- Third Construction
by John Cage
percussion quartet
with Brandon Bell, Jonathan Greeney and Julian Pellicano - Dances of Earth and Fire
by Peter Klatzow
solo marimba - The Lonelyness of Santa Claus
by Fredrik Andersson
marimba duo
with Gwendolyn Burgett Thrasher - Canyon
by Mark Dancigers
Eight Hands Quartet* - Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (Mvmt. One)
by Bela Bartok
Eight Hands Quartet* - Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (Mvmt. Three)
by Bela Bartok
Eight Hands Quartet*
*The Eight Hands Quartet is comprised of percussionists James Deitz and Kevin Dufford and pianists Hanchien Lee and Eri Nakamura.
Hello everyone and thanks for being here!
I have quite a few projects going on right now and am already thinking to start more, so if you have a great idea, drop me a note and let's get busy!
Check out our February 12th concert at the Monkey in Chelsea. Gwendolyn and I are playing a concert of solos and duos. Come see David Lang’s Anvil Chorus, Frederick Rzewski’s flowerpot/text solo To the Earth and selected movements from Bach’s Cello Suite No. 5. Duos Ambient Resonances by Peter Klatzow and Arabesco Infinito by Alejandro Viñao will close the program. Other composers being performed: Cage, Zahab and a new commission from Roshanne Etezady.
Here is a link to the schedule page where you can purchase tickets and read about the concert:
www.monkeywest.com/calendar.html
You can download the press release here:
Kevin_Gwen_PressRelease_NY.pdf
Other things happening:
Gwendolyn and I are currently organizing master-classes and concerts in Beijing and Shenyang, China, in August of this year. Plans are to have another duo piece commissioned by that time.
As far as commissioning new music, I am in the midst of organizing the commission of a new piece by Martin Bresnick, who is head of composition at the Yale School of Music. I highly recommend his music. It is hard to compare any living composer to Brahms, but in Bresnick's music, I feel that every note is in the right spot. Bresnick is delightfully profound and his writing for percussion idiomatically reflects whatever instrument he is composing for.
NEWS - A tentative composition delivery date of January 15, 2010 has been established.
Check out this interview in regards to his double marimba concerto, Grace:
www.vicfirth.com/features/bresnick.html
You can also check out Bresnick's website:
The piece I have asked him to write is a marimba and vibraphone duo with text. Yes, the marimba and vibraphone players will be responsible for speaking this text. Bresnick has not yet chosen the text and it will be quite interesting to see if he approaches it similar to Rzewski's To The Earth, where the text and music are malleable, or whether he will use the text as a narration as he does in his own composition, Pine Eyes.
If you are interested in joining the consortium please contact me immediately! I am fundraising at the grassroots level allowing individual donors to contribute at two levels. Professionals may donate for $250 and students may for $175. If you are interested, I would not wait because in my first month of fundraising, over $4,000.00 has been committed to the project. Monies are due no earlier than Autumn 2008. Mr. William Moersch and New Music Marimba have offered to act as fiscal sponsor for the commission. This will allow contributors to deduct their funds as charitable contributions to a 501(c)3 organization (schedule a). Donors will receive a signed copy of the score with their name listed in the notes.
Other commissions that I have been involved in recently include Arabesco Infinito by Alejandro Viñao and Canyon by Mark Dancigers.
Gwendolyn Burgett Thrasher and I recently performed Arabesco Infinito on her faculty recital at Mighigan State University and have more concerts in the Spring and a recording session for the piece in May. The recording will be on Gwendolyn's second album and will again be released on Blue Griffin Records.
Very excited about that one! You can check out a midi file of the piece on Alejandro's website in the percussion section.
In the Fall of 2006, we asked Mark Dancigers to write a new work for two pianos and two percussion for our quartet, Eight Hands. In the Spring of 2007, we were given a lush, ten minute composition that we premiered (during a blizzard) in March 2007, in Stony Brook, New York. You can check out some of the piece in the live sound files section and should also check out Mark's website as well:
I have also contacted Mark about writing a marimba solo to be dedicated to my son, Aiden. More to come...
Get your tickets now for our February 12th concert at the Monkey in Chelsea, NY. Composers: Bach, Lang, Viñao, Rzewski, Zahab, Klatzow, Cage and a new premiere of a marimba solo by Roshanne Etezady.