Two new releases from Toby Chappell

Two new releases are now available from Atlanta-area electronic and
electro-acoustic composer Toby Chappell. The releases are available
in both physical and digital formats.

The latest release from SATURNIN SEKTOR ("Unreal City") is the culmination
of two years' work collecting field recordings from such places as
Savannah, New York City, and sacred sites in Ireland.

The first release from MISDREAMT ("The Motion Demon") is also now available.
MISDREAMT features found percussion and looped/layered guitar parts, with
unsettling electro-acoustic ambience always lurking beneath the surface.
Live performances of the MISDREAMT material will include video components
from the composer and other collaborators.

More information (samples, artwork downloads, ordering info) can be found at:

http://misdreamt.bandcamp.com
http://saturninsektor.bandcamp.com
http://motiondemon.blogspot.com

Toby Chappell is a composer, guitarist, and sound sculptor currently
residing in the Atlanta, GA area. He has studied and/or collaborated
with such diverse artists and collectives as the Pythagoras Society,
Robert Scott Thompson, Eyes of Ligeia, and the Black Muse Element.
Currently, Toby is focusing on film soundtrack and guitar-based
ambient music, all of which he releases pseudonymously as Saturnin
Sektor (electroacoustic and film music), or Misdreamt (guitar+electronics).
Contact: motiondemon@emailengine.net

Concert Review: "neoPhonia- Related Pitches"

Click on the title to check out my review of this past Tuesday's neoPhonia concert. I hope you enjoy!

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011 - Take Your Pick!

Alas, next Tuesday is another night of competing concerts of contemporary compositions.

If you are downtown and/or in a "wind" mood, please see neoPhonia at 7:30 pm (FREE - see below for more details).

If you are in a more "percussive" mood and/or on the North(west) side of town, see Cerberus Percussion Group at KSU's Bailey Center (8PM, FREE).


Cerberus will be playing:

The Frame Problem by James ROMIG
Pachamama by Adam Scott NEAL
Metasmo by Joel HOFFMAN
Always Very Soft by John Luther ADAMS
Worker’s Union by Louis ANDRIESSEN



Please please please go support our growing post-classical music scene!!!!

neoPhonia New Music Ensemble: February 8, 2011

The third concert of the 2010/11 neoPhonia New Music Ensemble season takes place on Tuesday, February 8. Please join us as we present a concert entitled Related Pitches. The evening will feature virtuoso music composed for clarinet and saxophone. We are honored to welcome guest faculty artists Ken LONG (clarinet) and Jan Berry BAKER (saxophone) as well as international guest artist Theofilos SOTIRIADIS (saxophone)

DATE: Tuesday, February 8

TIME: 7:30 PM

LOCATION: Kopleff Recital Hall 

FREE ADMISSION!

PROGRAM

WANAMAKER / Duo Sonata for clarinet/sax duo

SPIROPOULOS / Saksti for tenor sax and electronics

DEMOS / Tonoi VII for solo alto sax

ETEZADY / Glint for clarinet/sax duo

KOUMENDAKIS / Forget Me Not for solo alto sax

LILLIOS / Veiled Resonance for solo soprano sax and electronics

DEMOS / Citizens of Nowhere (premiere) for clar./bass clar. and sop./alto sax

As always, you can meet and greet some of the composers and both performers at a reception following the concert sponsored by the GSU Student Chapter of the Society of Composers, Inc. (SCI) !

For directions to the Kopleff Recital Hall visit: http://www.music.gsu.edu/locations.aspx. For more information, visit www.music.gsu.edu  or call 404.413.5901

Hope to see you there!!

Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana - GSU Tomorrow

Hi all - just a reminder to see the Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana (aka the LOLs) at GSU tomorrow night. 7:30, free!

The Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana (LOLs) is a research and performance ensemble dedicated to the exploration of real-time computational technologies and digital media for the purpose of group music making. Inspired by the Princeton (PLOrk) and Stanford (SLork) ensembles, they look to bring the same excitement and virtuosity to the Gulf South, but with their own individual flair.


Also, set your calendars for Saturday, Feb. 12 - my new laptop-etc. group FLIP will be making our debut at Kavarna as part of the City Skies series.

