Olivia DrakeYonatan Malin, assistant professor of music, is the author of the book Songs in Motion: Rhythm and Meter in the German Lied, published by Oxford University Press in May 2010. This book explores rhythm and meter in the 19th-century German Lied, including songs for voice and piano by Fanny Hensel née Mendelssohn, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Hugo Wolf. The Lied, as a genre, is characterized especially by the fusion of poetry and music. Poetic meter itself has expressive qualities, and rhythmic variations contribute further to the modes of signification. .
David PesciFlora was the first ballad opera performed in North America, and one of the most popular opera’s of its time – the mid-1700s. Opera fans have long been eager to hear and see it performed, but a full scale revival faced a bit of a problem: only 18 pages of the opera’s music has survived. Recreating this piece in the style and scope faithful the original production would be a daunting task, but one Neely Bruce, professor of music, professor of American Studies, was excited to undertake. The result of his work will be premiered at the 2010 Spoleto Festival,…
Adjunct professor of music Angel Gil-Ordóñez's Post-Classical Ensemble was mentioned in the April 20th edition of The New York Times for performing in Falla and Flamenco at the Brooklyn Academy of Music April 17. The orchestra, paired with a Spanish pianist, performed “a muted by graceful account,” of “Nights in the Gardens of Spain," a tour of Spanish music "that touches not only on the Gypsy influences that crystallized as flamenco but on Moorish influences as well," according to the article. After intermission, Gil-Ordóñez, who also is director of private lessons, chamber music and ensembles and music director of the Wesleyan Orchestra…
David LowThe sophomore effort Congratulations was released by electro-pop duo MGMT (a.k.a. Ben Goldwasser ’05 and Andrew VanWyngarden ’05) this month and covered by media across the United States and abroad. Goldwasser and VanWyngarden first wrote and played their music as students at Wesleyan and found success after graduation that many musicians would die for. They were signed to the major label Columbia, and their full-length debut album, Oracular Spectacular, went gold on the Billboard charts with more than three million songs downloads globally. They had a hit single, “Time to Pretend” that won adoring fans who started to dress like…
Cynthia RockwellVibraphonist, composer and Adjunct Associate Professor of Music Jay Hoggard ’76,will perform in the 32nd annual Playboy Jazz Fest, held at the Hollywood Bowl on June 13. Performing as a member of the latest version of emcee Bill Cosby’s “Cos of Good Music” band, Hoggard will be playing with NduguChancellor, Dwayne Bruno, Ingrid Jensen, Mark Gross and D.D. Jackson. The invitation to join the band wasn't really a surprise for Hoggard. He has worked with Cosby before, including on the soundtrack to the Cosby TV show. “When Dr. Cosby calls, I drop everything and I’m there,” says Hoggard. Currently taking…
Wesleyan's Center for the Arts received an $800 grant from the Middletown Commission on the Arts (MCA) on March 5. The funds will support "Wesleyan Gamelan Live," through Feb. 28, 2011.
Angel Gil-Ordóñez, director of private lessons, chamber music and ensembles, adjunct professor of music, music director of the Wesleyan Orchestra and Wesleyan Concert Choir, received a grant from Spain's Ministry of Culture and that of Foreign Affairs to conduct the orchestra in Falla and Flamenco April 17 in Brooklyn, N.Y. Falla and Flamenco is a program of three works by Manuel de Falla (1876—1946) that imbue 20th-century music with flamenco’s ancient gypsy traditions. Gil-Ordóñez's musicians will premiere "The Three Cornered Hat," in the U.S. for which Picasso created the scenery and costumes for the original. This original version was a ballet/pantomime called "El…
Something Sweet, Nina Zeitlin’s ’03 family/kids’ album, was named in the Top 10 on NPR’s “2009 Best Music for Kids and Their Families." In a story for WXPN’sKids Corner in Philadelphia, host Kathy O’Connell noted that she’d remember 2009 as “the gold standard in kids’ music,” and included Zeitlin’s musical ensemble, King Pajama, as one of the groups “whose kid-centric themes (love of the library, train rides, ice cream) provide a clue to their intended audience, since the songs themselves work for everyone.” Zeitlin, a sociology major at Wesleyan, sang, recorded and produced the collection, which also won a 2009…
Anthony 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…