Composers and performers from Duquesne University’s Musicianship Department will present a free recital of original works on Wednesday, March 28 at 3PM in the PNC Recital Hall (music building). I’m very excited to belong to such a youthful, talented, innovative department– please come to hear the music of David Cutler, Joe Sheehan, Zvonimir Nagy, and myself.
Emily Pinkerton will be singing two of my Borges songs with Ben Binder on the piano.
My trip to Milwaukee was very rewarding, thanks to the talents of Kevin Stalheim and the musicians of Present Music. They performed “All Together Now,” along with two other pieces originally written for NOW Ensemble. Video, lighting, choreography, and all sorts of visual arts were incorporated into this cool event. I didn’t have much time to look around, but I enjoyed my brief stay in Wisconsin. Thanks to Tom Strini for this wonderful review, calling my music “glittering fun,”… “at once very sophisticated and instantly accessible.”
Sunday, March 25. 7PM. Bellefield Hall, Oakland (Pittsburgh). $15/$10
IonSound Project presents a concert of pop-infused chamber music, including the Pittsburgh premiere of Red Rocking Chair, which I co-composed with my wife, Emily Pinkerton. Emily will be playing banjo and singing with IonSound, and she will also perform her own arrangement of a tune with IonSound Project’s violinist, Laura Motchalov.
Listen to IonSound Project’s AWESOME performance of my piece, Compound Fracture. Eliseo Rael built a percussion instrument specifically for this piece.
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Present Music, Milwaukee’s new music ensemble, will provide the stage for 30 of the brightest, most inventive young composers, musicians, dancers, designers, videographers, and visual artists from Milwaukee and around the country. Turner Hall Ballroom will be transformed into a cutting-edge art gallery featuring conceptual garments and life-sized puppets by Shannon Lee Molter, fashion designs by Miranda Levy and visual art works by numerous artists including Susan Luther. Be the first to see world premieres by Amanda Schoofs of UWM and by Christal Wagner and Simon Eichinger of Danceworks.
Present Music will perform works by the hottest young composers including Sean Friar’s Little Green Pop, Paola Prestini’s Spell, Jacob Cooper’s Untitled, Patrick Burke’s All Together Now, Anna Clyne’s Rapture, and Missy Mazzoli’s Magic with Everyday Objects, “a very appealing bit of post-Radiohead post-Romanticism (complete with bursts of guitar fuzz and feedback), spiked judiciously with some seriously ballsy “wrong” notes. It was beautiful. I wish I’d written it.” -Darcy James Argue, composer
More info & tickets at their website:
Pianist Michael Mizrahi embarked on a commissioning project last year, resulting in an evening length concert of new music for the piano. Now he’s in the second phase of the project– a studio recording of the new works, to be released on New Amsterdam Records in the spring. I’m happy to say that I composed “Unravel” for Michael, which is only my second solo piano work in 10 years.
On Friday, Nov. 4, Emily Pinkerton and I will be giving a talk on our collaborative project, “Rounder Songs” for Emily + NOW Ensemble, at Duquesne University, Mary Pappert School of Music, at 12:00 at the Pappert Center (3rd floor of music building). This is part of the “Musicianship Speaks” series founded by my friend and colleague Jessica Wiskus, to give the musicianship faculty a forum to present their research and creative projects. This will be fun– there aren’t many works for vocalist, banjo, fiddle, flute, clarinet, electric guitar, piano, and upright bass. Please join us if you can. No charge. Reception to follow.
NOW Ensemble will perform “Awake” at the late-evening set at Colombia’s Miller Theatre (9pm-Midnight). Imani Winds & the Dither Quartet will also be performing!
Friday, May 6th 2011, 6:30pm
NOW Ensemble will celebrate the release of their sophomore album Awake along with the Chiara String Quartet (who is also celebrating the release of a new album) and Matmos. The program will feature compositions by Judd Greenstein, Patrick Burke, Mark Dancigers, and Sean Friar.
Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St. New York, NY
Read more and buy tickets here.
