New Music New College Announces 13th Season of Contemporary Music
June 27, 2011 – New Music New College (NMNC), the cutting-edge series of contemporary music, presents its 13th season beginning in the fall of 2011. Under the direction of Professor of Music Stephen Miles, NMNC offers an array of unconventional music programs that are, in range and quality, unrivaled in Florida.
Next season’s visiting artists include rising-star violinist Miranda Cuckson (Sept. 24); versatile pianist Kathleen Supové (Jan. 21); jazz great Sam Rivers with Fluid Motion (Mar. 2); and Mantra Percussion performing the Florida premiere of Timber, a work by American composer Michael Gordon (Apr. 21), who will be in town for the performance.
The popular Crossroads concert has been expanded into a weekend event called “The Meeting of the Minds Festival” (Mar. 2-3). Friday will feature a special appearance by jazz legend Sam Rivers performing with the modern jazz ensemble Fluid Motion. Saxophonist Rivers is an 83-year-old multi-instrumentalist whose visionary conception of complex composition and spontaneous creation remains revolutionary. He has performed with the Miles Davis Quintet, with Dizzy Gillespie, and since 1970 has led the RivBea Orchestra, known for integrating music and dance. Formerly an associate professor at Wesleyan University and Connecticut College, Rivers now resides in St. Petersburg, Fla.
On Saturday, March 3, Rivers and Fluid Motion will join Sarasota Orchestra and New College student musicians for the fourth rendition of the popular rock happening under the stars. On Saturday afternoon, there will be a free panel discussion on “The Politics of Race and American Experimental Music” with Rivers, celebrated writer and theorist bell hooks, and NMNC Director Stephen Miles.
Another highlight of the season will be the debut of new experimental works by Miles and theater arts professor/choreographer Margaret Eginton (Nov 11-13) presented by New College students in three formats: a performance, a performance with opportunities for audience participation, and a free, fully participatory workshop.
Four free afternoon “Artist Conversations” are planned throughout the season: Miranda Cuckson (Sept. 23); Miles and Eginton (Nov. 10); Kathleen Supové and composer Randall Woolf (Jan. 20); and Michael Gordon and Mantra Percussion (Apr. 20).
This season, New Music New College will expand its community outreach to include dialogue sessions with local youth. Students will be invited to participate in the artist talks and discussions prior to the performances. During a January 2012 residency at New College, pianist Kathleen Supové and composer Randall Woolf will present a special program for students in the Sarasota County School District.
“Our audience is perhaps the most intrepid and intellectually curious in Sarasota,” said Miles, who is also the incoming provost of New College. “They enjoy exploring new and unfamiliar music with our campus community, even music that departs radically from tradition. Crucially, our audience trusts that the music NMNC presents is important and that the performances are world-class.
“As New Music New College enters its thirteenth season, we are becoming more ambitious in our programming,” he continued. “Because we have earned our audience’s trust, we are able to move in new musical directions and offer an even more varied array of programs than ever before.”
Performances will be held either at the Mildred Sainer Pavilion, College Hall or the PepsiCo Arcade in the Caples Fine Arts Complex. Subscriptions for the six-concert series are $60, with single tickets priced at $15. For more information, call 941-487-4888 or e-mail [email protected]. Details are available at www.newmusicnewcollege.org.
The media sponsors for New Music New College are the Herald-Tribune Media Group, ABC 7 and WSMR 89.1.
Season Information and Schedules Follow.
New Music New College 2011-2012 Season
Single tickets $15, series $60
Info: 941-487-4888
MIRANDA CUCKSON, violin
Concert: Saturday, September 24, 8:00 pm, Sainer Pavilion
Artist Conversation (free): Friday, September 23, 3:30 pm, Sainer Pavilion
Miranda Cuckson has emerged as one of the rising stars of contemporary music, a violinist of perfect technique and deep musical insight. Critic Allan Kozinn recently wrote, “Miranda Cuckson has quickly become one of a handful of go-to musicians for chamber groups that need a violinist who can play thorny works with undeniable musicality” (New York Times, January 20, 2011). Cuckson’s debut concert for NMNC will begin with one of the monuments of the violin repertoire: the Chaconne from J. S. Bach’s Partita in D Minor for Solo Violin, followed immediately by Reiko Fuetig’s tanz.tanz, which explores and expands upon the dances used in Bach’s partita. The program continues with another pairing of new and old: the abstraction of Georg Friedrich Haas’s de terre fine will find its counterpart in Eugene Ysaye’s lyrical “L’Aurore” from Sonata No. 5. Past, present and future will all play roles in this short and intense recital.
