Press Release: Brian Skutle Explores “Arpeggiations & Atmospheres” With a New EP

In January 2011, Atlanta-area composer Brian Skutle had an idea for an EP that would return to the more exploratory type of musical craft he did in his years at Georgia State University. The result is his sixth release, and first digital-only album, “Arpeggiations & Atmospheres”.

Inspired by electronica artists such as BT and Daft Punk, Skutle wanted to try his hand at something more in keeping with “popular” notions of Electronic music, rather than the more classically-influenced structures he had been composing in since his first pieces in 1998. The ideas that would become “Arpeggiations & Atmospheres” first took hold in January of 2011: that the album would utilize only electronic sounds (no live percussion or acoustic instrument simulators); and that each of the album’s seven tracks would be based around one note of the standard chromatic scale (A-G). The third “big idea” behind the album was that the entire thing would be completed over the summer of 2011, and be released shortly after “Storytelling”, his fifth album.

All of these ideas were easily accomplished, with Skutle knocking out all seven tracks in June and July of 2011, and debuting one of them-- set to a video of he and his home studio at work --on his 34th birthday that August. The big stumbling block came when it took a little longer to get “Storytelling” released than Skutle had hoped, although with that album’s release in January of this year, the time had come to planning “Arpeggiations & Atmospheres’s” debut. However, Skutle didn’t want to just make this another release like his previous albums, with CDs pressed, and sent off to CDBaby to languish on the shelves. Instead, Skutle decided to bypass CDBaby entirely for this release, opting instead to make the album a digital-only release, and the first major such release, on his newly-formed Bandcamp site, where it is available for the low price of $5, most of which will come back to him personally.

As for the music itself? Well, though it’s definitely a far-cry from acknowledged influences like BT and Daft Punk in terms of commercial potential, but it definitely has a groove and mood that, while in keeping with Skutle’s overall musical aesthetic, is unlike anything the composer has done to date. It’s a fresh musical experience that signals exciting new possibilities for Skutle in the years to come.

Thanks for listening,

Brian Skutle
www.sonic-cinema.com
brianskutle.bandcamp.com
"Creative Beginnings" at CDBaby
"Dark Experiments" at CDBaby
"Sonic Visions of a New Old West" at CDBaby
"Beyond the Infinite: A Musical Odyssey" at CDBaby
"Storytelling" at CDBaby
"Arpeggiations & Atmospheres" on BandCamp

Press Release: Brian Skutle is "Storytelling" Through Sound on His Fifth Album

After the ambitious scope displayed in his last two albums, Atlanta-area composer Brian Skutle returns to the more compilation-like approach of his first two albums with "Storytelling".

The original title of his fifth album ("Storytelling Through Sound," later shortened to just, "Storytelling") was inspired by an "artistic mission statement" Skutle wrote in 2006, in which he said, "As early as my first compositions back in 1998, a common thread connected most of my pieces. Film music has been a dominant inspiration to me dating back to even before I began composing. There was a passion and feeling that came through the greatest film scores, turning the composers into storytellers in their own right. They were telling their own stories on top of the one the director told on-screen. This aesthetic would creep into my own music, with each piece taking the listener on a musical journey by tapping into a sort of emotional truth that may be abstract in execution, but palpable in its specificity."

By the time he wrote these words, Skutle had already composed (or thought of) the majority of the pieces that would eventually find their way on "Storytelling". In 2002, inspired by the comics series, "Fray", created by Joss Whedon, Skutle wrote down the basic motivic ideas and implanted the "feel" he would later accomplish in the tone poem, "Calling of a Warrior" In 2005, Skutle would find a new way for himself to further explore experiments in musical structure and the evocation of intimate feelings in his five-piece cycle "Passionate Illusions." As he wrote about the cycle in liner notes (available in their entirety on www.sonic-cinema.com), "For me, the five pieces of 'Illusions' represent musical illustrations of sensuality, and not in the way that may be best known. These are more abstractions inspired by dreams, fantasies, and feelings. Artists throughout the ages have been exploring these very ideas in music, film, books, and theater. It is their work- and my own feelings on the subject (which have been influenced by these works many times over the years)- that has inspired this cycle." Among the artists whose work had the strongest influence on Skutle in creating "Passionate Illusions" are the scores of Ennio Morricone ("Lolita"), Cliff Martinez ("Solaris") and Jocelyn Pook ("Eyes Wide Shut").

