Angel Gil-Ordóñez in The New Yorker Angel Gil-Ordóñez, principal guest conductor of Perspectives Ensemble, in residence at the Foundation for Iberian Music, was recently reviewed in The New Yorker for his work with PostClassical Ensemble. Alex Ross reviewed the inaugural Shift Festival of American orchestras in the April 17th (2017) issue of the magazine and gave favorable mention to Gil-Ordóñez. Ross writes that prior to the festival he attended the PostClassical Ensemble’s “Music Under Stalin” event in DC, which was a multi-media production of Shostakovich’s life and work, where the ensemble gave a “vital rendition” of Rudolf Barshai’s string-orchestra arrangement of the Eighth Quartet. His review nicely brings together the “Music Under Stalin” event, the Shift Festival, and current politics around arts funding in the US. You may read it here.
Baroque Spanish Opera In NYC The New York City Opera, which has made a successful comeback since closing in 2013, will soon present the second item in its Opéra en Español series: Antonio de Literes y Carrión’s Los Elementos. Los Elementos is an allegorical drama about the four elements, written in 1713 for the court of Phillip V. This performance will be the opera’s NY premiere. It is directed and choreographed by Richard Stafford and conducted by Pacien Mazzagatti. The Foundation for Iberian Music’s director, Antoni Pizà, advised the NYCO’s production and wrote program notes for it. In 2002, Pizà published Antoni Literes: Introducció a la seva obra (Palma Documenta Balear), which to date is the only monograph available on Literes, in any language. Literes was a prolific composer but he is best remembered for his stage works, particularly his zarzuelas. Thanks to the efforts of opera companies such as the NYCO to showcase “lost” and little-performed works, he has the chance to emerge from the shadows of history and find a new audience. The opera opens May 4 at Harlem Stage. Visit the above link for tickets.
Gesualdo Online Presentation Today, the Brook Center sponsored a talk at the Graduate Center by Phillipe Vendrix (François Rabelais University, President) concerning Gesualdo Online. Gesualdo Online is a project of the Programme Ricercar at the Centre for Renaissance Studies in Tours. It invites musicologists from around the world to collaborate in creating digital editions of Gesualdo’s music. Vendrix’s talk explores the project’s work and the role of open source critical editions.
Early Spanish Phonograph Recordings in N. America Francisco “Kiko” Mora, professor at the University of Alicante and longtime colleague of the Foundation for Iberian Music, will be a visiting researcher with the Foundation from the end of April through the end of June. He will be working on his project, “Spanish Popular Music in the North American Phonograph Industry (1896-1914).” While visiting, Mora will be holding guest lectures and presentations, so check back with us for details on these events as they’re available. Until then, visit his blog, Cadáver Paraíso, to see some of his work, or pick up a copy of our Global Reach of the Fandango book and read the paper he contributed!
Podcast with Zapateados Conference Speakers We’re back from a great conference at UC Riverside. Thanks to our co-directors K. Meira Goldberg and Walter Clark (CILAM) and all of our speakers and performers for helping us put on such a stimulating and enjoyable event. The program and abstracts, if you missed the conference, are available here. We kicked off the conference proceedings with an informal concert featuring keynote speaker Raúl Rodríguez and guitarist Mario Más. Betto Arcos, of the podcast The Cosmic Barrio, was there and recorded a special episode with Rodríguez, Más, César Castro, and Joshua Brown, who also served on the conference’s advisory committee. Tune in for more great music and a talk with these artists.
