Center for New Music: November 2016

It is not too early to start thinking about the concerts that will be presented at the Center for New Music (C4NM) next month. However, it is first necessary to report that yesterday C4NM announced the Ensemble-in-Residence for the 2016–17 season. That Ensemble will be The Living Earth Show (TLES), the adventurous duo of guitarist (primarily on electric) Travis Andrews and percussionist Andy Meyerson. As of this writing, TLES is preparing for its debut concert a National Sawdust in Brooklyn, which will double as a release party for their new album Dance Music, which will become available on November 18. As is usually the case, Amazon.com is currently taking pre-orders. The album will present compositions commissioned for TLES’ joint project with Robert Dekkers’ Post:Ballet for the full-evening production Do Be.

C4NM is located at 55 Taylor Street, half a block north of where Golden Gate Avenue meets Market Street. Tickets for all events are now available for advance purchase online. Specifics for C4NM performances in November are as follows:

Tuesday, November 1, 8 p.m.: Adam Marks will curate a visit from Boston by the patchtax duo of Mary Joy Patchett on saxophone and Eve Boltax on viola. They will present a multimedia program in which their own self-directed video will be interwoven with compositions by Georges Aperghis, Lei Liang, Rosalie Burrell, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Johann Sebastian Bach. General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members. Tickets may be purchased in advance through a Vendini Web page.

Wednesday, November 2, 7:30 p.m.: Matthew Creer will present a program of his multimedia works for solo computer, percussion duo, and outdated electronics. He will give the premiere performance of “Eagle Masters,” which combines noise music with videos of eagles. Performers will include percussionist Nava Dunkelman and the Ctrl – Z electronic trio of Ryan Page, Daniel Steffey, and Nick Wang. General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members. Tickets may be purchased in advance through a Vendini Web page.

Thursday, November 3, 7:30 p.m.: Pianist Marks will curate a second program featuring Albatross, his duo with mezzo Jennifer Beattie. They have prepared a program of art songs by women composers from North and South America in a variety of styles from jazz standards to the avant-garde. Composers represented in the program include Rachel Peters, Alicia Terzian, Alice Ho, and Jocy de Oliveira. General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members. Tickets may be purchased in advance through a Vendini Web page.

Saturday, November 5, 8 p.m.: Los Angeles-based percussionist Justin DeHart will give the premiere performance of the suite Percussion for Apartments by Aaron Gervais. This is a collection of pieces for solo percussion and electronics, each of which requires playing a single percussion instrument at volumes appropriate for apartment-dwellers. General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members. Tickets may be purchased in advance through a Vendini Web page.

Wednesday, November 9, 8 p.m.: Kyle Bruckmann will curate the next sfSoundSalonSeries concert. This will be a solo recital by pianist Fausto Bongelli made possible with support from the Italian Cultural Institute. The program will include works by Giacinto Scelsi, Tonino Tesei, Fabrizio De Rossi Re, Ada Gentile, Paolo Ugoletti, Stefano Scodanibbio, and Alberto Savinio. General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members. Tickets may be purchased in advance through a Vendini Web page.

Sunday, November 13, 3 p.m.: Danny Clay will curate a performance of “Sinbabbit,” a three-hour composition for electric guitars composed jointly by Brent Miller and Matt Vandegriff. This will be the second installment of Clay’s Quiet Time concert series. Clay will be one of the guitarists, along with Travis Andrews, Matt Linder, Robert Nance, and Joseph Colombo. General admission will be $10 with an $8 rate for C4NM members. Tickets may be purchased in advance through a Vendini Web page.

Tuesday, November 15, 8 p.m.: This will be another sfSoundSalonSeries concert curated by Bruckmann. It will be in two parts. In the first part the martha & monica duo of pianist Hadley McCarroll and cellist Monica Scott will perform compositions by Scott and Matt Ingalls. The second part will have members of the sfSoundGroup welcome violist Julie Michael as a new member with the performance of several small ensemble works. General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members. Tickets may be purchased in advance through a Vendini Web page.

Wednesday, November 16, 7:30 p.m.: The next concert that Marks will curate will feature Chicago-based clarinetist Jennifer Woodrum. Woodrum will honor the 80th birthday of Steve Reich with a performance of his “New York Counterpoint,” scored for solo clarinet playing with eleven pre-recorded clarinets. She will also play Anna Clyne’s “Rapture” for distorted clarinet sounds accompanied by an industrial and raucous pre-recorded tape. Woodrum will also perform her own transcription of “So Low” by Jimmy Giuffre and a set of solos by Evan Ziporyn. Woodrum will then be joined by Marks on piano for duos by Roshanne Etezady and Marc Mellits. General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members. Tickets may be purchased in advance through a Vendini Web page.

Friday, November 18, 7:30 p.m.: C4NM will host the next concert in the 2016–17 season of the Fête Concert Series. This concert has been organized around the music of Joaquin Rodrigo, whose 115th birthday will take place on November 22. The program will include the Canciones de dos épocas for voice and piano and the Tres Canciones Espanolas for voice and guitar, as well as solo pieces for both piano and guitar. In addition, in keeping with the Fête Concert tradition, composer Emma Logan has prepared an arrangement of “Happy Birthday” in Rodrigo’s style. The performers will be pianist Paul Dab, guitarist Patrick Smith, and sopranos Chelsea Hollow and Anne Hepburn Smith. In birthday party tradition, the ticket will include wine, snacks, and desserts, as well as party hats for all. General admission will be $15, and the $10 rate will apply to seniors and students, as well as C4NM members. Fête Concert Series tickets may be purchased in advance through a Brown Paper Tickets event page.

Saturday, November 19, 8 p.m.: This will be the next Rova “Plus One” concert, a two-set evening with one performer joining the Rova Saxophone Quartet in each set. In the first set they will be joined by percussionist and vocalist Dohee Lee for an improvisation on a structure by Larry Ochs. In the second set they will be joined by Jon Leidecker performing under the name Wobbly to improvise on structures arranged by Steve Adams. General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members. Tickets may be purchased in advance through a Vendini Web page.

Tuesday, November 29, 8 p.m.: This will be a duo improvisation based on the amalgamation of Futurist and Techno aesthetics. The former will be embodied in Luciano Chessa performing on saw. The latter will be taken by Tyrel Williams on turntables. General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members. Tickets may be purchased in advance through a Vendini Web page.

Wednesday, November 30, 8 p.m.: Portland-based composer and pianist Karl Schultz, a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, will return to San Francisco to make his debut as a new music pianist. He will premiere selections from his set of twelve ricercari for solo piano based on his own system of polytonal counterpoint. In addition to playing some of his other compositions, he will also perform the works of Colombo, David Conte, and Nicolas Lell Benavides. He has prepared a one-hour concert with 50 minutes of music and a ten-minute intermission. General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members. Tickets may be purchased in advance through a Vendini Web page.