#Mary Kouyoumdjian

[hellocanticle]

Opus 961, Violist Noemi Chemali’s Auspicious Debut: New Music Activism From Emerging Lebanese Composers

There are many ways to debut on the world stage and there are many ways to represent political activism. Violist Noemi Chemali has chosen, as her important first impression in her recorded debut, a selection of music from young composers whose heritage includes political oppression. The albums profits are promised to MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders. These works are not directly…

[musicaespansiva]

Time:Spans 2024

Quick review of a late summer series of very new classical. Time:Spans is at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music. It's a good space, though more of a box than an auditorium. The series always looks interesting, but I manage to miss most of it usually. Today is Longleash, a trio of violin, piano & cello.

First up is Jonah Haven's 'cells mold me'. One of those oddball skreetchy sounds on a violin & cello pieces. Whatever, it was short.

Second was the best -- Katherine Balch's 'different gravities'. Lots of variety in different movements, that were inspired by Liu Cixin's Three Body Problem!! I'd hear this again.

Last was Igor Santos' 'Nossas Māos', for ensemble & video. Another time that the video draws so much attention, that the music feels like accompaniment. The video was all about 'hands' and it went all over the place -- from images of movies/tv shows that people knew to drawings to figures praying to marbles of people praying to a model showing off her hands, etc., etc. The music was pleasant and the juxtaposition was occasionally amusing, but especially since the video had its own audio, it just didn't feel that the music was the point -- can it ever be with interesting video? (And this makes me think of Mary Kouyoumdjian's piece at the Philharmonic all about Artsakh (!). The music just becomes extra.)

This may be something where it never works for me. Like spoken word with music (with the grand Rzewski exceptions). To do multiple media you have to be good in both, and Santos is fine, but isn't that.

Tuesday, August 13, 2024

[raymondebidochonlifechoices]

MetLiveArts. Digital premiere - They will take my island. 27/1/2021

A short film by filmmaker Atom Egoyan (The sweat hereafter) and composer Mary Kouyoumdjian, on the paintings The artist and his mother and They will take my island by Arshile Gorky, commissioned and produced by the Metropolitan Museum of Arts’ Department of Live Arts.

Gorky was an Armenian American abstract painter, who survived the Armenian genocide and immigrated to America, where he worked as an artist, becoming a central figure of the New York art scene of the 20s, 30s and 40s. He took his own life at the age of 44 after battling with cancer. Despite the heavy material, this is a beautiful short film about art, identity, immigration, and overcoming adversity. The film is definitely worth seeing and the artist definitely worth googling if you’re not familiar with his work.  I’ve put some trigger warnings in the hashtags, because not everybody is in the right headspace to hear/read about death.

https://www.metmuseum.org/events/programs/met-live-arts/fy21-they-will-take-my-island?&eid=A001_%7B49111313-94C6-469B-A772-0153EFE29999%7D_20201222134038&fbclid=IwAR2f6x6ksFeRPTH-gXddO7tA1-7mZ7B9iyOdxsDMREamd0yyF5INX2QlF1Y

I’m not sure how well links work on tumblr, so in case this doesn’t, you can also find the streaming link on the homepage of the Met.

[nyphil]

You might want to save this photo. It’s history in the making. 📷 Have you heard about Project 19? It’s the single largest women-only commissioning initiative in history — to celebrate the centennial of the 19th Amendment. We kicked off Project 19 at the New-York Historical Society (@nyhistory) last week with 12 of the 19 composers. It all starts this February. For more info click on the link in our profile. . . L-R: Jessie Montgomery (back), Mary Kouyoumdjian, Joan Tower, Angélica Negrón, Joan La Barbara, Caroline Shaw, Sarah Kirkland Snider (back), Tania León, Ellen Reid, Caroline Mallonee, Paola Prestini, President and CEO Deborah Borda (not pictured: Du Yun, Unsuk Chin, Nicole Lizée, Olga Neuwirth, Maria Schneider, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Melinda Wagner, and Nina C. Young) . . #project19nyp #nyphil #nyphilharmonic #19thamendment . . 📷: @chrisleephotonyc #chrisleephoto (at New-York Historical Society) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4-2LsFha5W/?igshid=5lz1sr16x4mm

[womencreativemusic]

Mary Kouyoumdjian, U.S.A.

http://www.marykouyoumdjian.com

[latinasandbcjc]

Citations

Venkat, Pavithra, Rachel Masch, Eliza Ng, Miriam Cremer, Sue Richman and Alan Arslan. 2008. "Knowledge and Beliefs about Contraception in Urban Latina Women." Journal of Community Health 33(5):357-62.

