Gamelan Galak Tika with Ensemble Robot @ the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC)
Troy, NY
Performing on accordion in Ramon Castillo's Agak Agak.

Gamelan Galak Tika with Ensemble Robot @ Berklee College of Music David Friend Recital Hall, Boston
Performing on accordion in Ramon Castillo's Agak Agak.

... including the premiere performance of Initial Ascent, for two pianos.

Stephanie Ho & Saar Ahuvia DUO play works by New York composers. Music by Richard Rodney Bennett, Philippe Bodin, Charles B. Griffin, Jay Anthony Gach, Denise Broadhurst, and MVB.

Samuel J. and Ethel LeFrak Concert Hall
Aaron Copland School of Music
Queens College C.U.N.Y.
Flushing, NY 11367-1597

This year's Holiday Community Music at Concordia Conservatory will be my own, A Single Winter's Day. After writing several shorter musical theater pieces for their Summer Musical Theater Workshops, I am excited to be writing a new 50-minute work. The musical was commissioned by the Conservatory, and will be offered as part of its tuition-free community outreach program, intended for students age 6-16.

... including a performance of Sic Semper Nobis.
Northridge Composition Prize performance.
Place TBA

... presents a benefit concert entitled "New Beginnings." The concert features the premiere performance of FOR THE BROTHERS, three songs on poems of Hannah Senesh.
performers include the Miró Quartet, Hazzan Neil Blumofe, tenor and guitarist Matthew Hinsley, and saxophonist Harvey Pittel.
Congregation Agudas Achim
Dell Jewish Community Campus
7300 Hart Lane, Austin, Tex.
Tickets $18 / $36
Reception to follow
Preconcert reception $136
contact Rochelle Kraus
(512) 388-2398

I am thrilled to be writing a piece for this concert, organized by Rachel Ciraldo. The piece (for baritone voice, violin, cello, harp and guitar) sets short poems in Hebrew by Hannah Senesh. The selected poems reflect the "new beginnings" theme of the concert.

... including the premiere performance of my arrangement for piano trio of Ravel's LE TOMBEAU DE COUPERIN.
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
57th Street & 7th Avenue, New York
Tickets $24 / $10

PROGRAM NOTE: Maurice Ravel's 1917 solo piano composition Le Tombeau de Couperin is a tightly woven tapestry, threading together contemporary harmonies, romantic pianism, and baroque forms. It was written during the the First World War, and achingly looks to the past while brimming with modern flavor. Each of its six movements was inscribed to friends who had lost their lives in combat. In 1919 Ravel orchestrated four of the movements for full orchestra, elegantly extracting lines and colors from the piano texture. In this new arrangement, written for the Stella Piano Trio, I have adapted these elements to fit the instrumentation and their relationships within the ensemble. As in Ravel's orchestration, each note is accounted for, though at times the cello receives a melody an octave lower than in the original.

... in a recital including the premiere performance of SARABANDE.
Directed by Nicholas Ciraldo
Marsh Auditorium
University of Southern Mississippi
Hattiesburg, Miss.
FREE

... in a late show at Waltz Astoria. Grab a beer and enjoy a concert including my arrangement of Ravel's LE TOMBEAU DE COUPERIN. The concert also includes trio by Novak, Brahms, and Cassado. Stella Trio: Jannina Barefield, violin; Laura Metcalf, cello; Monica Chung, piano
Ditmars Boulevard beetween 23rd and 24th Streets (N,W to Ditmars Blvd/31st Street)
$10 cover

PROGRAM NOTE: Maurice Ravel's 1917 solo piano composition Le Tombeau de Couperin is a tightly woven tapestry, threading together contemporary harmonies, romantic pianism, and baroque forms. It was written during the the First World War, and achingly looks to the past while brimming with modern flavor. Each of its six movements was inscribed to friends who had lost their lives in combat. In 1919 Ravel orchestrated four of the movements for full orchestra, elegantly extracting lines and colors from the piano texture. In this new arrangement, written for the Stella Piano Trio, I have adapted these elements to fit the instrumentation and their relationships within the ensemble. As in Ravel's orchestration, each note is accounted for, though at times the cello receives a melody an octave lower than in the original.

... in a faculty recital including a performance of PRELUDE MINIATURES, which Nick has also recorded for an upcoming CD.
Marsh Auditorium
University of Southern Mississippi
Hattiesburg, Miss.
FREE

incluing the premiere performances of two works for young ensembles: WASHING MACHINE, for 6-hands piano and PRELUDE, DIALOGUE & GUNBATTLE for piano, bass, guitar & drums.
Sommer Center
Concordia College
Bronxville, NY
FREE

I am so proud of Concordia Conservatory's Chamber Music program. In addition to their regular lessons at the school, students have the opportunity to play chamber music with other students of similar ability. And when an oddball instrumentation bubbles to the surface, director Kathleen Suss turns to her composers to fill the bubbles. Both writing this music and coaching the ensembles are big, big fun.

