Monthly Archives: October 2014

‘Frankenstein’ plus live music equals Halloween fun at BGSU

events, faculty news, keyboard, student news

BOWLING GREEN, O.—Audiences will have a chance to celebrate Halloween in a uniquely scary way this year and experience the film “Frankenstein” as never before.

The Festival Series event will feature a screening of the 1931 Boris Karloff film with a new musical score played live by BGSU music faculty members. It begins at 8 p.m. Oct. 31 in the Thomas B. and Kathleen M. Donnell Theatre at the Wolfe Center for the Arts.

Cashbox Classical Music Editor Rob Tomaro said of a previous performance, “The audience was riveted to their seats. The power of the live music with the classic film was hypnotic.”

Audience members are invited to dress up in costume. There will be a costume contest, with three winners selected before the concert and awarded prizes.

Conducted by Bruce Moss, director of BGSU band activities, the “Frankenstein” musical score was composed by Michael Shapiro, music director and conductor of the Chappaqua (New York) Orchestra.

“When the Film Society of Lincoln Center opened an adjunct theater in Westchester,” Shapiro recalled, “I spoke to executive director Steve Apkon about doing a joint project during their opening season with my orchestra and the theater. During our discussion I offered to write a film score for ‘Frankenstein’ that would be played simultaneously with the 1931 film by live musicians,” he said.

The original picture has spoken dialogue, qualifying it as a “talkie,” but no musical score, Shapiro explained. The technology did not exist in 1931 to have a separate music track on the film, he said, adding that the first through-composed film score was Max Steiner’s “King Kong” in 1933.

“Writing for a ‘talkie’ with a simultaneous live score is in many ways a new art form, so it’s tremendously adaptable and exciting to do,” Shapiro said.” He also noted that live orchestral performance with film attracts a new audience to experience this hybrid medium.

“I love writing music that has a dramatic impulse,” he said. “I thought of this Frankenstein score as almost a one-act opera … but instead of writing music to move singers across a stage, I thought of moving actors through their dramatic action, commenting on what is being portrayed emotionally by (director) James Whale in his masterpiece.”

“I try to write music in every form that gets under the listener’s skin,” Shapiro said.

There is no intermission for the performance. The audience is invited to a special after party at The Melt Shoppe in downtown Bowling Green.

Tickets are $12 for the public and $5 for BGSU students and can be purchased online at bgsu.edu/arts or by calling the Arts Box Office at 419-372-8171

David Saltzman to perform Concerto for Solo Tuba & Strings with Toledo Symphony

brass-percussion, faculty news

Untitled1David Saltzman will be performing the Plau Concerto for Tuba & Strings on October 17th and 18th at 8 PM in  the Toledo Museum of Art – Peristyle Theater.

Read the Toledo Blade article on the upcoming performance of this unique repertoire.

Student rush tickets are only $5 at the door with valid student I.D. More information can be found at ToledoSymphony.com

BGSU HOSTS 35TH ANNUAL NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL OCT. 15-18

composition, MACCM

BOWLING GREEN, O.—The 35th annual Bowling Green State University New Music Festival will showcase the work of more than 30 guest composers and performers Oct. 15-18. The four-day international festival includes concerts, lectures and an art exhibition. This year’s featured guests include award-winning composer Paul Dresher with his ensemble Double Duo and visual artist Nathalie Miebach.

Organized by BGSU’s MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music (MACCM), the College of Musical Arts and the Fine Arts Center Galleries, the festival supports the creation of new work and engages both the University and city communities in the process of music appreciation and awareness.

The festival gets underway at 6 p.m. Oct. 15 in the Willard Wankelman Gallery with an exhibition and performance of  “Sound/Sculpture,” works by Miebach and Harry Bertoia, with performances by the Gamelan Kusuma Sari and the Combustible Arts Ensemble. Artist talks begin at 6, performances at 7. The exhibition through Oct. 18.

Composer talks and performances begin the morning of Oct. 16, and culminate with a concert of orchestral and wind ensemble works by Dresher, BGSU’s Distinguished Artist Professor Marilyn Shrude, Paul Hong-Da Chin and Kevin Walczyk. The performance begins at 8 p.m. Oct. 18 in Kobacker Hall at the Moore Musical Arts Center. Tickets for the Saturday concert can be purchased at www.bgsu.edu/arts.

Dresher is an internationally active composer noted for his ability to integrate diverse musical influences into his own coherent and unique personal style. He pursues many forms of musical expression including experimental opera/music theater, chamber and orchestral composition, live instrumental electro-acoustic music, musical instrument invention, and scores for theater and dance. He has received commissions from such organizations as the Library of Congress, the Spoleto Festival USA, the Kronos Quartet, and Chamber Music America. He has performed or had his works performed throughout the world, and his music has been recorded on nine record labels.