Cicerchia, Gaia, Lawrence D. Reid, and Diana N. Carvajal. 2022. “Contraceptive Decision- Making and the Importance of Side Effect Information among a Sample of Latinas.” Women's Health Reports 3(1):78–84.

Unger, Jennifer B, and Gregory B, Molina. 1998. “Contraceptive Use Among Latina Women: Social, Cultural, and Demographic Correlates.” Women’s Health Issues 8(6):359-369.

Romo, Laura F., Magali Bravo, Maria Elena Cruz, Rebeca M. Rios, and Claudia Kouyoumdjian. 2010. “‘El Sexo No Es Malo’: Maternal Values Accompanying Contraceptive Use Advice to Young Latina Adolescent Daughters.” Sexuality Research and Social Policy 7(2):118–27.

Gilliam, Melissa L., Meredith M. Warden, and Beatriz Tapia. 2004. “Young Latinas Recall Contraceptive Use before and after Pregnancy: A Focus Group Study.” Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology 17(4):279–87.

Campo, Shelly, Connie Kohler, Natoshia M. Askelson, Cristina Ortiz, and Mary Losch. 2014. “It Isn’t All about Language.” Journal of Transcultural Nursing 26(5):466–72.

[arabiclanguageday]

Celebratio of the Arabic's historic role in the development of art and science.

On Saturday, 18 December 2021, the Chamber Music Society (UNCMS) have presented a virtual concert in celebration of World Arabic Language Day. 

One of the most widely spoken languages in the world, Arabic is a pillar of the cultural diversity of humanity.  In celebration of World Arabic Language Day, and Arabic's historic role in the development of art and science, the programme will feature a variety of popular and classical music from the Arab region. 

The opening will present  'I Lift My Eyes' composed by Christopher Tin, 2x Grammy Award Winning Composer – sung by Lebanese singer-songwriter Abeer Nehme.  Throughout the concert, "Magic Carpets" artwork by Saks Afridi will be presented. 

Opening remarks will be delivered by H.E. Mr. Mohammed Hussein Bahr Aluloom, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations, and Chair of the Arab Group for the month of December 2021.  Founded in 2016, the UN Chamber Music Society is dedicated to promoting the United Nations' goals and values at large - through the universal language of music.

---

MESSAGE

H.E. Mr. António Guterres, UN Secretary-General

OPENING REMARKS

H.E. Mr. Mohammed Hussein Bahr Aluloom, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations, Chair of the Arab Group for the month of December 2021

UN Chamber Music Society of the United Nations Staff Recreation Council Brenda Vongova, Artistic Director & Piano

FEATURING:

'I Lift My Eyes' composed by Christopher Tin, 2x Grammy Award Winning Composer sung by Abeer Nehme, Lebanese Singer/Songwriter

"Magic Carpets" artwork by Saks Afridi

PROGRAMME

CHRISTOPHER TIN (1976 - ) 'I Lift My Eyes' Abeer Nehme (Lebanese Singer), UN Chamber Music Society: Brenda Vongova (Piano), Hana Mundiya (Violin I), Jeremy Kienbaum (Violin II), Noémie Chemali (Viola), Derek Louie (Cello), Kohei Yamaguchi (Bass), Jamie Papish (Percussion), Sandro Friedrich (Duduk), Angel City Chorale "The Becoming" by Saks Afridi

GHIYA RUSHIDAT (1984 -) Izar Hana Mundiya (Violin), Rohan Mundiya (Violin), Florrie Marshall (Viola), Drake Driscoll (Cello), James Quinlan (Double Bass), Brenda Vongova (Piano) "Woven Heart 2021" by Saks Afridi

