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Derek Bermel named Artistic Director of
American Composers Orchestra
At its spring benefit on May 22, the ACO announced the appointment of composer and clarinetist Bermel as its new Artistic Director. He has been a key player in ACO's initiatives over recent years, including the Orchestra Underground series and Jazz Composers Orchestra Initiative.
Highlights for Bermel the composer this year include the release of the acclaimed Canzonas Americanas CD with Alarm Will Sound on Cantaloupe and a performance of "Dust Dances" at the Cabrillo Festival.
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Celebrating Morten Lauridsen at Seventy
We congratulate Morten Lauridsen on his 70th birthday, February 27, 2013. His sacred and secular choral works and art songs have enriched the lives of countless singers and concertgoers, and occupy a permanent place in the standard vocal repertoire of our time. The citation accompanying his 2007 National Medal of Arts describes his music beautifully: "... radiant choral works combining musical beauty, power, and spiritual depth."
Good news: Coming soon are publications of the composer's "Prayer" for SATB chorus and piano, "A Backyard Universe" for tenor and piano, and a jazz choir arrangement of the song "Where Have the Actors Gone".
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Grammy Nomination for "Inura" by
Tania Leon
Tania Leon's ballet "Inura" has been nominated for Best Contemporary Composition in the 55th annual Grammy Awards. This follows on its Latin Grammy nomination earlier this year.
For chamber chorus, strings and percussion, the 35-minute work is performed by the Son Sonora Voices, Son Sonora Ensemble, and DanceBrazil Percussion, conducted by Tania Leon.
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Sumeida's Song by Mohammed Fairouz released by Bridge Records
Mohammed Fairouz's first opera, which tells the tragic story of inter-generational conflict in 20th century Egypt, has been released on Bridge Records. The opera receives its first fully staged performances in the Prototype Festival in January 2013.
Also this fall: The Borromeo
String Quartet gives the NYC premiere of The Named Angels; mezzo Kate Lindsey and the Metropolis Ensemble give the world premiere of Audenesque.
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Boston Lyric Opera Presents "The Inspector"
John Musto and Mark Campbell's comic opera "The Inspector" receives its first performances with BLO following its premiere by Wolf Trap Opera. The production features baritone Jake Gardner, mezzo Victoria Livengood, soprano Meredith Hansen, and tenor Neal Ferreira. David Angus conducts; Leon Major directs. Performances April 20, 22m, 25, 27, 29m, 2012, Shubert Theatre.
More on the production.
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"Buffalo Nation" digs deep into American Plains history
Milwaukee’s Present Music presents Buffalo Nation (Bison bison), a 75-minute work by composer Jerome Kitzke and librettist Kathleen Masterson that illuminates the story of the American Bison from pre-history to present time, including the herd’s late 19th century decimation. Kitzke and Masterson draw from historical records, contemporary ecological writings, contemporary fiction, aural histories of the Great Plains Indian Nations, and from their own imaginations to create a work – for solo singer, actors, sound effects chorus, and instrumentalists – that is both tragic and redemptive. Premiere performances April 14,15; Franklin and Milwaukee, WI.
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"Shining Night," A Portrait of Morten Lauridsen
Morten Lauridsen's music has been embraced by choruses all over the world. In "Shining Night," the new hour-long film by Michael Stillwater, we experience up close the sources of Lauridsen's inspiration in nature and poetry, and his interactions with singers and conductors in rehearsal. See trailer here.
"Shining Night" was named Best Documentary in the DC Independent Documentary Film Festival (Feb. 2012). The next screening is in New York City's Society for Ethical Culture on March 30; a performance of Lauridsen's "Lux Aeterna" follows on the 31st in Avery Fisher Hall. Lauridsen will be present for both events.
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A Catalan's Centennial
The centenary of Barcelona-based composer Xavier Montsalvatge (1912-1992) is being celebrated in 2012 with the CD release of key orchestral works and the first biography of the composer in English. More information.
