RCMI to be on CUNY TV CUNY TV will feature the Brook Center’s own Zdravko Blazekovic in an upcoming episode of Study with the Best! The series highlights professors, students, and programs at CUNY campuses. Blazekovic has worked with Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale (RILM), the world’s premiere database of music literature, since 1987 and he directs the Research Center for Music Iconography (RCMI). The RCMI was established in 1972 by Barry S. Brook himself, as the American headquarters of the international organization Répertoire International d’Iconographie Musicale (RIdIM). RCMI is one of the only visual indices of representations of music in art in the United States. Its collection of more than 20,000 images spans from antiquity to the early 20th century. In addition to their catalog, the RCMI publishes the journal Music in Art and regularly organizes exhibitions and conferences. The Brook Center has appeared on Study with the Best once before, when the Foundation for Iberian Music’s Antoni Pizà was interviewed. Pizà has also appeared on CUNY TV’s Nueva York, in an episode spotlighting Cuban jazz musician Paquito D’Riveira (with whom the Foundation has collaborated). Blazekovic’s interview will air in December of 2016. You can watch Study with the Best for free online, or in one of its regular times on Wednesday (8 am, 2 pm, 10 pm), Saturday (3:30 pm), or Sunday (8 am, 8 pm).
“Cant de les Estrelles” Concert Preview, Feb 2 As we’ve previously announced, our ongoing Granados Celebration will be capped with a performance of Grandos’s masterpiece, Cant de les Estrelles, by the Voices of Ascension, on February 9 at the Church of Ascension in NYC. One week before this concert, 6:30–8:30 on February 2, the Voices of Ascension will hold a concert preview and lecture at the Graduate Center’s Elebash Recital Hall. This preview event is free and open to the public. It will be followed by a reception. About the concert, Voices of Ascension writes, This is a very special performance as it features Granados’ long-lost masterpiece Cant de les Estrelles for 4 choruses, piano and organ. Our 2007 New York premiere performance with pianist Douglas Riva was supported by funding from the Ramon Llull Foundation, recorded by Naxos records and received a Grammy nomination. The concert includes masterworks of 20th Century Catalan choral music relatively unknown in New York, as well as Granados compositions for violin, piano and organ, Granados arias for soprano including the famous La maja y el ruisenor from Goyescas and also de Falla’s El Amor Brujo for piano. Collaborating artists include pianist Douglas Riva whose discovery of the Granados manuscript prompted this entire project, soprano Vanessa Vasquez, a rising star in the world of opera, award-winning violinist Francesca dePasquale and Steinway Artist, pianist Vanessa Perez. Voices of Ascension under the direction of conductor Dennis Keene is a highly respected professional chorus and orchestra. Collaborating institutions include the Foundation for Iberian Music, producer of the Granados Centenary Celebration concert series and The Hispanic Society of America who have graciously provided access to the manuscript of Granados’ Goyescas. Tickets are available to the public at $85, $40, and $10. A reception will follow the concert.
Listening with the Eyes: Sound Art in Spain Through January 15, 2017, the Fundación Juan March is exhibiting Spanish sound-art. “Escuchar con los ojos: Arte sonoro en españa 1961–2016” opened this month in Madrid. Sound art works were first exhibited in Spain in 1961 and the exhibition functions as both a retrospective and showcase of significant new work. Foundation for Iberian Music director Antoni Pizà contributed some materials to the exhibit, including an essay, “¿Normal para españa? (La primera actuación de John Cage en España hace cincuenta años).” (The essay is printed in the exhibit’s delightful catalog, which features a built-in mp3 player shaped like a DAT tape, or miniature cassette, that supplies the “sound” portion of the works.) If you will not be in Madrid before January 15, be sure to check out the informative online exhibit (linked above). This exhibition neatly anticipates the Foundation for Iberian Music’s own Spanish Sound-Art festival, which be held March 16–18 here in NYC.