Mary Kouyoumdjian (1983 - )  The Revolt of the Stars Noémie Chemali (Viola) "Woven Desert" by Saks Afridi

KADIM AL SAHIR (1957 - ) Eid al ashak "Celebration of lovers" Flute Solo (Amir), Hana Mundiya (Violin), Rohan Mundiya (Violin), Florrie Marshall (Viola), Drake Driscoll (Cello), Alec Manasse (Clarinet), Tom Betsalel (Percussion) "Illusion 2021" by Saks Afridi

[armeniaitn]

Women of 1915: Armenian Genocide documentary starts streaming on Amazon

New Post has been published on https://armenia.in-the.news/culture/women-of-1915-armenian-genocide-documentary-starts-streaming-on-amazon-70307-08-03-2021/

Women of 1915: Armenian Genocide documentary starts streaming on Amazon

Multi-award-winning “Women of 1915” feature-length documentary film is starting to stream on Amazon Vide today in observance of International Women’s Day, Asbarez reports.

This documentary reveals that it was women who were left behind to experience the worst kind of torture and the most heroic form of resilience during the Armenian Genocide of 1915. The film delineates the stories of these women, along with the lasting impact they had on the lives they saved and touched. 

“We decided to stream the premiere of ‘Women of 1915‘ on Amazon Video to coincide with International Women’s Day, because of the film’s universal appeal. One of the women profiled in our film is Victoria Artinian who, having survived the Armenian Genocide and the Great Fire of Smyrna in 1922, migrated to United States.  From the ‘ashes’ of death and destruction in her homeland, she succeeded in overcoming these impossible traumatic events to live the American Dream.  Amazingly, she also helped raise her daughter’s adopted son who, beginning in his 20s set a path to literally change the world for Victoria Artinian was Steve Job’s adoptive grandmother,” said four-time Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, Bared Maronian.

Additionally, “Women of 1915” combines facts and emotions to honor the brave American and European women including American volunteer Mary Louise Graffam, Japanese diplomat Diana Apkar, and Danish missionary Maria Jacobsen, who dedicated their lives to rescue the survivors of the Armenian Genocide, while risking their own. 

“Women of 1915” was made possible by a principal partnership between Armenoid Productions, Armenian Relief Society of Eastern USA and Ararat Eskijian Museum. The Armenian Relief Society of Canada, Armenian Relief Society of Western USA, AGBU and AGBU –Hye Geen also made considerable contributions to this project.

Screened in over 40 cities around the world, this documentary was officially selected by the Switzerland International Film Festival and has received Best Documentary Awards at the International Independent Film Awards, Aphrodite Film Awards, Docs Without Borders Film Festival, and the Pomegranate Film Festival. The ARPA Film Festival’s most prestigious Armin T. Wegner Humanitarian Award honored Bared Maronian, the director of “Women of 1915.”  

The creative team behind “Women of 1915” includes, Gloria Sanders as narrator, Bardig Kouyoumdjian as the director of photography, C-rouge as the composer, and Hooshere as the performer. Original soundtrack is available at Spotify and Apple Music.

Read original article here.

[massispost]

New Post has been published on https://massispost.com/2021/01/metlivearts-presents-the-world-premiere-of-atom-egoyan-and-mary-kouyoumdjians-they-will-take-my-island/

MetLiveArts Presents the World Premiere of Atom Egoyan and Mary Kouyoumdjian's They Will Take My Island

NEW YORK — On Tuesday, January 26 at 7 p.m. the MetLiveArts…

[artmutt]

Michael Hall & Michael Délfin

New Music Chicago presents a program of contemporary music at the Chicago Cultural Center on the third Tuesday of every month. On January 21, they presented a program by violist Michael Hall and pianist Michael Délfin. Hall is a protean force for contemporary viola music, and has over 78 compositions written specifically for him. Four of these works were featured on the program at the Cultural Center. The viola has long been one of my favorite instruments, and it’s always a pleasure to hear someone play it well. Délfin also proved himself to be a capable and sensitive accompanist.

