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John Musto's Improvisation and Fugue in Cliburn Competition
Pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii, Gold Medal winner in the 2009 Cliburn Competition, performed John Musto's "Improvisation and Fugue" in his semifinal recital on May 31. Tsujii's performance won the Beverley Taylor Smith Award for the Best Performance of a New Work in the competition.
To view the performance, click here, select SEMIFINAL ARCHIVES and then TSUJII, NOBUYUKI.
Click here to place an order for Improvisation and Fugue.
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Derek Bermel's "exhilarating" new orchestra work
American Composers Orchestra's final concert of the season, and the final event of Derek Bermel's 3-year tenure as its composer-in-residence, occurred on May 1 with the premiere of Bermel's "A shout, a whisper, and a trace."
The work was inspired by a contemplation of Bartok's late years in New York City as seen through his letters to friends and relatives in Hungary. In his New York Times review, Anthony Tommasini wrote that "the music is strangely alluring and constantly surprising." (Click on the photo for the complete review.)
The work will be performed next season by co-commissioner ProMusica Columbus and by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.
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Premiere recordings of music by John Musto
The opera Later the Same Evening, with a libretto by Mark Campbell, is now available on Albany Records, as performed by the Manhattan School of Music Opera Theatre. A recording of the Musto/Campbell opera Volpone will be released shortly on Wolf Trap Recordings.
Also newly released is John Musto -- Songs on Bridge Records, 19 songs performed by Amy Burton, soprano; Patrick Mason, baritone; with the composer and Michael Barrett at the piano.
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We Welcome Ingram Marshall
Peermusic Classical welcomes Ingram Marshall to our catalog. Marshall’s singular voice can be heard in more than 50 works that John Adams has called "dreamlike vistas, each with its own special mood and texture." One hears the influence of Indonesian music, a Sibelius-like introspection, and "hymnodic meditations" on the American past. The American Music Center’s NewMusicBox takes note.
Upcoming events include the premiere in New York City of a chamber work commissioned by Ensemble ACJW, a performance of Kingdom Come at the Cabrillo Festival, and a CD on New World Records.
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Derek Bermel: Voices CD released on BMOP/Sound
Four vividly contrasting orchestra works by Derek Bermel, performed by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and conducted by music director Gil Rose. Gramophone calls it "staggering eclecticism from a true musical renaissance man." Joshua Kosman writes in the San Francisco Chronicle: “In listening to the magnificent collection of orchestral pieces by the Brooklyn composer and clarinetist Derek Bermel, it’s difficult to know whether to be more knocked out by his stylistic versatility or his technical prowess. I’ll settle for both."
For more of these reviews, and for Allan Kozinn's review in the New York Times, click on the photo.
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Ives Vocal Marathon Concerts
185 songs by Charles Ives will be performed from January 29 to February 1 at Wesleyan University. Organized by Ives scholar, composer, pianist and educator Neely Bruce, the Marathon is the culmination of a four-year presentation of these songs in 14 major concerts and many smaller recitals.
For more information, click on the photo.
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"Eternal Light" CD features Lux Aeterna by Morten Lauridsen
The Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra have self-released the CD "Eternal Light," pairing the Mozart Requiem with "Lux Aeterna." An interesting story here about the art and economics of this milestone for the SCSO.
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Librettist Mark Campbell online at Opera News
Mark Campbell talks about his collaborations with John Musto, and the art of writing comic opera, on the Opera News website. The Musto-Campbell opera "Later the Same Evening" takes the stage at the Manhattan School of Music in December.
Photo: Cory Weaver, 2008, from the premiere of "Later the Same Evening" at the Clarice Smith Center, Univ. of Maryland.
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Meridian Arts Ensemble on the air
On Sept. 2, the NPR program "All Things Considered" featured a story on the new CD "Timbrando" by the Meridian Arts Ensemble, featuring the brass quintet "Saoko" by Tania Leon.
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New Daugherty "Metropolis Symphony" recording
Fans of contemporary music fondly remember the great Argo series in the 1990s that gave us early orchestral recordings of young American composers, such as "Metropolis Symphony" by Michael Daugherty, recorded in 1997 by David Zinman and the Baltimore Symphony. The Nashville Symphony and its music director designate Giancarlo Guerrero will bring a new perspective to "Metropolis," recording it live this November for Naxos.
Photo: Lex (as in Lex Luthor), 1st movement of the Symphony.
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Musto & Campbell’s Bastianello
Composer John Musto and librettist Mark Campbell’s comic one-act opera Bastianello premiered at the hands of the New York Festival of Song on March 11 and 13 in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, and on the 15th at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts. This is the 3rd collaboration between Musto and Campbell, following the full-length operas Volpone and Later the Same Evening.
William Bolcom’s Lucretia (libretto also by Campbell) shared the bill.
REVIEW
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