Category Archives: MACCM

BGSU Choral Program announces collaboration with Santa Barbara Music Publishing Company

MACCM

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“Bowling Green State University College of Music has found a new way to leave its mark on the world of choral music,” writes the Sentinel Tribune.

“Mark Munson, the director of choral studies, hit upon the idea to create a Bowling Green State University Series with Santa Barbara Music Publishing. Munson called the company “the cutting edge publisher for choral music.”

The series would include pieces  composed for BGSU vocal ensembles.”

The first piece in the collaboration with the publishing company is a composition by American composer Libby Larsen. As the 2012 McMaster Professor in Vocal and Choral Studies, Larsen  worked closely with the choral program at the College of Musical Arts during  her residency.

“Look! Be: leap;” was commissioned to commemorate the centennial of the University Women’s Chorus and will be premiered at the 2014 New Music Festival on Thursday, October 16  in Kobacker Hall.

To read the full article click here.

For more information on the upcoming premiere of Libby Larsen’s “Look! Be: leap;” visit the New Music Festival page for a full event listing.

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

‘New Music from Bowling Green’ ready for international spotlight

composition, events, faculty news, MACCM, student news

By Rachel Gast 

After what host Brad Cresswell described as “a long, harrowing process,” the “New Music from Bowling Green” radio show was ready to launch BGSU musicians into the international spotlight on Oct. 6.

Putting together the show is an “organic process” but is also “a lot of work, time and investment-which is why not a lot of people do it,” Cresswell explained. “The fact that we’ve been able to band together and make it happen is something spectacular.

“Bowling Green State University is the only university I know capable to do a radio show at this level.”

He and Dr. Jeffrey Showell, dean of the BGSU College of Musical Arts, agree the stress is worth it. “It’s a thrill to know that the two years of work we’ve put into this series will be heard and appreciated by listeners all over,” Showell said.

Cresswell and Showell met in September 2011, both interested in bringing living classical composers to the radio.

Cresswell remembers Showell “wanted to raise the profile of the University using media and new media, and also taking people on the road. . . . So it struck me-why couldn’t we do a radio show with Bowling Green?”

The College of Musical Arts has the talent and capability to star in the nationally syndicated 13-episode radio series, he reasoned. The New Music Festival and MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music, which will provide most of the show’s music, each have 30-year histories behind them.

Cresswell lauded BGSU’s ability to consistently attract international attention and is eagerly awaiting more international stations to pick up “New Music from Bowling Green.”

“Our first international market is Dubai, and we hope to move into other English-speaking foreign countries in 2014,” he said.

Listeners from Atlanta to St. Louis will hear music produced by current BGSU students, professors and alumni.


Jennifer Higdon

“It’s about a 50-50 split between the recordings of the Bowling Green Philharmonia and Wind Symphony and the archives of the New Music Festival,” said Cresswell. Three episodes contain the music of Jennifer Higdon, one of BGSU’s most successful alumni.

Higdon has won a Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Awards, given a convocation address for the BGSU College of Musical Arts and been honored as one of the most successful BGSU alumni during the University’s 100th anniversary celebrations.

Coming back to BGSU gives Higdon a chance to eat some Myles pizza and hear the “really interesting stuff” coming out of the college, the composer said.

“What BGSU has that most schools don’t is the New Music Festival,” she noted. “You get to hear a good selection of what’s going on around the world.”

All the pieces featured in her three-episode series “have some sort of connection, even if it was remote, to Bowling Green.”

Listeners will hear Higdon’s love of melody in her compositions along with the “two primary hallmarks of my music: rhythm and a clear pulse.”

“Everyone tells me my music sounds very American-I’m not sure what that means, though. I know I would be in trouble having lived in America all my life and I sounded Russian or French,” she joked.

Higdon, Cresswell and the College of Musical Arts faculty are excited to hear the program air.

“We are the direct conduit between the composers and listeners,” Cresswell explained. “Radio engages your ears, and there’s where all this music lives, in the ears of the listener.

“We’re doing something different and worthwhile. That’s really where the value of presenting new music comes in. … You’re taking the genre into the 21st century and beyond.”

Listen to “New Music from Bowling Green” every Sunday at 1 p.m. on WGTE 91.3 FM.

Groundbreaking artists highlight BGSU New Music Festival

composition, events, MACCM

BOWLING GREEN, O.—The 34th annual New Music Festival at Bowling Green State University Oct. 16-19 will showcase nearly 30 guest composers and performers. The four-day international festival includes concerts, lectures and an art exhibition. This year’s featured guests include award-winning composer George Lewis, Ensemble Dal Niente and audio artist and performer Pamela Z.