The program began with Mary Kouyoumdjian’s work “A Boy and a Makeshift Toy,” music inspired by a documentary photograph of an Albanian refugee in an abandoned train station. In its long, basically modal melodies, it reminded me of the music of Alan Hovhaness. “And the World, Opening” by Wisconsin composer Christian Ellenwood, was a heartfelt elegy written after a death in the family. 

Chicago composer Stacy Garrop was represented by a performance of “Krakatoa,” a concerto for viola and orchestra, inspired by the famous historic eruption of the volcanic island in Indonesia. I need to listen to the orchestral version on YouTube, which I imagine gives a better sense of the work than this version for piano. I have to admit, I’ve always found “program music,” that is, music that is intended to depict events or places or stories, to be kind of odd. I mean, I actually only enjoy Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” if I allow myself to forget what it’s supposed to be about, and I was never any good at “seeing” musical depictions in my imagination (images don’t readily come to mind when I listen to music). So a piece that is meant to depict a volcanic eruption...well, you know what happens: BOOM! Luckily, after it blew up, there was some lovely music that made use of the Indonesian pelog scale that I quite enjoyed.

And I loved the last piece, by Fauzie Wiriadisastra, inspired by Indonesian popular music called “Dangdut.” I’m a fan of this particular genre of pop music, and this version for viola and piano was a lot of fun, and provided a lively conclusion to the program. 

[mastcomm]

The Philharmonic’s New Season: What We Want to Hear

Next season, the New York Philharmonic will give the American premiere of “Fin de Partie,” the Hungarian composer Gyorgy Kurtag’s acclaimed opera based on Beckett’s “Endgame,” in a fully staged production conducted by its music director, Jaap van Zweden.

The Kurtag opera promises to be one of the highlights of the Philharmonic’s 2020-21 season, which was announced Wednesday.

The orchestra will also perform new works by Joan Tower, Jessie Montgomery, Mary Kouyoumdjian, Melinda Wagner, Angélica Negrón, Du Yun, Anna Thorvaldsdottir and Caroline Shaw. Those pieces are part of Project 19, the Philharmonic’s multiyear initiative commissioning 19 works by women to celebrate the centennial of the 19th Amendment, which barred the states from denying women the right to vote.

The vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth will participate in several programs over two weeks in February. And the jazz pianist Chick Corea will be the orchestra’s artist in residence, performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24, with his own cadenzas, and writing a trombone concerto.

The new season is not as ambitious as the one unveiled recently by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which has the largest annual budget of any American orchestra. But Deborah Borda, the New York Philharmonic’s president and chief executive officer — and the former leader in Los Angeles — said it would present the work of important artists and composers in meaningful ways.

“I think that what we’re providing, in terms of New York audiences, is really vibrant, and really different, and living up to the thought of being in New York City and in our time,’’ she said in an interview.

Here are some of the events that writers for The New York Times are looking forward to.

A Balanced Program (Sept. 24-29)

Conducted by Mr. van Zweden, this may be one of the season’s most well-balanced programs: It opens with the premiere of Ms. Montgomery’s piece for Project 19 (prepare with “Banner,” her stirring and cleverly political deconstruction of the national anthem); continues with Lisa Batiashvili in Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No. 1, a mercurial thrill ride that she has previously played with astonishing mastery; and concludes with Dvorak’s familiar yet irresistible Seventh Symphony. JOSHUA BARONE

Tchaikovsky, With a Spark (Oct. 8-13)

I never would have imagined getting excited over a program offering two overplayed Tchaikovsky works: the First Piano Concerto and “Pathétique” Symphony. But the performers here make all the difference. The conductor is Manfred Honeck, who has been winning acclaim for bringing fresh vitality and insight to repertory staples as the music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. And the soloist in the concerto is the brilliant and probing young Italian pianist Beatrice Rana, in her Philharmonic debut. ANTHONY TOMMASINI

Malkki Returns (Nov. 12-17)

Susanna Malkki is simply one of the most exciting conductors of the day. Each of the three programs she has offered so far with the Philharmonic (starting with her 2015 debut) has been exceptional. For her next, she leads two works by her Finnish forebear Sibelius: “The Oceanides” and the visionary Fifth Symphony. And it should be fun to hear what she makes of John Adams’s Saxophone Concerto, featuring the impressive Branford Marsalis. ANTHONY TOMMASINI

