Category Archives: Concerts

8/10-12 | Madison New Music Festival 2018, “They’re Still Here” premiere

Posted on by
Reply

20545570_1508165229242469_1200093440532666047_o.png

Madison New Music Festival Schedule

Friday, 8/10 7:30pm at Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, 227 State St.

MNMF Opening Night 2018: Sounds of the ’60s and Beyond!  [tickets]

Hear sounds born out of the ’60s counterculture with works exploring minimalism, social and political engagement, and electronic experimentation, as well as the music they inspired for decades to come. The program will include a mixture of instrumental, vocal, and electroacoustic music, with featured guest artist Conduit. Highlights include composer and Lawrence Conservatory faculty Evan Williams’ “Bodies Upon the Gears” for clarinet, viola, and audio from Mario Savio’s 1964 speech urging the importance of civil protest; Steve Reich’s “New York Counterpoint” for amplified clarinet and tape; and Andy Akiho’s “Stop Speaking” for solo snare in conversation with digital playback. There will be a cash bar, as well as opportunities to explore the exhibits, including the MMoCA’s current exhibition “Far Out: Art of the 1960s.”

Complete Program: Music by Melissa Dunphy, Angelica Negron, Evan Williams, Steve Reich, Gilda Lyons, Anna Meadors, Kyle Tieman-Strauss, David Lang, and Andy Akiho

Performed by: Conduit (Zach Manzi, clarinet and Evan Saddler, percussion); Caitlin Mead, soprano; Kristina Teuschler, clarinet; ZouZou Robidoux, cello; Jeremy Kienbaum, viola; Heather Zinninger Yarmel, flute.

Saturday, 8/11 2:00pm at Bethel Lutheran, 312 Wisconsin Ave.

MNMF Concert #2: Sounds of Reflection [tickets]

Madison New Music Festival continues with an afternoon program that invokes spirituality, morality, and reflection. Hear music including organ interludes performed by Madison Symphony Orchestra organist Greg Zelekand Vital Organ Project founder Tyler Jameson Pimm, soundscapes for viola and piano by Morton Feldman and Toru Takemitsu, African spirituals arranged for instrumental chamber ensemble, and the renowned Langston Hughes set to music by composers including Madison’s Scott Gendel.

Tickets: $15/$5 for students.

Program: Music by Toru Takemitsu, Trevor Weston, Morton Feldman, Daniel Ficarri, John Weaver, Tyler Pimm, Tania J. Leon, John Musto, Ricky Ian Gordon, and Scott Gendel.

Performed by: Jeremy Kienbaum, viola; Satoko Hayami, piano; Caitlin Mead, soprano; Scott Gendel, piano; Kristina Teuschler, clarinet; Micah Cheng, cello; Alex Norris, violin; Greg Zelek, organ; and Tyler Jameson Pimm, organ.

Sunday, 8/12 7:30pm at Robinia Courtyard, 829 E Washington Ave

MNMF Closing Night 2018! [tickets]

Polish off your weekend with a drink at Robinia Courtyard as you listen to the world premiere of “They’re Still Here,” a new work by local multi-instrumentalist B.C. Grimm featuring 9 instruments ranging from cello to Chinese pipa. Then, kick back for a set of solo string music from violinist Aaron Yarmel and violist Jeremy Kienbaum, featuring pieces by Philip Glass, Ursula Mamlock, and one of Yarmel’s own improvisations. Finally, musicians from all three concerts close out the festival together with a performance of Julius Eastman’s “brilliant and brazen” 1973 piece, “Stay On It.” This rarely performed work ends our musical weekend with a bang– and a groove! There will be a cash bar.

theyre still here header.png

Live set up for BC Grimm’s new 30min piece, “They’re Still Here”.

“They’re Still Here”  Program Notes

Composed August, 2018 by BC Grimm (b 1986) for the Madison New Music Festival

This piece explores how those who have passed away continue to pop up in the everyday moments of our lives.  You’ll hear field recordings of my day-to-day experience fused with instrumental sound design.  These scenes recreate and reference real life moments I’ve had in the wake of these deaths.

“They’re Still Here” is dedicated in loving memory to Patrick Kelly, Ross Sutherin & Brian White-Stout and to the Grimm, Sutherin, Kelly, Morrow, White-Stout & Brethauer families.

Scene I   Passing of a Friend, The Work Day Begins

Tenor Viola da Gamba with field recording

Scene II   News Cycle On Fire: Rbt. Mueller’s Lonely Russia Probe

Gaohu Cantonese fiddle with foley, field recording, 1940’s radio broadcast, singing bowls, violoncello, dizi flute, bawu flute, xiao flute, sheng mouth organ

Scene III   Do I Tell The Children?  No, Teach On.