... in a program of music for flute and guitar including BIRTHDAY WISH. Performed by Franco Capri, guitar, Stefano Cogolo, flute
also on the program:

Alvin Curran - da “Saltando in padella”
Ak2deru - II/III
Cristiano Vecchi - Anello di Saturno n°
Ak2deru - Capriccio n°1
Cristiano Vecchi - Anello di Saturno n°2
Ak2deru - Capriccio n°2
Cristiano Vecchi - Anello di Saturno n°4
Giovanni Guaccero - Flute Dance
Emmanuel Louis - I don't know how, but the doctor found a bicycle inside of my thumb

Dal Suono Sommerso (From Submerged Sound) is dedicated to the diffusion and the production of new compositions, especially that of young composers, both in Italy and in other countries. Through a series of initiatives, and in particular through concerts, it explores alternative methods of diffusing the “Young Music,” individualizing new spaces for encounters with the public and creating a network of contacts that favors cultural exchange among different countries.

... including the premiere performances of two new musicals for children
Sommer Center
Concordia College
Bronxville, NY
FREE

When it's all over, there will be two new short children's' musicals in the world. While it is being written, there will be a hermit on 88th Street. After last year's successful pair of new works, I will again team with Nanette DeWester in these fast-paced musical theater workshops. The kids love the collaborative spirit and I love writing music-and-lyrics. Pun, pun pun!

... including a performance of SHABU SHABU for flute and clarinet
with Jeremy Reynolds, clarinet
National Flute Association Annual Convention
Albuquerque Convention Center
Albuquerque, New Mexico

... including a performance of my arrangement of Ravel's LE TOMBEAU DE COUPERIN for Piano Trio. With Melissa Alexander, piano, Yana Goichman, violin, and Anette Espada, cello.

Concordia Conservatory
Stein Hall
Concordia College, Bronxville, NY
MAP

... music directing and accompanying Joelle Lurie's evening of song at the Triad. She really rocks, so if you're in the neighborhood, or in a neighborhood near the neighborhood, drop in with $5 and your ready ears.
with Bob Bowen & Adam Christgau
The Triad Theatre
158 West 72nd Street (Btwn Bway & Columbus)
New York, NY
Tickets $5 via Smarttix or at the door.

UPDATE: VIDEO (after the jump)

Continue reading "Joelle Lurie at the Triad" »

... in a recital including a performance of SONATA FOR ALTO SAXOPHONE and PIANO.
Music at Our Saviour's Atonement (MOSA)
Our Saviour's Atonement Lutheran Church
178 Bennett Avenue, New York City
(one block west of Broadway&189th)
Tickets $8-$12

... presenting a lecture performance of the three compositions commissioned for this year's Student Chamber Concert at Concordia Conservatory. Free!

Concordia Conservatory
Stein Hall
Concordia College, Bronxville, NY

As part of artist Fritz Haeg's Animal Estates prototype installation at the Whitney Biennial, I will be leading a family program for kids age 8-12 and their parents. The program will take place within the installation of animal habitats and we will channel the animal inhabitants through original song and movement. I will be playing accordion, accompanying new songs written especially for this project. Two sessions run on Saturday 3 May 2008 from 10am-12pm and 1pm-3pm. For further information and registration, call (212) 671-5300.

UPDATE: MP3 links for the songs Big Brown Bat and Beaver Dam

... including performances of three new compositions for student ensembles: Prelude and Fughetta (flute, violin and cello), Microwave Popcorn, (piano six-hands) and Spring Morning (voice, violin, cello & piano). The students will also be performing Block Party! (piano six-hands), a piece written for the Spring 2005 concert, as well as new pieces by fellow faculty Rami Vamos.
UPDATE 5 May: View photos of the concert by board member and faculty member Claudia Amboss HERE

Concordia Conservatory
Sommer Center
Concordia College, Bronxville, NY
MAP

... including a performance of A Thousand Tender Passages.
VocalEssence Essentially Choral reading session for new choral music

The Music Room
SPCO Center, Third Floor
408 St. Peter Street
St. Paul, Minnesota
Free - no ticket required

Gamelan Galak Tika with Ensemble Robot @ International Festival of Arts and Ideas
World Stage, New Haven Green, New Haven, CT
I will be joining Galak Tika on accordion as they once again team up with Ensemble Robot for a Balinese - Electronic extravaganza! Don't miss this outdoor concert with rocking gamelan, electric guitars, and circuit-banging robots!

UPDATE: Here is a short video with lots of good footage of the show: LINK

... including the premiere performance of The Animal Estates Home Buyer's Tour &
Always Call Your Parents

Sommer Center
Concordia College
Bronxville, NY
FREE

Continue reading "Concordia Conservatory Musical Theater Workshops" »

... performing on accordion
KURT WEILL The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
James Levine, conductor
Fully-staged production, sung in English
Tanglewood Music Center Theater
Lenox, Mass. TICKETS
Program repeats on 10 August & 11 August.