Eun Sun Kim’s Debut (Dec. 30-Jan. 5)

The fast-rising conductor Eun Sun Kim’s appointment as the next music director of the San Francisco Opera made history — she will be the first woman to hold the post at an American opera company of its size and stature — so I’m eager to hear her Philharmonic debut. She will lead the pianist Alice Sara Ott in Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G, in a program that also features Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3 and the New York premiere of Texu Kim’s “Dub-Sanjo.” MICHAEL COOPER

Blomstedt and Levit (Jan. 21-23)

Herbert Blomstedt will be going on 94 — among the oldest musicians working but undiminished and ever perceptive — when he returns to the Philharmonic to conduct Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto and Nielsen’s Symphony No. 5, which hasn’t been heard since 2014, during Alan Gilbert’s enlightening Nielsen survey. Joining for the Schumann will be Igor Levit, no stranger to New York but finally making his debut with this orchestra. JOSHUA BARONE

A Thorvaldsdottir Premiere (Feb. 10-13)

Some of the Project 19 commissions feel like they’re thrown randomly into traditional programs. Not so with this more coherent bill, in which the Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu leads an evening that includes two touchstones by Sibelius, as well as the American premiere of a new work by the Icelandic Ms. Thorvaldsdottir. The non-Nordic odd man out is Rachmaninoff, whose First Piano Concerto will be played by Yuja Wang. SETH COLTER WALLS

Roomful of Teeth Sings Shaw (Feb. 18-23)

The vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth collaborated memorably with the Philharmonic in a 2018 run of Berio’s “Sinfonia.” This time, the group will help deliver the premiere of a work by one of its members: the Pulitzer- and Grammy-winning Ms. Shaw. I’ll be listening for how the usually hard-charging Mr. van Zweden approaches this composer’s subtle and surprising methods of building propulsion. SETH COLTER WALLS

Berg, Brahms and Wagner (April 29-May 1)

For all its pathbreaking 20th century daring, Alban Berg’s elegiac Violin Concerto — dedicated to “the memory of an angel,” Manon Gropius, who died at 18 — has a strongly emotional, Romantic core. So it will be interesting to hear Mr. van Zweden conduct it, with the violinist Renaud Capuçon, on a program that pairs the concerto with music from Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde” and Brahms’s Symphony No. 2. MICHAEL COOPER

Gaffigan and Americana (May 21-25)

Though he conducted the Philharmonic in parks concerts in 2018, James Gaffigan returns to the Geffen Hall podium this season for the first time since his superb subscription debut in 2015. He’ll introduce the orchestra to Dvorak’s American Suite, which he recorded (shiningly) several years ago, on a program that also includes Samuel Barber’s bombastic, soaring Symphony in One Movement and Bernstein’s “Age of Anxiety” Symphony, with the ever-suave pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet as soloist. ZACHARY WOOLFE

‘Fin de Partie’ (June 10 and 12)

When it had its premiere in 2018 in Milan, Mr. Kurtag’s first opera captured the paradox of its composer’s best music: a sense of unsettled serenity. Perfectly wrought in gnomic scenes, it treats Beckett with spare, sometimes stark delicacy. The Philharmonic brings it to the United States for the first time and just two performances — conducted by Mr. van Zweden, directed by Claire van Kampen and starring Laurent Naouri, Rod Gilfry and J’Nai Bridges. ZACHARY WOOLFE

from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/the-philharmonics-new-season-what-we-want-to-hear/

[a2sparis]

SAMSARA

DANSE. «Samsara»

Chorégraphie et scénographie : Jann Gallois. Lumières : Cyril Mulon. Musique : Charles Amblard. Costumes : Marie-Cécile Viault. Danseuses et danseurs : Inkeun Baïk, Carla Diego, Shirwann Jeammes, Jean-Charles Jousni, Marie-Hanna Klemm, Jérémy Kouyoumdjian et Laureline Richard. Durée : 1h.

