Timo Andres' Earthly Feast

by Ted Gordon on Dec. 18, 2012, 3:36 p.m.

Now that the holidays are upon us, what better way to celebrate than with some comfort food? Go out and get your goose, your orange pomanders, your gingerbread-- but don't forget about the other Comfort Food-- that is, Timo Andres' new choral work available on PSNY! Comfort Food was commissioned and premiered by Present Music in Milwaukee for their annual Thanksgiving concert, and the text for the work is taken from an informal survey of "pedestrian and earthly food items, an episode of depressants, and finally into the somewhat metaphysical."

For a taste of Comfort Food, listen to an audio excerpt:

Comfort Food is also the first choral work available on PSNY-- be on the look out for more to come! 

December has also been a big month for Andres: the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra recently performed an all Mozart/Andres program at Brooklyn's Galapagos Art Space, featuring pianist David Kaplan. The concert, on December 6th, featured two of Timo's works for solo piano: How Can I Live In Your World Of Ideas? and It takes a long time to become a good composer, both available on PSNY. It also included Timo's new string quartet, Thrive on Routine, commissined in 2010 by the ACME Ensemble.

Matthias Pintscher on the East Coast: Upcoming Curtis, Washington, DC Concerts

by Ted Gordon on Dec. 4, 2012, 9:52 p.m.

Matthias Pintscher, who in 2013 takes up the reigns of the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris, isn't leaving the States quite yet: this weekend, December 8th and 9th, Pintscher conducts a series of two concerts featuring eighth blackbird and Curtis 20/21, the Curtis Institute of Music's resident student new music ensemble, in Philadelphia. With Pintscher conducting, the two ensembles perform a program of works curated by Pintscher including his solo piano work, on a clear day, as well as works by Berio, Donatoni, and Schoenberg. The performances are free and open to the public, and take place in Curtis' Gould Rehearsal Hall. 

And if you can't make the performances in Philadelphia, check out Pintscher in Washington, DC: on December 13th, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) presents their Composer Portrait on Matthias Pintscher at the Phillips Collection. The program also includes on a clear day, as well as a rare performance of dernier espace avec introspecteur, for accordion and cello, featuring accordion player William Schimmel. 

Watch Claire Chase of ICE and Melissa Smey of Columbia's Miller Theater discuss this Composer Portrait concert below: 

We're sure these are concerts you won't want to miss!

Katharina Rosenberger Earns Praise for "Texturen"

by Ted Gordon on Nov. 27, 2012, 1:55 p.m.

Katharina Rosenberger's latest album, "Texturen," performed by Wet Ink and released by Hat Hut, has just won the 2012 Deutsche Schallplattenkritik Preis (German Record Critics Prize)! We extend our warmest congratulations to Katharina, though we can't say we're surprised. Helmut Rohm, of the awarding jury, described her album thusly:

"Sinister force-fields rumble in Katharina Rosenberger's finely-worked 'Texturen'. Here blooms the poetry of magic sounds, overwhelmed by the tingling thrill of the numinous. The presence of the musical performers potentiates the tiniest spark of noise, and its echo of alien worlds: a psychedelic trip through a multimedia event space."

More Swiss press has heaped praise on the album, which features fellow PSNY composers Alex Mincek and Kate Soper as performers. For those in New York, be sure to attend the performance of "torsion", recorded on the album, on December 17th at the Austrian Cultural Forum performed by pianist Taka Kigawa. 

Katharina is hard at work on the culmination of her three-year project, "Viva Voce", an interactive sound and visual installation, which will premiere at the Human Resources gallery in Los Angeles in January. See a preview of what this project will look like here.

Texturen, for solo piano, is the central piece on Katharina's acclaimed album and will soon be available to purchase here on PSNY -- stay tuned for more information!