Alternate Visions opera excerpts at Opera America a success

I attended, with librettist Genni Gunn and director Pauline Vaillancourt, the performance of an excerpt from our opera Alternate Visions on Friday night May 10 as part of the Opera America / Opera.ca conference "Opera Out of Bounds". The performance by the Vancouver Opera Young Artist Ensemble was great! Singing and acting were just perfect. They conveyed the characters, and the humour and pathos of the scene with great conviction and wonderful voices. Congratulations to all! We were very happy to hear the work in this conference context and to discover how well the piece works, even with just piano and singers. We haven't heard the work since the first performance in 2007. What a joy to find the material just as fresh six years later!

We can't help but observe that the stories chosen by the majority of creative teams are historical: few deal with contemporary situations and topics. Most operas also choose a love story at the core of the plot. We're no different in that respect. Ours is a love story, like many opera plots, but there's a difference between being entirely engaged in the situation of a story, such as happens when the context is contemporary, and feeling more like a spectator to a historical situation where the love component is the main thing that touches the audience. In the latter, the audience feels like they are being educated by the history and then they may be pulled in by the love story; in the former, the entire situation rings true and the audience is pulled in by every aspect of the production, ideally.

For more information about the Opera America Conference, visit their site.

B.C. Chinese Music Ensemble & Nu:BC Collective announce Chinese and Canadian commissions

I'm involved in this great cultural collaboration between China and Canada. Here's the press release announcing the project…