Ce beau spectacle, très original, et d’une extraordinaire complexité chorégraphique, a été inspiré par le bouddhisme. La chorégraphe, Jann Gallois, elle-même bouddhiste, dit d’ailleurs que tout ce qu’elle a créé depuis ses débuts de chorégraphe en 2013, a son origine dans le bouddhisme. Dans ce spectacle, intitulé «Samsara» (mot qui, rappelons-le, désigne dans le bouddhisme le cycle des existences, renaissances et souffrances successives dans lequel sont pris ceux qui ne contrôlent pas leurs désirs), Gallois a voulu exprimer ce que représente «vraiment», dans le bouddhisme, le mot «spiritualité». Évoluant dans un volume nu, les sept danseurs du spectacle - pieds nus, pantalons et chemises à manches courtes de diverses couleurs - sont, tout au long de la représentation, attachés les uns aux autres par un enchevêtrement de cordes noires qui, pesant près de 100 kilos, est censé symboliser, du point de vue bouddhiste, les attachements, négatifs, aux choses, aux êtres, etc., attachements dont les humains sont prisonniers et dont ils doivent se «libérer». Le spectacle est une alternance de moments d’immobilité et de silence et de moments de frénésie et de bruit. Mis à part un fugitif extrait de «It's a small world» (de Disney), la musique - composée par Charles Amblard, formé à l'American School of Modern Music, de Paris - est «électro» et le plus souvent répétitive. À plusieurs reprises, descend des cintres une structure métallique (Gallois parle de «machine»), à laquelle un homme en noir vient accrocher les danseurs, inertes ; puis la «machine» les soulève de quelques mètres, avant de les reposer sur le sol. Gallois explique que, dans le spectacle, cette «machine» - auxquels les danseurs sont «soumis», dit-elle - relance sans cesse de nouveaux cycles de vie. À la fin du spectacle, toutefois, ce sont les danseurs eux-mêmes qui s’accrochent à la «machine» - et commence alors un magnifique ballet aérien. Un peu plus tôt, devant ses camarades médusés, un danseur a l’idée - l’audace ! - de s’agripper à cette «machine» alors qu’elle est en train de remonter vers les cintres ; mais il finit par lâcher prise et retombe sur le sol. Par ailleurs, plusieurs fois au cours du spectacle, des danseurs - des couples, en particulier - tentent de s’échapper du groupe, mais les autres danseurs les en empêchent, d’une façon quelquefois violente, voire cruelle. Entre autres moments particulièrement réussis du spectacle, signalons celui où les danseurs, comme rivés au sol, essaient vainement de se redresser, leurs corps se tordant sous l’effort, et aussi cette autre séquence au cours de laquelle ils composent, en s’aidant des cordes, de superbes compositions, qui font penser à des œuvres d’art plastique. Nous avons également apprécié le contraste saisissant entre la toute première séquence du spectacle au cours de laquelle, de façon simultanée, les membres du groupe, très compact, font les mêmes mouvements, les mêmes gestes, et sourient, rient ou crient tous de la même façon, et, par ailleurs, des séquences ultérieures dans lesquelles les danseurs n’agissent plus du tout à l’identique, comme si chacun commençait à se libérer de l’emprise du groupe.

LA CHORÉGRAPHE : Jann Gallois, née en 1988, également danseuse, a fait des études de mathématiques et de physique tout en se formant à la musique et à la danse, notamment au hip-hop. Elle a fait ses débuts de chorégraphe en 2013 avec un solo, «P=mg», qui a décroché de multiples trophées (en particulier, le Prix Paris Jeune Talent et, en Allemagne, le Prix Solo-Tanz Theater). Ont suivi, notamment, un second solo, «Diagnostic F20.9» (2014), puis le duo «Compact» (2016) et le trio «Carte Blanche» (2017). Egalement en 2017, Gallois a créé sa première pièce de groupe, «Quintette». «Samsara» est sa septième chorégraphie ; c’est aussi la première fois qu’elle travaille «avec autant de danseurs», dit-elle.

