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Congratulations to Threefifty Duo for being selected to perform at the Classical Crossover Showcase (complete schedule here) at the famed South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival in Austin, Texas. For the second year, the Drapkin Institute for Music Entrepreneurship presents the Classical Crossover Showcase at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival in Austin, Texas. Following on their sold-out debut showcase in 2010, this showcase presents six of the finest bands from around the country, featuring classically trained musicians that have crossed over to the mainstream, and brought their amazing virtuosity with them. These musicians have been leaders in their fields, with professional experiences ranging from the Chicago Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, educations at top schools like Eastman and Juilliard, from New York to Tehran, and even the best rockin’ solo bass clarinetist in the United States! The showcase will be held Friday, March 18, 2011, from 8pm until 3am at St. David’s Bethel Hall, 301 E 8th St. Austin, Texas.


Threefifty Duo has been described as a “classical guitar duo with a rock edge,” as musicians Brett Parnell and Geremy Schulick seamlessly weave their contemporary rock sensibilities into the rich fabric of classical guitar. After years of writing and performing together and with a second album under Threefifty’s belt, the duo’s stylistic tendencies have further expanded, with genre blurred by an intensely personal sound that is rhythmic, infectious, engaging, and at once both new and accessible.. Young guitarists Schulick and Parnell write instrumental music for two guitars that encompasses a wide variety of influences from Bach to Steve Reich to Leo Kottke to Radiohead. They’ve performed across the US and overseas at a broad array of venues, universities and festivals, and most recently they played as part of CMEAS’ Autumn UK Tour from September 23-October 1st and the Lancaster Music Festival on October 9th and 10th.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Peter McDowell and Ari Salomon will offer the free workshop “WordPress Web sites for Performing and Visual Artists” at the 2011 Creative Chicago Expo held at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington.

Using dynamic discussion and visual examples, this workshop for Creative Chicago Expo 2011 will go through the basics of establishing a strong online presence for performing and visual artists with a focus on:

• Branding: Simple logo vs Complete visual identity (logotype, logomark, business card and other matching print collateral)
• Content Management System (CMS): How it can empower the delivery of constantly changing information to key audiences
• The differences between WordPress.org (requiring a web developer) and WordPress.com (free do-it-yourself) sites.
• Building a strong platform for online marketing: SEO (Search Engine Optimization), SEM (search Engine Marketing) and social networking efforts to drive traffic
• How a web site fits into a larger marketing effort
• Costs and timelines: getting your content together before you approach a designer
• Time management: “Don’t be a programmer, be the best artist you can be.”

Peter McDowell and Ari Salomon believe in the necessity of access to effective, attractive, functional web sites for performing and visual artists. McDowell (a veteran of 20 years experience in arts management) and Salomon (a web designer and developer for 15 years) have teamed up since 2009 seeking to provide a low-cost, high quality option in web marketing for artists by creating over a dozen web sites for artists and by training them how to update and maintain their new sites. Their upcoming venture, PerformSites, will launch in Spring 2011.

 

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Pianist Jenny Lin

Greenwich House Music School (GHMS) is pleased to present a not to be missed all-Ligeti program by one of today’s most respected young pianists, Jenny Lin, on Thursday, March 31 at 8 p.m. Hailed as “brilliant” and “beautifully attentive” (Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times), Lin will perform ten of György Ligeti’s Études pour piano (1985-2001), as well as his Continuum for Harpsichord (1968), and Musica ricercata (1951-3).

The concert is presented as part of the 25th anniversary season of North River Music – one of New York City’s first concert series devoted to new and experimental music and founded by Frank Wigglesworth in 1985. The concert will be followed by a reception. The concert will be held at Renee Weiler Concert Hall, Greenwich House Music School, 46 Barrow Street (between Bedford St. & 7th Ave. S), NYC. Tickets are $15 General Admission/$10 Students/Seniors – all tickets are payable at the door from 7:30pm. More information is available at (212) 242-4770 or at  www.greenwichhouse.org/programs/arts/music

György Ligeti

Written between 1985 and 2001, Ligeti’s Études pour piano (Book I, 1985; Book II, 1988–94; Book III, 1995–2001) are considered by many as the best piano works of the last 50 years. Combining virtuoso technical problems with new ideas, they draw from such diverse sources as gamelan, one of his favorite jazz pianists, Thelonious Monk, African polyrhythms, Bartók, Conlon Nancarrow, and Bill Evans. Jenny Lin will perform Etudes No. 1,3,4,7,8,11,13,16,17, and 18.

Continuum for harpsichord (1968) was dedicated to the contemporary harpsichordist, Antoinette Vischer. Around the time of writing Continuum, Ligeti turned away from total chromaticism and began to concentrate on rhythm, and the work is described by the composer as “a series of sound impulses in rapid succession which create the impression of continuous sound.”