Cobb Symphony Premieres Work by Atlanta Composer

Anybody go and see Eric Alexander's premiere last night? I'm sad I missed it.

http://www.artscriticatl.com/2011/01/review-cobb-symphony-delivers-sparkling-ravel-and-an-engaging-world-premiere/

Sonic Generator Presents The Open Score

Georgia Tech’s chamber music ensemble-in-residence, Sonic Generator, will explore open musical scores on the boundaries of composition, improvisation, and interactivity in a free exhibition and concert in partnership with the Woodruff Arts Center. The performance features music with unconventional and technologically-driven scores by Kaija Saariaho, Frederic Rzewski, Jason Freeman, Bill Ryan, David Kim-Boyle, and Akito Van Troyer. It takes place at the Rich Theatre at Woodruff Arts Center on January 24th. The exhibition opens at 7 pm and the concert begins at 8 pm. We hope to see you there!

Full details are on Sonic Generator's web site.

New Website Launch

Happy New Year!

I’m happy to announce the launch of my new website:

nickitasdemos.com

Here you can sample audio excerpts and score previews of my compositions, view videos of performances, order music, check out my blog, Greek & Composing and much more! 

Best,

NJD

Dali til Dawn! This Weekend!

Saturday, January 8 · 6:00pm - 11:00pm - High Museum

WonderRoot and The High Museum present a night of surreal send-off performances as part of Dali til Dawn. Come see a varitey of acts... Poetry! Improv! Animation! Live Art! Film! Dance! Comedy! Skits! Music!

Performers include (in no particular order):
Ben Leak and the Lobster Mobster Poetry Collective, Adam Bruneau, Zentropy, Brett W Thompson, Amber Boardman, Steven Abadin, Scott Burland, Robbie Land, Ana Sousa, Cameron Stuart, Subliminator, Corey Barksdale, Bradley Bailey, Caleb Herron, Tanner Slick, Gary Eddy, David Bradford, Paul Mercer, Sarah Falls, Jule Baggenstos, and Alma Dytoc.

Dali Open Mic begins at 6pm and ends at 11pm (immediately following is a performance by The Imperial Opa!). Hosted by WonderRoot's Open Mic host Cameron Stuart. This event is part of the High Museums 31 hour Dali Send-Off.

For more information on Dali til Dawn visit:
http://www.high.org/main.taf?p=4%2C3%2C2&eventId=732&eventTypeId=12

For more information on WonderRoot visit:
www.wonderroot.org

Facebook event:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=179843638712395

Spring Semester Concerts

I have compiled the contemporary music concerts I found at our local universities and orchestras. If I missed something, don't hesitate to leave a comment! I hope you all can make it to as many of these as possible. Quite a few of them are FREE! We will have reminder posts, but I wanted to show an overview as you plan your new year.

Cobb Symphony - premiere by Atlanta composer Eric Alexander
January 15, 2011 • 8 PM - Murray Arts Center, Kennesaw

Sonic Generator
Monday, January 24, 2011, 8 pm - Tech

Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 - 7:30 PM - GSU

Cerberus Percussion Group
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 - 8:00 PM - Bailey Center, KSU

neoPhonia New Music Ensemble
Tuesday, February 08, 2011 - 7:30 PM - GSU

ASO plays Golijov and Piazzola
Thurs-Sat, February 24-26 - 8PM - Symphony Hall

Sy Brandon in residence at KSU
March 4, 2011: masterclasses only - no concerts :(

Senior Recital - Micah Martin, composition
Saturday, March 12, 2011 - 7:30 PM - GSU

Graduate Recital - Chris Owenby, composition
Sunday, March 13, 2011 - 7:30 PM - GSU

Rusty Banks in residence at KSU
March 14, 2011 - recital at 8PM

Sonic Generator
Wednesday, March 16, 2011, 8 pm - Tech

Bent Frequency
Tuesday, March 22, 2011 - 7:30 PM - GSU


KSU Festival of New Music - Bailey Center, KSU
3/28, 8 pm: Student Composers Concert (KSU, GSU, Tech)
3/30, 8 pm: Faculty Composers Concert (KSU, GSU, Tech)
4/1, all day: eighth blackbird and Nico Muhly residency activities
4/2, 11 am-1 pm: Theory Symposium
4/2, 8 pm: eighth blackbird concert with Nico Muhly Southeast premiere

GSU Percussion Ensemble
Tuesday, April 05, 2011 - 7:30 PM - GSU

neoPhonia New Music Ensemble
Wednesday, April 06, 2011 - 7:30 PM - GSU

Instant Music Concert
Friday, April 08, 2011 - 12:00 PM - GSU

KSU Student Composers Concert
Friday, April 8, 2011 - 8:00 PM - KSU

4/11-13: Thomas Benjamin in residence at KSU
4/12, 8 pm: Mixed Chamber Ensemble, includes works by Thomas Benjamin
4/13, 8 pm: KSU Orchestra, includes work by Thomas Benjamin

