I CARE IF YOU LISTEN

This week: concerts in New York (May 13 – May 19, 2013)

New York Festival of Song (NYFOS) 25th Anniversary Celebration

The program will feature South American songs (“Odeon” by Nazareth, “Pra que discutir com Madame” by Haroldo Barbosa, “Carinhoso” by Pixinguinha); American popular song (“I’m Going to Make You Beautiful” by Maltby and Shire, “Just Like a Man” by Vernon Duke); and vocal music by Spanish, Russian, and German composers, ranging from Montsalvatge to Kurt Weill.

Monday, May 13 at 7:30 PM
Tickets: $25
DiMenna Center for Classical Music
450 West 37th Street between 9th and 10th Avenues
..:: Website

Music for Guitar and Organ

The first half of the program will include solos and duos for acoustic guitar and portative organ (a miniature pipe organ), including the Concerto for Lute in F Major by Karl Ignaz Augustin Kohaut the Austrian lutenist and composer of Czech descent who is considered one of the last important composers for Baroque lute. The second half of the concert will offer new works and transcriptions featuring the weightier combination of electric guitar and organ. Performers: Mak Grgic, acoustic and electric guitar, and Paul Vasile, organ.
Tuesday, May 14 at 8 PM
Tickets $25, $20 Students/Seniors
Park Avenue Christian Church, 1010 Park Avenue at 85th Street, New York, NY
..:: Website

Original Music Workshop (OMW) presents Strings and Borders

Cornelius Dufallo – Photo by Jill Steinberg

Featuring experimental violinists Dr. Johannes Rosenberg (Australia), Cornelius Dufallo (US) and Mari Kimura (japan). The concert will begin with brief solo performances by Dufallo and Kimura, followed by a trio improvisation featuring them and Rosenberg. Rosenberg will also perform an approximately 40-minute set accompanied by video of his Great Fences of Australia project.

Wednesday, May 15 at 7:00 PM
Free but reservations must be made via email at rsvp@o-m-w.org.
The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WQXR, 44 Charlton Street, Manhattan
..:: Website
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We Go Together Like Ramma Lamma Lamma Ka Dinga Da Dinga Dong: yMusic’s “Beautiful Mechanical”

yMusic and New Amsterdam Records put on a release party earlier this month for their debut album, Beautiful Mechanical, at Rockwood Music Hall on the Lower East Side.  The hip and charming-but-smallish venue was packed to the gills with twenty- and thirty-somethings and quite a few recognizable new music composers and performers.

Every once in a while an album is assembled, or a live concert is programmed, in such a graceful way that one’s jaw drops.  The different musics are sufficiently different to keep the listening experience fresh and forward-moving, while having enough in common to not end up the aural equivalent of a buffet.  The release party for yMusic’s Beautiful+Mechanical at Rockwood Music Hall on the Lower East Side was both that rare album and that rare concert, and as I left I found myself marveling at how well it all worked.  The music, and the performances, were full of the energy, fun, and vibrancy that has become New Amsterdam Records’ trademark.  Even violist (and Q2 radio host) Nadia Sirota’s casually graceful and funny emceeing was impressive.

yMusic – Photo by Ilya Nikhamin

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Gabriel Kahane and Orpheus Symphony Orchestra at Galapagos

On Sunday, November 20^th, at Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn, singer/songwriter/composer/pianist/guitarist Gabriel Kahane appeared in concert with the prestigious, conductor-less chamber ensemble Orpheus. Kahane is currently serving as the group’s composer-in-residence. The concert filled me with both elation and disappointment: its initial outpouring of emotion and originality degenerated into blandness during the second half.

Kahane actually did not appear until the second piece; the first excursion was a rousing performance of Paul Hindemith’s Kammermusik No. 1. As Kahane said in the program notes, it’s a very playful piece, especially compared with much of Hindemith’s later work. It’s also incredibly demanding, full of fast, off-kilter rhythms and rapid switches from one group of instruments to another. Orpheus’ stellar execution of this work was especially impressive given that they work without a conductor.

Orpheus Symphony Orchestra - Photo by Larry Fink

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