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Bruce: The Firework Maker’s Daughter US/UK Tour

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Tickets for David Bruce’s chamber opera The Firework Maker’s Daughter are now on sale. The opera comes to the Lindbury Studios of the Royal Opera House, London from 3-13 April; and to the New Victory Theatre, New York from 3-12 May, as well as a substantial UK tour with performances in Hull, Huddersfield, Watford, Bury St Edmunds, Buxton, Oxford and Newcastle.

The opera is a retelling of Philip Pullman’ s fabulous and colourful story featuring the spirited young girl who risks everything to follow her true path in life.  Like Pullman’s work, I like to think it’s “suitable for young and old.”

The libretto is by Glyn Maxwell (whose book On Poetry is really worth checking out.)  Director John Fulljames and designer Dick Bird take the helm, along with shadow-puppeteers Indefinite Articles; and in the pit, two old favourites – Chroma in the UK and Metropolis Ensemble in New York. A great cast of Mary Bevan, Jamie Laing, Andrew Slater, Amar Muchhala and Wyn Pencarreg make this a show not to miss.

Tickets on sale now. Links below

Hull Truck
23th – 26th March
Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield
30th March
Linbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House
3th – 13th April
New Victory Theatre, New York
2nd – 12th May
Watford Palace Theatre
17th & 18th May
Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmund’s
21st & 22nd May
Buxton Opera House
24th & 25th May
Oxford Playhouse
28th & 29th May
Northern Stage, Newcastle
31st May & 1st June

Heggie and Scheer’s Moby-Dick: A Grand Opera for the Twenty-first Century

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Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s grand opera Moby-Dick was a stunning success in the world premiere production by the Dallas Opera in 2010. Robert K. Wallace attended the final performance of the Dallas production and has written this book so readers can experience the process by which this contemporary masterpiece was created and performed on stage. Interviews with the creative team and draft revisions of the libretto and score show the opera in the process of being born. Interviews with the principal singers and the production staff follow the five-week rehearsal period into the world premiere production, each step of the way illustrated by more than two hundred color photographs by Karen Almond.

Opera fans, lovers of Moby-Dick, and students of American and global culture will welcome this book as a highly readable and visually enthralling account of the creation of a remarkable new opera that does full justice to its celebrated literary source. Just as Heggie and Scheer’s opera is enjoyed by operagoers with no direct knowledge of Moby-Dick, so will this book be enjoyed by opera fans unaware of Melville and by Melville fans unaware of opera.

Paul Brantley composes “Esterházy” for Flux Quartet and The New Esterházy Quartet

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To celebrate the life of the late Mathematician and early Computer Pioneer, Franz Alt, Paul Brantley has been commissioned to compose a string quartet in memory of his dear friend, who passed away last year at age 100! Franz was also a wonderful amateur violinist and violist who regularly held string quartet readings in his home – which he played in up until the last year of his very rich life and in which Brantley participated as cellist for nearly a decade.

Inspired by Haydn’s comment that that by moving to Esterházy he was “forced to become original” — by his virtual isolation — Brantley is calling his piece “Esterházy.” The composer writes: “I’ve always responded to this statement more as a metaphor for the creative process in general: wherever the artist might be geographically, one has to enter a self-reliant, ‘Esterházy,’ frame of mind–and so the creative person’s perennial balancing act of ‘being in the world’/’being in one’s own’. Franz’ life was manifestly a meaningful and beautiful balance in this regard.”

Upon this piece being announced for Flux Quartet, Brantley was contacted by The New Esterházy Quartet, the renowned period instrument group, which expressed interest in giving the West Coast premiere. “As much as I was thrilled by such a request, the music I had conceived and written at that point was not entirely idiomatic for such a period instrument group. But in that this music was consumed with all kinds of “doubles”, the idea occurred to me to compose two independent and yet interlaced quartets: one for Flux, the new music quartet; and one for NEQ, the period instrument group.” Both will be premiered in the 2013-2014 season.

You can read more about this Fractured Atlas sponsored project here.

Danielpour Commission to Honor the 150th Anniversary of Saratoga Race Course

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Saratoga Performing Arts Center will pay tribute to the 150th Anniversary of Saratoga Race Course by presenting the World Premiere of an original orchestral composition by Grammy Award winning composer Richard Danielpour on August 8, 2013. The commission, sponsored by Saratoga 150 Committee Chair Charles Wait and his wife Candace, will be premiered by The Philadelphia Orchestra as part of a special concert celebrating the milestone of the iconic race course. The news was announced today as part of SPAC’s “Building of a Season” initiative.

“Saratoga Springs’ owes so much of its remarkable history, development and success to the presence of Saratoga Race Course. The crown jewel of the racing world for 150 years, the track has helped grow Saratoga into a vibrant, unique and culturally rich community; the type of place where Saratoga Performing Arts Center could be envisioned, founded and sustained,” said Marcia J. White, SPAC’s President & Executive Director. “SPAC will mark this historic occasion with a celebratory program by The Philadelphia Orchestra, led by the world premiere of a commissioned work by award winning composer Richard Danielpour.”