MARGARET EGINTON AND STEPHEN MILES: NEW EXPERIMENTAL WORKS
Performance: Friday, November 11, 8:00 pm, College Hall Music Room
Performance/participation mix: Saturday, November 12, 8:00 pm, College Hall Music Room
Workshop (free): Sunday, November 13, 3:00 pm, College Hall Music Room
Artist Conversation (free): Thursday, November 10, 3:30 pm, College Hall Music Room
In 2009, NMNC presented New College students in Living and Dead: The Gettysburg Project, a work created collaboratively by composer Stephen Miles and choreographer Margaret Eginton. The experience of Gettysburg suggested further explorations of sound and movement, so Miles and Eginton worked with New College students and alums throughout the 2010-11 academic year in the Experimental Performance Lab. Focusing on improvisation, the lab put a simple question to the test: What would happen if a group allowed its own impulses to suggest material and its development? Some of the results will be presented in three events in November. The Friday event will be strictly presentational, with the audience watching the performers in a conventional manner. The Saturday event will include presentational material, but also opportunities for audience participation. The workshop on Sunday will be devoted entirely to participation, using the entire first floor of College Hall.
Eginton, whose choreography was performed by the Sarasota Ballet in April, is adjunct professor of theater at New College, where she teaches theater arts, and dance and theater composition. She is also associate professor and head of Movement and Dance for the Florida State University/Asolo Conservatory. Her dancing, choreography and direction of plays in the U.S. and Europe have won a multitude of grants and awards.
KATHLEEN SUPOVÉ, piano
Concert: Saturday, January 21, 8:00 pm, Sainer Pavilion (concert)
Artist Conversation (free): Friday, January 20, 3:30 pm, Sainer Pavilion
Pianist Kathleen Supové, considered by many to be the finest contemporary music pianist working today, returns to New College for the latest installment in her Exploding Piano series. Through electronic media, costume and direct engagement with the audience, Supové transforms the piano recital into performance art. Her January program for NMNC will feature selections from the “Digital Debussy Project,” in which contemporary composers fashion new works in response to works of the French master.
Prominent on the program will be music of Randall Woolf, who will join Supové for a week-long residence at New College, during which both artists will work with New College student composers and will present a special program for students in the Sarasota County public school system. Woolf is composer-in-residence for the Brooklyn Philharmonic. His works have been performed by Supové, Jennifer Choi, Timothy Fain, Kronos Quartet and Bang on a Can/SPIT Orchestra.
CROSSROADS 4: THE MEETING OF THE MINDS FESTIVAL
Concert: Friday, March 2, 8:00 pm, PepsiCo Arcade: Fluid Motion with Sam Rivers
Concert: Saturday, March 3, 8:00 pm, PepsiCo Arcade: Fluid Motion with Sam Rivers, Sarasota Orchestra musicians, New College students
Panel Discussion (free): Saturday, March 3, 3:00 pm. Sainer Pavilion: “The Politics of Race and American Experimental Music”
NMNC’s annual Crossroads performances are the scene of musical mixing – performers from different backgrounds, performing together, learning from each other. As in previous years, New College student musicians will collaborate with principal musicians of the Sarasota Orchestra in an outdoor rock happening under the stars. This year’s Crossroads will feature a special performance by jazz legend Sam Rivers, who will perform with Fluid Motion on Friday night and join the musical revels on
Saturday in the PepsiCo Arcade.
Fluid Motion is a modern jazz ensemble that balances form and groove with freedom and spirit. In today’s configuration, Fluid Motion features jazz legend (and composer/saxophonist) Sam Rivers with his trio bassist Doug Mathews, RivBea Orchestra trumpeter Tom Parmerter, SHIM drummer Jim Stewart and trombonist/composer David Manson. The group’s compositions (written by Sam Rivers and David Manson) are angular, intricate and post-bop in style.
This meeting of the minds – from jazz, from rock, from classical and from experimental music – will be enhanced by a panel discussion on race and experimental music with Sam Rivers, celebrated writer and theorist bell hooks and NMNC Director Stephen Miles.
