02/06/2013

Ursula Oppens Performs New York Premiere of Bernard Rands Memo 5

The fourth annual Composers Now Festival kicked off in style with the magnificent "Music of Now Marathon" at New York City's Symphony Space, February 2, featuring the New York premiere of Bernard Rands’ solo piano work Memo 5 with Ursula Oppens. Oppens took the stage at 6PM amidst a wonderfully ...

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02/06/2013

World Premiere of Toshi Ichiyanagi’s Concerto for Marimba in Osaka and 80th Birthday Celebrations

On January 19, the Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra presented the world premiere of Toshi Ichiyanagi’s Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra. Led by Sachio Fujioka and featuring percussionist Mutsuko Taneya, for whom the work was written, the performance was held at Osaka’s Izumi Hall headlining the Philharmonic’s ...

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01/29/2013

Rhapsody for a Publisher

Mikis Theodorakis' Rhapsody for String Orchestra , dedicated to his publisher and long-time supporter Peter Hanser-Strecker (pictured, at right), will be premiered on 30 January 2013 during a portrait concert of the composer in Athens under conductor Miltos Logiades, with the renowned ERT National ...

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01/29/2013

John Casken Lecture: The Grit in the Oyster

On 28 November 2012, composer and Emeritus Professor of Music at the University of Manchester John Casken delivered a lecture on the state of contemporary classical music at the Manchester Literary & Philosophical Society. The transcript for the lecture, "Contemporary Classical ...

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01/16/2013

Gavin Bryars - 70th birthday

Today we celebrate Gavin Bryars' 70th birthday.  As an internationally renowned composer, Bryars has continually shunned convention choosing to create his own distinctive and unique path; he studied philosophy at Sheffield University and became both a professional jazz bassist and pioneer of ...

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01/14/2013

Gerald Barry's Jabberwocky Premieres in Brighton

Gerald Barry’s new work for voice, horn and piano, Jabberwocky , debuts on January 20 in Brighton, UK. An intense and surreal musical narrative, so apparent in Barry’s hugely successful opera The Importance of Being Earnest, returns in a new guise in this, the composer’s latest vocal work. Setting ...

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01/14/2013

Andrew Norman's In Transition Debuts with Ensemble Berlin

On December 17, 2012, Andrew Norman’s new ensemble work In Transition received its world premiere by the Ensemble Berlin in Germany. Commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic, the 20-minute septet is scored for oboe, bassoon, 2 violins, viola, cello and double bass. Norman’s new work explores the ...

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01/14/2013

Jörg Widmann's Lied at The Cleveland Orchestra

On January 17 and 19, Franz Welser-Möst leads The Cleveland Orchestra in two performances of Jörg Widmann's vivid homage to Schubert, Lied . Commissioned by the Bamburg Symphony Orchestra, the 25-minute work premiered in December 2003 led by Jonathan Nott. Lied , or “Song”, was written in honor ...

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01/14/2013

Lee Hoiby's I Have A Dream in Seattle

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, King County in Washington presents a special performance of Lee Hoiby’s powerful MLK text setting,  I Have A Dream . King County’s 26th Annual MLK Jr. Celebration in downtown Seattle highlights Hoiby’s inspiring piece alongside performances of traditional ...

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01/14/2013

New Recordings from Lei Liang and Kenneth Hesketh Now Available

Naxos has just released a new portrait CD of the music of Lei Liang, and the ensemble Psappha has recorded a major collection of the music of Kenneth Hesketh, Theatre of Attractions, now available on iTunes. The Liang portrait album, which marks the composer's fourth portrait disc and features ...

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