An
Afternoon with Christian Wolff
220 Silver Center, NYU
Christian Wolff (b. 1934) moved from France to the USA in 1941 and became associated with Cage, Earle Brown and Feldman in New York in the early 1950s. Almost entirely self-taught as a composer, he studied classics at Harvard (BA, PhD), remaining there as a teacher until 1970. Between 1970 and 2000, Wolff was the Strauss Professor of Music at Dartmouth College where he also taught classics. Wolff¹s honours include an award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and several commissions, notably those from West German Radio, the Concord String Quartet, the Wesleyan Singers and Ursula Oppens.
A particular interest in Wolff's work has been to allow performers flexibility and ranges of freedom at the actual time of a piece's performance; to devise notations to make this practicable; to foster among both professional and lay players a spirit of liberating interdependence; and to draw material from traditions of popular political music.
Wolff described his compositional interests in the following manner: "To turn the making of music into a collaborative and transforming activity
(performer into composer into listener into composer into performer, etc.), the cooperative character of the activity to the exact source of the music. To stir up, through the production of the music, a sense of social conditions in which we live and of how these might be changed."
An Afternoon with ZANANA
(Kristin Norderval & Monique Buzzarté)
Thursday,
January 27 at 5:30 pm
220 Silver Center, NYU
Zanana (za-NAH-na) is a collaborative duo featuring Kristin Norderval and Monique Buzzarté performing improvised music blending acoustic sounds, electronics and live processing. The duo takes its name from a variant spelling of "zenana," the portion of a house in southwestern Asian countries exclusively dedicated to women. For live processing the duo uses Macintosh laptop computers running Max/MSP. Zanana utilizes hemispherical/ spherical speakers that diffuse the electronic sounds much like an acoustical instrument, thereby creating dynamic and surprising interplay between acoustic and electronic sounds. Both Norderval and Buzzarté are certified to teach the meditative improvisation techniques of Deep Listening, and use these techniques to inform their performances and to inspire new ways of listening and conceiving of sound. Zanana's debut CD Holding Patterns was released in January 2005 on the Deep Listening label with support from the The Aaron Copland Fund for Music Recording Program through the Pauline Oliveros Foundation.
For more information, visit: www.zanana.org
A Workshop Lecture by
MUSIC FROM CHINA:
Composing for
Traditional Chinese Instruments
Thursday, November 11 at 5:30 pm
220 Silver Center, NYU
featuring:
Wang Guowei -- erhu (2-string fiddles)
Sun Li -- pipa (lute)
Gao Renyang -- dizi (bamboo flute), xun (ocarina)
Susan Cheng -- yangqin (hammered dulcimer), narrator
The musicians will demonstrate the playing techniques and performance repertoire of their instruments in the larger context of the history, aesthetics, fundamental characteristics of Chinese music, and stylistic variations of classical and regional folk traditions. Information will also be given on writing for these instruments in a Western contemporary context. Please join us for this spectacular and informative event! There will also be a reception following the presentation.
Music From China (MFC) is an extraordinary musical ensemble that invokes the delicacy and power of both traditional and contemporary Chinese music. Based in New York City, this world-class ensemble introduces audiences to the best of Chinese music both past and present. Music From China was founded in 1984 by Executive Director Susan Cheng and performs for audiences throughout the east coast and cities across the U.S. Some of Music From China's presenters include the Hopkins Center at Dartmouth College, 92nd Street Y, Longwood Gardens, Princeton University, Eastman School of Music, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Duke University, Chautauqua Institution, Freer Gallery of Art with Yo-Yo Ma, Boston Early Music Festival, and the Library of Congress. Music From China collaborates with composers to develop new works that expand the boundaries of traditional Chinese music. Their annual Premiere Works series at Merkin Concert Hall has presented the music of composers such as Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Bun-Ching Lam, Dorothy Chang, and James Mobberley, as well as countless other works by emerging composers. They are the first Chinese organization to receive an Adventurous Programming award from Chamber Music America and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) for creating unique programs that combine eastern and western music. Since 1986, Music From China has commissioned and performed over 100 new works by 62 composers and is a major contributor to the development of Chinese new music.
An Afternoon with Chen Yi
Composer Chen Yi discusses selections from her extensive repertoire, particularly her work involving the integration of eastern and western instruments.
Friday,
October 15th 2004, 4:30-6:30pm.
Silver Building, Rm 220
24 Waverly Pl
As the Cravens/Millsap/Missouri Distinguished Professor at the Conservatory of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and the recipient of the prestigious Charles Ives Living Award (01-04) from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Dr. Chen Yi has received bachelor and master degrees in music composition from the Central Conservatory in Beijing, China, and Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Columbia University in the City of New York. Her composition teachers have included Wu Zu-qiang, Chou Wen-chung, Mario Davidovsky, and Alexander Goehr. She has served as Composer-in-Residence for the Women?s Philharmonic, the vocal ensemble Chanticleer, & Aptos Creative Arts Center (93-96) supported by Meet The Composer, and as a member of the composition faculty at Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University (96-98). Fellowships have been received from Guggenheim Foundation (96), American Academy of Arts and Letters (96), and National Endowment for the Arts in the United States (94). Honors include a first prize from the Chinese National Composition Competition (85), the Lili Boulanger Award (93), the NYU Sorel Medal Award (96), the CalArts/Alpert Award (97), the UT Eddie Medora King Composition Prize (99), the ASCAP Concert Music Award (01), the Elise Stoeger Award (02) from Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Friendship Ambassador Award from Edgar Snow Fund (02), an Honorary Doctorate from Lawrence University (02). Her music is published by Theodore Presser Company and performed world wide.
The First Performance Guest Lectures feature both emerging and established composers. The lectures, often informal, provide an inviting forum in which composers and performers can discuss their work and current compositional developments.
