NEW ROUND OF COMPOSER PROJECTS INCLUDE NINE BAY AREA COMPOSERS

(JUNE 2003) The chapter has announced another round of Community Partners projects: Composer David Carlson will write a new work for the San Francisco Symphony’s Geraldine Walther (viola) and Robin Sutherland (piano), to premiere during the Noe Valley Chamber Music 2003-04 season. The San Francisco Chamber Singers will premiere Mark Winges’s large-scale work A Choral Symphony as part of its 25th anniversary season. Composer Clark Suprynowicz will collaborate with the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival on "Caliban Dreams," a multidisciplinary piece incorporating live music, theater, spoken word, dance, operatic singing, and material from Shakespeare’s "The Tempest." Berkeley Symphony Orchestra will premiere and record works by Ron McKean, Matt Brubeck, Belinda Reynolds, and Ross Bauer, as part of its Under Construction project. SHIFT>>> Physical Theater will work with composer Jess Rowland and choreographer Manuelito Biag on a full-length show, "Giving Strength to the Fragile Tongue," to premiere at San Francisco’s ODC Theater over the summer. Composer Allen Biggs will compose a work for traditional instruments and found objects, to be performed by the young musicians participating in Young Performers International’s Youth-Compose-and-Perform! project.

SALON SERIES FEATURES WORKS BY BECKER, DEUSSEN, CAMPION AND WALLACH

(JUNE 2003) On April 11, the chapter’s Salon Series presented an evening of works with stringed instruments, including Dan Becker’s "A Dream of Waking," for violin and piano; Nancy Bloomer Deussen’s "San Andreas Suite," for flute and string trio; Edmund Campion’s "Melt me with thy delicious numbers," for viola and computer; and Joelle Wallach’s Pulitzer-nominated String Quartet. As part of the performance, held at San Francisco’s Community Music Center, Bay Area pianist and radio personality Sarah Cahill led a very spirited discussion with the composers and audience, focusing on the work’s extremely varied styles.

COMPOSERS WORKSHOP ALLOWS KENNEDY TO TALK PERCUSSION WITH COMPOSERS

(JUNE 2003) As part of the chapter’s Composers Workshop series, master percussionist Daniel Kennedy spoke to composers and students at San Francisco State University on March 29. Kennedy covered the stage with a huge variety of drums, mallet keyboards, cymbals, gongs, and non-Western percussion instruments, along with a variety of useful found objects, including brake drums and metal sheets. His lecture and demonstration covered approaches to notation, extended techniques, and the issues involved in writing for a multi-percussion setup. Attendees also got to try their hands on many of the instruments.

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