Classically based and inventively performed, Double Duo combines traditional chamber instruments, performed by Bang on a Can All Stars founding member Lisa Moore on piano, and long-time collaborator Karen Bentley Pollick on violin, together with a pair of newly invented instruments: a Marimba Lumina played by percussionist Joel Davel and a Quadrachord, a 14-foot long, guitar-like stringed instrument invented by Dresher that is plucked, bowed, hammered and strummed. This contemporary music concert, performed on both “old” and new instruments, results in a wholly unique live performance experience that is both visual and aural.

Miebach is a Boston-based sculptor who translates weather data into woven sculpture and musical scores. She is the recipient of numerous awards and residencies, including a TED Global Fellowship. Her work has been shown in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Her sculptures have been reviewed by national and international publications, spanning fine arts, design, technology and science audiences, including Art In America, Art News, Sculpture, The New York Times, Form, Wired – UK and American Craft Magazine.

Founded in 1980, the New Music Festival has hosted such notable composers as John Adams, Milton Babbitt, John Cage, Chen Yi, John Corigliano and Joan Tower, and more than 400 other guest composers and musicians.

Except for the Oct. 18 concert, festival events are free, and all are open to the public. Online tickets will be available up to midnight the night before the concert. To purchase tickets in person or by phone, call 419-372-8171 or visit the Arts Box Office, located in the Wolfe Center for the Arts, Monday-Friday, noon-5 p.m. The College of Musical Arts Box Office will be open two hours prior to the performance.

For a complete schedule of events, visit www.bgsu.edu/newmusic or contact the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music at 419-372-2685.

COMPLETE FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

Wednesday, October 15
6 p.m., Willard Wankelman Gallery, School of Art
Exhibition and Performance:
“Sound/Sculpture:” works by Nathalie Miebach and Harry Bertoia, with performances by Gamelan Kusuma Sari and the Combustible Arts Ensemble. Artist talks begin at 6, performances at 7. Exhibition runs September 9 through October 18.

Thursday, October 16
1 p.m., Bryan Recital Hall
Composer Talk: Paul Dresher
3 p.m., Bryan Recital Hall
Concert: music by Lou Harrison, Elliott Schwartz, William Dougherty, Pablo Chin, Jenni Brandon and Steven Snowden
7:30 p.m., Kobacker Hall
Concert: works by Paul Dresher, Morgan Krauss, Reiko Fueting, Libby Larsen, Christopher Dietz and Tetsuya Yamamoto
9:30 p.m., Clazel Theatre, 129 N. Main St., Bowling Green
Concert: music by Paul Dresher, Robert Erickson, Amy Beth Kirsten, James Romig and Ian Dicke

Friday, October 17
10:30 a.m., Bryan Recital Hall
Concert: music by Paul Dresher, Ashley Fu-Tsun Wang, Christopher Chandler, Elainie Lillios and Mikel Kuehn
2:30 p.m., Bryan Recital Hall
Concert: works by Nathan J. Stumpff, Garth Knox, James Romig, Sebastian Currier and Gregory Mertl
4:30 p.m., Bryan Recital Hall
Talk: Jeffrey Nytch, “The Entrepreneurial Symphony”
8 p.m., Kobacker Hall
Concert: Paul Dresher Double Duo; works by Paul Dresher, John Cage and Martin Bresnick

Saturday, October 18
10:30 a.m., Conrad Choral Room, Wolfe Center
Young Composers’ Concert: Music by students from the Toledo School for the Arts and winners of the 2014 BGSU Young Composers Competition.
2:30 p.m., Bryan Recital Hall
Concert: music by HyeKyung Lee, Takuma Itoh, Matthew Harder, Christopher Biggs and Jeffrey Nytch
8 p.m., Kobacker Hall ($)
Concert: Orchestral and wind ensemble works by Marilyn Shrude, Paul Dresher, Hong-Da Chin and Kevin Walczyk

Locations:
The Moore Musical Arts Center houses Bryan Recital Hall and Kobacker Hall.

The Willard Wankleman Gallery is located in the School of Art building, south of the Wolfe Center and east of the Library.

The Conrad Choral Room is located in the Wolfe Center for the Arts.

The Clazel Theatre is located at 129 N. Main St. in downtown Bowling Green.

Admission:
Most events are free and open to the public.

Tickets for the final Saturday concert can be purchased at
www.bgsu.edu/arts.

Online tickets will be available up to midnight the night before the concert. To purchase tickets in person or by phone, please call 419-372-8171 or visit the Arts Box Office, located in the Wolfe Center for the Arts, Monday-Friday, noon-5 p.m. The College of Musical Arts Box Office will be open two hours prior to the performance.

The Festival schedule is subject to change.

Read the original story here