Hartford Sound Alliance at Billing’s Forge Mashup!

At Billing’s Forge artist studios on May 5, 2011, 6-9 pm!! Improvisation/video/installation/performance

Videos by:

Gene Gort

Noe Kidder

Devan Mulvaney

Elizabeth Stephens

Performances by:

Lief Ellis, electronics

Ryan Ford, bass

Ben Klein, tuba

Crystal Pascucci, cello

Anne Rhodes, voice

Bill Solomon, percussion

Matt Sargent, electronics

HARTFORD SOUND ALLIANCE

More previews!

Here’s a few links to hear some of the music that will be featured on this Friday’s concert:

An except of ekmeles performing Martin Iddon’s Ἁμαδρυάδες (hamadryads) for five voices and glass harmonica, performed by ekmeles

Kirsten Volness’s Hints and Hauntings for double bass and electronics, performed here by Jeremy Baguyos

And finally, a version of JacobTV’s Grab It for electric guitar and boombox (on Friday, it will be performed by 12 saxophones!)

Preview: Jacob Richman’s Go Down! You Blood Red Roses

Here’s percussionist Fred Kennedy’s performance of Jacob Richman’s Go Down! You Blood Red Roses at Brown University’s Grant Hall on Oct 26, 2010. Bill Solomon will present a new version of this piece on the April 15th HNMF concert.

Concert #3: Shifting Relationships – Program Announced

Christie Finn and Jeffrey Gavett of Ekmeles from the 2011 Avant Music Festival Photo: Tear-n Tan for Avant Media

The third concert of the Hartford New Music Festival presents works by local, regional and international composers, all written within the last five years. This final installation of the HNMF presents a varied cross-section of some of the most exciting voices in the current new music scene.

This program takes place on Friday April 15 at 7:30pm at The Studio at Billing’s Forge, 563 Broad St, Hartford, CT 06106. Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 at the door.

Program:

Hints and Hauntings for double bass and electronics (2011) by Kirsten Volness

Ryan Ford, double bass

Go Down! You Blood Red Roses for percussion and electronics (2010) by Jacob Richman

Bill Solomon, percussion

Ἁμαδρυάδες (hamadryads) for five voices and glass harmonica (2010) by Martin Iddon

ekmeles: Christie Finn, soprano, Megan Schubert, soprano, Jeffrey Gavett, baritone, Michael Weyandt, baritone, Steven Hrycelak, bass

Metal for saxophone, trombone, viola and cello (2006) by David Macbride

ensemble 016: Sheri Brown, saxophone, Jordan Jacobson, trombone, Laura Krentzman, viola, Han-Wei Lu, cello

Corps Sonore for percussion and electronics (2011) by Christian Gentry

Bill Solomon, percussion

Premiere Performance

Akiko Hatakeyama and Aleksandra Miglowiec, flutes

Grab It! X12 for saxophone orchestra with soundtrack & videos (2007) by Jacob Ter Veldhuis

A couple reviews of Resonant Bodies, 2/18/11

Levy Lorenzo’s Improvisation for Teacups and Light

Here’s a preview of one of the works that will be heard on the March 18 concert. Composer and performer Levy Lorenzo says the following about his work:

As a musician and engineer, I seek to use technology to build true musical instruments that will allow new forms of human musical expression in live performance.

This piece is solo improvisation with an instrument that I built which uses 2 Teacups, Light and Electronics. The Left Teacup controls volume and envelope, the Right Teacup controls pitch, and the orientation of the Teacup Platform with respect to the front facing light controls rhythm. Data is produced by light sensors located under the upside-down Teacups, as well at the sides of the Teacup Platform. This data then passes through a hardware interface (MakeController) to software (MAX/MSP) where the audio parameters are digitally manipulated.

I have extensively practiced this instrument and performed improvisations in both solo and chamber concert settings. As one of many experiments to come in the philosophical and technical research of new musical instrument design, it has been successful in that I feel a strong connection between the teacup technique and sounds that I want to create.

March 18 Concert Announced

Program 2 – From Light into Darkness

photo: Michael Shane

The second concert of the Hartford New Music Festival includes works concerned with light and darkness, as well as the exploration of sound through electronics and extended instrumental and vocal techniques.

This program takes place on March 18 at 7:30pm at The Studio@Billing’s Forge, 563 Broad St, Hartford, CT 06106. Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 at the door:

PROGRAM —

Paramecium III (2010) for solo tuba and electronics by Benjamin J. Mansavage Klein

performed by composer

torsion (2003/5) for solo bassoon and tape by Olga Neuwirth

Jon Stehney, bassoon

59 ½” for a string player (1953) by John Cage

Robert Black, double bass

Paint It Black (1988) for solo double bass by Michael Gordon

Robert Black, double bass

Improvisation for Teacups and Light (2009) for solo live electronics by Levy Lorenzo

performed by the composer

Where/When (2010) for FM Koala and bassoon by Levy Lorenzo and Jon Stehney

performed by composers

For Andie Springer Showing the Form of a Melody, “Standing in the Shadows” by Robert Ashley (2010) for violin and guitar by Robert Ashley

Andie Springer, violin and James Moore, guitar

Scenes from Nek Chand (2001/2) for just intonation national steel string guitar by Lou Harrison

James Moore, guitar

Jabberwocky (1990) for voice and percussion by Susan Botti, poem by Lewis Carroll

Lauretta Pope, vocal/actor and Bill Solomon, percussion

Read the rest of this entry »

February 18 Program Announced

Program 1 – Resonant Bodies

"Waver" by Carl Testa and Rachel Bernsen / photo: Taylor Ho Bynum

unruhe for six eBowed electric guitars by Adrian Knight

Restless Guitar Sextet: Scott Comanzo, Adrian Knight, Matt Sargent, Jesse Stanford, Thomas Schuttenhelm and Joel Weik

crossing/rising for cello, percussion, oboe and saxophone by Matt Sargent

HSA Ensemble: Sheri Brown, saxophone, Charles Huang, oboe, Katie Kennedy, cello, Bill Solomon, percussion

waver for dancer, electronics and lights by Carl Testa and Rachel Bernsen

Les guetters des sons for three percussionists by Georges Aperghis

Ludovico Ensemble: Jeffrey Means, Bill Solomon, Nick Tolle, percussion

Arpeggios for