But it wasn't just the images in a cult comic book series or the scores for unique and powerful films that took very original looks at the world of erotic and romantic feeling that inspired Skutle in the compositions on this album. In 2003, Skutle (who has also written several hundred movie reviews, also available on Sonic Cinema) began an annual tradition of watching almost-exclusively all horror movies during the month of October, and blogging about his choices at the end of each "marathon." In 2004, Skutle was so inspired by not just the haunting images he saw but the sounds he heard to create his own musical descent into the macabre with "Otherworldly March". The next two years also inspired Skutle's creative side, which he turned into unique and unnerving music works all their own in "Gothic Twilight" and "Darkness". His artistic sensibilities would be challenged again in 2009, resulting in his most experimental work in music terror yet, "The Hour of the Wolf", the title of which came from Ingmar Bergman's experimental foray into cinematic horror 1968.

While the pieces contained on "Storytelling", which is the third consecutive album of Skutle's that features bold and evocative artwork by Carrie Stribling, lose some of their context in the composer's career by coming after the albums "Sonic Visions of a New Old West" (2007) and "Beyond the Infinite: A Musical Odyssey" (2010), all one has to do in listen to them compared to the pieces on Skutle's first two albums, "Creative Beginnings" (1999) and "Dark Experiments" (2000), and see that Skutle has not only come a long way in his artistic development, but could also have his best work ahead of him.

"Storytelling", like all of Skutle's albums, is available online at www.cdbaby.com, as well as other online vendors such as Amazon and iTunes.

Thanks for listening,

Brian Skutle
www.sonic-cinema.com
"Creative Beginnings" at CDBaby
"Dark Experiments" at CDBaby
"Sonic Visions of a New Old West" at CDBaby
"Beyond the Infinite: A Musical Odyssey" at CDBaby
"Storytelling" at CDBaby

World Premiere of Curtis Bryant's opera THE SECRET AGENT

Atlanta's Capitol City Opera Company will stage the world premiere of THE SECRET AGENT, an opera based on the 1907 novel by Joseph Conrad with music by Atlanta composer Curtis Bryant and libretto by New York forensic psychiatrist Allen Reichman.  Performances will be at the Conant Performing Arts Center on the Oglethorpe University campus on March 15-17.  The production directed by Michael Nutter with musical direction by Catherine Giel will feature a performing ensemble of nine principals, a chorus, and an 18 piece chamber orchestra.  Atlanta baritone Wade Thomas stars in the role of Verloc (the secret agent) with soprano Elizabeth Claxton in the role of Winnie, Verloc's wife.  Don't miss this engaging performance!!!

Riverside Chamber Players to premiere Gresham's Piano Trio, Sunday, March 3

The Riverside Chamber Players will premiere Mark Gresham's new Piano Trio on Sunday, March 3 at 3pm, at Bridge to Grace Church, 2385 Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell, Georgia. The program will also include music by Osvaldo Golijov, plus music by Bach and Handel in updated arrangements. A wine, cheese and dessert reception will follow.

Commissioned by Riverside Chamber Players, this 16½-minute, four-movement work is Gresham's first for piano trio. The performers for the Trio will be violinist Kenn Wagner, cellist Joel Dallow and pianist Tim Whitehead. Other performers on the program will be Joseph McFadden (bass & guitar), Jonathon Colbert (bass) and Charles Settle (percussion).

Adults $15, Seniors (55+) $10, Children/Students/Music Educators FREE. Tickets available on-line at www.riversidechamberplayers.org or at the door.

To see a web version of Riverside Chamber Players' complete e-mailed promotion, click here.

• • •

Sonic Generator presents "Four Under Forty"

innovative contemporary music by the world's leading young composers

Tuesday, January 29th at Rich Theatre, Woodruff Arts Center

1280 Peachtree Street (directions)

Concert begins at 8 p.m. Free admission.