“My warmest thanks go out to Charles and Candace Wait for their generous sponsorship of this commission. The Wait Family’s historic connection to SPAC and longtime leadership in the Saratoga community makes their role in this project particularly meaningful,” said White.

“It is a privilege to have the opportunity to create a work that honors the 150th Anniversary of Saratoga Race Course and the history, traditions and culture that are part of that milestone,” said composer Richard Danielpour. “I look forward to the challenge of capturing in music, the essence and vitality of that colorful heritage.”

The Saratoga 150 celebration marks the sesquicentennial of the inaugural thoroughbred meeting in Saratoga Springs in 1863. The four-day program was such a success that founder John Morrissey and his partners built Saratoga Race Course in 1864. Today, Saratoga Race Course is the oldest sporting venue in the country still in operation and was named one of the top 10 sporting venues in the world by Sports Illustrated. The Saratoga 150 Committee, chaired by Adirondack Trust President Charles V. Wait, is planning and organizing a five-month-long celebration from May to September that will feature more than 150 community events for residents and visitors to the region. Historical information and details on the 2013 celebration are available at saratoga150.com.

Midwest Clinic Features BHM Works

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It’s the largest conference for wind and band music in the world, and it arrives at Chicago’s McCormack Place on December 19. Overlooking the shore of Lake Michigan, this year’s Conference will feature performances by hundreds of the best ensembles in the world and will highlight clinics with Wynton Marsalis and Leonard Slatkin, who will lead an open conversation on McTee’s “Tempis Fugit” from Double Play followed by a performance with the Lone Star Wind Orchestra. This year marks the 66th annual conference.

Wind

World Premiere: Puckett Asimov’s Aviary

In 1974, Isaac Asimov (creator of the three laws of robotics and father of modern technology based science fiction) predicted in his short story That thou art mindful that before humanoid androids would be accepted into mainstream society, robotic birds and insects would be created to desensitize the population.

While writing this piece, I frequently imagined Asimov dreaming of an aviary far in the future where robotic insects and birds were given life and flew around in constant electronic swarms.

Amazingly, this work has begun. At the Air Force Research Lab at Wright-Patterson’s “Micro-Aviary” these robotic insects and birds—or micro-drones as the press has dubbed them—are being developed and put in the field as part of a whole host of projects including weather management and environmental monitoring.

However, as as anyone who has read I, Robot or The Naked Sun will know, where there is potential for light in technological innovation, there is also potential for darkness.

I often find myself thinking about the excitement that the researchers at the Micro-Aviary would feel if they were able to show their creations to Asimov and how amazed he would have be to see how quickly these artificial insects and birds have become a reality.

The piece features tightly woven canonic lines that form a furious web [swarm?] of contrapuntal activity over very slow moving [inevitable?] metallic drones.

Asimov’s Aviary was commissioned by The United States Air Force Band “The Chief’s Own” and is dedicated to the men and women at the Air Force Research Lab at Wright-Patterson and will be premiered at the 2012 Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinc.

Featured Performances:

Daugherty “Fever” from Lost Vegas Thursday, Dec. 20, 8:30 am
New Trier Symphonic Wind Ensemble—Ballroom W375E

McTee “Tempis Fugit” from Double Play Thursday Dec. 20
10:00 am (open conversation with Leonard Slatkin) Lone Star Wind Orchestra
6:00 pm performance (Leonard Slatkin, cond.)—Ballroom W375AB

Puckett Asimov’s Aviary world premiere, Wednesday, Dec. 19, 5:30 pm
The United States Air Force Band—Ballroom W375AB

Puts/Spede Millennium Canons Friday, Dec. 21 2:00—Virginia Wind Symphony—Ballroom W375AB

Paterson’s The Book of Goddesses, Top 10 Favorite Pieces

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Classical New England, Boston

Who better than NPR to suggest some of the best classical recordings of the year? Classical New England has selected Robert Paterson’s The Book of Goddesses for their list. Here’s the complete list of their picks. You can see more here.
  • Avi Avital, Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052: (I) Allegro (Bach)
  • Handel and Haydn Society, Coronation Mass in C Major, K. 317: Gloria (Mozart)
  • Ensemble Caprice, Fugue, Op. 87 No. 7 / Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F Major, BWV 1046: (I) Allegro (Shostakovich/Bach)
  •  Do.gma Chamber Orchestra, Rounds for String Orchestra (Diamond)
  •  East Coast Chamber Orchestra, Serenade for Strings in C Major, Op. 48: (II) Waltz (Tchaikovsky)
  •  BBC Concert Orchestra, Sinfonietta in D Major: (III) Scherzino (Chadwick)
  •  Tai Murray, Sonata No. 2 for Solo Violin, Op. 27: (I) Obsession (Ysaÿe)
  •  Pieter Wispelwey, Suite No. 3 in C Major for Solo Cello, BWV 1009: (V) Bouree I & II; (VI) Gigue (Bach)
  • London Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36: (IV) Finale – Allegro con fuoco (Tchaikovsky)
  • Maya, The Book of Goddesses: (III) Aphrodite; (IV) Brigit; (IX) The Muses (Paterson)

Danielpour’s Piano Etudes premiered at Vanderbilt University

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“I started writing these etudes in November of 2011, and I finished them in February 2012,” said the composer Richard Danielpour on Tuesday night at Ingram Hall. “That’s just four months, but in a sense these etudes have been 20 years in the making.”

