Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Center for New Music: January, 2020

Now that this site is looking forward with accounts of performances in the new year, it is worth noting that the Center for New Music (C4NM) has now reached my self-imposed “critical mass” level of items on its January calendar. It is highly likely that more January events will be added to the schedule; but as usual, I shall use my Facebook shadow site to put out the word about updates as the information becomes available. For those who do not yet know, C4NM is located at 55 Taylor Street, half a block north of the Golden Gate Theater, which is where Golden Gate Avenue meets Market Street. All tickets may be purchased in advance through a Vendini event page. Hyperlinks to the appropriate Web pages will be attached to each of the dates in the following summary:

Tuesday, January 7, 8 p.m.: As of this writing, the New Year will begin with a two-set evening of “bleeding edge” improvisation combos. Nomad Trio is a cross-border collaboration between Vancouver guitarist Gordon Grdina and New York musicians Matt Mitchell on piano and Jim Black on drums. Grdina appears to be the driving force behind this group, drawing upon twentieth-century classical composition, rock, free jazz, and third stream as points of departure for the trio’s performances. The other set will be taken by the local duo of Phillip Greenlief on single-reed winds and Scott Amendola on both drums and electronics. Both of these imaginative performers should be well known to any that have followed this site for a reasonable amount of time. The charge will be $15 for general admission and $10 for C4NM members and students.

[added 12/19, 4:15 p.m.:

Friday, January 17, 7 p.m.: The Surround Sound Salon Series (SSSS) is a new monthly concert series curated by Chris Brown. Local electronic music composer will be able to present their fixed media and/or live electronic music performances through an eight-channel surround system provided by Meyer Sound. The launch of the series will feature works by three performer/composers. Thea Farhadian will present selections from Tectonic Shifts, a cycle of compositions for violin and interactive electronics that blend improvisation and composition. Will Gluck will present “Reflection #328,” which he describes as “a digital meditation in binary form, drawing from events the occurred throughout the past year.” The final selection will be “Music for Slowing Down Time” by Kristin Miller. The charge will be $15 for general admission and $10 for C4NM members and students.]

Saturday, January 18, 8 p.m.: Local flutist Jessie Nucho has teamed up with composer Brett Austin Eastman to create a program entitled FEEDBACK: In Response. Each of the selections on the program will explore the theme of feedback from a variety of perspectives, both literal and conceptual. The premiere of one of Eastman’s own compositions will be highlighted. The other composers to be represented on the program will be Elainie Lillios, Eve Beglarian, Richard Reed Parry, and Anahita Abbasi. The charge will be $15 for general admission and $10 for C4NM members and students.

[added 12/19, 7:40 a.m.:

Sunday, January 19, 6 p.m.: The release of D. Riley Nicholson’s latest album Resurrection of Everyday People will be celebrated with a special event benefiting Raices, a non-profit organization that provides free and low-cost legal services to immigrants and refugees. The music was originally commissioned in 2019 by David Herrera Performance Company, and the evening will include an excerpt of the original production performed by dance artist Lacy Gandenberger. The charge will be $15 for general admission and $10 for C4NM members, artists, and students. There will also be a special Patron rate of $25, which includes a free album download. The additional support will go to legal services for immigrants and refugees.

[updated 1/18, 3:15 p.m.: This concert has been rescheduled and will take place on May 8. [added 1/5, 10 a.m.:

Wednesday, January 22, 7:30 p.m.: The Living Earth Show (TLES) duo of guitarist Travis Andrews and percussionist Andy Meyerson will present a program entitled Hyphen curated by Farnood HaghaniPour. The program will consist entirely of new works written for the duo by composers representing different generations of Iranian electroacoustic music. The program will celebrate the 80th birthday of Alireza Mashayeki, who is often credited as one of the first composers of classical music in Iran. TLES will play the world premiere of “Labyrinth II,” which Mashayeki wrote for them. Other composers whose works will be performed will be HaghaniPour, Aida Shirazi, and Nima Rowshan. The charge will be $15 for general admission and $10 for C4NM members and students.]]

Thursday, January 23, 8 p.m.: This will be an evening of free improvisation by two inventive Los Angeles musicians, Steuart Liebig on bass guitars and Garth Powell on percussion. They will be joined by Rova saxophonist Larry Ochs playing both sopranino and tenor saxophones. The charge will be $15 for general admission and $10 for C4NM members and students. The charge will be $12 for general admission and $10 for C4NM members and students.]

Friday, January 24, 7:30 p.m.: Kurt Rohde will curate a visit from the Quince Ensemble, a vocal quartet that has earned the epithet of “the Anonymous 4 of new music.” The members of the group are Liz Pearse (soprano), Kayleigh Butcher (mezzo soprano), Amanda DeBoer Bartlett (soprano), and Carrie Henneman Shaw (soprano). They will bring their This A-Changin’ World tour to C4NM. Inspired by the poetry, songs, and activism of Woody Guthrie, the program will present a collection of works that conjures the wind, land, and stories of unplanned migration alongside songs about the American experience of loving and losing. Much of the program will be devoted to arrangements of Guthrie’s own music. However, all four members of Quince will contribute their own compositions alongside works by David Lang, Gilda Lyons, Laura Steenberge, and Warren Enstrom. The charge will be $15 for general admission and $10 for C4NM members, seniors, and students.

Saturday, January 25, 7:30 p.m.: For its first full San Francisco concert in the 2019/20 season, Ensemble for These Times (E4TT) will present a program entitled Blooming Flowers: Music by Women Composers. For those unfamiliar with the group, E4TT is led by soprano Nanette McGuinness, performing with pianist Dale Tsang and cellist Anne Lerner-Wright. For this program they will be joined by guest violinist Illana Blumberg. The program will feature the world premiere of Weiwei Miao’s piano trio entitled “Blooming Flowers, Full Moon.” The remainder of the program will be devoted to eight living women composers: Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Victoria Bond, Chen Yi, Lori Laitman, Aleksandra Vrebalov, Jessica Rudman, Ellen Mandel, and Vivian Fung. The charge will be $15 for general admission and $10 for C4NM members and students.

Thursday, January 30, 7:30 p.m.: This will be “an evening of free form sonic adventures” performed by Russian drummer Vladimir Tarasov, Rova saxophonist Jon Raskin, pianist and electronic musicians Chris Brown, and bassist Jason Hoopes. The charge will be $15 for general admission and $10 for C4NM members and students.

[added 1/21, 5:45 p.m.:

Friday, January 31, 8 p.m.: This will be the inaugural concerts of SANS; duo. The two instruments involved are saxophone and guitar. Their repertoire explores open form, improvisation, and performance art in tandem with traditional notation and electronic augmentation. The charge will be $15 for general admission and $10 for C4NM members and students.]

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