Society for New Music

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Festival of New Music January 25-26

Da Capo Chamber Players will travel to Syracuse for a mini-residency Jan. 25-26. Ring in the New Chamber Music, the focus of their residency, includes an improvisation workshop 11:30-1:00 Friday at Manlius Pebble Hill School for Upper School Performing Arts; a program titled America Sings on Friday 2:00-4:00 at Oasis (senior citizen series), 3649 Erie Blvd East, DeWitt; a coaching session 'soiree' with amateur and student ensembles 7:30 PM Friday at 438 Brookford Rd, Syracuse. On Saturday, they'll hold a gamelan workshop at 11:00 AM, a reading of scores by young composers at 1:00 PM., and a concert at 4:00 PM, all at May Memorial Unitarian Society, 3800 E. Genesee St., Syracuse. Concert tickets for the 4:00 PM concert will be available at the door: $10 ($5 students/seniors).

This residency is part of Da Capo's NYS Music Fund grant, for which the Society wrote a letter of support. The Society is honored to have as guests such an internationally renowned ensemble. Da Capo has just returned from a successful tour of Russia.

Members of Da Capo are: André Emelianoff, Blair McMillen, Patricia Spencer, Meighan Stoops, and their new violinist, the incomparable Curtis Macomber.

The young composers included in Da Capo's reading at 1:00 PM January 26 at May Memorial are Diego Davidenko, Ian Hartsough, Tom Healy, Diane Jones, and Elizabeth Luttinger. Da Capo's 4:00 PM program on January 26 includes John Harbison Songs America Loves to Sing, Daniel Godfrey Luna Rugosa, Elliott Carter Canon for 4, Igor Golubev Sparkling Thirds, Igor Stravinsky Suite from L'histoire du soldat, and their signature piece, Joan Tower's Petroushskates.

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Pathways to a Premiere

The Society and Syracuse Opera co-hosted the Opera America workshop Pathways to a Premiere December 8-9, 2007. It was an incredibly exciting two days of panels. Participants and panelists came from throughout the U.S. for these informative and productive sessions. Anne Choe and Peter McDowell from Opera America, based in Manhattan, served as the expert leaders.

Participants included Michael Ching, Opera Memphis; Clifford "Kip" Cranna, San Francisco Opera; Anthony Davis, composer; Lauren Flanigan, soprano; Linda Golding, The Reservoir; Bill Holab, Bill Holab Music; Charles Jarden, American Opera Projects; Dale Johnson, Minnesota Opera; Paula Kimper, Composer; Michael Korie, Librettist; Libby Larsen, Composer; Lyn Liston, Schott Music; Frank Oteri, American Music Center; Roberto Sierra, Composer; Diane Wondisford, Music-Theatre Group.

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New Music Concert Series Hits the Ground Running, by Elizabeth Luttinger

Syracuse's award-winning Society for New Music began a new season with a heavy-hitting concert. With three of the four composers in attendance, the audience was treated to direct insight into the music as well as an impromptu Q&A with composer Michael Daugherty about his first piece, Asclepius. Commissioned by a hospital, he was inspired while watching open-heart surgery, during which the doctors listened to opera. Syracuse University's Dr. Nicholas Scherzinger asked the most poignant question: "Was it a successful surgery?" (It was.) This, and many other anecdotes by composers, made for an interesting concert.

The evening was marked by polished performances, with admirable communication between players as well as fine direction from conductor James Tapia. Though he says it is because the applause "dies down too quickly," Tapia's running entrance opened each piece with energy, attitude, and most of all a sense of pleasure in his work. On stage a mix of Syracuse Symphony members, free-lance musicians, and Syracuse University's finest presented five works with a wide range of difficulty and variety. This diversity in music led to an evening rich with comparison and contrast, from the music itself (with unity through similar ensembles and contrast in the voices of the composers), to performance (with challenging techniques and consummate communication) to audience reactions from attentive peers, supportive Syracusans, and students from several disciplines in attendance.

Two works by Michael Daugherty were presented. The opening piece, Asclepius, was a bright fanfare. In his introduction, Daugherty explained, "writing music that is quickly forgotten is easy. Writing music that people remember is hard," particularly a fanfare. SU's Dr. Andrew Waggoner, assuming correctly, asked if Daugherty had been influenced by Emerson, Lake and Palmer's Fanfare for the Common Man, as well as Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water. Asclepius was inspired by a heartbeat-idea carried by the horns while the exultant, though sometimes dark, fanfare was carried by the trumpets. The thematic material underwent canonic overlaps and variations, illustrating Daugherty's style of repetition which makes his pieces both memorable and widely accessible.