“Flamenco—Beyond the Body of the Sensuous” Meira Goldberg (current visiting scholar at the Foundation for Iberian Music), Ninotchka Bennahum and Michelle Heffner Hayes, editors of Flamenco on the Global Stage; renowned dancer Belén Maya; guitarist Pedro Cortés; and singer José Moreno explore flamenco’s traditions and experimentalism in an upcoming series of events in NYC and Philadelphia. First, La Meira and her co-editors are launching their book, Flamenco on the Global Stage, at the 92nd St. Y’s “Fridays at Noon” series, on September 16. “Flamenco—Beyond the Body of the Sensuous” is a panel discussion with Maya, Cortés, and Moreno on flamenco’s history, contrasting its traditional roots with its modern role in rebellion. Featured in the discussion will be archival footage of La Macarrona. 12:00 pm, September 16, 2016 Fridays at Noon tickets are $10 online or in advance at the 92Y Box Office in the lobby /$15 at the 92Y Box Office on the day of the performance. This presentation will also be streamed live at https://www.tischdanceandnewmedia.com/live During her stay in New York, Belén Maya will also perform a solo concert of Romnia at the 92nd St. Y. “My body wants to give life to those black sounds coming from the East, loaded with the sorrow amassed by thousands of displaced people throughout our history.” – Belén Maya “Belén Maya has pursued her career out of the continuous need to explore and study music, theatre, narration, performance, drama and language. Her concept of flamenco feeds on the mixture of literature, yoga, meditation, organic culture, Eastern mysticism and the harmony between her body, mind and spirit. Romnia explores the two dimensions of Maya’s life: her Gypsy ancestry and her femininity. Romnia, “women” in Romany, is a celebration of Gypsyness—a compassionate, sometimes joyful look at the plight of displaced women, whose laughter and mourning are transformed to beauty in motion.” 8:00 pm, September 24, 2016 Advance tickets $20 ($15 for under 35s!). Visit link above for venue information and to purchase tickets. Belén is also teaching workshops in Philadelphia, September 17 – 20 https://www.pasionyarteflamenco.org/ And in New York City, September 20 – 22 https://www.flamenco-vivo.org/workshops Don’t miss these opportunities to work with one of Flamenco’s boldest contemporary dancers!
Voices of Ascension: Granados, De Falla, & Modernisme The renowned Voices of Ascension, of the Church of the Ascension, will be performing a program of Catalan music on February 9th, 2017. They have selected works associated with the Modernisme movement in Barcelona, including Marian hymns by Pablo Casals, little known choral works by Enric Morera, Manuel Blancafort, and Manuel Oltra, and De Falla’s piano suite of El Amor Brujo. The concert will close with their second ever performance of Granados’s Cant de les estrelles, which was only recently rediscovered and published by Granados authority and co-organizer of our Granados Celebration, Douglas Riva. The concert is a part of our ongoing centenary festivities in NYC, so please join us for this chance to hear some rarely performed music. Riva will be performing on Cant de les estrelles. (click the photo to view the full concert program)
The Many Dangers of Music: A Discussion with Richard Taruskin and Prof. Scott Burnham Music in 21st-Century Society: Richard Taruskin: The Many Dangers of Music The 2016 Lloyd Old and Constance Old Lecture Wednesday, December 7 6:30 pm, Elebash Recital Hall Richard Taruskin, America’s public musicologist, applies his broad cultural analysis, wit, and humor to 21st-century classical music. As in his acclaimed book The Danger of Music, he provokes debate, asking, what is the artist’s relationship, and obligation, to society? He is the author of the six-volume Oxford History of Western Music and a regular contributor to the New York Times. Taruskin’s talk will be followed by a discussion with GC professor Scott Burham, with a musical interlude by pianist Adam Kent. Music in 21st-Century Society lectures are always free, but reservations are recommended in order to guarantee admission. Lectures usually fill to capacity. Reserve your tickets here. Update (December 6): Tickets for the lecture are fully booked, but there will be an overflow room that can seat up to 70 additional people. Both ticket holders and those without reservations who are hoping to get in are advised to arrive early.