[thesixthfret]

It’s been 1 month since Duo Noire released our album Night Triptych, featuring 6 incredible new classical guitar duets by brilliant women composers from around the world: Clarice Assad, Courtney Bryan, Golfam Khayam, Mary Kouyoumdjian, Gity Razaz, and Gabriella Smith. We are honored to have worked with them and to have received such amazing reviews, including this newest one from Stereophile. We hope the guitar world enjoys and embraces this music of our time. *** “There’s a goldmine of ideas here, whose riches will unveil themselves more and more over time.” -Stereophile *** “Flippin and Mallett [are] virtuosos who invest their performances with energy and conviction. To claim that the two break new ground in the world of classical guitar music on the hour-long release isn’t overselling it.” -Textura.org *** “All contemporary programs of guitar music are not common, and this may be the first to feature exclusively female composers...A truly pathbreaking recording that is greatly satisfying in its own right.” -AllMusic #newfocusrecordings #gabriellasmith #classicalmusic #classicalguitar #classicalguitarist #classicalguitarasia #strings #music #newmusic #composer #guitar #guitarduo #albumcover #albumart #acousticguitar #guitarstagram #womeninmusic #womencomposers #classicalmusician

[sethshead]

- Corey Dargel interviews Matt Marks about The Little Death: Vol. 1 -

I know I met Matt before I first saw this. It was probably after a mutual friend’s performance, or maybe a New Amsterdam or Anti-Social Music show. I’d also heard his music, though probably not live. Certainly not any of the previous workshops or incarnations of Little Death. It was probably just one of the promos he’d uploaded to Facebook for the production, though it might also have been a Melly & Maffoo set.

Anyway, it was watching this video that first floored me about Matt’s (and Corey’s) genius and perceptiveness. Everything from the discussion of cultural appropriation/subordination to sexual sublimation spoke to me. I still quote Matt’s responses from this interview to this day. Albeit with very different medium, aesthetic and reference points, Matt was saying everything I wanted to communicate through my own work.

Matt was brave and intrepid. More so today than a decade ago. He was perverse and subversive, embracing taboo subjects and figures and seducing us to expose that within ourselves that identifies with the horrific. His work wasn’t a funhouse mirror of humanity, but a magnifying glass through which to recognize the grotesque distortions we’ve convinced ourselves have been masked into nonexistence. Anyone who’d write a love song from the point of view of Carl Tanzler to Elena Hoyos has my ear.

I’ve dropped out of the scene somewhat and hadn’t seen Matt for a couple of years. Probably either at a performance of his opera-in-development, Mata Hari (which had just been awarded an NEA grant!) or while working with his fiancée (and outstanding composer/pedagogue) Mary Kouyoumdjian’s I am a Fish (no relation to Albert). I’ve never been more than a peripheral member of the scene, anyway, so, while I knew how indispensable Matt was in organizing the community and its events, I never had an inner-circle seat to witness exactly how much he did for us all. I can speak only personally, and from that perspective, Matt was an inspiration to sense and sensibility who enriched our world and thought with his probing and often disturbing art. It is still something hard to grasp that this voice will speak no more.

Matt died on a Friday. It still feels unreal. I half-expected him to have been resurrected today, a Sunday. I can imagine the image of him as zombie messiah commanding, in song, the NRA to “go fuck [themselves]” would have appealed to Matt. Sadly, it is late afternoon and such a miracle is yet to occur. I guess that leaves it up to us, who cared about him so, to carry on, in his memory, the imperatives of never settling for less than the unsettling, of honesty, of finding value in the disdained, and of telling the NRA what it can do to itself.

[hotairmusicfestival]

2018 Lineup

Session One

Osher Salon | 11 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Siroko Duo Jessie Nucho and Victoria Hauk, flutes

Mia Pixley Mia Pixley: Eleanora & Witching Hour Mia Pixley, Cello/vocals, Omar Akrouche, electronics, Taylor Joshua Rankin, percussion

The Meowllennial Duo Philip Bimstein: Cats in the Kitchen Elena Sloman, Oboe and Evan Pengra-Sult, Flute

The Furies Vanessa Lann: Moonshadow Sunshadow Kate Outterbridge, Violin and Maiani da Silva, Violin