Mark Wait and Amy DorfmanDanielpour took inspiration for these pieces from Claude Debussy’s celebrated 12 Etudes for Piano, centering each of these 12 pieces around a different musical or technical challenge: One is centered around fast scales; another is composed of full-sounding chords; another is played with the left hand on the keys and the right hand inside the piano plucking the strings. Each of the 12 pieces is dedicated to a different pianist with whom Danielpour has been affiliated, including Leon Fleisher and Yefim Bronfman, and one apiece dedicated to Dorfman, Nies and Wait.

craigCommissioned by Vanderbilt University and given their premiere on Dec. 4, 2012 at the Blair School of Music, a trio of pianists divided the challenging works: Mark Wait, Craig Nies and Amy Dorfman. The new Etudes push the limits of piano technique and will be an important addition to the repertoire, nice compliments to Danielpour’s two collections of Preludes, entitled The Enchanted Garden [Book 1, Book 2].

D.J. Sparr to be Composer-in-Residence with the California Symphony

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On the eve of its 25th anniversary season, the California Symphony has announced the selection of D. J. Sparr as its new Young American Composer-in-Residence. The critically acclaimed California Symphony’s YACR program will give this young American composer an opportunity to work with a professional orchestra in a two-year residency during which the Symphony commissions and performs one of his works each season, preceded by multiple reading rehearsals which are recorded, and direct feedback from the Music Director, the California Symphony musicians and music librarian. Said BMI Foundation President Ralph Jackson, “We know of no other orchestra anywhere in the world doing this type of groundbreaking work with young composers.” The composer will also be involved in educational programs in the schools and community at large, visiting local schools to discuss the ideas and changes surrounding the commission and to work with composition students. Students and teachers will be invited to attend three reading rehearsals and the world premiere.

Of the six composers who have participated in the California Symphony’s YACR Program since its inception, five have won the prestigious Rome Prize for Composition, and two went on to win the BBC International Masterprize competition (one with a work commissioned and premiered by the California Symphony). The ‘94-‘96 resident composer, Christopher Theofanidis, is a now a Grammy-nominated and multiple award-winning composer,  whose first full-length opera has been commissioned by the San Francisco Opera and will premiere there in 2011.

Said California Symphony Executive Director Walter Collins, ““We are delighted to announce the selection of D.J. Sparr as our latest Young American Composer in Residence. His work is refreshing, alternative, and exciting. We know our audiences will be intrigued to follow along as he creates new works and unveils them for us. D. J. represents the ideal choice for this program—he is an emerging American composer who is already garnering top international awards. Additionally, his experience working with young people in composition and improvisation will further expand the reach of this program into our schools.” D. J. Sparr is a prolific American composer and guitarist trained in a striking variety of musical styles, including both the classical and the vernacular. He has performed with the Fondazione Arturo Toscanini, Eastman’s “Musica Nova” Contemporary Music Ensemble, pop bands, and as a studio musician.

Mr. Sparr’s music has been performed, premiered, and commissioned by various ensembles, including the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras, the Albany Symphony Orchestra, eighth blackbird, the Dayton Philharmonic, and the “Late Show” with Jay Leno’s band. He received the $10,000 Grand Prize in the orchestra category for the BMG/Williams College National Young Composers Competition, was an alternate for the 1998-9 Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome, and has won two BMI Student Composer Awards. His recent work “Precious Metal: A Concerto for Flute and Winds” was commissioned by a consortium of 33 colleges led by the University of Washington and was featured on its 2010 tour of Japan.

Prior to his current residency, Mr. Sparr was the composer-in-residence with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra’s education and community engagement department.  Mr. Sparr received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music, his Master and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the University of Michigan, and is a graduate of the Baltimore School for the Arts.  His composition teachers include Michael Daugherty, Augusta Read Thomas, and Pulitzer Prize winners William Bolcom, Christopher Rouse, and Joseph Schwantner.

D.J. Sparr receives CAP Grant

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D.J. SPARR has received a prestitious Composer Assistance Program Recording grant to for his first professional recording of his chamber music works, to be released on Centaur Records with New Music Raleigh, Hexnut Ensemble, Karen Galvin and the composer performing.