The concert hall in the woods just outside Woodstock is fondly known as The Maverick. But its summer presentations are often rather traditional servings of chamber music and solo recitals. This Saturday night, pianist Pedja Muzijevic will present a program wildly varied enough to be described as mavericky. Along with Schumann’s “Carnaval” and some little sonatas by Scarlatti, there will be transcriptions of Wager and...

He’s the principal cellist in the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, but Jeffrey Krieger is widely known in new music circles as an electric cellist. For some 20 years now he’s played the electrified instrument and collaborated extensively with a wide range of composers in the creation of multimedia performance works involving computer and videos. A 1993 fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts made possible extensive...

As a trombonist and composer Monique Buzzarté has performed in traditional orchestras and chamber music settings and collaborated in the most advanced realms of new compositional and experimental techniques.  Based in New York, she was dubbed a “Soloist Champion” by Meet the Composer in 2008 for her long advocacy of contemporary works.  Since 1983, her project New Music from Women: Trombone has commissioned...

Talk about bringing music to the people! Composer/performer Byron Au Yong is putting opera in bottles (no deposit required). At least that’s the impression given by the subtitle to a 2008 piece. But the work’s name – “Kidnapping Water: Bottle Operas” – is actually deceptive. Rather than mass-produced take-home music, the piece is more about making audiences go the distance. Like a musical Christo and Jeanne-Claude,...

ALBANY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Troy Savings Bank Music Hall March 26, 2010 Music director David Alan Miller and the Albany Symphony Orchestra have made a virtue out of performing lots of new little works by emerging composers. Eager for the opportunity, the youngsters gladly take the modest commissions and write under tight deadlines. The results are usually diverting and forgettable. A substantial new three-year grant from the...

“A guerrilla is someone who is sacrificing his life… Without blood there is no cause… I use (the term) Gay Guerrilla in the hopes that I might be one if called upon.” – Julius Eastman After Julius Eastman’s never-fully explained death in 1990, his legacy was thought to be lost.   Four years ago he was rescued from obscurity by the release “Unjust Malaise” (New World Records)....

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with music director David Robertson will premiere Meredith Monk’s newest orchestral work in a one-night-only performance on Saturday, March 13. Along with the as-yet-untitled piece, the program will feature Monk’s 3-minute hit “Panda Chant” (1984) and another work for orchestra and chorus, “Night” (1996/2005).  Monk and members of her vocal ensemble...

Pauline Oliveros has won the William Schuman Award from Columbia University. She’s the first woman composer to be so honored since the award was established in 1981.  The most recent winner was John Zorn in 2006. The prize “honors the lifetime achievement and lasting significance of a contemporary American composer” and comes with a $50,000 purse. A celebratory concert and tribute will be given in Miller Theater on...

Twelve Songs by Charles Ives Theo Bleckmann and Kneebody Theo Bleckmann could sing me to sleep anytime he likes, even if he doesn’t want to snuggle.  The German-born, New York-based singer and composer has got a warm and engaging voice and oodles of good taste and insight.  He’s given an imaginative yet intimate treatment to songs of Charles Ives in a new disc with the experimental quintet Kneebody. The CD on Winter...

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...