See you on Tumblr!
We’ve had a Tumblr for a while but only recently started using it more regularly…and it turns out that it is a better fit for our blogging needs. So check out our blog here from now on. See you!
Support a Music Maker, a Milliner and Their Muses
Check out our Indiegogo Campaign and support our debut at Symphony Space on April 5, 2012. Wearing the Lost Generation will be a salon event featuring the world premiere of Trevor Gureckis‘s Lost Generation as well as Ravel’s Piano Trio in A minor. And per usual–music-inspired fashion, this time by quirky and loveable self-proclaimed nerd Heidi Lee!
Members Only
NCP and Found Object Performing at Gretchen Jones S/S 2012 Presentation
A lot of great things have been happening for us, such as winning our first grant with Trevor Gureckis, fashion week with Gretchen Jones (heart) and Pamela Love, our collaboration with Eri Wakiyama and our show tomorrow! We’ve gained some momentum this past year and we will sure keep working to grow and dream up more exciting things for the future.
You can play a significant role in our antics by becoming a Nouveau Classical Project VIP member! This is our premiere launch and we’ve carefully curated these memberships to make it 100% worth it for our supportive fans. All ten of you! :-P
Join today or tomorrow, and a ticket to our performance of From the Margins at Galapagos will be included in addition to our ‘Classical Music is Dead’ tote!
VIP Membership Options
A) Young, Broke, and Fabulous- 50 (e-mail info@nouveauclassical.org)
– ‘Adults’ 25 and under and students only
– One free ticket to 3 events ($60 value)- Guest tickets only $10 (up to 2 tickets per event)
– 10% off NCP goodies (i.e., designer collaboration items, t-shirts, etc.)
B) Flirt – 75
– One free ticket to all events
– Guest tickets $10 (up to 2 tickets per event)
– 10% off NCP goodies
C) Friends with Benefits– 150
– One free ticket to all events
– Guest tickets $10 (up to 3 tickets per event)
– 10% off NCP goodies
– One free NCP special edition custom-designed piece
D) Lovers – 250
– Two free tickets to all events
– Guest tickets $10 (up to 5 tickets per event)
– Free NCP special edition custom-designed piece for each product release
– Two drinks for each event where alcohol is served
Select concert list for 2012:
• In and Around C: a large scale interactive installation and live performance, in collaboration with artist Mad Mohre
• ‘Wearing the Lost Generation’ at Symphony Space, featuring the world premiere of Trevor Gureckis’s Lost Generation (winner, JFund 2011)
• ‘Music of Now’ at Symphony Space, featuring music of Evan Ziproyn, Kevin Puts and more
• Black in October: dark music in the spirit ofHalloween, including Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire
• Random parties!
Viva Nouveau
We’re featured in Viva Música 2011. Presenting itself in a mini-zine format (think TeenVogue) with a high design sensibility, the 256-volume features interviews with international groundbreakers and tastemakers, including fellow New Yorker Ronen Givony from (le) Poisson Rouge. Anyone in classical music looking for creative ideas or anyone simply curious about what is going on in classical music can take an inspiring read here. You can read our interview online in both Portuguese and English on pages 55 and 222, respectively.
Sounds at Silvershed
Neon of Trivial models one of his own designs
Tomorrow evening we’re playing some plugged-in music on the rooftop of the Silvershed. While we are super excited about playing, we’re even more excited about not having to go somewhere else to party, since we’ll be throwing a listening party at the venue, complete with inexpensive libations after the show!
But wait, there’s more!
In addition to the concert and party, our guests can walk through the Silvershed gallery and view fashion-inspired prints by Patrick Meagher. Culture, cocktails, and collective fun in one night.
Music (in no particular order):
Ananta- Ryan Manchester
Cliffs- Aphex Twin, Arr. Trevor Gureckis
Saint Arc- Daniel Wohl
Bed from Einstein on the Beach- Glass
Changing Opinion- Glass
Suspended Harmonies- Trevor Gureckis
Fashion: Millinery by Trivial
Art: prints by Patrick Meagher.
