THE BOX IS EMPTY’S TOP PICK:

Seattle Modern Orchestra – Derlious Serialists: Music by Maderna, Nono, and Boulez.  Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA.  February 8, 2013, 8:00 p.m..

This Friday, Seattle Modern Orchestra offer a tremendous program devoted to high-modernist, European avant-garde. These composers, Boulez, Maderna, and Nono (along with Stockhausen, whose music does not appear on this concert), are pillars of the so-called Darmstadt School, and the works programmed here by SMO’s co-artisitic directors Julia Tai and Jérémy Jolly are exemplars of midcentury style.  This music is, as the title of the concert would suggest, unabashedly serialist.  However, dispel yourself of the notion that it will at all sound formulaic, rigid, or impenetrable.  To the contrary, these composers were, in addition to being strict formalists, great innovators of musical color and instrumental combination.

Aside from the rare opportunity to hear Boulez’s groundbreaking and still-influential Le marteau sans maître, “This performance will demystify the most misunderstood era of music,” according to SMO’s website. Perhaps more important, SMO are sure to offer stunning performances of all three works.  Also the groups conductor, Julia Tai excels in this particular style.  She and Jolly can always be trusted to assemble the best of Seattle’s players and shepherd unyielding and demanding music into a vibrant reality of sounds.

This concert is a must for any fans of contemporary music of any stripe.  If your tastes are for Webern or the Second Viennese School, then go and hear their succeeding generation of torch-bearers.  If you prefer American minimal music, then go and hear exactly what Reich says he and his compatriots attempted to counteract.  Either way, the performance will be outstanding…GO LISTEN!

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HAPPENING THIS WEEK – 2/4/2013-2/10/2013 – Seattle:

• Seattle Modern Orchestra – Derlious Serialists: Music by Maderna, Nono, and Boulez.  Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA.  February 8, 2013, 8:00 p.m..

HAPPENING THIS WEEK – 2/4/2013-2/10/2013 – Elsewhere:

• Leah Maria Villareal/Mary Kouyoumdjian – Hotel Elefant: Experiments in Opera.  Issue Project Room, Brooklyn, NY.  February 9, 2013
• Kate Maroney – Liebeslieder Waltzer.  Sprague Hall, New Haven, CT. February 9, 2013, 8:00 p.m..

HAPPENING SOON:

• Amanda DeBoer Bartlett – I Vapor Breath CD release party.  The Mastercroft Building, Omaha, NE.  February 11, 2013, 7:00 p.m..
• Amanda DeBoer Bartlett – Deer Hoof and Dal Niente at the Ecstatic Music Festival.  Merkin Concert Hall, New York, NY.  February 20, 2012, 7:30 p.m..
• Leah Kardos – New work premiered by Kelly Lovelady and Ruthless Jabiru.  London, UK.  March 2013.
• Nat Evans/Evan Smith – Solo Recital and Two Old Ghosts World Premiere. Aasen-Hull Hall, Eugene, OR. March 2, 2013.
• Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble – Guest Artist at Cadre’s Annual Concert.  Columbia College, Chicago, IL.  March 8, 2013.
• People Inside Electronics – Electric Virtuosity. Monk Space, Los Angeles, CA. March 9, 2013, 8:00 p.m..
• Lindsay Kesselman/Kate Maroney – Einstein on the Beach.  Hong Kong Cultural Center, Hong Kong. March 8-10, 2013.
• Parnassus Project – Music at Covington Library. Covington Library Covington, WA.  March 24, 2013, 2:00 p.m..
• Lindsay Kesselman – Violations by Hannah Lash.  Yale University, New Haven, CT.  March 28, 2013, 8:00 p.m..
• Byron Au Young – Stuck Elevator World Premiere. American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco, CA.  April 4-18, 2013.
• Evan Smith – The Box Is Empty Solo Recital. The Chapel, Seattle, WA. April 12, 2013, 7:30 p.m..
• Amy Beth Kirsten – The Gift World Premiere.  Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh, PA. April 16, 2013, 8:00 p.m..
• Kate Maroney – St. John Passion. Concordia College, NY.  April 21, 2013, 4:00 p.m..
• Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble – Workshop with Dal Niente and Robert Honstein.  High Concept Labs, Chicago, IL. May 10-11, 2013.
• Kate Maroney – Quagmires and the Known Knowns World Premiere. Galapagos Art Space, Brooklyn, NY. May 21, 2013, 8:00 p.m..
• Amanda DeBoer Bartlett – Dal Niente presents Jesse Langen, guitar. Unfamiliar Music Series, Chicago, IL. May 22, 2013.
• Seattle Modern Orchestra – Music in Space. The Chapel, Seattle, WA. June 1, 2013, 8:00 p.m..
• Parnassus Project – Music at Everett Public Library.  Everett Public Library, Everett, WA.  June 2, 2013, 2:00 p.m..
• Marc Yeats – Pathos World Premiere. Lumin, London, UK. June 8, 2013.
• Amy Beth Kirsten – Kiss to the Earth World Premiere. Missouri Chamber Music Festival, St. Louis, MO. June 17, 2013.
• Kate Maroney – All Night Vigil. New Haven Festival Arts and Ideas, New Haven CT. June 21, 2013.
• Byron Au Young – Party Pieces with Cage 100.  Leipzig and New York.  July 2013.
• Ryan Keebaugh – Frequency: New Music in the Valley.  Shenandoah Valley, VA.  Summer 2013.
• John Teske – Broken Bow Ensemble. Rainer Valley Cultural Center, Seattle, WA. September 21, 2013.
• John Teske – Broken Bow Ensemble. The Chapel, Seattle, WA. September 28, 2013.

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