SFCM Percussion Quartet Steve Reich: Mallet Quartet Mika Nakamura and Sam Rich, Marimba. Diego Becera and Tim Padgett, Vibraphone

Daniel de Togni: This is a Flower, not a Gun Divesh Karamchandani and Elizabeth Hall, Percussion, Daniel De Togni, Piano and Electronics

Lauren Chandler Roman Baransky: 150 mg; Traitor; God’s Love be with you Lauren Chandler, Soprano

Taylor Chan Adam Schoenberg: “Olive Orchard” from Picture Studies Taylor Chan, Piano

Taylor Joshua Rankin: The Other Side of the Sky and Kile Smith: Vespers Mason Grainger, Trumpet, Sophia Chen, Horn John Parker, Trombone, Carolyn Tillstrom, Tuba Mia Nardi-Huffman, Violin Justine Preston, Viola

The Rosehip Orchestra Omar Akrouche: Cosmic Anomaly Omar Akrouche, fixed media

Daniel Pate Nathan Hudson: These Broken Things Daniel Pate, Percussion

New Keys Brian Mark: Breathe Regina Myers and Anthony Porter, Piano

Session Two

Recital Hall | 1:30 p.m to 5:30 p.m.

Alex Stein: Two Fantasies for Piano Alex Stein, Piano

Nikolai Teich: Tapan Bie Nikolai Teich, Piano, Knox Barber, Bass  and Christian Burgs, Drums

Ruben Naeff: Aftermath

TaiHei Ensemble     Li Tao: Xun     Brooke Chen Herndon: Descent to Bells Li Tao, Piano Samuel Lord Kalcheim, Violin Calvin Yue, Clarinet

Winnie Nieh Peter Engelbert: Maya’s Earthquakes Libretto by Erin Bregman. Winnie Nieh, Soprano and Violin, Justin Sun, Marimba

Shawne Workman: Cinq Petits Morceaux Tin Yi Chelsea Wong, Piano

Keyed Kontraptions     Yangfan Xu: Ji     Joseph M. Colombo: Strawocktopuss Meerenai Shim, Contrabass Flute Kris King, Contraforte

SopraDuo: Alexandra Iranfar and Tim Sherren, Guitar

Mouthscape Contemporary Choir     Michael Robert Smith: Reconciliation     Patricia Wallinga: What do I Care?     Lukáš Janata: In the Night     Bryan Lin: I Miss you [Explicit Content Warning]     Maciej Balenkowski: Quaerem te, Domine

Giacomo Fiore + Larry Polansky Giacomo Fiore and Larry Polansky, Guitar

Alexandra Armantrading John Harbison: Mirabai Songs Alexandra Armantrading, Soprano

Session Three

Osher Salon | 4 p.m to 7:30 p.m.

Marian Yang Mary Kouyoumdjian: Dandelion Marian Yang, Violin

Nicholas Denton-Protsack     Brian Ciach: Chaconne for cello and electronic music,     Nicholas Denton-Protsack: Cosmology Nicholas Denton-Protsack, Cello

Friction Quartet     George Crumb: Black Angels     Yangfan Xu: Ecstatic Burial Otis Harriel and Kevin Rogers, Violin Taija Warbelow, Viola Doug Machiz, Cello Shuxin Meng, Pipa

Jeff Anderle     Eric Dolphy: God Bless the Child     David Lang: Press Release     Cornelius Boots: The Sacred Teaching of the Lonely Goose Jeff Anderle, Clarinet

Carl Schimmel: Roadshow for Otto Joyce Lee, Flute Andrew Friendman, Clarinet/Bass Clarinet, Jungeun Kim, Piano, Bridget Pasker, Cello

The Living Earth Show

Session Four

Concert Hall | 8 p.m to 9 p.m.

Ryan Brown Mortal Lessons Taylor Chan and Tin Yi Chelsea Wong, Piano Mika Nakamura, Tim Padgett, Sam Rich, and Taylor Rankin, Percussion Tonia D'Amelio, Justin Montigne, Samuel Faustine, and Sidney Chen – Voice

[anthonylanman]

https://soundcloud.com/michael-viola/a-boy-and-a-makeshift-toy