composers. I would like to update this monthly, but have not had any new submissions for October. Keep them coming in!

Please send mp3s (or URLs for me to download) here:
atlantacomposers@yahoo.com

Even if we have featured your music before, submit pieces anyway. I am treating this as first-come, first-served. We can feature 5 pieces at a time, and I think that if we keep rotating the music, people will check back on the page more often. No, you don't have to join MySpace, but if you are on there, please befriend Atlanta Composers and tell all of your fans to befriend us, too!

cheers,
ASN

Making It: Today's Music Success Model

Good little commentary on making it in today's music biz. Though addressed to songwriters, I believe this equally applies to us composers (perhaps even more so.)

What's your definition of success, and how are you achieving it?

Concert Idea from "Wordless"

From Sequenza21, here's an interesting story about a concert series that features classical and rock music on the same program:

"For a series only slightly over a year old, Wordless Music has made astonishing waves. Givony’s brainchild, which he only anticipated lasting two or three concerts, ends up in the black from ticket sales alone and has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and The New Yorker. His programs aim to be half-classical, half-rock, though he estimates about 90% of the audience comes for the latter. While such a programming style may not meet the curatorial standards of Lincoln Center, he tries to create sensible musical pairings. When he was able to secure Beirut for a concert on September 20th, for instance, he thought programming some Osvaldo Golijov would complement the band’s Balkan, Levantine sounds. Other times, however, Givony scrapes together a half-hour of classical music and sees whatever decent band he can get. So far, so good."

Since classical and rock are my two favorite kinds of music, this seems natural to me. I'd like to try this in Atlanta. The Atlanta Composers Meetup is currently working on an upcoming electronic music concert this Fall. Perhaps after that, we could curate a classical/rock show for Winter/Spring?

Your thoughts? Worth pursuing?

Anyone have any favorite local rock groups that you could recommend?

Dorkbot Art and Technology Forum

The first dorkbot-atl meeting of the year will be held next Wednesday, September 5 at 7 pm in the Couch Building (music department) at Georgia Tech in room 207. This month, we have two fascinating presentations by Matt Simpson and David Lieberman that should be of particular interest to readers of this blog.

Full details on the presentations and directions to the building are available at:

http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotatl/

The Atlanta chapter of Dorkbot, the international forum on art and technology dedicated to “people doing strange things with electricity,” is sponsored by the Music Department. Its lectures are free and open to the public.

We hope to see you on Wednesday!

--

Matt Simpson: The Laptop Studio: Performance at home, and the Studio on stage


With the advent of affordable multi-gigahertz laptop computers, the electronic music studio has shrunk from racks of costly synth hardware not just 5 years ago to a laptop and various input devices. As a result, the current and upcoming generation of electronic musicians are turning to the laptop as a full blown, self contained, multi in and out production rig without thinking twice. Coupled with the extremely rapid and robust development of music (and otherwise) software, new as well as long-desired sonic techniques have developed. One primary example can be found in the synergy of the studio and the stage. Software such as Ableton Live allows a laptop musician to instantly create multi-layered improvisations in his or her own studio just as easily
as taking what was meticulously crafted in the studio into a live setting for any and all sonic manipulation. This can most clearly be seen in the Laptop Battles, a tournament-style community-driven competition held in cities across the world. Rules are simple - one laptop, one input device, and 2-3 minutes. What results is often unique and innovative, helping to break
the barriers between musican and music consumer, and ultimately introducing people interested in music making to comprehensible and powerful tools of sonic creation.

Matt Simpson is a native of Atlanta, with occasional stops in South Florida and the farms of South Georgia. Graduated 2004 from Georgia Tech with a B.S. in Computer Engineering, Co-Chair of Nophi Recordings, local organizer of the 2007 Laptop Battles, 2006 Atlanta Laptop Battle champion, former member of The Secret Life, current member of Harmaline and PASSWARDSZ. Raised on a healthy diet of 8-bit sounds and FM synthesis, Matt has been a rabid consumer of all things audio since his earliest sound experiments at an early age (from jumping on the hardwood floor of his home to rhythmically skip Michael Jackson's "Thriller", to tossing a plush parrot with a record/playback device embedded, timing the 'oof's and 'ahh's with every hit of the stairs). Trained on the keyboard and viola, Matt has made computer music since 1996. Matt initially learned on DOS-based trackers, and has steadily built a project studio that today encompasses nearly 30 synthesizers, drum machines, circuit bent devices, toys, and self-built miscellanea.

--

David Lieberman: Game Enhanced Music Manuscript: The Anigraphical Etudes

A unique set of developmental issues present themselves when applying game theory concepts to the creation of interactive music manuscript in video game format for concert performance (game-scores). Paying special attention to structural, mathematical, and sociopsychological similarities, those issues become apparent when observing the correlation between the two distinct human activities of performing music manuscript and playing games. Precepts from ludology (the study of video games) and structural issues applicable to traditional video game development require consideration too. Game- scores may then be evaluated within the context of the benefits and ramifications that result from the convergence of video games and music manuscript. The Anigraphical Etudes are a set of animated, interactive music manuscript for live concert performance in video game format. The pieces incorporate into traditional western notation the added dimensions of decision-making, size, color, motion, and computational algorithm to enhance the live performance experience.