Student Composers Concert
Friday, April 15, 2011 - 12:00 PM - GSU

Guest Artist - California E.A.R. Unit
Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 7:30 PM - GSU

Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Wind Orchestra & Percussion Ensemble
with Michael Colgrass, composer
Thursday, April 21, 2011 - 7:30 PM - GSU

Graduate Recital - Hanna Lisa Stefansson, composition
Friday, April 22, 2011 - 7:30 PM - GSU

Philippe Leroux lecture at Georgia Tech

In addition to coming to Tuesday night's free Sonic Generator concert at Woodruff Arts Center, I encourage you all to come see Philippe Leroux's lecture at Georgia Tech tomorrow (Monday), where he'll discuss his piece Voi(Rex) that is on Tuesday evening's program.


GA Tech's "C3: Creativity, Cognition and Computation" series and the Center for Music Technology Seminar Series present:

Philippe Leroux, University of Montreal and IRCAM

Voi(Rex) the model of the model

Monday, November 29, 2010
TSRB Auditorium: directions and parking info at http://www.tsrb.gatech.edu
reception at 1:30 pm
lecture at 2:00 pm

See you tomorrow (and Tuesday)!

Student Composer Concert

You are cordially invited to come by and enjoy a FREE concert given by the Georgia State University Student Chapter of the Society of Composers, Inc. (SCI). 


Date: Friday, November 19 
Time: 12 PM 
Location: Kopleff Recital Hall. 


PROGRAM:

Taylor HELMS / Modal Dances for woodwind quintet - [premiere]

John PAPASPYROU / Eight Little Sketches for Viola - [premiere]

Chris OWENBY / Wondrous Love for soprano & piano trio 

John PAPASPYROU / Epitaphios for tenor sax. & cello - [premiere]

Taylor J. GLANTON / Latin Bridge Suite for piano trio - [premiere]


For directions and more information, please visit www.music.gsu.edu. We hope to see some of you there!

Sonic Generator Concert with Philippe Leroux

Georgia Tech’s chamber music ensemble-in-residence, Sonic Generator, will feature the music of guest composer Philippe Leroux in a free performance in partnership with the Woodruff Arts Center and France-Atlanta 2010. The concert also features guest soprano Donatienne Michel-Dansac and compositions by Kaija Saariaho and Pierre Jodlowski.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 8 p.m.
Rich Theatre, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree Street
free admission, reception to follow

Full details at:
http://www.sonicgenerator.gatech.edu

Hope to see you there!

Eddie Horst's Passing

I am sorry to share the news that Eddie Horst died on Thursday. He took his own life after struggling with clinical depression. He is survived by his wife and two children.

Many of you remember Eddie from the monthly composer meetups he hosted at Crawford Communications a few years back. Others of you probably know him in others ways too. He had far reaching connections in the music industry and touched many people's lives. He was very supportive of the Atlanta Composers mission to network local composers.

If there is a public memorial, I (or one the blog authors) will post details when they become available.

If you would like to share your positive remembrances of Eddie, please do so in the comments.

Albert Einstein and Rabindranath Tagore

After a few words about order and causality, a meeting of minds on music.

Below is an excerpt from a conversation between poet Rabindranath Tagore and physicist Albert Einstein, which took place in a meeting arranged by a mutual friend ("Dr. Mendel") on August 19, 1930. Fascinating that a considerable portion of their exchange is about music. It is taken from "Three conversations: Tagore Talks with Einstein, with Rolland, and Wells" (Asia Magazine, March 1931). This was a second meeting and conversation between Einstein and Tagore. The photo by Martin Vos was taken during their first encounter on July 14 of the same year. [Image source: Wikimedia Commons]


TAGORE: I was discussing with Dr. Mendel today the new mathematical discoveries which tell us that in the realm of infinitesimal atoms chance has its play; the drama of existence is not absolutely predestined in character.

EINSTEIN: The facts that make science tend toward this view do not say good-bye to causality.

TAGORE: Maybe not, yet it appears that the idea of causality is not in the elements, but that some other force builds up with them an organized universe.

EINSTEIN: One tries to understand in the higher plane how the order is. The order is there, where the big elements combine and guide existence, but in the minute elements this order is not perceptible.

TAGORE: Thus duality is in the depths of existence, the contradiction of free impulse and the directive will which works upon it and evolves an orderly scheme of things.

EINSTEIN: Modern physics would not say they are contradictory. Clouds look as one from a distance, but if you see them nearby, they show themselves as disorderly drops of water.

