Olivia DrakeAnthony Braxton, professor of music, was featured in a Jan. 27 edition of The Globe and Mail. In an article titled "8 hours + 60 musicians = 1 sonic genome," Braxton explains how his 8-hour concert, Sonic Genome Project, held in Vancouver on Feb. 1, involved "synchronous starting points, target area space points, target strategic points. ... geometric trajectories from the music system, all the way to implanted and target-space objectives." For the Genome, Braxton employed 47 "resident players" from the Vancouver area, a mixture of creative music veterans and high-school students. These players joined Braxton and 12 of his…
Matthew Sellier ’11 was featured a Hartford Courant article titled "Pulling All the Stops to Help Homeless." On Jan. 29 Sellier performed an organ recital at Middletown's South Church to raise resources for and awareness of homelessness in the area. Sellier performed a composition by Neely Bruce, professor of music. The piece is based on the spiritual "Heaven Bell A-Ring." Performing a work by a composer present in the audience, Sellier says in the article, is "nerve-wracking" but also has its advantages in that he doesn't have to guess about a composer's intent. "I can ask Neely what he wants,"…
B. "Balu" Balasubrahmaniyan, adjunct instructor of music, spoke on Carnatic music during a lecture demonstration Dec. 23 at the Madras Music Academy in Chennai, India. Balasubramanian discussed the musical piece, Gopalakrishna Bharati's Nandanar Charithiram - its tunes, story and the compositions. It was first published in 1861 by a French collector. In 1932, M.S. Ramaswamy brought it out with tunes. There are a number of notations found for the songs. A.M. Chinnasamy Mudaliar published it with notations for 42 songs. Of them, 17 are original. Balasubramanian was featured in the Jan. 8 edition of The Hindu in an article titled "On the…
Wesleyan's non-commercial college and community radio station, 88.1FM WESU, calls on listeners to give the gift of WESU this holiday season during The Fifth Annual WESU Holiday Pledge Drive. The goal for this year’s drive is to raise $25,000 in listener support to sustain operating expenses throughout the coming year. As Wesleyan struggles to close a budget gap this fiscal year, WESU faces more pressure than ever to become a self- sustaining community service. To date, the station has raised $13,000. “To be able to keep pace with the revenue we in raised past years pledge drives in this tough…
Q: Alec, when were you hired as Wesleyan's music librarian? A: I came in the summer of 1998 to interview for the position, and started work that Fall semester. Q: Do most universities have a music librarian? Like other librarians, are you involved in cataloging, organizing, acquisitions and assisting patrons? A: Large universities with separate schools of music often have a branch music library with one or more librarians staffing it. Institutions of Wesleyan’s size vary somewhat, usually according to the relative importance of the music department within the school. In our case, with graduate programs in composition and ethnomusicology,…
Ronald Ebrecht, university organist, created a festival featuring modern works for organ and percussion. He was joined by Wesleyan organ students and faculty in four concerts, "Hearts Pounding and Skins Taut" Oct. 25 to 31. He then performed his solo and ensemble pieces during a third concert trip to Minsk, Belarus. A guest of the Belarus National Philharmonic Society and the Belarusian State Academy of Music, Ebrecht gave a lecture/demonstation of modern composition at the conservatory Nov. 4. In concert on Nov. 5 at Philharmonic Hall, he performed as soloist in the Poulenc Concerto in addition to the modern works, including…
Cem Duruöz, guitar private lessons teacher, will present the music of his native country, Turkey, in a CD release event at 5 p.m. Nov. 15. at the Milford Center for the Arts, 40 Railroad Avenue South in Milford, Conn. The CD is titled "Treasures of Anatolia: Guitar Music from Turkey" and is released from Tutti Music. The program includes a guitar recital with Turkish Music, discussion of the origins and styles of Turkish Music, selections from the CD with historical and stylistic information about the pieces, a short Turkish Folk Dance class and a reception and refreshments. Tickets are $20 by…
Angel Gil-Ordóñez, director of private lessons, chamber music and ensembles, adjunct professor of music and Wesleyan Orchestra and Wesleyan Concert Choir music director, is mentioned in the October 2009 issue of Gramophone, the world's leading classical music magazine. Gil-Ordóñez directed the Washington D.C.-based Post-Classical Ensemble, which performed a newly-recorded soundtrack to Aaron Copland's 1939 documentary film, The City. The article says, "In what can only be called a spectacular improvement from the original monaural recording (which is included on the DVD as an extra), the newly performed score showcases every aspect of Copland's Americana style, from majestic splendor accompanying wide-angle…
Corrina KerrNeely Bruce, professor of music, directed The Mitchell College Singers & Friends Oct. 20 in New London, Conn. The Mitchell College Singers performed The Bill of Rights: Ten Amendments in Eight Motets, one of the more notable musical works created within Connecticut in the past decade. This unique program was presented in New London's historic Pequot Chapel. Prior to the concert, Bruce spoke on "Why I Set the Bill of Rights to Music," and led a recitation of the Preamble to the Bill of Rights. This was the fourth complete performance of The Bill of Rights. The song's premiere was…
David LowSteve Lehman ’00 is an alto and soprano jazz saxophonist who continues to receive praise from jazz critics across the country for performing music on the cutting edge. He is one of several graduates who studied jazz at Wesleyan and have gone on to notable music careers. Lehman is currently a doctoral candidate in music composition at Columbia University. Travail, Transformation & Flow (Pi Recordings), his latest CD with his octet, was recently reviewed on NPR’s Fresh Air. NPR describes Lehman as “an explorer in the esoteric compositional realm labeled ‘spectral harmony,’ and perhaps his most ambitious innovation is that…