composer

Composer Eric Chasalow (USA 1955) has become most recognized for works that combine traditional instruments with computer generated sound. He has been commissioned by many renowned performers and ensembles, including Guido Arbonelli, Tim Brady, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Boston Musica Viva, and Bruno Schneider. He produces the biennial BEAMS Electronic Music Marathon, recently featuring over fifty pieces, including works by Babbitt, Dashow, Davidovsky, Risset, Stockhausen, Vinao, and Xenakis among many others. His music is programmed throughout the world, with recent performances in Annecy, Australia, Bari, Beijing, Berlin, Boston, Bratislava, Brno, London, Los Angeles, Milan, New York, Padova, San Francisco, Seoul, Singapore, and Warsaw.

Eric Chasalow is Professor of Music, at Brandeis University, and Director of BEAMS, the Brandeis Electro-Acoustic Music Studio (www.brandeis.edu/departments/music). He holds the D.M.A. from Columbia University where his principal teacher was Mario Davidovsky and where he studied flute with Harvey Sollberger. Among his honors are awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Fromm Foundation at Harvard University (two commissions), New York Foundation for the Arts, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters (awards in 1986 and 2003). His music is available from G. Schirmer, McGinnis & Marx (New York) and Edition Bim (Switzerland) and on CDs from New World Records, ICMC, Intersound Net Records, SEAMUS, and RRRecords (www.emf.org).

A new CD of chamber, electronic, and orchestral music, Left to His Own Devices, was released by New World Records in February 2003.

Performances

Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory | January 27, 2012
Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory | January 22, 2005
Moonshine Room at Club Café | January 11, 2005

News and Press

[Concert Review] Mandolin Power! And other Unexpected Delights

On Friday, January 27, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (a.k.a. BMOP) presented Strange Bedfellows: Unexpected Concertos, showcasing instruments don't get to be concerto soloists as often as their ubiquitous cousins, like violin or piano. Here, the spotlight was on viola, electric guitar, mandolin, theremin and French horn. All but one of the pieces were written in the last six years, and together they showed that contemporary classical music is thriving — don't let anyone tell you different!

Miss Music Nerd Full review
[Concert Review] BMOP five concertos cover some brave, new frontiers

The Boston Modern Orchestra Project called its program of five "unexpected concertos" at Jordan Hall Friday "Strange Bedfellows." None (well, almost none) of the music induced slumber, however. Created for an odd array of solo instruments (viola, electric guitar, theremin, mandolin, French horn) accompanied by instrumental ensembles of various size and composition, the works prodded at the frontiers of traditional concerto form. Electronic and acoustic sounds engaged in conversation - sometimes in rancorous argument - across the centuries, forcing us to rethink this venerable genre.

The Boston Globe Full review
[Concert Review] BMOP Revitalizes the Concept of a Concerto Concert

Leave it to the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) to completely revitalize the concept of a concerto concert. This past Friday night at Jordan Hall, the orchestra, conducted by music director Gil Rose, presented a thoroughly energizing and invigorating concert of five concerti written by composers born between 1923 and 1979.

Billed as Strange Bedfellows: Unexpected Concertos, the program featured concertos for, respectively, viola, electric guitar, mandolin, theremin, and horn.

The Arts Fuse Full review
[Concert Review] Oooh-weee-oooh: BMOP unveils a concerto for theremin, among works for other offbeat instruments

If you're one of those concertgoers who look forward most to the concerto, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, led by its artistic director Gil Rose, had a concert for you Friday night at Jordan Hall.

Boston Classical Review Full review
[Press Release] BMOP Unites Five Varying Composers and Concertos for One Night

The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), the nation's premier orchestra dedicated exclusively to commissioning, performing, and recording new orchestral music, presents "Strange Bedfellows: Unexpected Concertos" – a program of five incongruous concertos by five different composers featuring five of today's most revered solo artists. Spearheading the evening is the world premiere of Eric Chasalow's Horn Concerto with horn soloist Bruno Schneider.

Full review
[CD Review] Eric Chasalow: Left To His Own Devices

New Jersey-born Chasalow is Professor of Music at Brandeis University, so unsurprisingly the nine works presented on this varied and satisfying album reference a diverse range of influences and styles, from the post-modern reworkings of Beethoven and Brahms idioms (1998’s string trio Yes, I Really Did) to Jerome Kern (Crossing Boundaries), Dizzy Gillespie (Out of Joint), Eric Dolphy (In A Manner of Speaking) and the doyen of American academia Milton Babbitt.

Paris Transatlantic Magazine Full review