David Lieberman: Early training at the San Francisco Conservatory and with Canadian composer Harry Freedman. BM, MA, Doctor of Music from Northwestern University where his principal teachers were Ben Johnston, Alan Stout, and William Karlins. Additional graduate study at U.C. Berkeley with Gerard Grisey. Advanced Master Classes with Jacob Druckman and Bernard Rands (Aspen Music Festival) and with British composer Judith Weir (Oregon Bach Festival). Additional instruction with Samuel Adler and Milton Babbit. Taught Computer Music as Visiting Assistant Professor in Music Theory and Technology at the prestigious Oberlin College at the age of 25. Resident Composer Brooklyn College Computer Music Center. Adjunct faculty Union County College, N.J. Visiting/Guest Lecturer/Artist/Speaker: NYU, U. Mass. Amherst, Kobe Tokiawa College, Atlanta College of Art, Univ. Miami FL, College Music Society Southern Regional Conference (Univ. of Florida, Tampa), International Conference for the Web Delivery of Music (Wedelmusic/Interactive Music Network: Univ. of Leeds, England), Project Bar B Que (Interactive Audio Think Tank), Graphite 2006 (4th International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques-Univ. Teknologi Malaysia UT. Commissions: San Francisco Chamber Symphony, Stoney Brook Contemporary Players. Awards: BMI Student Composers, Highest Honors Northwestern U., American Music Center, National Saxophone Society, Kensington Symphony, others. Grants: Meet the Composer, Ekstein Trust. Publications: Game Enhanced Music Manuscript, AMC Press. Currently not affiliated with a university and resides in Atlanta, GA.

Atlanta Electronic Music, Popular?!

Hello All,

I was just looking at my web stats and noticed that so far this year, fifty-two (52) people have landed on my personal website (entirely separate from this blog) using some combination of the keywords 'atlanta electronic music'. Compared to all the other keywords people are using to find me, that's a lot concentrated on one phrase.

Are you all seeing this in your stats too? Might we be onto something here? A demand for our electronic music, folks! Whaddaya think?

Maybe we ought to have another electronic music show like we did last February. Could be bigger than I realize.

How can we capitalize on this?
Your thoughts, please.

Strayform Tries Indie New Music Model

"Strayform is a Texas startup that, like SellaBand and the recently funded Amie Street, is giving unsigned artists a way to promote and sell their music.

Like SellaBand, artists sign up, upload some of their music and then create proposals for new music they want to create. Fans can listen to and download the music (DRM free), and donate directly to proposals they like. The proposals are all different. One artist, for example, says he will mention the name of person who pledges the most in the song itself."

Great to see another website geared toward independent artist promotion. I like the model (getting paid *before* the creation of a work--like a commission.) I just signed up and will give it a shot. Will let you know what I find. I encourage others to try it too. Follow the link (click this post's title) to find more info on TechCrunch. Strayform's website is http://www.strayform.com/.

ASO plays Gresham @ Piedmont Park

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Jere Flint conducting, will perform my "Music for a Summer Celebration" today, Sunday, August 12 @ 7:30pm, as part of its free "Bark in the Park" concert at Piedmont Park. Assuming it doesn't rain, this will be the second performance by the ASO, which premiered the 5-minute work last year at Wolf Creek Park. So far, there have been 5 performances in all by 3 orchestras, so this will be number 6 in the work's 13-month performance history. Please come to the concert if you can. It's free, outdoors and pet-friendly.
  —Mark Gresham

Atlanta Composers Myspace Page

Hello all -

I have started a Myspace page to showcase Atlanta composers. The intention of this page is to have a rotating showcase of our works (4 at a time, each up for a few weeks). Please follow the link above and befriend us! Also if you wish, you may send me an mp3 (to atlantacomposers@yahoo.com) of your favorite work to be posted on the page.



Many thanks,
Adam Neal

Atlanta Composers Meetup

For those who haven't heard, there is a new Atlanta Composers Meetup. Our first meeting is Tues, July 10. 7:30pm at my house.

Event Description:
We will discuss how to develop and promote local concerts of our music, with particular emphasis on a Summer/Fall 2007 concert. Topics will include potential venues, ensembles, instrumentation, media, etc. Please come and share your ideas.

Please register at Meetup.com and RSVP for the meeting.

(Because Meetup.com charges me a monthly fee for their services, I'm requesting that people contribute $2 at the meeting.)

See you there!

NY Times Article: Classical Music Imperiled...

Classical Music Imperiled: Can You Hear the Shrug?

Thoughts?

R. Timothy Brady co-winner of Opera Vista competition

 
Atlanta composer R. Timothy Brady emerged as a co-winner of the first annual Opera Vista Festival competition this past week with his new 40-minute chamber opera Edalat Square.