Tickets are 15 at the door or online here: http://silvershedncp.eventbrite.com/
Doors open at 7:30 pm
See you there!
String Theatrics and Violin Semantics
On Friday, May 20, the Vilcek Foundation hosted a performance of violinist and composer Mari Kimura. The program featured a variety of works stemming from Kimura’s interest in new violin techniques and technology. Kimura started the evening off with Bach’s Preludio from Partita No. 3 in E major, BWV 1006 (1720). The piece exploited Kimura’s Juilliard training in a flawless and clean performance showing her mastery of classical violin technique.
The second piece on the program was Kimura’s original composition Subharmonic Partita (2004), which introduced her discovery of subharmonics on the violin. Kimura explains subharmonics as “an extended bowing technique, for playing the violin in a very special way. By controlling the speed and pressure of the bow very, very precisely a violinist can play notes below the open G, normally the lowest note on the violin, without changing the tuning. Through the use of subharmonics, it’s possible to play cello notes on the violin!” In the composition Kimura included fast five octave arpeggios that created glasslike textures juxtaposed against low register growls of subharmonic mastery.
The piece was followed by two more original Kimura compositions, Six Caprices for Subharmonics (1997-1998) and a world premiere called Janmaricana for Subharmonics (2011). Both compositions served to illustrate Kimura’s use of subharmonics in composition extending the range of the violin. In Kimura’s compositions she used the subharmonic technique fused with pizzicatos, double stops and a wide range of technique to produce a unique language of her own on the violin.
The technology portion of the program started with a piece that incorporated animation by Ken Perlin followed by another world premiere, Duet X2 for violin, cello and augmented bows (2011). The piece featured cellist Dave Eggar in a duet with Kimura. At the start of the piece Kimura displayed her custom Max Msp patch on the projector allowing the audience to take an inside look at Kimura’s interactive dashboard in action. The piece utilized two bowing motion sensors called “min-MO” developed at IRCAM. The sensors acquired 3 dimensional acceleration and bow pressure from the performers during the composition. The relationship between the gesture and sound was second in comparison to the intense communication between both Kimura and Eggar. During the performance real-time processing created various timbres and layers using delay, a computer harmonizer and other effects.
The Old Rose Reader was commissioned by Kimura and composed by Francis White. The composition incorporated text visuals and prerecorded sound of Kimura’s husband. The visuals followed the text at times displaying what was being stated by the speech with white text over a black background. The text also used roses as a motive projecting various types of text relationships against the speech.
Conlon Nancarrow composed the final piece of the program, Toccata for Violin and Player Piano. This piece ended the night with speed and intensity as Kimura received a wonderful ovation for her versatility as a composer, performer and programmer. The hall soon emptied as the night transitioned down one floor to the reception hall where Kimura and friends made themselves available to the audience while having champagne and hors d’oeuvres.
NCPerformers Music Recs
Whether it’s music we listen to while waiting for the subway or reading at home, here’s what NCP musicians are currently listening to. Add these to your iPod now!
This is the first in our ‘LISTEN!’ series, music recommendations by our friends.
“To be honest… I’m listening to ‘yacht rock’ style music at the moment.”
Whenever I Call You Friend by Kenny Loggins and Stevie Nick
Nabucco by Verdi
-Amanda Hick
“Can’t get enough of Fela Kuti’s V.I.P. live in Berlin. The longest afrobeat song I’ve heard so far at about 40 minutes straight. Ridiculous.”
V.I.P. (Vegabounds In Power) by Fela Kuti Jacob Ter Veldhuis
– Domenica Fossati
“I got to listen to him go WRYYYYYYYY for a couple hours but i’m getting faster at these papers :)”
In Front by Keith Jarrett
– Patti Kilroy
“Most soulful thing you’ll ever hear.”
