Composer Pauline Oliveros’ trainings in Deep Listening are conducted in immersive retreat settings each summer and the locations are usually pretty spectacular, if remote. Participants bond over meals and recreation and begin morning and afternoon sessions in meditation.  In addition to Oliveros’ informal instruction, the new age-y atmosphere includes discussion and sharing, an introduction to Tai Chi, and sometimes personal and group healings through sound.  Though the work is not strictly for composers, everyone is encouraged to come up with a new composition to be performed toward...

A FULL EVENING OF ORCHESTRAL MUSIC BY HENRY COWELL When’s the last time that’s happened anywhere? Leave it to Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra to make it happen. 8 p.m. Friday January 29, Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center (pre-concert talk at 6:45 p.m.) The program: Hymn and Fuguing Tune No. 3 (1944) Atlantis (1931) ( NY Premiere ) Variations for Orchestra (1959) Symphony No. 2, “Anthropos” (1941) Concerto for Harmonica and Orchestra (1962) Symphony No. 11 (1953) Seven Rituals of Music (NYC Premiere ) Featuring soprano Heather Buck, mezzo-soprano Elise Quagliata,...

Stephen Sondheim musicals keep getting revived, often in chamber versions, and at 79, he’s still writing songs as well as a two-volume treatise on theater and lyrics. “Sondheim Makes His Entrance Again, Intimately” by Patrick Healy (New York Times, January 3, 2010) share: Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Buzz it up Tip on Hyves Share via MySpace Share on Orkut share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tumblr it Tweet about it Tell a friend

An event on January 23 at Roulette in New York will mark the release of “Sounding Out,” a new DVD of works by six lesbian composers. Produced by Everglade Records, the collection features music by Madelyn Byrne, Renee T. Coulombe, Linda Dusman, Mara Helmuth, Kristin Norderval and Anna Rubin. “It is now ‘okay’ to come out as gay or lesbian,” writes Coulombe, in a statement about how the project was conceived. “But what about bisexuals, intersexed or transgendered folks, queers or members of the BDSM community?  (This) is a moment to assess what coming out means almost 40...

Sharon Isbin performed solo and with Joshua Bell in an Evening of Classical Music at the White House on November 4. Here’s a shot of the First Listeners taking it in, followed by two beautiful clips, compliments of the White House. In the first, Sharon performs Albeniz’s Asturias and Mangoré’s Waltz Op. 8, No. 4, then it’s a duet of Paganini’s Cantabile. share: Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Buzz it up Tip on Hyves Share via MySpace Share on Orkut share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tumblr it Tweet about it Tell a friend

The 2009 OUT Music Awards (the first since 2006) were announced at a ceremony in New York on Tuesday, December 8: OUTSTANDING ROCK SONG: Stewed Tomatoes “Leather Daddy” OUTSTANDING POP SONG: Athena Reich “Love is Love” OUTSTANDING HIP HOP/RAP SONG: Jasper James “ROCKET” OUTSTANDING R & B/SOUL SONG: Nhojj “Love” OUTSTANDING ELECTRO/DANCE SONG: Brian Kent “Breathe Life” OUTSTANDING FOLK/COUNTRY SONG: Blair Hansen & Vicci Martinez “Break Away” OUTSTANDING JAZZ SONG: Avi Wisnia “No Scrubs” OUTSTANDING INSTRUMENTAL/SOUNDTRACK...

With five entries in each of more than 100 categories, the nominations for the 52nd annual Grammy Awards (announced on December 2) surely include plenty of gays and lesbians. But scanning the classical nominations, we’ve got: Conductor Marin Alsop‘s recording of Bernstein’s Mass nominated for Best Classical Album Guitarist Sharon Isbin‘s “Journey to the New World” nominated for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without Orchestra) Jennifer Higdon‘s Percussion Concerto (conducted by Alsop) nominated for Best Classical Contemporary Composition Vocalist...

Conrad Cummings’s fourth opera is “The Golden Gate” based on the best selling “novel in verse” by his old friend Vikram Seth.  The action takes place in the early ’80s in San Francisco, which is where the composer and novelist first became acquainted.  Set in two acts with a libretto by the composer, the opera has been in the works since 2006 and, as Conrad discusses on his web site, it’s undergone extensive renovations over the past six months. “(It) reminds me acutely of the romantic adventures of my younger life,” says Conrad. “Boys with...

Does anybody remember Day Without Art? December 1st is still World AIDS Day but in the arts today AIDS ain’t hot any more. That’s both good and bad, I suppose.  Our artists aren’t dropping like flies, as they did in the late 80s and early 90s. But HIV still takes a heavy toil on gay men, just more subtly and more slowly. (For evidence, see “Another Kind of AIDS Crisis” from the November 9, 2009 edition of New York Magazine.) Back in the day, the worlds of dance and visual art appeared to suffer the most AIDS deaths. Music’s involvement seemed to be more about fundraising through concerts...

Why wait for the next opera performance to see some hunky male singers. Visit http://barihunks.blogspot.com/ share: Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Buzz it up Tip on Hyves Share via MySpace Share on Orkut share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tumblr it Tweet about it Tell a friend