Every year, the Society for New Music holds a competition for the Brian Israel prize, which includes a performance for the winning composer in its award. This year's feature composer was Eric T. Nathan, currently a graduate student at Indiana University. His piece, Onement, written in conjunction with a dance company and inspired by Barnett Newman's painting Onement 1, sounded much like what one would expect of contemporary music, which is to say that it was technically complex, utilized myriad timbres and textures, and was chromatic. The piece seemed to consist of contrary motions, harmonically overlapping within a half or whole step of one another, which created sweeping gestures and obscured any pitch orientation. These movements were put into order by a recurring staccato theme usually in a unison, or, again, within one step of each other. Most notably, the performers were attentive and deft without being strained. The piece showed promise when guitarist Ken Meyer first approached the stage carrying a funky light blue electric guitar.

Contrasting both Daugherty's accessible, tonal music, and the newness of Nathan's piece was Andrew Waggoner's new composition. He presented his music with the tongue in cheek remark, "now for the feel-good piece of the evening," receiving titters. Exorcist, for saxophone, guitar, percussion, and piano, came from Waggoner's fascination with the holocaust and perspectives on good and evil. He explained that it is based on accounts from the holocaust, paraphrasing author Primo Levi. Asked if the torturers were ill-formed, monstrous, and made of human defects, Levi replied, "they are made of the same cloth as me."

Exorcist sounded almost pre-apocalyptic, comprised of dark gestures and aggressive timbres and textures. Percussion abounded, emanating from the complicated instrumental layout (vibraphone, gongs, cymbal, and cuica, to name a few), the attacks on piano and the plucking and the strumming of the electric guitar. Interestingly, being amplified gave the instrument as sense of urgency in its obvious association to present-day music culture. Only the singing saxophone seemed to give the piece its human voice, at times plunging into its perilously low, gritty register, employing guttural articulations that melded with the percussiveness of the other instruments.

Armando Bayolo's piece for chamber orchestra, Illusory Airs, consisted of three smoothly contrasting movements, from Copland-esque pastoral beauty to reverent references to John Adams, punctuated by a recurring bell-theme initiated by the percussion and sustained and echoed throughout the ensemble. As Bayolo intended, the piece sculpted and re-sculpted pieces of an overarching melody. "A little tune," said Bayolo, "an ear-worm that sticks" throughout the three movements, from the interplay of the horn and trumpet, to blips and blurbs from other instruments treated as subtle soloists.

Rounding off the concert with more of his trademark pizzazz, Daugherty presented Ladder to the Moon. In two movements, Ladder featured violinist Ann McIntyre, who seemed to emerge from the audience, looking unperturbed. The violin's themes, presented as interjectory narration, smacked of Scheherazade, and the accompanying chord progressions did not disappoint. Throughout there was a jaunty, excitable theme much like hearing music spill into the street late at night, balanced by a relaxed, slightly melancholic theme that brought to mind solitary wanderings. Ladder to the Moon was first conceived by Daugherty's admiration of Georgia O'Keefe's skyscraper paintings. Told this topic wasn't for women, O'Keefe painted them anyway, both from the perspective from her high-rise apartment and from sidewalk level looking up. Though not a programmatic piece, an audience armed with program notes could easily translate the aural into the visual.

Audience members, musicians, and composers alike were treated to a playful reception afterward, complete with chocolate and vanilla cake. Conversations ranged from advice from established composers, to how to use facial muscles to play high notes on the flute, to simply how much people enjoyed this intense concert. Betsy Fuller commented that it was her favorite Society for New Music concert yet, while Helen Boatwright was seen smiling and congratulating everyone involved.

For those who missed this event, keep in mind that Daugherty, Waggoner, and Bayolo have up-coming premiers in the Syracuse area: Waggoner (www.andrewwaggoner.com) and Daugherty (www.michaeldaugherty.net) will have pieces performed by the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, and Bayolo (MySpace, Facebook) has a whirlwind five premiers in the next seven months. The Society for New Music, pulling from talent all over upstate New York, also has an on-going concert series, which can be found at www.societyfornewmusic.org.

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Concert Review by Stephen Planas, Goldring Arts Journalism graduate student

For 36 years, the Society for New Music has exposed Central New York audiences to a living art form. While orchestras perform the classics of Bach and Beethoven, the Society promotes the music of living composers, often commissioning and premiering new works. They serve an essential role in bringing classical music to a new generation of listeners.