Upcoming NY Andalus Ensemble Concerts The Foundation for Iberian Music’s own resident New York Andalus Ensemble has several performances upcoming in the NYC area! May 4: East x Middle East Festival, Brooklyn Music School 6 pm – “Meet the Instruments” pre-concert workshop, with light refreshments 7 pm – concert, with NYAE, Zikrayat, and Vatan. Tickets are $20 ($15 student) for workshop & concert , or $15 ($10 student) for only the concert May 15: Cedarhurst, NY, full ensemble concert Sephardic Temple of Cedarhurst, 7:30 pm May 20: Yonkers, NY, concert and tasting tour Nahmias et Fili Distillery, 3:00 pm, $20 (presumably this event is restricted to ages 21+)
Free/Public Events at the Zapateados Conference Our conference, Transatlantic Malagueñas and Zapateados in Music, Song, and Dance, begins this Thursday, April 6th, at UC Riverside. The entire conference is free and open to the public and we hope that friends in the area will join us, but there are several multimedia events in the program that may be of more general interest. The conference itself begins at 8:30 am in the CHASS Building South. You can view the whole program here. Each day has its own keynote address: Thursday, Constance Valis Hill (Hampshire College) will deliver her paper, “Zapateados: Tracing the Diaspora of African-derived Drum Dance Forms in the New World;” Friday, acclaimed musician Raúl Rodríguez will deliver his, “Razón de Son: Creative AntropoMúsica and Ida y Vuelta Afro-Flamenco.” Wednesday, 7:00 pm · Concert Speaking of Raúl, we are launching the proceedings with a pre-conference party: an Intimate Gathering & Benefit Performance with Raúl Rodríguez & Mario Mas. Tickets are $40 and directly benefit our conference presenters and their expenses. Thursday, 8:30 pm · Film Screening CHASS Interdisciplinary Building, South Screening Room, INTS Room 1128 To wrap up our first night, we will have a screening of Gurumbé: Canciones de tu Memoria Negra with director, anthropologist Miguel Ángel Rosales. Gurumbé is a feature-length documentary exploring the history and artistic contributions of Afro-Andalusians. Friday, 11:40 am · Film Screening CHASS South, INTS 1113 As a part of a session on “Resilience and Recontextualization in Diasporic Communities,” we will screen short film, Invisible Roots: Afro-Mexicans in Southern California, followed by a discussion with director Lizz Mullis and producer Tiffany Walton. Friday, 8:00 pm · Lecture Recitals and Gran Fandango / Open Jam Barbara and Art Culver Center of the Arts Concluding our conference is a collection of lecture performances. First up, pianist Adam Kent will present his talk, “From España to Iberia: returning the Malagueña to Málaga,” which will be illustrated as Anna de la Paz dances the Zapateado de María Cristina. Next, Melissa Moore and Fernando Barros will present “Island Life and Conservation of Culture,” with performances of flamenco guitar and song. Admission is free; tickets are required and may be reserved at the Culver Center website. For more program information, visit the above links. Last but not least, our final night of performances will culminate in an open Gran Fandango. All are welcome to attend this open dance, so wear your dancing shoes, bring your castanets or other instruments, and come ready to sing!
Benet Casablancas 60th Anniversary Our dear colleague, composer Benet Casablancas, recently celebrated his 60th birthday with a retrospective of his career in his hometown of Sabadell. The event at Teatre Principal included a round-table discussion moderated by conductor Santiago Serrate, followed by a monographic concert of works for large ensemble. The concert was recorded Catalunya Música for release (date TBD) on Columna Música. Unsurprisingly for one of Spain’s most beloved composers, the occasion has received dozens of reviews and notices, in both local and national media, including an interview with Jesús Ruiz Mantilla for the prestigious daily El País. Stay tuned for the release date of the concert recording. Until then, why not follow Casablancas on twitter? (PS You can follow us, too, @IberianMusic.)
“The Challenges of Transatlantic Sound Art:” Video Last week’s symposium and exhibition of Spanish sound art is now up in our YouTube channel! Thanks to our presenters and performers for their fascinating talks. The presentations were followed by a brief discussion on some of the issues and difficulties facing sound art and contemporary composition (including academia’s continued failure to promote study of electronic sound production). The concert consisted of portions of many new works (including those of our presenters), featuring Pau Vila, performing “Món per Pau,” and ending with Victor Aguado, performing “Samples from Richard Garet in Frequency Order.” Vila’s work is a provocative and interesting combination of pre-existing electronic works of his own, and by other composers, with his own live performance. He performs on a variety of percussion instruments, including found objects, which are placed throughout the stage area, creating kinetic and spatial components that are not often found in electroacoustic music.