Whether exploring a musical idea on her own or working with a new collaborator, Du Yun follows her intuition. The New York-based composer, performer, and curator—currently professor of composition at the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University and distinguished visiting professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music—has said that her work is often aboutContinue reading “The Quasi-Punk-Rock Life of Du Yun”
Genre Archives
Ana Sokolović wants you to enjoy her imagination
“Perhaps being old is having lighted rooms / Inside your head, and people in them, acting.” These lines from “The Old Fools,” English postwar poet Philip Larkin’s fearsome ode to aging, sparked Montreal composer Ana Sokolović’s full-length opera of the same title, which the Canadian Opera Company commissioned in late 2018 and is scheduled toContinue reading “Ana Sokolović wants you to enjoy her imagination”
2018 Spring & Summer Festival Preview
The usual anticipation for nice weather has been feeling like more like desperation—a longing for warmth, good vibes, and the freedom to explore everything under the sun. I am planning to fill my “no Netflix” summer with as many park hangouts, patios, concerts, and spontaneous events as possible. Musicworks’ staff, contributors, and other friendly earsContinue reading “2018 Spring & Summer Festival Preview”
The Creative Constructions of George Lewis
“THIS PIECE HAS A NEW NAME,” ANNOUNCED GEORGE LEWIS, composer, trombonist, writer, and professor, speaking from the stage of the Community Church of New York. “I realized as I got into it that the old name—the name you have in your programs—doesn’t really fit.” The title given in the program of the October 23, 2015 concertContinue reading “The Creative Constructions of George Lewis”
Apocalypsis
I ATTENDED A PERFORMANCE of the Luminato Festival’s production of R. Murray Schafer’s Apocalypsis not knowing what to expect; the full version of this work had only been produced once, thirty-five years ago. After the performance, I obtained the scores for its two acts—John’s Vision and Credo—as well as recordings of both the early production andContinue reading “Apocalypsis”
The Unsung Songbooks of Dave Burrell
TO SAY THAT PIANIST, COMPOSER, AND—AT THIS POINT—JAZZ ELDER DAVE BURRELL WAS NOT made for these times is a bit of a shortsighted claim. Burrell is a jazz classicist preceded by a reputation for free improvisation. He was present for the fabled Parisian Summer of 1969, when he and other players of free jazz found aContinue reading “The Unsung Songbooks of Dave Burrell”
The Passion and Curiosity of Barbara Hannigan
“An absolute stroke of luck for opera” is just one of the countless accolades Canadian-born, Amsterdam-based soprano Barbara Hannigan has received for her performances of both classical and contemporary music. Composers and musicians she has worked with are unanimous in their praise. She has premiered a large number of major works, among them operas withContinue reading “The Passion and Curiosity of Barbara Hannigan”
Louis Andriessen brings the noise
Louis Andriessen arrived on the international scene with a bang. In 1976 he unleashed De Staat (The Republic) on unsuspecting audiences. The political charge of the composition came from texts of Plato sung by four soprano voices hovering like ethereal apparitions over pounding, iron-fisted piano rhythms. The breathlessly whirling repetition was reminiscent of Steve Reich’sContinue reading “Louis Andriessen brings the noise”
Whitney Biennial 2014
It would have been easy to walk into the Whitney Museum, head for the ticket counter and on to the elevators, while entirely missing the first of the pieces by more than one hundred artists in the 2014 Biennial. The sounds drifting down from the ceiling in the American composer-and-instrument-builder Sergei Tcherepnin’s Ambient Marcel (Walking,Continue reading “Whitney Biennial 2014”
Barry Truax
With a friendly disposition and unassuming personality, Barry Truax would hardly be thought of as a trailblazing radical. But this soft-spoken composer and teacher is a groundbreaking Canadian icon. Not only did Truax pioneer granular synthesis with the PODX computer music system, he is viewed the world over as an electroacoustic compositional guru. At sixty-threeContinue reading “Barry Truax”