Violoncello with field recording, pipa lute, tenor viola da gamba, violoncello, contracello

Scene IV   Fluorescence Hums The Harmonic Order of Nature

APC40 (electric hum in just intonation)

Scene V   Morning Routine, Scrambled Brains

Field Recording with foley

Scene VI   A Call With My Brother, Wise Counsel

Sarangi-Cello in pipa tuning with claps, cajon, motorcycle

Scene VII   Ask The Corn Spirits

Gaohu fiddle with bawu flute

Scene VIII   Hermie’s Chimes, They’re Still Here

Guqin Zither with pipa lute, gaohu fiddle, dizi flute

Scene IX   Funeral Grave

Violoncello

Scene X   Temple of Ancestors

Sarangi-Cello in pipa tuning with pipa lute, synthesis

Scene XI   Transfigurations

Guqin zither with pipa lute, Russian folk harp, singing bowls

Scene XII   Schoolyard in Snow; Children Play On

Tenor Viola da Gamba,

APC40 (electric hum in equal temperament), field recordings, foley

 

3/4 | Waukesha Choral Union performs Handel’s Messiah, free 3pm

Image

Reply

28238427_10212626834325874_4765981823808510628_o

CALL FOR SCORES LunART Festival celebrating women composers (June 28th-30th Madison, WI)

Posted on by
Reply

Logo-V9-768x719

June 28-30th, 2018  Madison, WI

Celebrating women composers

Call For Scores (Deadline March 1st, 2018)

Serbian flutist Iva Ugrčić is organizing this year’s LunART Festival for women composers – taking place in Madison, WI from June 28-30th, 2018!  This three-day festival features a remarkable range of women, diverse and varied in their artistic visions, but with the shared passion and desire to make their voices heard!

The vision for LunART festival is to empower women in the arts by fostering originality, honoring diversity, and strengthening equality – and to put Madison on the world map as mecca for women artists.

Festival Events include four classical concerts presenting the work of women composers, a musicological lecture about women in the arts, as well as “Starry Night” after hours performances featuring local women jazz and hip hop artists, and singer-songwriters. Visual art, photography, and spoken word will be woven into all Festival events, and we are thrilled to include the Madison Youth Choir in our Closing Gala Concert.

Our 2018 Composer in Residence is award-winning composer Jenni Brandon, whose instrumental and vocal music will be showcased in our Gala concerts, including two world premieres! She will coach the LunART Festival “From Page to Stage: Emerging Composers Workshop,” offering master classes, lectures, and discussions about collaboration and tools necessary for a successful freelance career in the arts. Additionally, we have created an annual Call for Scores, open to women composers from around the globe.

Call for Scores poster

CALL FOR SCORES

(Submission Deadline Dec 1, 2017- Feb 1, 2018)

Designed for professional composers. Up to three works will be chosen and then presented each night of the Festival. Composer can come and she will have free housing provided.

Performances

Thursday June 28 @ MMoCA Lobby 7pm

Friday June 29 @ Promenade Hall, Overture Center 7pm

Saturday June 30 @ FUS Auditorium 7pm

FROM PAGE TO STAGE – Emerging Composers Workshop

(Submission Deadline Dec 15, 2017-March 15, 2018)

For younger composers and students that still need guidance and tools for professional careers.  The Page to Stage concert will be Saturday June 30 @ Capitol Lakes 2pm. Fee for this is $150 for the professional concert and recording, workshop with musicians, and masterclass with the composer, + all events for free.

 

LunART Festival Mission

The mission of the LunART Festival is to support, inspire, promote, and celebrate women in the arts through public performances, exhibitions, workshops, and interdisciplinary collaboration; thus enriching our community and creating a welcoming space for learning and experimentation.

About Dr. Iva Ugrčić  FOUNDER & ARTISTIC/EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

“There is a place for everyone under the Sun.”

Serbian flutist Iva Ugrčić is one of the most exciting and adventurous young flutists in the international pantheon. Described as “a natural star on her instrument,” Iva has been featured as a solo artist and a chamber musician at numerous music festivals, touring and performing around Europe and the United States. She is a musician who has worn many hats throughout her professional career: flutist, teacher, artistic director, entrepreneur, freelance musician and recording artist, among others. Since moving to the United States (2014), Iva has performed with many orchestras and chamber groups.

She currently plays with Black Marigold Wind Quintet, ID flute and percussion duo, and Sound Out Loud contemporary chamber music ensemble.

After completing her Bachelor and Master’s degrees at the University of Belgrade Academy of Music, Iva Ugrčić moved to Paris, where she studied flute performance and chamber music for three years with Pierre-Yves Artraud and George Alirol.