Musica ricercata (1951-1953) is a set of eleven pieces. Although the ricercata (or ricercar) is an established contrapuntal style (and the final movement of the work is in that form), Ligeti’s title can be interpreted literally as “researched music” or “sought music.” This work captures the essence of Ligeti’s search to construct his own compositional style, and as such foreshadows many of the more radical directions Ligeti would take in the future. Another important feature of the piece is that the composer confines himself to certain pitch classes in each movement, with each subsequent movement having exactly one more pitch class than the last.

Founded by Mary Kingsbury Simkhovitch in 1902, Greenwich House is a nonprofit settlement house which offers cultural and educational programs, social and health services and opportunities for civic involvement to New Yorkers of all ages and backgrounds – from any neighborhood. Greenwich House Music School, located in the historical West Village, provides a wide range of concerts and recitals as well as instructional classes and outreach in NYC’s public schools. With a faculty of about 50 instructors, its has 520 students ranging in ages from 3 years old to seniors — from beginner to advanced — in classes and private lessons, in piano, voice, violin and viola, cello, clarinet, flute, guitar, five-string banjo, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, harp and the Chinese qin, a seven-string plucked instrument. www.greenwichhouse.org

Funding for North River Music is provided, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts, the Virgil Thomson Foundation, and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music.

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On Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 8:00 PM, in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, as part of their 45th Anniversary year, Pro Musicis presents pianist Inna Faliks, winner of the 2005 Pro Musicis International Award.

Following her acclaimed debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age 15, Ms Faliks has performed on many of the world’s great stages under such noted conductors as Leonard Slatkin and Keith Lockhart. Recent appearances include the Poisson Rouge in New York City, the Embassy Series in Washington D.C., the Salle Cortot in Paris, broadcast recitals in Chicago, and LACMA’s music and art series in Los Angeles.

Her chamber music partnerships include work with Colin Carr, Nathaniel Rosen and Nina Beilina. She is a favorite at festivals in the U.S. and Europe, including Verbier, Taos, and Bargemusic. Her innovative and interdisciplinary series, Music/Words, links contemporary poetry and live piano performances.

A native of Odessa, Ukraine, Ms. Faliks is the recipient of numerous awards. She has a master’s degree from Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, a doctorate from Stony Brook University, and an Artist Diploma from the Accademia Pianistica Internazionale in Imola, Italy. Her teachers include Leon Fleisher, Ann Schein, and Gilbert Kalish. She lives in New York City and is on the piano faculty of Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago. She performed her Pro Musicis debut recital in Weill Hall in 2006.

Program:

  • Ludwig van Beethoven, Fantasy in G minor, Op. 77
  • Franz Schubert, Sonata in A minor, Op. Posth. 143
  • Franz Liszt, from Transcendental Etudes, No. 11 & 10
  • Sofia Gubaidulina, Chaconne
  • Maurice Ravel, Gaspard de la Nuit, Poems for Piano

Tickets $25 (seniors/students $15) at the Box Office or online at www.CarnegieHall.org or CarnegieCharge 212-968-4288

For information, Pro Musicis, 212-787-0993 www.promusicis.org

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NORTHERN LIGHTS STUDIO MONTAGE © JON H. DAVIS


Languages Lost and Found: Speaking & Whistling the Mamma Tongue is a short film celebrating diverse linguistic and cultural practices from around the world.  Watch a short preview, or click on the image above.

This film screening and discussion will be held on Wednesday, February 23rd from 1-2pm at the Rubin Museum of Art, in conjunction with UNESCO designated International Mother Language Day and the museum’s Lunchmatters program as part of the Body Language Series. The Rubin Museum is at 150 West 17th St. (at 7th Ave.) in New York City. An additional screening will take place on Friday, February 25th at 3pm at Central Connecticut State University, Torp Theater, Davidson Hall, 1615 Stanley St. in New Britain, CT. More info is at www.theatre.ccsu.edu/directions.html

In footage spanning five continents–from rainforest longhouses in Borneo to dramatic mountaintops in the Canary Islands–dynamic visions of art, music, and dance are woven into a vivid, global mosaic. The way we think, speak, and express our ideas is a reflection of our language. This film reminds us of how quickly some languages are disappearing while introducing the native tongue as an all-important vehicle for maintaining culture, sharing traditional wisdom, and envisioning the future.

Academy award-winning actor William Hurt narrates the film, which features music by composer John McDowell, known for his evocative score for the Oscar-winning documentary, Born Into Brothels. Iris Brooks and Jon H. Davis (co-producers and directors) are cultural reporters and explorers who pursue everything from rituals to royalty in far-flung destinations around the world, while keeping their eyes and ears open to the unexpected. At Northern Lights Studio, Brooks and Davis tell tales of exotic travel and culture infused with a refined sensibility through a variety of media: video documentaries, text, photos, graphics, music, and art.

“The melody of this cultural collage is soul-piercing; if we lose our mother tongue, we may lose the essence of who we are.”
-Juliette Blevins, Director of Endangered Language Initiative