Georgia Tech’s contemporary chamber music ensemble-in-residence, Sonic Generator, features music by Nathan Davis, Mario Diaz de Leon, Michel van der Aa and Daniel Wohl in a free performance at the Woodruff Arts Center. The concert showcases innovative contemporary music by some of the world’s leading young composers.
 

Read more about the concert 
RSVP on Facebook

Sonic Generator is the contemporary music ensemble-in-residence at Georgia Tech dedicated to using technology to transform the ways in which we compose, perform, and listen to music.

Presented by the Georgia Tech School of Music and Center for Music Technology in partnership with the Woodruff Arts Center, the Georgia Tech GVU Center, and the Georgia Tech College of Architecture.

New blog post up!

Check out my newest blog post! I recently turned 50 and in this entry, I wonder where I stand as a composer and what it takes to get to the "next level." 

You can read it at http://greekandcomposing.blogspot.com or access via my webiste: http://nickitasdemos.com

Chamber Cartel Closes Non Stop Season this Friday!

Chamber Cartel closes "Non Stop" season this by premiering works by Atlanta Composers Adam Scott Neal and Nicole Chamberlain.

Friday, 12/14, at 7pm

Poem 88

1100 Howell Mill Road Suite A03

White Provision Bldg

Atlanta, Georgia 30318

Chamber Cartel invites you and your friends to a night of non-holiday themed New Music. Our final (and 12th!) concert of 2012 will culminate in a huge party for those with adventurous ears. The Party will feature New Music from some of the most interesting composers today! The Party is a cross between a soiree and a concert and There will be mini-concerts (20-30 minutes) throughout the experience so you want to be there the whole time! Please come and join Chamber Cartel for masterful performances from some of Atlanta's best musicians of music by Morton Feldman, Adam Scott Neal, Daniel Swilley, Carolyn Chen, John Wyre, Nicole Chamberlain, Marcos Balter, and Michael Vincent Waller.

Buy Tickets Here ($20): http://theparty.brownpapertickets.com/

Preview of Nicole Chamberlain's "Fisticuffs" which will premiere Friday:

Sonic Generator presents pianist Tim Whitehead

Sonic Generator Presents Pianist Tim Whitehead

Saturday, December 15th at {Poem88}
1100 Howell Mill Road at 14th Street (White Provision Building)
Concert begins at 8 p.m. Free admission.

http://www.sonicgenerator.gatech.edu
http://poem88.net/
http://www.timwhiteheadpiano.com/
https://www.facebook.com/events/483226451722222/

Georgia Tech’s chamber music ensemble-in-residence, Sonic Generator, features its pianist Tim Whitehead in an eclectic concert of contemporary piano music in an intimate West Midtown gallery space. The program features music by seminal American composers Philip Glass, David Lang, and Elliot Carter, as well as Anton Webern's classic Variations fur Klavier and music by Hywei Davies.

An artist of many facets, American pianist Tim Whitehead is a graduate of The Eastman School of Music and has been both a long and short term resident artist at The Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada. He has performed throughout the United States, Canada, and Western Europe, and has been heard on National Public Radio, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s ZedTV, and Radio Suisse Romande. Mr. Whitehead is a laureate of the Academie de Musique de Lausanne, has been presented in recital at The Holland Music Sessions, and has held staff piano positions at Bennington College and The Quartet Program at Bucknell University.

Sonic Generator, Georgia Tech’s contemporary chamber music ensemble-in-residence, explores the ways in which technology can transform how we create, perform and listen to music. The ensemble, comprised of some of the top classical musicians in Atlanta, works closely with Georgia Tech students and faculty in the School of Music and elsewhere on campus to present concerts that bring cutting-edge technologies to the world of contemporary classical music. Sonic Generator is sponsored by the GVU Center, the Center for Music Technology, the School of Music, and the College of Architecture.

{Poem88} opened in October 2010 in the White Provision District of Atlanta's Westside. Under the curatorial direction of writer and filmmaker Robin Bernat, {Poem88} represents emerging and mid-career artists, and presents thoughtful and innovative explorations in a new artistic frontier.

Complete Program:

Anton Webern: Variations fur Klavier (1936)
Hywei Davies: Piano Pieces (2003)
David Lang: Wed (1992)
Elliot Carter: 90+ (1994)
Philip Glass: Mad Rush (1979)

Terminus Ensemble - Season 1, Concert 2: Sunday, December 9

Dear all,

Please join us for the second concert of the inaugural season of Terminus Ensemble! Terminus is dedicated to showcasing music by Atlanta-affiliated composers.

Location: Atlanta Central Library Auditorium, Downtown
(One Margaret Mitchell Square, Atlanta, GA)

Time: Sunday, December 9th, 2012 at 3:30pm

Admission: FREE

The program will include:

Laurence Sherr - EIMI (mixed quartet)
Mark Gresham - Vagabond Drumming (percussion duo)
Adam Scott Neal - Tanka (solo viola)
Darren Nelson - Curios for Glockenspiel
Nicole Chamberlain - Movement (mixed quartet)

plus a surprise...

24 Hour Opera Project Accepting Applicants!

24-Hour Opera Project

Friday January 25, 2013 
Saturday January 26, 2013 

Time:
Friday at 5:00 p.m. through Saturday at 9:00 p.m.

Location
Friday kick-off event at 5:00 p.m. at:
First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta
1328 Peachtree St
Atlanta, GA 30309

Saturday showcase performance at 7:00 p.m. at:
The Atlanta Opera Center
1575 Northside Dr
Building 300, Suite 350
Atlanta, GA 30318

Cost:
FREE and open to the public

The Atlanta Opera is proud to present the third annual 24-Hour Opera Project, Friday, January 25, 2013 and Saturday, January 26, 2013. Composers, lyricists, stage directors and opera singers from all over may apply to compete in the project. Applications to participate can be found below.

Composers and lyricists selected to participate will be randomly paired together, and will have 12 hours to write a 7-10 minute opera. At the end of 12 hours, the pieces will be assigned to a stage director, who will draft singers from a pool of applicants, and have eight hours to rehearse before presenting the scenes in a showcase concert 24 hours after the project begins.

Compositions and performances will be presented to a panel of judges, the audience, and the public via live webcast on Saturday, January 26 at 7:00 p.m. Prizes will be awarded to the judges' choice and audience favorite.

For more information, please call 404-881-8883 or e-mail education@atlantaopera.org.

View Highlights From 24-Hour Opera Project 2012 >>

Applications

Deadline: December 14, 2012.

Applications may be e-mailed to education@atlantaopera.org, faxed to 404-881-1711, or mailed to The Atlanta Opera, Attn: 24-Hour Opera Project, 1575 Northside Dr NW, Bldg 300, Ste 350, Atlanta, GA 30318.

Apply to Participate as a Composer
Apply to Participate as a Lyricist
Apply to Participate as a Singer
Apply to Participate as a Stage Director
Apply to Participate as a Stage Manager
Apply to Participate as a Production Assistant

High school students (grades 9-12) with theater experience may apply to participate as stage managers. Stage managers will assist all day Saturday, January 26 and at the showcase performance that evening.

The Atlanta Opera 24-Hour Opera Project is made possible by generous support from Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. and Turner Voices.

GSU Student Chapter of SCI - Fall Concert

Come out and and enjoy a wonderful sonic lunch at a concert of new works by student composers from the Society of Composers, (SCI), at Georgia State University. Featuring compositions by:

Taylor HELMS

Salvatore LoCASCIO

Connor WAY

Date:              Friday, November 30, 2012
Time:             12 PM
Location:        Kopleff Recital Hall on the campus of Georgia State University

FREE and open to the public!

See you there! 

Benefit Concert for Becky Weaver

My piece "Tamar" will be performed by Perimeter Flutes on this benefit concert. Help out one of your local freelancers get the surgery she needs to continue making music!

From Jeanne Carere:

"Thank you in advance for taking the time for read this letter. Have you ever had someone do something to help you without asking for anything in return? I am grateful to say that I have been a recipient of that kind of kindness more than a few times in my life. There is no other feeling in the world like it. It is glorious all the way around.