The Society opened its new season on Tuesday, October 16 in Syracuse University's Setnor Auditorium. They presented five new compositions, many receiving only their second performance. The music was diverse and provocative, conjuring emotions ranging from triumph to complete despair.

The program featured two works by Michael Daugherty. The first, Asclepius, 2007, was a broad, optimistic fanfare for brass and percussion, written to commemorate the grand opening of the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center. Trumpets and horns began playing with controlled volume, but as the piece progressed, textures and dynamics gathered, eventually reaching a triumphant climax.

The Society maintains a core ensemble of professional musicians, but, for the first time, students participated in the concert. At Daugherty's suggestion, Asclepius, 2007 featured graduate and undergraduate performers from the Setnor School of Music. "It's important for students to be comfortable playing in any style," Daugherty said. "All performers should have a versatile, broad experience."

Ladder to the Moon, Daugherty's second work, was inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe's urban paintings and featured violinist Ann McIntyre. The first movement, "Night, New York," was deliberate and calm, with lyrical melodies interrupted occasionally by virtuosic violin cadenzas; the second movement, "Looking Up," depicted the union between bustling city streets and awe-inspiring skyscrapers.

Daugherty's compositions have been heard across the country. The Society for New Music alone has performed more than ten of his works, and he has received commissions from many orchestras, including the Syracuse Symphony. His music is renowned, but he has not lost his perspective. "Hearing my music is always a privilege," he said. "I remember being a young, unknown composer. I was broke. I'll never take this for granted."

Andrew Waggoner's Exorcist was an uncompromising examination of evil, inspired by William Peter Blatty's famed horror novel and the composer's feelings about the Holocaust. Constant struggle dominated the work; brief, hopeful sections were shattered by desolation, leading to a conclusion of resignation and acceptance.

To convey such despair, Waggoner also turned inward, mining his own unhappy personal experiences. "My pain is only expressed to those I am closest to," he said. "Melancholy most naturally finds its voice through music."

Armando Bayolo's Chamber Symphony, Illusory Airs, was an homage to the classical symphonic tradition. The first movement began with a slow, heavy repeated figure in the piano and trombone. Melodies were implied, but the relentless ostinato dominated. A placid second movement followed, characterized by sparse textures and dissonant bell-like chords in the percussion. An immediate jolt of energy launched the final movement, but the initial joy was severed by the return of the ominous ostinato. The piece ended, not in triumph, but in uncertainty, as the music faded slowly away.

Unusual sonorities dominated Eric Nathan's Onement, which was inspired by Barnett Newman's Onement I, a painting divided in half by an orange line. The 2007 winner of the New York Federation of Music Clubs Israel Prize, Onement alternated between rhythmic intensity and lyricism, with violin and flute solos punctuated by electric guitar, xylophone, and double bass. It echoed the painting-very abstractly-by presenting two related musical sections that revolved around a central point.

Throughout the concert, conductor James Tapia and the Society's ensemble tackled the demanding music admirably. Despite the many mixed meters, irregular rhythms, and complex textures, the musicians played with sensitivity and passion.

New music is thrilling: experiencing an art that few others have, works that before now had existed only in the composer's imagination. Not every new work will be a masterpiece, but performing it and building excitement is vital. At some point, all music-even the timeless pages of Bach and Beethoven-was new music. And judging by the enthusiastic audience on Tuesday night, new music has a serious voice in Syracuse.

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An Interview with Neva Pilgrim, Soprano and Founding SNM Member

This interview with David Gutkin was conducted prior to the University Neighbors lecture series at Westcott Community Center in September 2007, arranged by Grace Flusche. See David's bio below.

DG: I see that you wrote your masters thesis on text-setting in the music of Berg and Stravinsky, so you must have been interested in 20th century music from early in your career. How did you originally become involved in performing and commissioning contemporary music?

NP: I went to Hamline University in St. Paul, where new music was championed. As a music major I took composition and even performed some songs I wrote. Our 40-voice a cappella choir performed about one third new music on all programs, even though most of the singers weren't music majors. We even did 12-tone music, all memorized and perfectly in tune. It was great training for a musician!

Then of course I went to grad school at Yale on scholarship and had the opportunity to perform on a lot of composer graduate recitals, as well as premiering a cantata by a fellow student on one of my recitals. Because I was adept at singing all kinds of music, I won the Ditson Fellowship, given to the outstanding grad student at the Music School at Yale and used it in Vienna at the Opera School there.