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Craig Leon signs with Peermusic London
Craig Leon, born and raised in the U.S., is a composer, arranger, and record producer based in the U.K. He has arranged, orchestrated and produced best-selling albums for leading labels including Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, EMI Classics and Sony Classical.
Just released on Sony Classical is Midwinter's Eve, chamber orchestra arrangements of songs ranging from medieval carols to traditional holiday fare.
Click on photo for more.
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ENO's "The Passenger" in U.S. media's spotlight
The English National Opera's performances of Mieczyslaw Weinberg's opera "The Passenger" drew the attention of NPR's "All Things Considered" on October 24. 88-year old Auschwitz survivor Zofia Posmysz, author of the book on which the opera is based, is interviewed in the piece.
Just prior to the ENO performances, Alex Ross wrote in August 29 issue of The New Yorker about the DVD of "The Passenger" from the Bregenz Festival's production in the summer of 2010.
Reviews of both productions can be found here.
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The "Ingenious" Later the Same Evening at Glimmerglass
John Musto's opera "Later the Same Evening," with a libretto by Mark Campbell, has received enthusiastic reviews in its Glimmerglass Festival performances. Anthony Tommasini writes in the New York Times: "I admire the skill that Mr. Musto demonstrates in this score, which combines elements of the Copland/Bernstein style with snatches of popular songs and urban razzle-dazzle. Mr. Musto knows how to write for voices so that singers can make words clear. The ensemble scenes are expertly rendered."
Here are links to Heidi Waleson's review in the Wall St. Journal and George Loomis's in the Financial Times
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"A small gem" from Derek Bermel
Derek Bermel's Mar de Setembro (September Sea), settings of five poems by Portuguese poet Eugenio de Andrade for mezzo and chamber orchestra, was premiered by Luciana Souza with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra conducted by Jeffrey Kahane on May 14 and 15. The work was commissioned by LACO's Sound Investment.
"Bermel takes De Andrade at his word, with dreamy music of the senses and pure pleasures for Souza’s tongue" writes Mark Swed. Click on photo for more.
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| News Archive
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peermusic classical : Publisher of Contemporary Classical Music Since 1948
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May 23 - “Shining Night: A Portrait of Composer Morten Lauridsen” is broadast on Southern California’s KCET/Link TV.
June 1 - Rachel Barton Pine performs Mohammed Fairouz's solo violin sonata Native Informant in Montepelier Vermont's Capital City Concerts series. Naxos recording here.
June 6 - Da Capo Chamber Players give the world premiere of Mohammed Fairouz's Pierrot Lunaire, with tenor Timur Bekbosunov. Merkin Concert Hall, NYC.
June 7 - eighth blackbird performs Tied Shifts by Derek Bermel in Oklahoma's Chickasaw Chamber Music Festival.
June 8 - The Chicago Sinfonietta performs Red Cape Tango from Michael Daugherty's Metropolis Symphony.
June 9 - Screening of the Lauridsen documentary "Shining Night" in the Albuqerque Film & Media Experience.
June 9 - Lou Harrison's Concerto for Organ with Percussion Orchestra is performed at the Ojai Music Festival.
June 16 - Canzonas Americanas by Derk Bermel is performed by Alarm Will Sound, Alan Pierson conducting, in the Bang on a Can Marathon.
June 18 - North South Consonance gives the
New York premiere of Adagio for Strings by Jose Serebrier.
MORE EVENTS on FACEBOOK.
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-- Now Available! --
Michael Daugherty:
Red Cape Tango for Symphonic Band
transcr. Mark Spede, in a newly engraved score
Purchase Score
parts available on rental
Arturo Marquez: Danzón No 2 transcr. Oliver Nickel
One of the most popular contemporary works for orchestra now available for symphonic band.
Purchase Score and Parts
More new publications
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2012:
The centenary of the birth of
Xavier Montsalvatge (1912-2002)
2013:
Morten Lauridsen, 70th Birthday, February 27.
Jose Serebrier, 75th Birthday, December 3.
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Symphony No.2
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