Department of Music Blog

Pittsburgh jazz legend (and music department guitar instructor) Joe Negri will perform with trumpeter Sean Jones in a program titled “Generations: a Jazz Discovery” tonight, downtown, at the Cabaret Theater. You can hear Joe and Sean play at 7:30 or 9:30.

Congratulations to Bell Yung, who has been invited, and agreed, to serve on the Board of Advisors for the Institute of Chinese Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and attended a meeting at the Institute September 2-5, 2009.

Dr. Joseph Lam, Chair of the Department of Musicology at the University of Michigan will discuss “Kunqu, the Classical Opera of Globalized China” as part of the Department of Music’s Lecture Series. The lecture takes place on Friday, September 18, at 4 p.m. in Room 132 Music Building and is free to the public. You can find more about Kunqu and Lam’s talk here.

Update: Heading over to the WPU soon. Hope to see many of you there and please grab a copy of our beautiful new brochure!

Our wonderful friends from PITT ARTS will host their annual Arts Fair at the

William Pitt Union Ballroom
Thursday, September 17, 11 AM – 1:30 PM
Enjoy Free Lunch and Win Prizes!
Learn about Pittsburgh’s exciting arts scene!

HEAR about Pittsburgh’s cutting edge music, theater, dance, museums, poetry and gallery and more. LEARN about special ticket discounts and student-only programs, including receptions and behind the scene tours. WIN free tickets and other awesome prizes. PICK UP tons of information about Pittsburgh’s exciting arts and cultural community. MEET people from 30+ arts and cultural organizations. ENJOY live music.

No Need to Sign up - Just bring a friend and see you there!

The Pittsburgh Opera’s production of Eugene Onegin runs September 26 through October 4, and what better way to prepare for the event than a talk on the opera by Pitt’s very own Russian music scholar? Assistant professor of musicology Anna Nisnevich will discuss “Listening to Tchaikovsky’s ‘Eugene Onegin’” at the Center for Russian and East European Studies on Thursday, September 10. The talk takes place from 12-1:30 p.m. in Posvar Hall 4130 and is free to the public. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to hear Dr. Nisnevich’s insights on Tchaikovsky’s operatic masterpiece (and don’t forget that the October 2 performance of Eugene Onegin is Pitt Night at the Opera).

(Correction: Mathew Rosenblum’s The Big Rip was premiered in Hameln and will be performed again in Leipzig on October 25.)

Mathew Rosenblum’s new work, The Big Rip (A Science Fiction Cantata), will be premiered by the Calmus Vocal Ensemble of Leipzig and the Rascher Saxophone Quartet on September 10 at The Niedersächsische Musiktage (Lower Saxony Music Festival) in Hameln Germany. The piece will also be performed at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig on October 25 as part of the Calmus Ensembles’ 10th Anniversary concert. The Calmus Ensemble is the recent recipient of the 2009 ECHO KLASSIK Award, the German Grammy.

According to Rosenblum,

“The Big Rip uses the basic theme of “Night,” the theme of the 2009 Niedersächsische Musiktage, as its core idea. Instead of night as we experience it at the end of each day, I decided to use the concept of “Dark Energy,” the theory of the expansion of the universe that will ultimately rip our galaxy completely apart, the “ultimate night,” as the metaphorical starting point. Texts are excerpted from Paul Celan’s poem “Engführung,” a science book called The Runaway Universe by Don Goldsmith, a science fiction short story entitled “Last Contact” by Stephen Baxter, Isaiah chapter 51 verse 6, and an internet chat room conversation about the 2009 global economic situation.”

Mathew Rosenblum and the Rascher Saxophone Quartet have enjoyed a fruitful artistic collaboration going back to the Rascher’s 2000 commission of Möbius Loop for saxophone quartet and orchestra. The Rascher later commissioned Rosenblum to create a quartet-only version of Möbius Loop which they have performed frequently since, and which will receive another hearing in Pittsburgh when the Mana Saxophone Quartet performs it October as part of Music on the Edge.

The Pitt Men’s Glee Club will perform the National Anthem at PNC Park on Thursday, August 27th when the Pirates take on the Phillies. Game time is 7:05 p.m. Come out and support the Glee Club and the Buccos (who, despite their sorry position in the standings, are playing some decent ball of late).

 
Photo by Terry Gilliam. In the foreground, graduate student Ben Pachter. In the background, gamelan co-director Indra Ridwan.

Pitt’s Gamelan Ensemble, directed by Professor Andrew Weintraub, took part in the Columbus Asian Festival this past spring. The festival included a wide arrary of musical performances, martial arts, and traditional arts and crafts. You can read more about the festival and see additional photos at Your News Columbus.com.

In case you missed it, The Pitt News ran an extensive feature on recent Department of Music graduate Sachem Orenda.

“Sachem Orenda Clark, who prefers to be called simply Sachem Orenda, majored in music and philosophy at Pitt before graduating this past spring. While at the University, he earned a reputation among some students and professors for writing music with thoughtful lyrics. In his last year at Pitt, he started the Pittsburgh Electronic Musicians student organization to bring together electronic composers and disc jockeys and break down stereotypes about electronic music.”

You can read the complete article here. Congratulations to Sachem for his continued success.

(posted by graduate composer Jonghee Kang)

One of the great things about participating in a music festival is that one directly experiences what is currently out there within the theme of the festival. That is why I always look for the opportunities to go, and this summer, I was lucky enough to go to the Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium(OBFCS) held in Eugene, Oregon from June 30 to July 9.

Frankly, I had no idea what I would experience at the Symposium until I went to the registration in the morning of the first day. All the details and schedule of the Symposium were kept underground until the very first meeting. Maybe that was why I was more than stunned upon looking at the long line of people at the registration. Before going to Oregon, I imagined what it would be like there - Maybe be 10 to 20 composers (I received some group emails from the Symposium, and assumed the numbers based on them)? Or less than 10? Crazy discussions about modern music all day long (Would I be still alive then)? Concerts every night (because it is part of a “festival”)?

…And here is a brief description of what happened during the 10 days: About 80 composers from undergrads to college professors participated. 4 full days of reading sessions followed by series of new music concerts. 3 days of gamelan workshops for a concert performance. Improvisation concerts around midnight. Beer and talk every night.

Yes, it was intense, both physically and spiritually. But that’s somewhat expected when going to a summer camp/school/festival, and I am always excited by this sort of musically stimulating package. (Well… I guess it was up to me whether I would be sitting in all the reading sessions and concerts or having my own time in my dorm room…)

Anyhow, I’m going to present my 10 day jouney to the OBFCS09 by posting pictures (a lot of them) and adding comments to them.

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