The Living Earth Show Plays Adrian Knight, Timothy Andres, and Christopher Cerrone!

by Ted Gordon on May 13, 2013, 9:14 p.m.

New Yorkers have all the fun, don't they? Those lucky enough to be in Manhattan have witnessed the TriBeCa New Music Festival at The Cell in Chelsea, the finale of which consisted of The Living Earth Show performing works by Adrian Knight, Timo Andres, and Chris Cerrone! Could it get any better? 

For those uninitiated, this is The Living Earth Show, a Bay Area-based duo of guitarist Travis Andrews and percussionist Andrew Meyerson:

The Living Earth Show performed the piece in the video above, "You Broke It, You Bought It," by Timo Andres, Adrian Knight's "Family Man," and Chris Cerrone's "Double Happiness." Have a listen to the first movement of "Double Happiness" below and check out Timo's, Adrian's, and Chris' other works to get a sense of what these premieres might have been like. And keep your eyes peeled to our blog for announcements of new publications!  

(P.S. While you're taking my recommendations, check out Adrian Knight's new project, Blue Jazz TV!) 

Lei Liang Premieres Collaborative Opera; New Works from Andrew Norman and Joseph Schwantner!

by Ted Gordon on May 6, 2013, 11 a.m.

Fans of New Music, performers, conductors, devoted PSNY Blog readers-- did you miss us? A few ways to excuse our relative silence: springtime is finally here; we've been going to too many concerts; and, of course, we've been busy preparing tons of new work for publication! 

For Andrew Norman fans (and really, who isn't a fan of Andrew?), we have a newly-published study score for his recently-premiered work, Music in Circles III, which premiered to rave reviews at Los Angeles' Brooklyn Festival last month. Music in Circles III was commissioned by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra as a part of their "Sound Investment" project, funded by audience members and awarded annually to a rising composer. (2014's Sound Investment, by the way, has been awarded to Hannah Lash! So keep your eyes out this time next year!).

Joseph Schwantner's Angelfire, for amplified violin and orchestra, is also now available as a full score. Originally commissioned for Anne Akiko Meyers, this piece has been recorded on Hyperion and remains a theatrical favorite of the solo violin repertoire. We're also pleased to make available the full score to Taking Charge, for Flute/Piccolo, Percussion, and Piano. Taking Charge premiered in 2012 at Northwestern's Bienen School of Music; a full video recording of the premiere can be seen here. 

Lei Liang is taking part in a collaborative chamber opera project, Cuatro Corridos, which addresses human trafficking, one of the most pressing human rights issues of our time. Cuatro Corridos was spearheaded by soprano Susan Narucki and author Jorge Volpi, and has had support from the Yellow Barn Foundation, the UCSD Department of Music, UC Mexis and the MAP Fund. It brings together four composers, including Lei Liang, each to write one of four acts, which tell the story of women trapped in a cycle of prostitution and slavery in the San Diego/Tijuana border area. Lei has written a blog post about his own experience with human trafficking as an Chinese ex-pat living in America, and we greatly look forward to hearing his contribution to this important work. The World Premiere takes place on May 8th at the Conrad Prebys Music Center's Experimental Theater on the UCSD Campus, and performances run until May 11th. Tickets can be purchased here. 

Christopher Cerrone in New York and Los Angeles, New Work from Kate Soper, and More!

by Ted Gordon on April 19, 2013, 2:15 p.m.

Christopher Cerrone's music has quickly become a staple of New Music ensembles' repertoire across the country. From electro-acoustic works commissioned and premiered by NYC's Red Light New Music, to chamber operas performed in Virginia, Connecticut, and Oklahoma, Cerrone has gained a huge presence in the past few years. Little wonder, then, that pianist Vicky Chow and percussionist Owen Weaver will be performing his piece for piano and electronics, Hoyt-Schermerhorn, and percussion and electronics, Memory Palace, alongside the New York premiere of John Luther Adams' 2010 work, Four Thousand Holes, on April 22nd at Le Poisson Rouge. Chow and Weaver have been performing Cerrone's works together since 2012's Fast Forward Austin festival; Weaver commissioned and premiered Memory Palace in that same year.

Weaver comments: “We think John Luther Adams’ and Chris Cerrone’s works both compliment and contrast each other. Chris's music focuses on color and simple, elegant forms that allow time and space for ideas to shift and grow. John's music often provides stasis through complex layers of rhythm--so much happening that things blur together to give a slow moving picture with a long-minded trajectory. In different ways, they both draw the listener into their world with a patient, yet focused approach.”

Listeners on the West coast also have an opportunity to hear Cerrone's works this weekend during the Los Angeles Philharmonic's "Brooklyn Festival." On April 18th, 20th, and 21st, Cerrone's Invisible Overture will be performed alongside Hannah Lash's Hush, a world premeire by Ted Hearne, and Aaron Copland's Symphony for Organ and Orchestra. Originally concieved as an overture for his opera, Invisible Cities, based on Italo Calvino's novel of the same name, Invisible Overture is a standalone piece, recalling the drama and interrogation of sonic experience which Cerrone explores in the opera. 

Cerrone writes, "My ideas for the overture began by listening to the resonance of decaying sounds on the piano. By holding down certain notes in the low register while playing, sympathetic vibrations create an unearthly halo of sound. The resonance is both beautiful and unstable, hovering just above silence." 

Check out recordings of these two works here:

 We at PSNY are also pleased to announce the availablity of Kate Soper's powerful work, Only The Words Themselves Mean What They Say. Soper's work, which often revolves around questions of expression, semiotics, vocality, and communication, sees its full manifestation in this work, for flute and voice, with a text by Lydia Davis. This is the first time that Soper's work is available to the public, and we don't doubt that it will hold an invaluable place in any contemporary singer's repertoire. 

And, last but not least, Katharina Rosenberger's Viva Voce project is finally completed! An interactive sound and video installation, Viva Voce involves compositions by Rosenberger for some of the most vital experimental vocal performers in the field, including Juliana Snapper, Shelley Hirsch, and Pamela Z. Keep your eyes out for more videos and documentation of this project at www.vivavoce.ch.