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.

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

Intelligence is a Luxury

Last night we did some much needed dancing and letting loose at FLATTmagazine’s launch party for their inaugural issue. The evening featured the art of Kika Karadi and a performance by rock jazz pianist Elew, who ‘played louder than anyone I’ve ever heard in my life!’ according to Trevor Gureckis. Post after party, which took place in a bar located in the basement, we went back to the gallery to have some fun with the piano and sang along to Kanye West and Arcade Fire songs.

We had the chance to read the magazine this morning. In the editor’s letter, James Perkins discusses how the idea of ‘liv[ing] charmingly’ has changed significantly in America. He writes:

In an era where we all may have a little less, being discerning about how we spend our money, our time, and deciding what gives us a high rate of cultural return is a fundamental necessity. FLATTmagazine endeavors to creatively arm you with a spectrum of knowledge to help all of us accomplish this goal.

Intelligence is luxury.

We love this magazine for a couple of reasons: the lusciousness of its gorgeous photos, thought-provoking articles, fabulous parties. But we especially adore FLATT for its desire to be more than just another chic publication, it’s intention to give readers a high ‘cultural return.’

Check it out and be sure to read NCP commissioned composer Jay Wadley’s piece, The Art of the Sample. And we’re not gonna lie, we are stoked about the lil’ mention we got.

Interview with Composer Jay Wadley

It’s been a while, we know! We’re back with an interview with Jay Wadley, the composer behind the Mad Men/Nature Boy video (below) that went viral on YouTube over the past couple weeks. Coincidentally, the Nouveau Classical Project is going to premiere his piece for electric guitar and electronics for MATA Interval 4.0 in March 2011.

Enjoy!

In case you haven’t seen it, the YouTube Mad Men video:

Why Mark Morris Dance Group makes us love Handel Oratorios and the 80s…

We love pastels too sometimes...

Is classical music really dead? Mark Morris doesn’t think so. In fact Mark is so crazy about classical music, that he started one of the only large dance companies in the U.S. that insists on bringing their own musicians on tour to perform with them live. Surely an expensive and risky endeavor, Mark has stated in many interviews that this is an essential element needed to make his works feel alive. This is just one of the many reasons why we at NCP love the Mark Morris Dance Group (http://markmorrisdancegroup.org/), and tonight was no exception…

Sitting down in the first ring of Daniel Koch Theatre at Lincoln Center for the Mostly Mozart Festival, my first thought was, “I’m so freakin’ tired. How am I ever going to sit through a two-hour Handel oratorio without passing out?” Little did we realize that we were in for an awesome sensory overload. It takes a special kind of artist to make a Handel Oratorio seem modern, but Mark Morris more than manages to do so with his choreographed work set to Handel’s “L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato.” Choreographed in 1988 and inspired by paintings by Blake, and poems by Milton, this work of art has many muses. However, its Mark’s vision of life, beauty, and fun that shine the brightest throughout this grand piece.

With fantastic pastel leos, tea-length dresses, and cut-off tops, this work reminds me one of giant human kaleidoscope circa 1988 (credit going to costume designer Christine Van Loon). With inter-changing colors and a series of frames for the set-design, the setting at times almost appears digital. The oratorio is comprised of four singers, a pit orchestra, and an outstanding choir. Having heard rumors that the Mostly Mozart Festival orchestral musicians were not always the tightest group, this was certainly not the case tonight. My personal favorite was the choir, and lyric soprano Lisa Saffer. Lisa’s crystal clear voice was the perfect imitation of a flute and a bird in the “Sweet Bird” section (that song is hard!).

There are supposedly 32 little stories within this work, but what I picked up on was Mark’s ability to translate the music into perfectly compatible physical movements. While this sounds like an easy thing to do, Mark demonstrates the breadth of this skills by playing with this concept throughout the work. In the one of the movements, the featured dancer is the perfect embodiment of a bird, with spirit fingers to match the tiniest trills in the flute and voice. Equally stunning were the representations of flocks of geese, where the company of dancers appeared at first to fly together, and then without warning the second half of the flock separates off and assumes flying another direction. Mark mimics the layers of music by adding lines and layers of dancers. The effect is something like swimming in a pool of colors. In another movement, Mark shows his silly side with gender-bending roles of women carrying men, and better yet bottom smacking circles of boys which I think was part of an Accompagnato (but I cant be sure because I was distracted by bum-smacking – plus it was dark in there!). Who doesn’t love a choreographer that can make you laugh and feel like you’re watching something profound at the same time?

In any case, this is the perfect work to introduce someone new to the Mark Morris Dance Group, or to make you fall back in love with his works. “L’Allegro, il Penseroso” is stellar on every level, with beautiful music, exciting choreography, and stunning visuals. This show will run tomorrow and Saturday night (August 5-7) at Lincoln Center, so if you have a chance…this is NCP tested, approved, and recommended.

Limited Edition Gigi Burris ‘Classical Music is Dead’ T-Shirt

List Price: $1,000.00
Our Price: $20.00

The shirts have arrived! More pics coming soon. Get them while you can, because there are a limited quantity in existence and some of our Kickstarter backers have already got dibs on them. At $20 a pop, these soon-to-be highly-coveted and unattainable tees are truly a deal. You can snag one here.

Get ready to be envied! Hope you can handle the overwhelming amount of attention this shirt may attract. We’d love to hear about any reactions, so feel free to send along photos and stories to info@nouveauclassical.org.

Score this shirt, get your name printed on our program, or receive a DVD of our show! Details here.