Parker Quartet Presented by the Friends of Chamber Music Emma Willard School, Troy NY Saturday November 20, 2010 A world of style, color and sentiment came from the Parker Quartet during their Saturday concert presented by the Friends of Chamber Music at the Emma Willard School. That’s really not so unusual an occurrence.  It seems like dynamic fresh-faced quartets are a dime a dozen these days and the Parker, which easily...

Bernstein and Bach, Dvorak and Brian Wilbur Grundstrom. That’s the line-up for the Queer Urban Orchestra‘s program on Sunday afternoon (11/21) in Manhattan. Grundstrom, who lives in Washington DC, will conduct his nine-minute work “Jubilation! Dance for Orchestra.”   The piece debuted in 2006 with the George Washington University Orchestra conducted by Nancia D’Alimonte.  You can listen to...

“Gay culture feels more allegiance toward Lady Gaga than Lady Day. As someone who frequents gay bars with almost the same regularity as jazz clubs, I often sense a great divide between the two worlds… It would seem that there’d be more overlap between the jazz and gay communities in relationship to mainstream society. After all, both foster communities that cut many strata, including those dealing with race,...

Pianist MARC PELOQUIN starts a three-concert series titled “Keyed Up” on Saturday night at the Tenri Cultural Institute in Manhattan. Each program features him in collaboration with composer/performers and he kicks it off with his close buddy David Del Tredici. Marc has been playing DDT’s music for some years now and is preparing a three-CD set of the composer’s complete piano music for Naxos. Also...

Bernstein’s “A Quiet Place” New York City Opera October 30, 2010 “Bernstein’s Trouble in Houston” was how one headline put it after the 1983 premiere at the Houston Grand Opera of “A Quiet Place,” the dark, family drama that was conceived as a sequel to his effervescent 1952 one-act “Trouble in Tahiti.”  When George Steel announced a revival for his second season as general and artistic director of the...

In late June 2009, during the week of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, WNYC radio celebrated the legacy of gay and lesbian composers in classical and popular music with four evenings of programming.   The broadcasts were thoughtful and wide ranging: • Nico Muhly and host Nadi Sirota play and discuss music of John Corigliano, Benjamin Britten and Lou Harrison • Alex Ross (The New Yorker) and Ann Powers (Los...

Music and food have always gone together well, but seldom have they been presented as equals on a stage. Walking the Dog Theatre is serving up just such a combination with “Bon Appetit!” An original theatrical, musical and culinary tribute to Julia Child, the show is produced in association with Diamond Opera Theater. It plays at the Basilica Industria in Hudson for eight performances through Sept. 24. Every performance...

“When I hear what we call music, it seems to me that someone is talking… But when I hear traffic… I don’t have the feeling that anyone is talking. I have the feeling that sound is acting. And I love the activity of sound. What it does is it gets louder and quieter, and higher and lower, and longer and shorter. It does all those things and I’m completely satisfied.” share: Bookmark on Delicious...

Most music lovers are interested in composers’ notes, but Vivian Perlis is obsessed with their words.  Interviewing all manner of figures in American music over the past forty years, she’s been a leader in the once emerging, now established field of “oral history.” Perlis’ ten-year association with the late Aaron Copland resulted in their co-authoring his two-volume autobiography.  She’ll give a talk about the...

My friend Chester Biscardi says he wishes he had something gay to tell me about his recent trip to China in May. But two weeks of performances of your music on the other side of the planet is nothing to apologize for. He was featured composer at the Beijing Modern Music Festival and from the look of the photos, he was treated very well.  He kept a detailed journal of the experience and the folks at Sarah Lawrence College,...