Three Premieres for PSNY Composers

by Ted Gordon on March 26, 2014, 12:35 p.m.

Only a week after announcing the publication of works by Marcos Balter, we're excited to spread the word about his upcoming World Premiere with the American Composers Orchestra on April 4th at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall! Balter's work, Favela, was commissioned by the ACO and draws sonic inspiration from the favelas of Brazil, Balter's home country. Check out Balter himself talking about this piece, his first for a full orchestra:

For those in New York, be sure to check out the Czech Center's 80th birthday celebration for Christian Wolff on March 27th. The program features the American premiere of Alex Mincek's Subito: No. 2, which premeired at the Ostrava Days fesitval last year. Musicians featured in the concert include Mincek himself, Christian Wolff, Philip Glass, Thomas Buckner, and many more. Mincek's Nucleus will also be performed on the second half of the concert. Check out an excerpt of Subito: No. 2 here:

For those in Boston, be sure to attend the Boston Modern Orchestra Project's concert on Friday, March 28th, which includes the American premiere of Lei Liang's Saxophone Concerto "Xiaoxiang", for saxophone and orchestra. The piece is an orchestration of his earlier work, Memories of Xiaoxiang, for saxophone and tape, available here on PSNY. Listen to a recording to be transported to the intersection of the rivers Xiao and Xiang during the cultural revolution, where Liang "search[es] for memories of realities, fragments of the truths in this broken, fractured, and scattered soundscape."

If you happen to be in Texas, Houston's Da Camera hosts Loadbang on April 8 for a performance of Christopher Cerrone's How to Breathe Underwater, Adrian Knight's 20 Maj, as well as works by Hannah Lash, Charles Wuorinen and Andy Akiho. 

New Works from Fred Lerdahl

by Ted Gordon on Sept. 24, 2013, 2:41 p.m.

Fred Lerdahl, the Fritz Reiner Professor of Musical Composition at Columbia University, three-time Pulitzer Prize Finalist, and noted music theorist, sees the New York premiere of his work Spirals on October 25th, performed by the American Composers Orchestra. For the first time ever, the full score of Spirals and four other works by Lerdahl are available in print, through PSNY. In addition to this masterful work for chamber orchestra, the scores for Chords for Orchestra, Beyond the Realm of Bird for Soprano and Chamber Orchestra, Waves for Chamber Orchestra , and Arches for Cello and Large Chamber Ensemble are all available. 

Check out an interview with Lerdahl from his 2011 Composer Portrait concert at Columbia University's Miller Theatre: