During Marcos Balter's year as Visiting Assistant Professor of Composition and Theory he has seen over twenty performances of his works, including three world premieres and some glowing reviews.
Raw Item, for oboe and small ensemble, received performances by the Manhattan Sinfonietta at the Merkin Concert Hall in New York and at the Fromm Concert Series at Harvard. Matthew Guerrieri of The Boston Globe noted that “…Raw Item had both intricate clarity and a convincing trajectory”. Matthias Röder of Zeitschichten Magazine described Raw Item as "the most exciting and refreshing piece on the program" and described Balter's music as "agile, flexible, delicate, and fragile."
During a concert this March at New York's Le Poisson Rouge, which NY Times critic Steve Smith described as being for "that Prokofiev-loving, beer-swilling crowd" Smith noted that "…a sizable, chatty audience fell silent as Samuel Z. Solomon, an adroit percussionist, played Marcos Balter’s frenetic Descarga and Michael Early’s evocative raingutter.”
Violist Nadia Sirota performed Ut for solo viola and Live Water for viola and electronics for the MATA Festival at the Issue Room in New York City. Live Water was also performed at the at the Third Practice Festival (Richmond, VA) by violist Matt Albert.
Another of Balter's works enjoying multiple performances in recent months is delete/control/option for flute and cello. delete/control/option has been performed by the Brave New Works Ensemble in Ann Arbor, the Jackson Symphony Chamber Music Series, and by the CUBE Ensemble at the Gottlieb Concert Hall in Chicago.
Recent world premieres include New Cochlea-for guitar, double bass, and percussion performed by the Sissy-Eared Mollycoddles Ensemble at the Heaven Gallery in Chicago, (t)here for piano solo by Sarah Bob at the New Gallery Concert Series in Boston, and Torus for alto sax and piano by Eric and Gretchen Hewitt at the Boston Conservatory Faculty Recital Series.
You can find out about more about Marcos Balter and his music by visiting his Web site at www.marcosbalter.com.