Interview with John Adams | Great Performances | PBS

Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic: Interview with John Adams | Great Performances | PBS

"You have to take the long view that what I do as a classical musician is going to have a long shelf life." – John Adams on communicating with the audience.

To think about the effect that your creation will have on others is at the core of most art-making, whether the creator is experimental or more broadly communicative. Art-making is just part of culture, like food, clothing, wine, sport, etc. It is the expression of our social being in the world. And so it will be complex, like our existence in the world, full of joy and sorrow, struggle and triumph. All of these human emotions are shared by most art, whether the art be of organized sound, visual space, or movement or words. There will be difficult art and easy art. But when a composer (or any creator) takes on the responsibility to engage, through his/her writing, the audience who will hear (see) it, that is the long view. That audience may be small, large, highly-educated, or not: it is the intention to connect with "the other" that creates the "long view" to which Adams refers.

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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!

Standing ovation for Kai Ma and John Oliver at Typhoon Morakot Fundraising Concert

On Friday September 18, I accompanied the wonderful Taiwanese-born Ottawa counter-tenor Kai Ma in a fundraising benefit concert for the survivors of the Morakot Typhoon that devastated southern Taiwan last month. The concert was organized by the Egret Music Centre in Vancouver, and all proceeds from the tickets sales of the concert went to the relief fund.

Our program of music by Frescobaldi, Grandi, Dowland, Mozart and Beethoven was given a standing ovation. We performed an encore medley of two Taiwanese songs. At the end of the piece, I joined Kai Ma in song; I sang a few phrases in Taiwanese, then we sang in duet to close the show. It was lots of fun. I also played three guitar solos to introduce each section of the program.

I haven't performed early music in quite a while and was thrilled to revisit some "old friend" composers. Since I spend the majority of my time composing at a desk these days, it was refreshing to spend more time than usual practising my trusty Kohno No. 30 classical guitar in preparation for the concert. Kai made the task an easy one; he is an inspiring singer to accompany.

Needless to say, if any concert presenter reading this is interested in our program, we'd be glad to discuss an engagement.

I'd like to express my thanks to Cecilia Chueh, director of the Egret Music Centre, for organizing this event and inviting us to perform.

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

Labyrinth Event a success!

The August 11 performances at Christ Church Cathedral of John Burke's Labyrinth music were a success. Both performances sold out (likely because only 100 tickets sold for each). The continuous performance, in about a dozen sections, created an intense experience, as the music journeyed from simple minimalism to rather more intense musical surprises. Due to the repetition of musical material for long stretches of time with minimal or gradual changes in texture, the sudden changes to a new section had a similar effect to a Philip Glass score, but the harmonic movement is entirely a different beast, taking this music to a place rather far removed from the OpArt-related Glass style.

Today's entry reports my thoughts on the first performance of "La Sombra Espiral" for guitar and string quartet. This special event required that I sit on stage in the orchestra waiting to play for 40 minutes! For a number of reasons, that became a rather unnerving experience. First of all, it was my first participation as musician in this ritual event, and I had essentially no idea how "La Sombra" would sit in the overall concept. Then there is the first performance jitters, which are to be expected.

It is an unusual thing for classical musicians to perform while people engage in any activity other than concentrated concert-hall listening, especially with music designed to engage the listener in a special way, as Burke's music does. So as I sat for 40 minutes watching people walk the labyrinth – which sometimes became quite crowded – I thought about how they might be dividing their concentration. Would they bump into each other if they got lost listening to the music while walking? Would they be able to listen and pay attention to the walking? With the labyrinth so full of people for the first half of the performance, I became convinced that it may have been a wise decision to limit the number of people who could actually walk the labyrinth at any one time. Then, a surprising thing happened: as soon as it was my turn to play, the labyrinth was suddenly empty. This completely changed the atmosphere in the room, as now everyone was seated and it felt just like a regular concert. So suddenly, all eyes were on the musicians. Okay: normal concert now… Strangely, I had prepared myself to play the piece to motivate labyrinth walkers: now it was just a regular concert!

The second performance at 9 p.m. was much better than the first for all the usual reasons, but also because the labyrinth had the perfect number of people on it when my piece came around. Having bult up certain expectations the first time around which were not realized in the first performance, I was ready for the ideal conditions of the second and so was quite pleased with how things went. And the first performance jitters were behind me.

I think John Burke's labyrinth music project is very special. It posits to help those who attend to achieve a catharsis, or to "work through personal issues." The event needs to be presented and handled in a very sensitive way – as it was here, with the possible exception of the traffic problem mentioned above – that is informed by the feedback of those who attend the event. In this way, it can build a dedicated following for a special type of sensitive music-lover who may also be seeking to attend the event to reflect on their own existence. In this way, it is not so far removed from the goals of those who attend performances of the more serious works from the classical music canon.

First performance of Labyrinth Sold Out

MusicFest Vancouver's first performance (6:45 pm) of the Labyrinth music of John Burke at Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver on August 11 is sold out! Get your tickets in advance only from Ticketmaster for the second show at 9 pm. Only 100 lucky souls will get to witness each show!