TAGORE: I find a parallel in human psychology. Our passions and desires are unruly, but our character subdues these elements into a harmonious whole. Does something similar to this happen in the physical world? Are the elements rebellious, dynamic with individual impulse? And is there a principle in the physical world which dominates them and puts them into an orderly organization?

EINSTEIN: Even the elements are not without statistical order; elements of radium will always maintain their specific order, now and ever onward, just as they have done all along. There is, then, a statistical order in the elements.

TAGORE: Otherwise, the drama of existence would be too desultory. It is the constant harmony of chance and determination which makes it eternally new and living.

EINSTEIN: I believe that whatever we do or live for has its causality; it is good, however, that we cannot see through to it.

TAGORE: There is in human affairs an element of elasticity also, some freedom within a small range which is for the expression of our personality. It is like the musical system in India, which is not so rigidly fixed as western music. Our composers give a certain definite outline, a system of melody and rhythmic arrangement, and within a certain limit the player can improvise upon it. He must be one with the law of that particular melody, and then he can give spontaneous expression to his musical feeling within the prescribed regulation. We praise the composer for his genius in creating a foundation along with a superstructure of melodies, but we expect from the player his own skill in the creation of variations of melodic flourish and ornamentation. In creation we follow the central law of existence, but if we do not cut ourselves adrift from it, we can have sufficient freedom within the limits of our personality for the fullest self-expression.

EINSTEIN: That is possible only when there is a strong artistic tradition in music to guide the people's mind. In Europe, music has come too far away from popular art and popular feeling and has become something like a secret art with conventions and traditions of its own.

TAGORE: You have to be absolutely obedient to this too complicated music. In India, the measure of a singer's freedom is in his own creative personality. He can sing the composer's song as his own, if he has the power creatively to assert himself in his interpretation of the general law of the melody which he is given to interpret.

EINSTEIN: It requires a very high standard of art to realize fully the great idea in the original music, so that one can make variations upon it. In our country, the variations are often prescribed.

TAGORE: If in our conduct we can follow the law of goodness, we can have real liberty of self-expression. The principle of conduct is there, but the character which makes it true and individual is our own creation. In our music there is a duality of freedom and prescribed order.

EINSTEIN: Are the words of a song also free? I mean to say, is the singer at liberty to add his own words to the song which he is singing?

TAGORE: Yes. In Bengal we have a kind of song-kirtan, we call it-which gives freedom to the singer to introduce parenthetical comments, phrases not in the original song. This occasions great enthusiasm, since the audience is constantly thrilled by some beautiful, spontaneous sentiment added by the singer.

EINSTEIN: Is the metrical form quite severe?

TAGORE: Yes, quite. You cannot exceed the limits of versification; the singer in all his variations must keep the rhythm and the time, which is fixed. In European music you have a comparative liberty with time, but not with melody.

EINSTEIN: Can the Indian music be sung without words? Can one understand a song without words?

TAGORE: Yes, we have songs with unmeaning words, sounds which just help to act as carriers of the notes. In North India, music is an independent art, not the interpretation of words and thoughts, as in Bengal. The music is very intricate and subtle and is a complete world of melody by itself.

EINSTEIN: Is it not polyphonic?

TAGORE: Instruments are used, not for harmony, but for keeping time and adding to the volume and depth. Has melody suffered in your music by the imposition of harmony?

EINSTEIN: Sometimes it does suffer very much. Sometimes the harmony swallows up the melody altogether.

TAGORE: Melody and harmony are like lines and colors in pictures. A simple linear picture may be completely beautiful; the introduction of color may make it vague and insignificant. Yet color may, by combination with lines, create great pictures, so long as it does not smother and destroy their value.

EINSTEIN: It is a beautiful comparison; line is also much older than color. It seems that your melody is much richer in structure than ours. Japanese music also seems to be so.

TAGORE: It is difficult to analyze the effect of eastern and western music on our minds. I am deeply moved by the western music; I feel that it is great, that it is vast in its structure and grand in its composition. Our own music touches me more deeply by its fundamental lyrical appeal. European music is epic in character; it has a broad background and is Gothic in its structure.

EINSTEIN: This is a question we Europeans cannot properly answer, we are so used to our own music. We want to know whether our own music is a conventional or a fundamental human feeling, whether to feel consonance and dissonance is natural, or a convention which we accept.

TAGORE: Somehow the piano confounds me. The violin pleases me much more.

EINSTEIN: It would be interesting to study the effects of European music on an Indian who had never heard it when he was young.

TAGORE: Once I asked an English musician to analyze for me some classical music, and explain to me what elements make for the beauty of the piece.