---

Arts Partners in Creative Development

~~~ FUTURE HERITAGE / INTERCULTURAL INNOVATIONS ~~~

Workshops / Concert

B.C. Chinese Music Ensemble / Nu:BC Collective

The BC Chinese Music Association (BCCMA) and B.C. Chinese Ensemble (BCCME) in partnership with Nu:BC Collective and the UBC School of Music were awarded an Arts Partners In Creative Development Project < Future Heritage : Intercultural Innovations > . The BCCME / Nu:BC ensemble combines 16 of Canada’s most talented Chinese and new music performers, and will present 3 workshops and a gala concert with world premieres of newly commissioned works by six (6) exceptional composers. Three (3) Canadian and three (3) Chinese composers explore new styles of Chinese and Western musical culture in one ensemble conducted by Ray Zhuo.

The collaboration with Canadian / Chinese composers creates a unique and innovative instrumental style reflecting contemporary Canadian culture while the combination of the BCCME and NU:BC demonstrates the equality of the two musical cultures. The composers from China : Jian-Ping Tang of Central Conservatory of Music, Ning Wang of China Conservatory of Music, Cheng-Long Zhuo of the Shanghai Musicians Association will bring to Vancouver an enormous amount of exposure to the top echelons of Chinese musical life. Their musical styles combine abstract and highly expressive emotions, built solidly on Chinese classical / traditional music skills. Simultaneously the three renowned Canadian composers : Dorothy Chang of UBC, John Oliver and Owen Underhill of SFU share their talent and imagination joining Western contemporary with Chinese musical essence.

The theme of “ Succession , Innovation , Amalgamation , Delimitation and Artistic Conception ” celebrates the skill, knowledge and ability to communicate between cultures. Through listening to each other at the deepest artistic levels and showcasing the artistic equality of the performers, instruments and musical thoughts, we are laying the foundations for a new level of musical and intercultural innovation. The whole process from workshop to performance will be documented and edited into a bilingual DVD for educational purposes and will be deposited into music libraries across Canada and China. Come and take part in creating the musical heritage of the future !

PROGRAM

Colorful Forest : Cheng-Long Zhuo / Ensemble

Slender Gold : Owen Underhill / Ensemble

Tsu-ur Song : Ning Wang / cello, bass, suona, dizi - Concerto Grosso

Four Gardens : Dorothy Chang / Ensemble

Goddess of Luo River : Jian-Ping Tang / flute/zheng - Double Concerto

The Bridge : John Oliver / viola, sanxian, percussion - Triple Concerto

WORKSHOPS

Feb 15-16 , 2011 2:00-4:30 pm Feb 17 , 2011 1:30-4:00 pm :

3 workshops with all six composers in attendance

Gessler Hall - UBC School of Music and open for UBC music students

CONCERT

Date : Feb 18, 2011 Friday 8:00 pm

Place : Roy Barnett Recital Hall, UBC School of Music

Tickets : $30 / $20 *( * senior/student )

Ticket information : Tel. 604-327-8807 , E-mail : bccma@rogers.net , web : www.bccma.net

Media Contact : Mark Armanini, Tel. 604-739-8047, E-mail : armanini@interchange.ubc.ca

thingNY creates largest commission of experimental music in the history of email spam

In late October I received an email message that said:

We are thingNY, a collective of composer-instrumentalists based in New York City. On Saturday, December 19, 2009, we will be presenting a concert called SPAM, based on responses we get to this very email. Congratulations! If you're reading this email, you've been selected to write us some music…

I thought "that's cool," wrote the deadline into my calendar, and promptly got back to work on a paid commission. Then, a couple of days before the final deadline, they sent a reminder. Their timing was good: I was in the middle of a writer's block on my commission. So I sat down and wrote CLIMATE CHANGE in about 7 hours for the full band and sent it off.

I had been reading a lot of Naomi Klein, and remembered one particular passage from an article on the Copenhagen Climate Conference on her web site that I went back to as the source material for the narrator part for the piece. After performing some analysis of the text, I extracted keywords that define the structure of the piece. It was a great breath of fresh air to write…and as soon as I had finished it and hit the send button, I got back to work on a piece that had been blocked (the 2010 commission). Logjam gone!

The work will be presented this Saturday night in New York City, along with compositions from:

Jude Traxler, Heber Schuenemann, David Finlay, Eli Stine, Juliana Steele, Kyle Gann, Marina Rosenfeld, Scott Wollschleger, Sally Williams, Kathy Supove, Moritz Eggert, Daniel Goode, Luciano Azzigotti, Greg Kirkelie, Carr, Joe Kneer, Joseph Nechvatal, Mary Jennings, Brian McCorkle, Paula Diehl, Johnny Kira, Pall Ivan Palsson, Michael Cooper, Emily Koh, Terence Zahner, Joshua Kopecek, William Brittelle, Christian Gentry, Gabrielle Gamberini, Aaron Feinstein, Douglas DaSilva, Greg Pfieffer, Brad Baumgardner, Dave Golbert, Paul Burnell, Jim Legge, David Morneau, Andrea La Rose, Holly Eve Gerard, Gary A. Edwards, Brian McCorkle, Matthew Reid, Gail Noor, Jonah Bloch-Johnson, Greg A Steinke, Tania Leon, Alexandra Fol, Lucy Koteen, Luca Vanneschi, Sarah Prusoff, Ilias Pantoleon, Luis Menacho, David Simons, David Snow, David Drexler, Mike von der Nahmer, Martha Mooke, Art Jarvinen, David Wolfson, Neil Lyndon, Piotr Grella-Mozejko, David Broome, Matt Malsky, Linda Joe, Greg A Steinke, Nate Trier, Mats Eden, Mort Stine, Ophir Ilzetzki, Yianni Naslas, Jane Stuppin, Jessica Quinones, David Snow, Mark Stephen Brooks, Christopher Fulkerson, Ryan Muncy, Barry Seroff, Emanuel Ayvas, Stephanie Miller, Beth Tambor, Pauline Oliveros, Michael Gordon, Adam Reifsteck, Janet Maguire, Jiri Kaderabek, Marilyn Shrude, Joe Hallman, Mimi Kim, Doug Yule, Jeffrey Young, Tom Lopez, Andrew Griffin, Gene Pritsker, Winnie Sunshine, Sima Shamsi, Wally Gunn, Carl Danielsen, Mike Hanf, and Erin Rogers.  