DG: Helping to found the Society for New Music is certainly one of your most significant contributions to the world of new music. Could you talk about some of the initial aims of the Society when it was founded in 1971? What have been some of the Society's successes (or failures) since that time?

NP: When we started the Society, we had no idea it would survive even 5 years, nor did we know the amount of work it would take to keep such an organization going. The three of us (Ralph D'Mello, Greg Levin and myself) were new to Syracuse, and felt there should be more new music. Fortunately Louis Krasner, the founder of the Syracuse Friends of Chamber Music, and himself a champion of new music, encouraged us.

The main problem is raising funds to keep a year-round schedule of concerts and workshops humming along. Many people want to perform, or have their music performed, but not everyone wants to raise money to support it.

Luckily our successes outweigh the problems, and we've had a stable board of about 50 active and prominent community people of all ages and professions for many years now. There are always those who step up to help. And we've always had young composers on our board, which keeps the energy and ideas flowing.

DG: Looking at the recent activities of the SNM, I perceive an eclectic aesthetic agenda in choices of programming and commissioning. For example, the commission of the work Sound/Path/Field by the groundbreaking artist Robert Morris represents a deviation from much of the contemporary music scene, which has often remained woefully ignorant of visual and conceptual art. In your activities with the SNM, as well as in your solo career, how have you approached the issue of selecting composers and, for lack of a better word, 'styles' to champion? In the current climate of new music which composers or artistic directions do you find particularly interesting?

NP: The Society has always been eclectic in its programming. It's more interesting for the audience and performers, and more representative of the field. We have done sound installations in the past, so when Robert Morris, who is famous for just that, was selected as our commissioned composer to open the 35th season, it made sense to have him do 'his thing'. He did it brilliantly, and everyone who participated was thrilled to be a part of it. Art and new music should never become predictable. It can be comfortable sometimes, but not predictable or it quickly becomes uninteresting, even boring.

I don't think I or the Society have ever chosen 'styles' to champion - it's always been composers. I've been fortunate to have worked with some of the most influential composers of the 20th century, and many have written works for me. The Society commissions regional composers, and since these composers come and go, depending on the jobs at the top-notch colleges and universities here, we've always had a wide variety of styles represented.

DG: One of the greatest challenges facing contemporary music, and one that has both ethical and financial implications, is its apparent alienation from wider society - or society's estrangement from it. Perhaps as a result of this, in the US universities have for decades been a haven for new music. It seems noteworthy that SNM has remained autonomous of any university or academic institution. Is this in order to counteract the alleged insularity implicit in the university-based situation of much contemporary music in the States? I see that SNM has strived to interact with a larger segment of the population, such as school children, than might ordinarily be exposed to such music. Do you believe the new music scene has an obligation to attempt to engage the public? In your own programming do you seek to reconcile innovation with accessibility? Finally, is there not a danger that in seeking to reach a wider public contemporary music risks pandering, or losing its critical and aesthetic edge?

NP: The Society's mission from the very beginning was to make new music a part of the community. I grew up on a farm in rural Minnesota, but we had classical music as well as the top 40, terrific schools, read lots of books, and appreciated art. There was a real sense of pride in community and striving to improve the quality of life. When I began singing professionally it was quite clear that new music was rather ghettoized in academia, which was perhaps safe, but not wise. That was confirmed in conversations with Metropolitan Opera tenor Seth McCoy during rehearsals at the Marlboro festival. He felt as I did that people everywhere should have access to great music and great performances, not just people in large cities who could afford it.

Because others on SNM's board agreed with that premise, we've always had programs in the city schools, and about 18-19 years ago, thanks to Billie Burdick's efforts, began having composers-in-residence to teach students how to compose their own music. Organizations in other states have since copied that program.

As long as a composer has something to say through his/her music, it will connect with an audience without pandering. It may take more than one hearing for the majority to fully appreciate a substantive work, but it does happen. That's one reason SNM has always given 2nd and 3rd performances of commissioned works and then records them. That gives both performers and audience time to grow with the music.

DG: You have also been involved in premiering and recording music by Ernst Krenek (1900-1991). Krenek is an interesting composer - everyone educated in modern music knows his name but few, including myself, have heard much from his considerable oeuvre. Could you talk a little about your relationship with his music, and the position you feel he occupies in 20th century music.