EINSTEIN: The difficulty is that the really good music, whether of the East or of the West, cannot be analyzed.

TAGORE: Yes, and what deeply affects the hearer is beyond himself.

EINSTEIN: The same uncertainty will always be there about everything fundamental in our experience, in our reaction to art, whether in Europe or in Asia. Even the red flower I see before me on your table may not be the same to you and me.

TAGORE: And yet there is always going on the process of reconciliation between them, the individual taste conforming to the universal standard.

# # #

Footnote for composers: 1930 was the year in which Nicholas Slonimsky premiered Charles Ives's "Three Places in New England," a year which also saw the premieres of such disparate works as Howard Hanson's "Symphony No. 2," Anton Webern's "Quartet, Op. 22," and Kurt Weill's "The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny." It was also the year when the Marx Brothers' film "Animal Crackers" was released. --mg

Will Eyedrum Go Out with a Bang?

Financially troubled arts-alternative Eyedrum will close its current location, as its lease expires Dec. 31 and will not be renewed. Read the article by Chad Radford in this week's Creative Loafing (online now, on the street soon): http://clatl.com/atlanta/will-eyedrum-go-out-with-a-bang/Content?oid=2309057

24 Hour Opera Project

We had a blast this weekend making operas in 24 hours with the Atlanta Opera! Here's a link of the beginning of the competition in case any of you may be curious about applying next time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD6lUin2igc&feature=youtu.be


If you have a facebook account you can view all three operas here:

http://www.facebook.com/video/?id=1387344038

November 7th: Bent Frequency and Ballet Preljocaj

On Sunday, November 7th at 4:00pm in the lobby of the Rialto, the Atlanta-based new music group Bent Frequency will be collaborating with the innovative Ballet Preljocaj and the Rialto for this event by sharing their expertise on the music of John Cage for this performance. Founding member and percussionist Stuart Gerber will be giving a brief introduction to Cage and his work at the beginning of the program. For a more in-depth look at Cage’s music, Bent Frequency will present a few short pieces from various points in Cage’s career at the reception in the Rialto lobby before the Ballet Preljocaj performance of Empty Moves. We will explore Cage’s sound world through works for saxophone, trumpet, percussion, amplified cacti, and conch shells!

The program includes:

Inlets (1977) for 12 conch shells
Variations I (1958) (a duo version for saxophone and trumpet)
Composed Improvisation for Snare Drum (1975)
Water Walk (1959)

It promises to be an adventurous evening!

Ballet Preljocaj’s performance begins at 5pm in the Rialto Center for the Arts. Information about tickets can be found here.

Bent Frequency presents the New York-based Amp New Music Ensemble - TWICE!

Hi all -

You have TWO chances to catch some innovative saxophone and electronic music this weekend:

Friday, November 5 · 7:30pm - 9:30pm
Kopleff Recital Hall Georgia State University
FREE

Amp New Music will be presenting “Amplified: Saxophone and Electronics” with Saxophonist Michael Ibrahim. This program will include music by Grisey, Chion, Mirza, and Stockhausen.


Saturday, November 6th, 8PM
Eyedrum (290 MLK Dr. SE)
$7/students=$5

We will be miking the big drum out front! It will be played before and after the main program. Double-header of new/experimental classical music by Atlanta locals Bent Frequency hosting New York-based Amp.

Bent Frequency

Bent Frequency brings the avant-garde music tradition to life in Atlanta through adventurous programming, the promotion of New Music, and a creative synthesis of music and media. Our vision is to redefine the traditional music experience - ushering it from the strict formality of the concert hall into the fresh air of contemporary artistic expression and experimentation.

AMP

Amp is a new music group based in New York City that grapples with experimental, electroacoustic, gestural, or situational compositional trends in the context (for the perspective) of a broader musical modernism. Without fixed ensemble, we draw from the rich new music scene in New York to organically develop a few concerts each year, each usually featuring a particular composer or nexus of compositions. More info at www.ampmusic.org.


Please try to make it out to one or both! And don't miss some brand new opera this weekend as well (see below).


Here is Amp at the NYC venue The Tank last year:

Concert for 24 Hour Opera Project by Atlanta Opera

The concert for Atlanta Opera's 24 Hour Concert will be this Sunday (11/7) at 7:30pm at Georgia State University's Kopleff Recital Hall. The concert is free and open to the public.

Composers will begin work on Saturday (11/6) at 5pm, working with the librettist, stage director, singers, and pianists. The teams are formed by the Atlanta Opera at 5pm on Saturday. The Atlanta Opera will also reveal some other items to be included in the new operas.

Should be a fun ride!