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

Highlights of this year’s festival include an exhibition of installation works by Lewis, Pamela Z and Terry Adkins at the Fine Arts Center Galleries, world premiere performances of works by Lewis, Mikel Kuehn, Mathew Fuerst, Marcos Balter and Braxton Blake, and several performances by Ensemble Dal Niente, an acclaimed new music ensemble with strong ties to the BGSU College of Musical Arts.

Founded in 1980, the New Music Festival has hosted such notable composers as John Adams, Milton Babbitt, John Cage, Chen Yi, John Corigliano, Philip Glass, Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley, Bright Sheng, Steven Stucky, Joan Tower, and more than 400 other guest composers and musicians.

Most festival 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, call 419-372-8171 or visit the Arts Box Office, located in the Wolfe Center for the Arts, from noon-5 p.m. Monday-Friday. 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.

The festival schedule is subject to change.

BGSU, WGTE Public Media, WFMT Radio launch ‘new music’ radio series

composition, events, faculty news, MACCM, student news

 BOWLING GREEN, O.—The College of Musical Arts at Bowling Green State University, a leading institution in the study and promotion of contemporary music and technology, has announced its collaboration with WGTE Public Media and the WFMT Radio Network on a new, nationally syndicated radio series dedicated to contemporary music.

“New Music from Bowling Green” is a 13-part series of hourlong episodes drawing on live concert recordings from the BGSU New Music Festival and Music at the Forefront series, as well as commercial recordings from the Bowling Green Philharmonia and the BGSU Wind Symphony. It is the only nationally syndicated radio program in and from a university setting, and will be internationally syndicated next year.

Hosted by award-winning producer and WGTE radio personality Brad Cresswell, the series originates from the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music, part of the BGSU College of Musical Arts, in northwest Ohio. Designed with the mainstream classical music listener in mind, the program features audience-friendly modern works that are introduced by their composers and the musicians who bring those works to life.

The list of composers featured on “New Music from Bowling Green” includes notable artists such as Samuel Adler, Caleb Burhans, Michael Daugherty, David Lang, Kevin Puts, Shulamit Ran, Steven Stucky, and Christopher Theofanidis. The show also features Jennifer Higdon, winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music and BGSU alumna, who is one of the world’s most-performed living composers. Other highlights of the series include a program of award-winning works by student composers and a concert by the BGSU New Music Ensemble recorded live at New York City’s celebrated new-music cabaret Le Poisson Rouge.

“I’m honored to be a part of this radio program, not only because of my connection to BGSU, but because of the fantastic variety and quality of music offered,” Higdon said. “My hope is that the program will introduce listeners across the country to these vitally important works of living composers, which represent the future of our classical music industry.”

For more than 40 years, the College of Musical Arts at BGSU has been at the edge of contemporary music as an active and prolific contributor to the national and international new music scene. Its large and well-known composition faculty developed the nearly unique degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in Contemporary Music, whose graduates have gone on to thriving careers in composition, conducting, and performance.

“The College of Musical Arts at BGSU of course knows that contemporary compositions are the future of classical music, and the radio series will go far in introducing them to listeners, both sophisticated and new, in a way that makes them both accessible and enjoyable,” said Dr. Jeffrey Showell, dean of the college.

Interest has been strong, with markets including Atlanta, Omaha and St. Louis carrying the series. Additionally, beginning in January 2014, the program will be marketed overseas to English-speaking countries, including Australia, England, Ireland and New Zealand.

“New Music from Bowling Green” will air locally on WGTE 91.3 FM, Sundays at 1 p.m., beginning Oct. 6. Listeners may contact their local NPR station to request the show. For more information, and to listen to a preview of the show, visit BGSU.edu/NewMusic

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About the WFMT Radio Network

The WFMT Radio Network is a premier creator of radio programs that are syndicated to hundreds ofradio stations throughout the United States and internationally, with a focus on classical music, jazz, folk, science and world culture. It is the home of prestigious classical concert series such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic; the renowned daily music appreciation series “Exploring Music with Bill McGlaughlin”; a national opera series; “Jazz from Lincoln Center”; Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; “The Midnight Special”(folk music with a sense of humor); hourly modular classical and jazz series (Beethoven Satellite Network and Jazz Satellite Network), and dozens of other programs that range from ongoing weekly series to one-time radio specials. The WFMT Radio Network continually travels the world to develop new programming, having produced series from places such as Austria, South Africa, Scotland, Israel and many other locations.

About WGTE Public Media (The Public Broadcasting Foundation of Northwest Ohio)

Founded as an educational institute in 1952, WGTE is a nonprofit organization and a center of learning and education for northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan. From its entertaining, informative and educational programs that air on WGTE TV, FM 91, and www.Knowledgestream.org to its professional development opportunities for K-12 teachers and preschool day care providers, WGTE is committed to making its listening area a better place to live.