Wet Ink and Talea Ensemble Provide New Music for Autumn

by Ted Gordon on Nov. 23, 2011, 11:56 a.m.

Though the weather is increasingly dark and gray, and the holiday season will soon tempt us to forgo exploring new music in favor of familiar holiday music, there still exist shining beacons of new music in this wintry sea.

One such beacon - Wet Ink, which includes PSNY composers Kate Soper and Alex Mincek - has just come back from a Californian tour, where they made a deep impression on the local press. The tour ended up back in Brooklyn, at Roulette, with a program featuring Teresa McCollough performing the World Premiere of "In My Own Skin " by Alvin Singleton, and Alex Mincek and Ian Antonio (also of Yarn/Wire and Zs) performing Alex's "Nucleus."

If you haven't heard "Nucleus", here's a taste from the awesome recording on Carrier Records: 

Next up for Wet Ink: a residency at Duke University in December. And for Kate Soper, the premiere of a new work for soprano and violin, "cipher," by the SEM Ensemble at the Paula Cooper Gallery on December 13th. 

The Talea Ensemble has just held two recording sessions at the American Academy of Arts and Letters of two works by Anthony Cheung: "Windswept Cypresses" and "Centripedalocity."

Cheung, who is their pianist, will also be performing on their awesome program on Sunday the 27th at the Roger Smith Hotel, which includes works by Berio, Bartok, Nono, and Larry Polansky. It's a rare treat to hear these works, especially Nono's "'Hay que Caminar' Soñando", live: 

Hats off to these ensembles for keeping autumn vibrant with new music! 

Mid-Week PSNY News Roundup!

by Ted Gordon on Nov. 16, 2011, 11:48 a.m.

Since we've launched two weeks ago, we've seen some encouraging press, a lot of twitter and facebook activity, and thousands of new visitors to the site. Thanks everyone! Brief reminder: if you don't yet, follow us on Twitter and Facebook!

A lot has been going on with our PSNY composers, so I thought I might give a brief rundown of the news from the past week:

Annie Gosfield has been profiled in the Telegraph about a nice new project that's premiering later this month. The ensemble includes the eight-person Ensemble Athelas, and a trio with Gosfield, Roger Kleier, and Chris Cutler (Henry Cow, Pere Ubu, & many more). The music for the ensemble is notated, but the trio will improvise based on material they will develop during rehearsals. If you're in the UK, don't miss this!

Gregory Spears has just released a new album, Requiem, on New Amsterdam Records! There will be an album release party at Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn on November 21st, featuring a performance of the entire album. 

Finally, for those in Ireland, the Crash Ensemble will be performing Timothy Andres' "Crashing Through Fences" on November 25th, on their "Young Americans" program. Give it a listen before you go:

Richard Carrick Awarded Fromm Foundation Commission

by Ted Gordon on Nov. 8, 2011, 3:38 p.m.

We've just heard some great news: Richard Carrick has been awarded a 2011 Fromm Foundation Commission to write a new string quartet for the fantastic MIVOS Quartet. A cash award and 3 years to write a quartet: what composer could ask for more? Carrick's quartet writing is thrilling enough as it is, so we're very excited to hear what he'll compose for MIVOS. In case you haven't heard, here's a short sample from 2009's "adagios" for string quartet, performed by the JACK Quartet:

Richard Carrick - III. Solo from "adagios" by PSNY

Congrats Richard!