MICHAEL GORDON’S TIMBER, PERFORMED BY MANTRA PERCUSSION
Concert: Saturday, April 21, 8:00 pm, Sainer Pavilion
Artist Conversation (free): Friday, April 20, 3:30 pm, Sainer Pavilion
NMNC is honored to present the Florida premiere of a new work by Michael Gordon, noted American composer and founder/co-director of Bang on a Can, the legendary contemporary music organization in New York. Gordon’s new piece, Timber, is a concert-length tour de force. Scored for six graduated wooden Simantras — percussion instruments devised by French composer Iannis Xenakis — the work brings the physicality, endurance and technique of percussion performance to a new level. In this new work, Gordon shapes the music in both polyrhythmic and dynamic waves of textures — often each players’ hands are in separate rhythmic ‘worlds’, each traversing a different dynamic contour from loud to soft to loud.
Mantra Percussion has been featured at festivals and music series throughout the country, including the Moving Sounds Festival, Ear Heart Music Festival and Make Music New York. The group has performed in some of the leading contemporary music spaces in New York City, including Le Poisson Rouge, The Tank and the Tenri Cultural Institute.
Series Dates (6 concerts for $60)
Sept. 24 at 8 pm (Sainer Pavilion)
Nov 11 at 8 pm or Nov 12 at 8 pm (College Hall)
Jan. 21 at 8 pm (Sainer Pavilion)
Mar 2 at 8 pm (PepsiCo Arcade)
Mar 3 at 8 pm (PepsiCo Arcade)
Apr 21 at 8 pm (Sainer Pavilion)
Single Ticket Dates ($15 each)
Sept. 24 at 8 pm (Sainer Pavilion)
Nov 11 at 8 pm (College Hall)
Nov 12 at 8 pm (College Hall)
Jan. 21 at 8 pm (Sainer Pavilion)
Mar 2 at 8 pm (PepsiCo Arcade)
Mar 3 at 8 pm (PepsiCo Arcade)
Apr 21 at 8 pm (PepsiCo Arcade)
Free Events
Sept 23 at 3:30 pm (Artist Conversation, Sainer Pavilion)
Nov 10 at 3:30 pm (Artist Conversation, College Hall)
Nov 13 at 3 pm (Workshop, College Hall)
Jan 20 at 3:30 pm (Artist Conversation, Sainer Pavilion)
Mar 3 at 3 pm (Panel Discussion, Sainer Pavilion)
Apr 20 at 3:30 pm (Artist Conversation, Sainer Pavilion)
June 22, 2011 – New Music New College (NMNC), the cutting-edge series of contemporary music, presents its 13th season beginning in the fall of 2011. Under the direction of Professor of Music Stephen Miles, NMNC offers an array of unconventional music programs that are, in range and quality, unrivaled in Florida.
Next season’s visiting artists include rising-star violinist Miranda Cuckson (Sept. 24); versatile pianist Kathleen Supové (Jan. 21); jazz great Sam Rivers with Fluid Motion (Mar. 2); and Mantra Percussion performing the Florida premiere of Timber, a work by American composer Michael Gordon (Apr. 21), who will be in town for the performance.
The popular Crossroads concert has been expanded into a weekend event called “The Meeting of the Minds Festival” (Mar. 2-3). Friday will feature a special appearance by jazz legend Sam Rivers performing with the modern jazz ensemble Fluid Motion. Saxophonist Rivers is an 83-year-old multi-instrumentalist whose visionary conception of complex composition and spontaneous creation remains revolutionary. He has performed with the Miles Davis Quintet, with Dizzy Gillespie, and since 1970 has led the RivBea Orchestra, known for integrating music and dance. Formerly an associate professor at Wesleyan University and Connecticut College, Rivers now resides in St. Petersburg, Fla.
On Saturday, March 3, Rivers and Fluid Motion will join Sarasota Orchestra and New College student musicians for the fourth rendition of the popular rock happening under the stars. On Saturday afternoon, there will be a free panel discussion on “The Politics of Race and American Experimental Music” with Rivers, celebrated writer and theorist bell hooks, and NMNC Director Stephen Miles.
Another highlight of the season will be the debut of new experimental works by Miles and theater arts professor/choreographer Margaret Eginton (Nov 11-13) presented by New College students in three formats: a performance, a performance with opportunities for audience participation, and a free, fully participatory workshop.
Four free afternoon “Artist Conversations” are planned throughout the season: Miranda Cuckson (Sept. 23); Miles and Eginton (Nov. 10); Kathleen Supové and composer Randall Woolf (Jan. 20); and Michael Gordon and Mantra Percussion (Apr. 20).