An opportunity has come to my attention recently. One of our teachers at Carere Music, Becky Weaver is in dire need of a surgery to correct compression on her spinal cord. She has compression in two areas, one in lower back and one in her neck. With a preexisting condition, no insurance company will even consider covering her. If surgery doesn’t happen, Becky will lose feeling in her hands and feet and no longer be able to work or live with any quality of life. Becky has been teaching for us for over 6 years. Our teachers are like family to us. Becky doesn’t have the ability to earn the money needed to cover the cost of surgery. She needs at least $7500.00 for the doctors part of the surgery. I wish I had the funds to help write a check but sadly, I don’t. What I do have is the ability to coordinate a benefit concert to help Becky with her medical costs.

Becky’s background:

Becky is an active freelance violinist in the Atlanta area, and has played in the orchestras for many celebrities, including Tony Bennett and Tom Jones, and was also the concertmaster for Burt Bacharach’s and Dionne Warwick’s shows. While at the Cleveland Institute, she studied with members of the Cleveland Quartet and also played under James Levine. Becky has played with the symphonies of Gainesville and Columbus, and in the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra and the Gwinnett Philharmonic. She is currently a member of the Festival String Quartet. Becky has nearly thirty years teaching experience.

Carere Music will be holding a benefit concert to raise money for Becky's surgery.

Thursday, Nov. 29th, 7:30pm
Winters Chapel United Methodist Church
Admission $10 with donations encouraged."

http://www.careremusic.com/collections/frontpage/products/becky-weaver-benefit-concert

New blog post

A new blog post is up, now that I finally have time to write one! This month, trying to figure out why I do what I do! Check out the article, The Passion Trap via my website, http://nickitasdemos.com or directly at http://greekandcomposing.blogspot.com

3 Premieres by Georgia Symphony Orchestra

Saturday, October 13, 2012 at 4:00pm
Zion Baptist Church
165 Lemon Street
Marietta, GA 30060
* Composers discussion before concert at 2:45pm with Nicole Chamberlain, Grant Harville, Erik Lindgren, and Michael Alexander.

Tickets: Adults $15 / Students $10
http://georgiasymphony.org/2012-13-season/

The Georgia Symphony Orchestra returns to one of our favorite venues to perform an exciting variety of American works. The program features two premieres by Atlanta-based composers Nicole Chamberlain and Grant Harville. GSO friend Oral Moses lends his rich bass voice to another premiere, Erik Lindgren’s Extreme Spirituals. Interspersed through the concert are Morton Gould’s American Ballads.

Nicole Chamberlain, Ogeechee (world premiere)
Grant Harville, Orchestral Suite (world premiere)
Erik Lindgren, Extreme Spirituals, (world premiere)
Morton Gould, American Ballads

Oral Moses, bass
Ken Field, saxophone
Michael Alexander and Grant Harville, conductors

Red Clay Connections Concert

September 18 at 8pm
Kopleff Recital Hall at Georgia State University

Performed by Perimeter Flutes:
Music from the Outer Edge - Charles Knox (World premiere)
Tamar - Nicole Chamberlain

Performed by Jan Berry and Tania Maxwell:
Moment's Notice by Nick Demos (US Premiere)

Admission is free!

POSTPONED - Sonic Generator Presents Metropolis

Sonic Generator's performance of Metropolis, scheduled for September 27, has been postponed until spring 2013.

For announcements about the new date for Metropolis as well as for other Sonic Generator concerts during the 2012-2013 season:

* Join our e-mail list: http://www.sonicgenerator.gatech.edu/join-list

* Join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/51189590177/

* Check back on our website: http://www.sonicgenerator.gatech.edu/

We look forward to seeing you at Metropolis this spring, and at many other Sonic Generator events throughout the year.

Sonic Generator Presents Metropolis

Metropolis
Thursday, September 27th, 2012
8:30 pm
free admission
Woodruff Arts Center Piazza
1280 Peachtree ST NE
Atlanta, Georgia 30309