Opera Vista, a Houston-based organization dedicated to new opera, hosted the Festival, which took place from June 21-24, 2007 at the Barnevelder Arts Complex in Houston, Texas. After a professional jury winnowed down the number of contestants and operas to five, the Festival audience was called upon to select the winning work by vote, based upon live performances of 15-minute excepts from each. The result was a tie between Brady's Edalat Square and Soldier Songs by New Jersey composer David T. Little.

"We counted the votes numerous times (because it was rather incredible)," said Opera Vista's artistic director Viswa Subbaraman in an public message to the Orchestralist online discussion group. "They both received exactly the same number of votes!" As a result, both winning operas will be performed fully staged during the 2008 Opera Vista Festival.

The complete Edalat Square received its premiere April 15th of this year at Emory University, where Brady (b. 1985 in Atlanta) studied composition with John Anthony Lennon and graduated cum laude this year with a B.A. in music composition.

The composer offered the Festival the following synopsis:

"Darkness and despair, disguised as piety and righteousness, descend from atop the minarets of the mosques, consuming those who seek hope through the light of God. On July 19, 2005 in Edalat Square, Iran, Mahmoud Asgari (17) and Ayaz Marhoni (16) were hanged for the crime of lavaat (sex between two men). Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, an estimated 4,000 people have been executed for lavaat. Inspired by the circumstances surrounding the execution of Mahmoud and Ayaz, the soul of Edalat Square emerges from the poetic essence of the Sufi mystics—emerging from silence and meditation, melody and prayer. Disturbed by a crisis in Islam, the soul awakens..."

Houston Press critic D.L. Groover reviewed the Festival competition in an article published Thursday (28 June, 2007), which can be found online here at www.houstonpress.com.

In his review, Groover called Eladat Square both "the most adventurous of the lot—in both music and libretto" and "poignant, highly poetic."

R. Timothy Brady (who, by the way, is not to be confused the Canadian composer/guitarist Tim Brady) offers on his MySpace Music page a clip from the evocative multi-track pre-recorded vocal opening of the opera ("Preview" in the audio samples list) and a short radio interview with WABE-FM's Wanda Temko, recorded and broadcast prior to the work's Emory premiere.

For more information about Opera Vista, go to www.operavista.org

—Mark Gresham, composer/music journalist • 28 June 2007

[NOTE: This article by Mark Gresham is cross-posted from his EarRelevant blog.]
 

AEGEAN COUNTERPOINT - CHAMBER MUSIC BY NICKITAS DEMOS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JUNE 2007

MSR Classics
Independent Classical Music Label has released

AEGEAN COUNTERPOINT - CHAMBER MUSIC BY NICKITAS DEMOS

For more information about this recording and to purchase, please visit the MSR website at:
http://www.msrcd.com/1193/1193.html

Mercury Season at Spruill Arts Center

Mercury Season, a new chamber music ensemble here in Atlanta, is throwing a chamber music concert at the The Spruill Art Gallery in Dunwoody on Tuesday the 19th of June at 7:30pm. Featuring original works and arrangements by Atlanta Composer Erik Kofoed.

Tues. June 19th, 7:30pm
4681 Ashford Dunwoody Road
Atlanta, GA 30338
Cost : Donations accepted
http://www.spruillarts.org/gallery.htm
A free concert of chamber music. Performing amidst the gallery's emerging artist showcase, we are presenting music borrowed, adapted, and not usually heard in a concert hall. Drinks and refreshments will be available. Works by Bach, Villa-Lobos, Massenet,Lennon, Byrd, Monk, Beyonce, and Kofoed

Mercury Season is a collective of classical musicians that take classic and pop music and recombine it through varied instrumental possibilities to present eclectic but emotionally connected programs that engage and entertain mind and soul.

This concert features Nicole Randall on Flute, Brendon Bushman and Kallie England on Oboes, Catharine Sinon and Terrina Anderson on Clarinets, Kiyo Kojima on Bassoon and Saxophone, Greg McClean on Trumpet, Erik Kofoed on Trombone and Alto Horn, Bill Pritchard on Tuba, and Caroline Stutzman on Cello.

Donations welcome. Drinks and refreshments will be available, please join the performers for a brief reception following the concert.

Visual artists utilize their distinct techniques and artistry to communicate their impressions of images and ideas around them. In the same vein, this group of young musicians have taken the music around them - from the traditional to the cutting-edge - and made it their own. They have borrowed from other instruments, from Popular music, Jazz and traditional songs, taking the amazing maelstrom of music that surrounds them everyday, and integrated it into one engaging program.


Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring
J. S. Bach Arr. Kofoed

Aria for Flute and Bassoon
Hector Villa-Lobos

Elegie Op. 10 No. 5
Jules Massenet

Blackbird
John Lennon Arr. Kofoed

And think ye Nymphs to scorn at love
Love is a fit of pleasure
William Byrd

Sonata VI
Jan Dismas Zelenka

March of the Lemmings
Spy vs. Spy
Erik Kofoed

Round Midnight
Thelonius Monk Arr. Pilzer

Baby Boy
Beyoncé Knowles

Geamparale and Maruntica
Traditional Slavic

More info about Mercury Season here: http://www.myspace.com/mercuryseason