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LATE SPRING AND SUMMER HIGHLIGHTS:
April 4
'07 was a solo recital on the "Music for the New Century" series at
Columbia's Italian
Academy. Rick Whitaker called in January and told me to come up with
a program of music written this century. "SIMPLE!" Actually,
constructing a coherent, exciting solo program can be a lot of protracted
mind ping-pong, but I think this one worked out pretty well in the end.
I was lucky enough to have four of the composers in the audience, and
Anthony Tommasini wrote a rave review a couple days later. (To read the
full review, click on the photo....."Is that the Phantom at the Steinway??
Keep that chandelier from falling!" at right.)
Another great
experience and nice mention came from the NY Times' Allan Kozinn after
Annie Gosfield's amazing "Zoom: Composers Close Up" concert
at Merkin Hall on May 5. I played a solo piece of hers
that I commissioned last year (given a great title that's so wonderfully
Annie), "The Wanton Brutality of a Tender Touch." Read the
entire review here.
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counter)induction
had a really fun show, and formally welcomed violinist Sharon Roffman into the
group, in the season's final concert "Synthesis" on June 1.
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Concerto! On July 21,
I appeared with the American Symphony Orchestra, violinist Erica
Kiesewetter, and cellist Bob Martin, in Bohuslav Martinu's "Concertino" at the Music Festival of the Hamptons.
Leon Bostein conducted. The festival,
I have to say, did a pretty impressive job
transforming what was a large airplane hangar into a fairly swanky
concert/event space. The day after was spent body-surfing waves on
the beaches of East Hampton, and a totally impromptu "house-crashing" to
say hi to my old friend Paul Schenly at his PianoFest, of which I am an
alum.....! |
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On July 26,
a solo recital at the
Monadnock Music
Festival in Peterborough, NH. A gorgeous area of New England,
just down the road from the MacDowell Colony and the Walden School.
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Fall 2007 HIGHLIGHTS:
Oct. 5, 8pm
I am
artistic-directing (organizing? curating?)
Esa-Pekka Salonen's
"Composer Portrait" at Columbia's Miller Theater! Hopefully
a small highlight of the busy NY concert season for some. On tap is the
crazy surrealist
piece "Floof" with magnificent soprano Tony Arnold, the wild cello concerto "Mania" with Darrett
Adkins, the sober and beautiful "Memoria" played by the Imani Winds, and EPS's
frenetic ultra-quiet "Yta 2," which I'll be playing on both piano and harpsichord.
Email me at
blair@blairmcmillen.com for more details, or click this image to the
right (a nice illustration by Sarah Howell) to visit Miller's website,
check out their season, and order tickets.
Also, please
read Salonen's interview on the concert by Justin Davidson in New
York magazine.
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Sept. 4-5, Bard
College's Fisher Center: I'll be recording (b. 1938....) - a CD of piano music by
6 renowned composers all born in this strangely magical year: Harbison, Tower, Corigliano, Bolcom, Rzewski, Wuorinen. Due
out early 2008 on Centaur Records! Look for it in Tower Records!
Oh, wait.....
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Sept. 11-13, I'm
taking part in another recording with a fantastic group that I wish played
together a bit more often, the Avian Orchestra. To be recorded
will be tunes by Peter
Flint, Jonathan Newman, Ray Lustig, and others.
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Other appearances in September...
Sept. 20-
8pm Solo recital
at the U. of Pittsburgh, along with Donald Berman. My half will be music by EP Salonen, Barbara White,
Frederic Rzewski, and Giacinto Scelsi. Theme, anybody?
Sept. 24 -
recital with Miranda Cuckson at Mannes
College of Music, 8pm. Music of Martino, Rzewski and others....
Please read NY Times review
here.
Also, there
was a review of new
CD with Miranda Cuckson ("Music of Ralph Shapey") by Steve Smith in Time
Out New York.
Sept. 30 -
counter)induction
"Homages and Overwrites" - 8pm at Tenri Cultural Institute
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past news...
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