This season, New Music New College will expand its community outreach to include dialogue sessions with local youth. Students will be invited to participate in the artist talks and discussions prior to the performances. During a January 2012 residency at New College, pianist Kathleen Supové and composer Randall Woolf will present a special program for students in the Sarasota County School District.
“Our audience is perhaps the most intrepid and intellectually curious in Sarasota,” said Miles, who is also the incoming provost of New College. “They enjoy exploring new and unfamiliar music with our campus community, even music that departs radically from tradition. Crucially, our audience trusts that the music NMNC presents is important and that the performances are world-class.
“As New Music New College enters its thirteenth season, we are becoming more ambitious in our programming,” he continued. “Because we have earned our audience’s trust, we are able to move in new musical directions and offer an even more varied array of programs than ever before.”
Performances will be held either at the Mildred Sainer Pavilion, College Hall or the PepsiCo Arcade in the Caples Fine Arts Complex. Subscriptions for the six-concert series are $60, with single tickets priced at $15. For more information, call 941-487-4888 or e-mail [email protected]. Details are available at www.newmusicnewcollege.org.
Season Information and Schedules Follow.
New Music New College 2011-2012 Season
Single tickets $15, series $60
Info: 941-487-4888
MIRANDA CUCKSON, violin
Concert: Saturday, September 24, 8:00 pm, Sainer Pavilion
Artist Conversation (free): Friday, September 23, 3:30 pm, Sainer Pavilion
Miranda Cuckson has emerged as one of the rising stars of contemporary music, a violinist of perfect technique and deep musical insight. Critic Allan Kozinn recently wrote, “Miranda Cuckson has quickly become one of a handful of go-to musicians for chamber groups that need a violinist who can play thorny works with undeniable musicality” (New York Times, January 20, 2011). Cuckson’s debut concert for NMNC will begin with one of the monuments of the violin repertoire: the Chaconne from J. S. Bach’s Partita in D Minor for Solo Violin, followed immediately by Reiko Fuetig’s tanz.tanz, which explores and expands upon the dances used in Bach’s partita. The program continues with another pairing of new and old: the abstraction of Georg Friedrich Haas’s de terre fine will find its counterpart in Eugene Ysaye’s lyrical “L’Aurore” from Sonata No. 5. Past, present and future will all play roles in this short and intense recital.
MARGARET EGINTON AND STEPHEN MILES: NEW EXPERIMENTAL WORKS
Performance: Friday, November 11, 8:00 pm, College Hall Music Room
Performance/participation mix: Saturday, November 12, 8:00 pm, College Hall Music Room
Workshop (free): Sunday, November 13, 3:00 pm, College Hall Music Room
Artist Conversation (free): Thursday, November 10, 3:30 pm, College Hall Music Room
In 2009, NMNC presented New College students in Living and Dead: The Gettysburg Project, a work created collaboratively by composer Stephen Miles and choreographer Margaret Eginton. The experience of Gettysburg suggested further explorations of sound and movement, so Miles and Eginton worked with New College students and alums throughout the 2010-11 academic year in the Experimental Performance Lab. Focusing on improvisation, the lab put a simple question to the test: What would happen if a group allowed its own impulses to suggest material and its development? Some of the results will be presented in three events in November. The Friday event will be strictly presentational, with the audience watching the performers in a conventional manner. The Saturday event will include presentational material, but also opportunities for audience participation. The workshop on Sunday will be devoted entirely to participation, using the entire first floor of College Hall.
Eginton, whose choreography was performed by the Sarasota Ballet in April, is adjunct professor of theater at New College, where she teaches theater arts, and dance and theater composition. She is also associate professor and head of Movement and Dance for the Florida State University/Asolo Conservatory. Her dancing, choreography and direction of plays in the U.S. and Europe have won a multitude of grants and awards.
Concert: Saturday, January 21, 8:00 pm, Sainer Pavilion (concert)
Artist Conversation (free): Friday, January 20, 3:30 pm, Sainer Pavilion
Pianist Kathleen Supové, considered by many to be the finest contemporary music pianist working today, returns to New College for the latest installment in her Exploding Piano series. Through electronic media, costume and direct engagement with the audience, Supové transforms the piano recital into performance art. Her January program for NMNC will feature selections from the “Digital Debussy Project,” in which contemporary composers fashion new works in response to works of the French master.