Here's their advert:

thingNY presents: SPAM
Sat. Dec. 19, 2009  - 7:00pm

The University of the Streets
130 E 7th Street (at Ave. A)
New York, NY
Admission: $15 at the door
$10 at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/88612

thingNY will boldly state that it has created the largest commission of experimental music in the history of email-submitted spam. Hundreds of new works, words and images from all over the globe, including composers, performers, artists, the Bloomberg administration, peers, subordinates, ordinates, our moms, automated responses, vacation replies and perhaps one or two threats.

We are thingNY, a collective of composer-instrumentalists based in New York City. thingNY is a not-for-profit collective of composer-performers who exist (1) to create, promote, and perform bold and imaginative experimental and improvisational concert art music of the highest caliber, (2) to champion the music of exciting emerging and established composers with skill and enthusiasm, and (3) to collaborate across disciplines with other artists in order to bring new music to new audiences.

Embracing the power chord and Ockhegem with 11 guitars

Over the past couple of days I did a new mix to demo my piece for 9 electric guitars and 2 electric basses called "11". I wrote this piece back in 2000, at the height of my embrace of familiar musical materials and a celebration of the early influences that inspired my young music-making. Out of this period came some strong post-minimalist works, like Forging Utopia and Raven Steals the Light for orchestra, the cabaret-like dramatic/political work Raven's Cryˆ for voices, piano and tape, and 11.

11 takes the attitude of rock electric guitar playing, the polyphonic procedures of Ockhegem and the driving power chords of the rock I grew up on – I might name The Who as the big influence – and rolls it into an hallucinogenic mixer. I conducted the premiere performance at SONIC BOOM in Vancouver in 2000 but it hasn't been played since. Any takers?

You can have a listen at this link:
http://earsay.com/johnolivermusic/audio/OliverElevenDemo.mp3

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John Oliver opera "Alternate Visions" now available on DVD

The lyric opera company Chants Libres (Montréal) is pleased to announce the release of the DVD made from the World Premiere performance of the opera Alternate Visions by composer John Oliver and writer Genni Gunn, both of Vancouver. The DVD was recorded during the first run of the opera in Montreal from May 2 to 5, 2007. For more information about the opera and the release, please visit the web page.

SCENARIO
In an environment where various musical styles, virtual and real universes, robotics and intelligent fabrics are the norm… what happens to physical human relationships?

Update on the Vancouver 2010 Olympics commission for Turning Point Ensemble

Last night the Turning Point Ensemble performed a great concert at Ryerson United Church in Vancouver featuring the World Premiere of a new work by Vancouver composer Jacquie Leggatt and a program of great Canadian music. A great concert: polished and exciting performances.

But today's post is my 2010 Olympic commission update.  I delivered the parts to the ensemble of the music I have written so far for the chamber concerto commission. I have completed two of the five movements:

1. Curling
2. Short-track speed skating

The other three movements are still in sketch form.

It has been fascinating to write music that is somewhere in a nether-world between evoking the spirit of the games, and sonifying the actual rhythms of the winter sports. The musicians are athletes! They are competing, and then at other times they are working as a team. There are so many similarities between music and sports that I find myself scratching my head when people try to say that arts and culture are somehow a world apart from sports. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Look at their movement! It's all a dance, whether the dancers be actual dancers, or musicians dancing through their movements, or hockey players twirling on the ice. All are negotiating ups and downs, fast and slow…

Yet to come: movements 3, 4, & 5:

3. Skeleton
4. Freestyle skiing
5. Hockey

Stay tuned!

Mel Bay releases classical guitar anthology including 4 Oliver compositions.

Contemporary Anthology of Solo Guitar Music

By Charles Postlewate

I am proud to announce the release of this Mel Bay publication, to which I contributed 4 compositions, titled Sea Spray 1, 2, 3 & 4.

This is the first compilation of guitar music specifically composed for right-hand technique that includes the little finger. The 57 compositions include original pieces in the Easy-Intermediate to Intermediate -Advanced levels by renowned guitarist/composers from Europe, North America, South America and the Caribbean. Music by Ernesto Cordero, Carlos Dorado, Jim Ferguson, David Flynn, Gerald Garcia, John Hall, Ricardo Iznaola, James Lentini, John Oliver, Charles Postlewate, Mirko Schrader, Burkhard “Buck” Wolters and Luis Zea show the advantages of a five-finger technique in the playing of scales, chords, arpeggios, tremolos and harmonics. They also show the advantages of using the little finger for speed, accuracy, strength and balance. All of these compositions are edited and fingered by Postlewate, pioneer in the use of a five-finger technique. This book is a companion to Anthology of Nineteenth Century Guitar Studies for Five Fingers of the Right Hand (MB21153), compiled and fingered by Leonhard Beck and edited by Charles Postlewate. Standard notation only. In English and Spanish.

DIRECT PRODUCT LINK:

http://www.melbay.com/product.asp?productid=21290