Granados Celebration Date Changes, Cant de les estrelles Performances We have a few date announcements and changes concerning our ongoing Granados Celebration. To start, we have a date for the closing celebration in NYC, a performance of Cant de les estrelles by Voices of Ascension. The concert will be February 9, 2017, at 8 pm, at the Church of the Ascension (5th Ave and 10th St). The Voices of Ascension write, Discover the warmth of Iberian music in this program of Catalunya’s most famous composers Pau (Pablo) Casals and Enric Granados as well as evocative works by Manuel Oltra, Manuel Blancafort and Enric Morera. Granados’ long-lost masterpiece Song of the Stars is comparable to a virtuoso piano concerto with chorus and organ, gloriously combining Romantic-Modernista poetry with post-Wagnerian harmonies. VoA gives its second performance of Granados’ Cant de les estrelles following the North American premiere and GRAMMY-nominated recording in 2007. This performance is presented in collaboration with the CUNY Graduate Center Enrique Granados Centenary Celebration and features pianist and Granados scholar Douglas Riva. The centenary celebrations are being sponsored by the Foundation for Iberian Music, at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. There has also been a small change to the Cant de les estrelles performance scheduled for March in Albuquerque, NM, with Polyphony: Voices of New Mexico. The concert will be on March 24, 2017 at the Cathedral of St. John. We will have a few side-events in the days surrounding this concert, so please look back for those announcements! Finally, events that had been tentatively scheduled for the UK are, regrettably, not proceeding. There are currently no UK dates set.
2017: Spaniards, Natives, Africans, and Gypsies: Transatlantic Malagueñas and Zapateados in Music, Song, and Dance The Foundation for Iberian Music is delighted to announce a west coast sequel to last year’s fandango conference, “Spaniards, Natives, Africans, and Gypsies: Transatlantic Malagueñas and Zapateados in Music, Song, and Dance.” This conference—which, as you can see, focuses on malagueñas and zapateados—will be held at University of California, Riverside, April 6 and 7, 2017. It is being co-sponsored by the Foundation for Iberian Music and UC’s own Center for Iberian and Latin American Music. The conference is accepting submissions until Dec 1! Read the full CFP here. Please e-mail K. Meira Goldberg with any questions at fandangoconference.cuny@gmail.com.
Announcing the 2016 Music in 21st Century Society Lecture We are delighted to announce that the speaker for this year’s Lloyd Old and Constance Old lecture is renowned musicologist Richard Taruskin, with a response from Scott Burnham. The lecture will also feature, as ever, a musical guest, performing works related to the lecture’s topic. Richard Taruskin is a prolific musicologist at UC Berkeley, specializing in Russian music (especially of the modernist variety) and Early Modern music. He is the author of the six volume Oxford History of Western Music, On Russian Music, The Danger of Music: And Other Anti-Utopian Essays, Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions: A Biography of the Works through Mavra, Text and Act, to name only a selection of his monographs, as well as innumerable articles and reviews. He writes extensively for both academic and lay audiences and has received many prizes for his writing, including the Noah Greenberg Prize (1978), The Alfred Einstein Award (1980), the Dent Medal (1987), the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award (1988, 2005), and the 1997 and 2006 Kinkeldey Prizes. Scott Burnham is a full time musicology and music theory faculty member at Princeton University and a current visiting professor at the Graduate Center. His areas of focus include the history of tonal theory, problems in criticism and analysis, and music of the Common Practice era. His monograph, Beethoven Hero, won the Wallace Berry Award from the Society of Music Theory in 1996. He has published extensively on Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, often tackling issues of aesthetics and poetic meaning. The lecture will be December 7, 2016, at Elebash Recital Hall. Please stay posted for further details.