Prominent on the program will be music of Randall Woolf, who will join Supové for a week-long residence at New College, during which both artists will work with New College student composers and will present a special program for students in the Sarasota County public school system. Woolf is composer-in-residence for the Brooklyn Philharmonic. His works have been performed by Supové, Jennifer Choi, Timothy Fain, Kronos Quartet and Bang on a Can/SPIT Orchestra.
CROSSROADS 4: THE MEETING OF THE MINDS FESTIVAL
Concert: Friday, March 2, 8:00 pm, PepsiCo Arcade: Fluid Motion with Sam Rivers
Concert: Saturday, March 3, 8:00 pm, PepsiCo Arcade: Fluid Motion with Sam Rivers, Sarasota Orchestra musicians, New College students
Panel Discussion (free): Saturday, March 3, 3:00 pm. Sainer Pavilion: “The Politics of Race and American Experimental Music”
NMNC’s annual Crossroads performances are the scene of musical mixing – performers from different backgrounds, performing together, learning from each other. As in previous years, New College student musicians will collaborate with principal musicians of the Sarasota Orchestra in an outdoor rock happening under the stars. This year’s Crossroads will feature a special performance by jazz legend Sam Rivers, who will perform with Fluid Motion on Friday night and join the musical revels on
Saturday in the PepsiCo Arcade.
Fluid Motion is a modern jazz ensemble that balances form and groove with freedom and spirit. In today’s configuration, Fluid Motion features jazz legend (and composer/saxophonist) Sam Rivers with his trio bassist Doug Mathews, RivBea Orchestra trumpeter Tom Parmerter, SHIM drummer Jim Stewart and trombonist/composer David Manson. The group’s compositions (written by Sam Rivers and David Manson) are angular, intricate and post-bop in style.
This meeting of the minds – from jazz, from rock, from classical and from experimental music – will be enhanced by a panel discussion on race and experimental music with Sam Rivers, celebrated writer and theorist bell hooks and NMNC Director Stephen Miles.
MICHAEL GORDON’S TIMBER, PERFORMED BY MANTRA PERCUSSION
Concert: Saturday, April 21, 8:00 pm, Sainer Pavilion
Artist Conversation (free): Friday, April 20, 3:30 pm, Sainer Pavilion
NMNC is honored to present the Florida premiere of a new work by Michael Gordon, noted American composer and founder/co-director of Bang on a Can, the legendary contemporary music organization in New York. Gordon’s new piece, Timber, is a concert-length tour de force. Scored for six graduated wooden Simantras — percussion instruments devised by French composer Iannis Xenakis — the work brings the physicality, endurance and technique of percussion performance to a new level. In this new work, Gordon shapes the music in both polyrhythmic and dynamic waves of textures — often each players’ hands are in separate rhythmic ‘worlds’, each traversing a different dynamic contour from loud to soft to loud.
Mantra Percussion has been featured at festivals and music series throughout the country, including the Moving Sounds Festival, Ear Heart Music Festival and Make Music New York. The group has performed in some of the leading contemporary music spaces in New York City, including Le Poisson Rouge, The Tank and the Tenri Cultural Institute.
Series Dates (6 concerts for $60)
Sept. 24 at 8 pm (Sainer Pavilion)
Nov 11 at 8 pm or Nov 12 at 8 pm (College Hall)
Jan. 21 at 8 pm (Sainer Pavilion)
Mar 2 at 8 pm (PepsiCo Arcade)
Mar 3 at 8 pm (PepsiCo Arcade)
Apr 21 at 8 pm (Sainer Pavilion)
Single Ticket Dates ($15 each)
Sept. 24 at 8 pm (Sainer Pavilion)
Nov 11 at 8 pm (College Hall)
Nov 12 at 8 pm (College Hall)
Jan. 21 at 8 pm (Sainer Pavilion)
Mar 2 at 8 pm (PepsiCo Arcade)
Mar 3 at 8 pm (PepsiCo Arcade)
Apr 21 at 8 pm (PepsiCo Arcade)
Free Events
Sept 23 at 3:30 pm (Artist Conversation, Sainer Pavilion)
Nov 10 at 3:30 pm (Artist Conversation, College Hall)
Nov 13 at 3 pm (Workshop, College Hall)
Jan 20 at 3:30 pm (Artist Conversation, Sainer Pavilion)
Mar 3 at 3 pm (Panel Discussion, Sainer Pavilion)
Apr 20 at 3:30 pm (Artist Conversation, Sainer Pavilion)