Two Weeks, Four Concerts

by Ted Gordon on May 18, 2012, 3:04 p.m.

As the '11-12 season comes to a close, late May sees four terrific events in New York, featuring PSNY composers from around the country. 

First up: Red Light New Music presents their season-closing concert on May 21st at Symphony Space in New York. Music in Layers features both new and newly arranged chamber music works, written by John Cage and Red Light New Music composers Christopher Cerrone, Adrian Knight, Vincent Raikhel, Liam Robertson and Scott Wollschleger, performed by the core Red Light New Music Ensemble. The program includes the NYC Premeire of Adrian Knight's Trio, available on PSNY:

On the heels of that Monday night concert is a Wednesday night with Wet Ink with the Peter Evans Quintet at Roulette, performing Alex Mincek's "Pendulum VII," forthcoming from PSNY. (We're working as fast as we can to get everything ready for publication!)

The next day, May 24th, sees the premiere of Histories, by the composer collective Sleeping Giant, which includes our composers Andrew Norman, Christopher Cerrone and Timo Andres, along with Ted Hearne, Jacob Cooper, and Robert Honstein. Premiering the work will be the Deviant Septet, formed around the core instrumentation of Stravinsky's L'HIstoire du Soldat, here performing a work described as a "companion piece" to that great masterwork of the early 20th century. The performance will take place at Brooklyn's Issue Project Room.

And, finishing out the month of May, Bang on a Can pianist Vicky Chow performs Christopher Cerrone's Hoyt-Schemerhorn at The Stone on May 29th. (If you haven't been to The Stone yet, now's your chance!)   

Prizes, Prizes, Prizes...

by Ted Gordon on April 16, 2012, 3:36 p.m.

It's been an unbelievable past few days: first, the Guggenheim Foundation announced their 2012 Fellows, which included PSNY Composers Keeril Makan, Kate Soper, and Alex Mincek, as well as Schott composer Xiaogang Ye. And just this afternoon, the Pulitzer Prize board announced that Andrew Norman's "The Companion Guide to Rome" was a 2012 Finalist! 

It's not hard to hear why the panel liked Andrew's work so much... 

Oh, and did I mention that you can purchase performance material right here on PSNY? String quartets, get on this!

Springtime for New Music

by Ted Gordon on March 13, 2012, 2:25 p.m.

A lot has happened at PSNY since we last brought you news of the first ever digital publication of Morton Subotnick's chamber music: we've added almost 20 new works by several of our composers, including Adrian Knight, Timothy Andres, Alex Mincek, Tobias Picker, Pierre Jalbert, and Fred Lerdahl. Here are some highlights from this recent round of additions:

Adrian Knight's "Daedaldualism," for electric guitar, synthesizer, and live electronics:

Like Subotnick, Knight writes much of his chamber music to include electronics, both fixed and live. We're especially exited to be able to publish his music through PSNY since it seems a perfect fit for music with electronics-- all patches and programs are downloadable, and we're more than happy to answer any questions about the technical requirements. 

Alex Mincek's "Karate", for two saxophones:

"Karate" is just one of several pieces Mincek has written for saxophone, an instrument with which he is intimately familiar. "Karate," in particular, bursts with virtuosic, competitive tension, as two saxophones are seemingly pitted against each other in battle. Strongly reminiscent of John Zorn's early "game pieces" in structure, as well as the wildly frenetic aesthetic of "For Alto"-era Anthony Braxton.

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