The late Gunther Schuller (1925-2015) was enormously influential on the American musical scene as I grew up. He was a Modern composer of great breadth and originality, one of the main forces behind so-called Third Stream Music which sought to meld Classical and Jazz, a major innovator in music education in his leading role at the New England Conservatory, and a musicologist and author of great consequence, writing among other things the classic Early Jazz.
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David Felder has taught for a number of years at SUNY Buffalo, running the June in Buffalo Festival and mentoring countless contemporary composers in the school’s illustrious graduate program. His own works are multi-faceted, incorporating muscular gestures, modernist harmonies, innovative timbres, and, oftentimes, electronics. Felder’s recent music is given sterling performances on two CDs, one of his chamber music on Coviello and another of his orchestra piece Les Quatre Temps Cardinaux on BMOPsound.
Anthony Davis' opera The Central Park Five, with a libretto by Richard Wesley, has won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Music.
Each piece in Steven Mackey’s album Time Release demonstrates his ability to incorporate varied and imaginative orchestral textures and gestures into a cohesive narrative. Mackey’s music has neo-romantic elements, comprising gestural melodic expression and dialectical forms. He largely uses extended tonality with chromaticism. However, there are frequent non-diatonic and polytonal interjections that are vaguely reminiscent of Charles Ives’ music, as well as textural sections with disorienting pitch content. Notably, Mackey employs these extended tonal sonorities without sounding trite or cinematic. The well-balanced and masterful orchestration of Mackey’s music is handled equally masterfully by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project’s performance of the work.
As Tobias Picker puts it, “It’s not something that happens every day.”
The Artistic Director of Tulsa Opera is referring to the 2020 Grammy for “Best Opera Recording” bestowed on the 2014 recording of his opera “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” based on Roald Dahl’s 1970s children’s novel of the same name. The recording is also a nominee in the 2020 International Opera Awards, now scheduled for September 21 in Sadler’s Wells (Picker is the only living composer among the nominated recordings).
OperaWire recently spoke with Picker about the Grammy and his career as a composer.
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Mr. Rose, Ms. Budd and the players made a passionate, high-energy case for [Child Alice]. They also used it to put a double bar on their 20th-anniversary season, and to underscore their stature as one of this country's finest new-music ensembles."
- Allan Kozinn, The Wall Street Journal
The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), affiliate orchestra for new music at New England Conservatory, will join NEC in sponsoring a concerto competition for works written after 1964.
Provisions: The competition will be held in late January in Jordan Hall. The competition will consist of one round.
Eligibility: The competition is open to any full-time NEC student, instrumental or vocal, who will be returning in the 2014/2015 academic year.
When: Friday, May 16 @ 8:00 p.m. (free pre-concert talk @ 7:00 p.m.)
Where: Jordan Hall (30 Gainsborough Street), Boston, T: Symphony/Mass Ave.
Tickets: General $20 - $50/Students $10. To reserve seats now, contact BMOP at bmop.org or 781.324.0396. Starting April 18, tickets are also available through the Jordan Hall Box Office at 617.585.1260, in person, or at tix.com.
The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), affiliate orchestra for new music at New England Conservatory, will join NEC in sponsoring the 2014 Concerto Competition for works written after 1963.
Provisions: The competition will be held on January 21, 2014, from 11am to 1pm in room 124 of the Jordan Hall building. The competition will consist of one round.
Eligibility: The competition is open to any full-time NEC student, instrumental or vocal, who is enrolled for the 2013/2014 academic year.
For immediate release: March 29, 2013
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