NP: Krenek was a master composer and a very nice person. He had been Dean of Fine Arts at Hamline University, so when I was a student there, his disciples were my professors. We did a lot of Krenek's music with the choir. His 75th birthday celebration was a week-long festival in the Twin Cities, and I was invited back to sing several of his works, even the modern premiere of an early work heard only at a house concert in Vienna but never publicly performed. Krenek was one of those composers who was wildly popular in Europe until the Nazi regime, which is when he came to the U.S. - first to Vassar, then to Hamline and on to L.A. and Palm Springs.

Krenek was at those rehearsals and concerts, and was apparently impressed enough that he had Monday Evening Concerts in L.A. invite me to do a program of his music there, the first of many concerts I sang on that series. We performed Krenek here in Syracuse, at Colgate and Cornell, and then Krenek asked us to record it, which we did.

Other very influential 20th century composers I had the pleasure of working with were Luigi Dallapiccola, George Rochberg, George Crumb, Richard Wernick, Lukas Foss, Pierre Boulez and many others.

DG: What are some of your plans for the future?

NP: I'd like to get some of my earlier recordings transferred to CD so they're accessible to all. But teaching takes up a lot of my time, and I love teaching - both at Colgate and here in Syracuse. And of course I'm looking forward to hearing and helping create more music.

Since I love to cook, I often think of what makes a great meal and how many similarities there are to a memorable concert. Fresh, locally grown ingredients are both essential and healthy, which is comparable to regional musicians performing music by regional composers. New music organizations help create the repertoire for future generations, and through that repertoire they will know in part who we were and what we valued.

My motto might be - create locally but connect globally - the best of all possible worlds.

***

Guitarist and aspiring musicologist, David Gutkin has largely devoted his efforts towards exploring and championing new music. He appeared as a guest artist at the 2006 Tanglewood Center's Festival of Contemporary Music. In 2007 Mr. Gutkin, with friends/colleagues, premiered Patricio da Silva's Imaginary Folk-Tunes and Jennifer Logan's Quartet at New England Conservatory. This season he will record an album of premieres including works by da Silva and Logan, as well as works by Roland Lobner and Mohammed Fairouz. As a writer David Gutkin been has published in Guitar Review (on the Boston Guitar Festival), Society News (Society for New Music Newsletter- interview with American soprano Neva Pilgrim), The Bard Observer, (reviewing recordings of contemporary music), and the New England Conservatory student newspaper, (on visual arts and music).

Currently Mr. Gutkin is writing a thesis on the rhetoric and music of Pierre Boulez, and another paper on the Japanese/French composer Misato Mochizuki. David Gutkin is completing his undergraduate studies at the New England Conservatory where is he earning a double major in both guitar performance, under Eliot Fisk, and music history. He hopes to continue his musicological studies at the graduate level, combined with an intense study of philosophy and critical theory.

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2007 Brian Israel Award Winners Announced

The Society for New Music's 2007 Brian Israel Prize winner is Nicholas S. Omiccioli, a native of Penfield, NY. He receives $500 and a performance on the 2007-2008 season. Mr. Omiccioli, age 24, is a graduate of Heidelberg College, and is now pursuing his graduate degree in composition at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where he studies with Chen Yi, Zhou Long, and others.

The New York Federation of Music Club's 2007 Israel Prize winner is Eric Nathan, a native of Larchmont, NY. Mr. Nathan will receive $250 and a performance on the Society's 2007-2008 series. Mr. Nathan, also 24, is a graduate of Yale who is pursuing his graduate degree in composition at Indiana University where he studies with Claude Baker, George Tsontakis, Kathryn Alexander, and others.

The panel selected 5 Honorable Mentions this year, given the exceptionally talented number of young composers who submitted scores for the Israel prize. Honorable Mentions went to Eleanor Aversa, a 28 year old from Woodside, NY, who earned her BA at Princeton and is pursuing her master's at Queen's College; Gity H. Razaz, a 21 year old student at Juilliard; Shogo Samata, a 24 year old from Brooklyn; Ryan Carter, completing his doctorate at Stony Brook; and Jeff Myers, a 29 year old California native who now lives in New York City while completing his doctorate at the University of Michigan.

The judges, all of whom donate their time to examine the scores submitted and select the winners, were Heather Buchman, conductor and performer at Hamilton College, Michael Woods, composer and bassist at Hamilton College, and Samuel Pellman, composer at Hamilton College. Mr. Pellman serves as the Israel Prize Chair.

There were 27 scores entered for the Brian M. Israel Prize this year from young composers age 30 or under from throughout New York State.

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The Society for New Music featured in NewMusicBox

The Society for New Music was featured in the June 2007 NewMusicBox, the web magazine from the American Music Center. Read the article here.

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