accent11 with christopher theofanidis

Accent11, a new music festival I'm helping run this year, is *still accepting applications for their composer seminar.* This year the guest composer is Christopher Theofanidis, who will be leading master classes and giving private lessons during this festival.

How cool is this program? Last year we had THIS GUY visit us.

Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon

And the year before, Martin Bresnick ran our first master classes.

If you're interested in applying, visit Accent11's website, or email accent11uc@gmail.com or me directly.

composer FAIL #32 explained

I suppose I should not bury my face when I receive yet another returned score in the mail, but for this competition, you had the option of receiving feedback on your rejected piece.

Hey, why not take them up on the offer?

rip peter lieberson

We all knew this was coming, but probably not this soon. I know Peter Lieberson best through his Neruda Songs, a piece I read about when Lorraine Hunt Lieberson died.

I saw Mr. Lieberson from afar when I heard Kelley O'Connor and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra perform the Neruda Songs with Bernard Haitink. When I saw him approach the stage, all I could think was, "You wrote one of the most beautiful pieces I've heard in a long time."

Other posts
For Peter Lieberson, Alex Ross's touching and heartbreaking memorial
Peter Lieberson, Composer Inspired by Buddhism, Dies at 64 (NY Times)

rip max matthews

Max Matthews, a HUGE trailblazer in computer music, died yesterday. I remember Max Matthews from electronic music class when we all learned about the famous "Daisy Bell" tune he arranged with John Kelly and Carol Lockbaum.

And I remember seeing this little guy frequently before I upgraded to Max/MSP 5.

I may have joked about falling off the Max bicycle in the past, but I will keep riding it. We composers are totally indebted to his work.

composer WIN #4

Well, pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows! Guess what came in the mail the other day?

WOW. It looks like I'll be giving a 5-minute presentation on "Press Play" in Greenwich Village in less than a month. How will I present my work? Should I bring a tape recorder? Can I bring all 12 tape recorders? Do I have to put them in a suitcase and pay for checked luggage? Would the cassette tapes survive? Would TSA believe my story? Would I have to convince them that there are indeed 4 C-batteries in each tape recorder? Would I have to bring a screwdriver with me to let TSA see the batteries on the inside? Would lugging a suitcase full of 12 tape recorders in the city be feasible?

composer FAIL #32

Have you ever had any rejection letters that don't quite make sense because they're so generic? So generic, in fact, that you don't know which organization sent them until you have read the signature stamp? And then, after you're read the email, you still don't know what you sent despite your meticulously keeping track of submissions?

I believe this rejection letter qualifies as one of those.

Jerks.

***

P.S. Come hear "Sounds from the Gray Goo 2.11" at the View From The Edge concert TONIGHT at 8 PM.

daniel catán's advice to young composers

I was shocked to read Daniel Catán died unexpectedly a week ago in Austin.

I couldn't believe it. Didn't I just read he was commissioned to write an opera for UT Austin and wasn't @LAOpera tweeting like mad about the Il Postino premiere? And this past semester he was subbing for a UT Austin composition professor on leave, so my UT friends saw him frequently (according to my friend Hermes.)

He visited CCM a few years ago when they performed the Cincinnati premiere of Rappaccini's Daughter. There in his relaxed Mexican accent he gave us young composers advice about librettists.

"Actually, there are no more librettists around," he pontificated. "What you need is a playwright and a poet, but don't let them find out about the other."

composer FAIL #31

I submitted a string quartet proposal to the Carlsbad Music Festival.

Aw...didn't I go to school with you guys? (Just kidding...)

press play preview, part ii

Do you know what happens when you leave town for a week? You're behind. I meant to post other recordings of my work as a preview for my show TONIGHT, but alas, school and work got in the way.

[If you're in town, 6:45 PM, Cohen Family Studio Theater. There will be some fun prelude and postlude stuff, so feel free to come early and leave later.]

What I can preview is the world premiere of "press play," the namesake of my concert. Here's a recording of the piece.

press play preview, part i

Well folks, "Press Play," a recital of my works (and the name of a brand new tape piece of mine) will premiere this Thursday. If you're in town, you should come! To quote one of my clarinetists, "it will be baller."

Today I'm previewing a couple of pieces from my Gray Goo Series, a soon-to-be laptop cycle that will be a collection of electro-acoustic improvisatory pieces for an acoustic instrument and laptop. It's Man vs. Machine! Who will win? Will the instrument be defeated by technology, or will they learn to coexist?

The first original piece in the series is "Sounds from the Gray Goo 1.0," originally performed by Kevin Lewis. For my concert, I am expanding this to *four* percussionists, one at each corner of the theater. (This will be "Sounds from the Gray Goo 1.01.") Here's a preview:

live recording of sounds from the gray goo 2.01

Before I introduce this new track, I want to remind you that "Flight 710 to Cabo San Lucas" will be performed *one last time* by the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble at Middlebury College TODAY at 3 PM at the Mahaney Center for the Arts Concert Hall.

Now, HERE is the performance of "Sounds from the Gray Goo 2.01" written for bass clarinet and unprocessed laptop, played by Rebecca Danard in association with the Ottawa New Music Creators's Contemporary Revolution Concert #4 on April 4, 2011 at Cafe Paradiso in Ottawa, ON.

sounds from the gray goo 2.01 by jenniferjolley

i can still egot!

Just in case you haven't heard the news, the Grammy Awards have restructured their categories by eliminating 31 of them. (Don't worry, "Best Disco Recording" was already eliminated in 1981.)

Fortunately, they have not eliminated the "Best Contemporary Classical Composition" category. This means composers can still EGOT! (Or, as John Mackey puts it, GGOP.)

more fun with rolling balls

Here's something I discovered on The Fox Is Black while clearing out my Google Reader, which had over 1000+ unread blog posts. (Also, Google is buying out everything, just so you know.)

If I'm ever asked to write something for percussionist and bocce ball again, I would do something like this, but probably not in a forest setting. (Do you also notice how this Bach cantata survives?)

***

So...have you noticed I haven't had time to blog lately?

vcme at flynnspace TODAY

Laurel (fl), Bonnie (vc), and David (pno) working on my piece. Photo courtesy of Dennis Bathory-Kitsz.

Come to FlynnSpace at 2 PM TODAY to hear the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble perform their concert "A Touch of Wonder." Here's the concert program:

"Flight 710 to Cabo San Lucas" - Jennifer Jolley
"Meditation on 'Elzick's Farewell" - Peter Hamlin
"Fuliginous Quandrant" - Dennis Bathory-Kitsz
"Mortal Fools" - Cecelia Daigle (student composer of the VT MIDI Project)
"Quintet" - David Feurzeig
"What Story Awaits its End? - Thomas Read

I attended almost every single VCME concert when I lived in Vermont, and I can honestly say this concert is one of their best concerts. They are finally putting on a show and experimenting with different formats. This time, each composer was asked to offer an artistic tidbit after their piece. (No kidding. I've never heard of this before.) If you come tomorrow, I will grace you with a recitation from "Sex Machine."

Wait a minute!
Shake your arm, then use your form.
Stay on the scene, like a sex machine.
You got to have the feeling sure as your born.
Get it together, right on right on.

pictures from austin part 2

There may be snow outside my hotel window, but that won't stop me from posting pictures of 70º+ weather and pictures of gigantic donuts.

Here's another picture of the turtle pond at UT Austin.

And turtles underwater.