More info: http://www.sonicgenerator.gatech.edu

Sonic Generator presents a free screening of Fritz Lang's 1927 science fiction masterpiece, Metropolis, with a live performance of a new musical score by Martin Matalon, in a unique outdoor setting at the Woodruff Arts Center. Metropolis, a milestone of German expressionism and an inspiration for science fiction films such as Blade Runner and The Matrix, portrays a dystopian world in which the poor tend to futuristic machines and inevitably clash with the wealthy elite. Recently found footage in Argentina has restored Metropolis to it's original length. Sonic Generator's performance - featuring sixteen instrumentalists and electronic sounds - will present the American premiere of Matalon's score for this newly restored edition. Performed on the piazza at the Woodruff Arts Center, with the film screened dramatically onto the High Museum of Art, Metropolis will showcase an iconic film and cutting-edge music in a unique space. Bring your own beach chairs and blankets and settle in for an unforgettable experience. Presented by Sonic Generator, the contemporary music ensemble in residence at Georgia Tech, in partnership with the Woodruff Arts Center, Alliance Francaise, the Goethe Institut, Flux Projects, the Franco-German Fund, and the French-American Fund for Contemporary Music.

Sonic Generator concert at the Academy of Medicine at Georgia Tech

Sonic Generator Presents “Music and Data”

Tuesday, June 19, 2012 at the Academy of Medicine, 875 West Peachtree Street.
Concert begins at 8 p.m. Free admission.

http://www.sonicgenerator.gatech.edu
https://www.facebook.com/events/405768252796508/
http://icad2012.icad.org

Georgia Tech’s contemporary chamber music ensemble-in-residence, Sonic Generator, features music by Jonathan Berger, Steve Reich, Charles Dodge, Visda Goudarzi, and Katharina Vogt in a free performance in partnership with the International Conference on Auditory Display. The concert showcases innovative contemporary music that transforms various types of data into musical form.

The concert features guest composer Jonathan Berger, a professor at Stanford and a leading researcher on the intersections between data sonification and creative practice. His string quartet Doubles (2004), originally written for the St. Lawrence String Quartet, recalls songs of peace, freedom, and resistance and also draws inspiration from seventeenth-century ornamentation practices. Viola Elegy (1987), by computer music pioneer Charles Dodge, draws its musical content from fractal structures. Minimalist composer Steve Reich’s Piano Phase (1967), performed in this concert in a version for two marimbas, turns the concept of phasing — in which two musicians initially play in unison but drift further and further apart over time — into a gradual process that drives the entire piece. And Chirping Stars (2012) by Visda Goudarzi and Katharina Vogt, a finalist in the conference’s annual sonification competition, turns an analysis of the most popular musicians on Twitter into an electroacoustic reflection on social listening.

Atlanta Ballet: New Choreographic Voices

PAVO

Music by Nickitas DEMOS

Choreography by Tara LEE

• Soprano/Alto Sax: Jan Berry Baker
• Cello: Charae Krueger
• Percussion: Michael Cebulski
• D.J. : Jennifer Mitchell

My work, Pavo, will be premiered on May 18 - 20, 2012 at the Alliance Theater. The work is written for soprano/alto sax, cello, percussion, D.J. and six dancers. It was commissioned by the Atlanta Ballet and choreographed by Tara Lee. 
For more info click HERE.   
I've also written a series of articles about the experience of collaborating with Tara. You can check these articles out on my blog. 

Bent Frequency show next week!

Bent Frequency will join thousands of musicians and hundreds of concert presenters across the country Friday, May 11 at 8pm at MASS Collective (364 Nelson St. SW, Atlanta, GA, 30313,) in celebrating National Chamber Music Month. This event in Castleberry Hill will be on the same night as the Castleberry Hill Art Walk!

MASS Collective’s presentation of Bent Frequency’s “Singular Pluralities” is part of a nationwide initiative to raise public awareness of the many styles of small ensemble music performed and presented today. The month-long series of performances, residencies, pre- and post-concert discussions, and other chamber music events will showcase ensemble music of all styles, including early, classical, jazz, and world music.

Chamber Music America (CMA), the national service organization for ensemble music professionals and the organizer of National Chamber Music Month, has invited its membership of more than 6,000 music professionals to participate in this first-time-ever endeavor.

Bent Frequency will feature world premieres by Darren Nelsen, Mark Gresham, Robert Scott Thompson and Jason Freeman and pieces by Louis Andriessen, Steve Everett and Tae Hong Park.

Performers include:
Jan Berry Baker, saxophone
Stuart Gerber, percussion
Steve Everett, bass
Sarah Kapps, cello
Tae Hong Park, bass
Amanda Pepping, trumpet


For more information, please visit www.bentfrequency.com.