Giving Up by Donny Hathaway from his self-titled 1971 album
– Mariel Roberts
“His music is always badass and groovy.”
Ohko by Xenakis
L’Ascension by Messiaen
“Tearjerker!”
3rd movement of Brahms’ 2nd Piano Concerto
“Simple and sunny.”
Just You and Me by Zee Avi
Mercy by Duffy
– Isabel Kim
“He expresses so much with minimal lyrics and I love how he’s somehow meshed the sounds of R&B I used to hear when I was a kid with modern, electronic techniques. And his voice has got so much soul. I was right in front of the stage at his LPR concert this past Thursday!”
James Blake (album) by James Blake
– Sugar Vendil
Un-Temp Track This
We really enjoyed this unexpected collaboration between Yo-Yo Ma and Lil Buck. Seeing a solo cello play alongside graceful Memphis Jookin was truly a beautiful sight. But we’ve definitely heard enough le Cygne for a lifetime (attribute that to us being classical geeks, or playing one too many weddings…), so we want to know: what music would you have playing for this video while the sound’s on ‘mute’?
Phyllis Chen on Down the Rabbit-Hole, Toy Piano, and More
Toy Piano. What more needs to be said? The name itself exudes tremendous cuteness. Phyllis Chen’s piece, Down the Rabbit-Hole (yes! we love this title, too), inspired by Alice in Wonderland, is a multimedia work for toy pianos, music boxes, live-electronics, live and edited video, and amplified objects. Read on to find out more!
When did you fall in love with toy piano? What do you like in particular about the instrument?
I fell in love with the toy piano when I was 21. I saw it as a set piece in the basement of a puppet theatre in Chicago…I have always thought of the toy piano as a found sound/ found instrument for that reason because it wasn’t introduced to me as a music-making device. I was completely charmed by its idiosyncratic nature and its elusive sound. It really is entirely different than a regular piano.
The inspiration for Down the Rabbit-Hole is Alice in Wonderland. Any reason you chose this, or a children’s tale in general?
I have been doing many split concerts on piano and toy piano, mostly because presenters have requested it. I have always found it challenging to switch back and forth between a piano and toy piano during performance; even the technique of playing is different! At some point while I was on stage, it occurred to me that what I was doing was probably the same kind of feeling Alice had growing and shrinking in wonderland. It seems like no matter how much change, I’m never quite the right size. It seem like the perfect place for me to create a piece.
What should we expect from Down the Rabbit Hole? Or rather, what should we not expect?
The piece is inspired by found sounds and objects from the novels. All of the musical material was somehow found from the objects themselves, including the pitch material that the toy piano plays. I really challenged myself to create a coherent piece with these found objects and fell in love with amplifying small imperfect sounds. The piece is very much an exploration of sounds. But there are no characters–so if you are expecting to see the White Rabbit running around, I’d suggest to see the Broadway production instead.
It seems interdisciplinary work is the zeitgeist in classical/new music these days. Why do you think that is? Do you think it’s just a trend?
Actually, I think interdisciplinary work has existed for a long time. The whole tradition of opera is interdisciplinary, for example. I do think there are new inventions in this form, mostly due to technology. What we had to hire people for previously can now be operated by a computer. It opens up options of creativity tremendously. But in our work, Rob (video artist) and I are really focused on keeping things live. We aren’t as interested in the “auto-play” idea from computers. Instead, we are trying to figure out how to by making counterparts for one another in the visual-sound axis. Kind of like chamber music, but with another medium.
Do you still get to practice 8 hours a day?
God no. But I do work that much every day, but my work is no longer just practicing.
What piece of clothing should every musician have in their closet?
Black shoes and bright colors. I really think we should move away from the all-black look. period.
Any advice for young/green musicians?
Build community! You don’t have to know what you’re going to do, but surround yourself with people that could help you figure it out.
By Sugar Vendil and Yoobin Whang
Classical Music is Dead* 
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