Iva Ugrčić’s solo album, The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi was released in September 2014. The same year, Ms. Ugrčić was awarded the prestigious Paul Collins Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, where she completed her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree (2017), studying with flutist Stephanie Jutt. Iva won the Shain Irving Duo Competition in 2015 as well as multiple concerto competitions, performing as a soloist with the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra and Miami Summer Music Festival Symphony Orchestra. In 2016, Iva received a James R. Smith Orchestra Award for excellency and leadership. She is finishing up her second solo album Cries and Whispers – Flute Works by Doina Rotaru, and currently serves as Artistic Director for the Rural Musicians Forum in Spring Green.

 

11/3 | InDIGenous Jazz Series: Nestle and Lovely Socialite @ Wisconsin Union Theater

Posted on by
Reply

Fri, 11/3 | Free! Doors Open 7:00p

@ Wisconsin Union Theater

800 Langdon St, Madison, WI 53706

Nestle (Album Release)

Lovely Socialite

fb.event || Tone MSN feature

from GMJC: Concerts of fresh original music, in a great listening room, with no cover charge. That’s what music fans will find at the UW Memorial Union’s Frederic March Play Circle on four Friday evenings this Fall as the Greater Madison Jazz Consortium (GMJC), Madison Music Collective and Wisconsin Union Theater present the sixth season of “InDIGenous Jazz”, a series that showcases music composed and performed by our community’s finest jazz musicians.

Nestle: Leading off this double-header concert is the experimental trio Nestle, which includes local bassist Rob Lundberg, in the premiere performance of their new GMJC-commissioned suite, “Bird Song.” This unique new suite uses archived sounds from the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology as the music’s primary generative element. In addition to Mr. Lundberg, Nestle members include Twin Ports-based guitarist Cyrus Pireh and Chicago-based percussionist and electronics artist Ryan Packard. They’ve been together as a band for two years and have developed a flexible free-flowing turn-on-a-dime improvisational rapport.

Lovely Socialite: The second set features the quirky Madison-based sextet Lovely Socialite whose bold and intricate compositions combine the aesthetics of modern jazz with contemporary classical, driving rock, and hip hop. Often compared to Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention, its members include Corey Murphy (Trombone, Electronics), Abe Sorber (Vibraphone, Drums), Pat Reinholz (Electric Cello, Electronics), Brian Grimm (Pipa, Gaohu, Guzheng, Cello, Electronics), Ben Willis (Double Bass, Electronics), and Mike Koszewski (Drums, Percussion). For this concert, they will perform works composed by the band’s members over the past few years.


Nestle Bio:
The Nestle trio exists in performance.
The Nestle trio is listening.
The Nestle trio is a realization of visions.
The Nestle trio is an expression of being through doing.

The Nestle trio of Robert Lundberg, Ryan Packard, and Cyrus Pireh respectively assemble an instrumentation of double bass and electronics; percussion, accordion, and electronics; and 9-string electric future lute.

To live and thrive in the current situation invokes a certain music: not a music to put on as background or a music to wear as a shirt or badge and gain entry into social sets.

A music that is the result of doing.
A music that is the result of people.
A music that exists as proof of existence.

Lovely Socialite Bio:
Lovely Socialite, formerly Lovely Socialite Mrs. Thomas W. Phipps, is a Milwaukee/Madison-based six-piece that combines the aesthetics of modern jazz with contemporary classical, driving rock, and hip hop. Lauded for their bold and intricate compositions, the group often draws comparisons to Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. The band’s original music combines strict notation with moments of improvisation and maintains a healthy balance of dark and heavy rock grooves with quirky jazz obscurities.

While Lovely Socialite’s unusual mix of strings, traditional Chinese instruments, brass, and a jazz rhythm section suggest that the group might be a contemporary music ensemble, it is their use of stomp boxes, vocal processors, and other electronics that makes the group a suitable fit for any rock, hip-hop, or jazz bill. In fact, Lovely Socialite has been privileged to share the stage with such artists as Dessa, of Minneapolis hip-hop collective Doomtree, as well as performing live on the UW Madison Terrace with Brian Ritchie of the Violent Femmes.

In October of 2015, Lovely Socialite released their second full length album. Nearly two years in the making, “Toxic Consonance” was recorded at Blast House Studios in Madison with Landon Arkens. “Toxic Consonance” represents an edgier and more mature version of the band than their previous endeavor, “Registers Her Delight” (2012), and features extensive production efforts mixing found sounds, vocal samples, and electronic effects into their live-style recording.

Promotional Cosponsor: Terra Incognita