Other Minds 8 Press Release (Updated)

>Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2002 17:36:30 -0800
>From: Charles Amirkhanian <charles@artsplural.com>
>Subject: Other Minds 8 Press Release (Updated)
>
>Images and releases available at:
>http://otherminds.org/Pressroom.html
>
>Media Contact:
>Diane Roby, 415/931-5367
>reddroby@earthlink.net
>
>
>OTHER MINDS 8 PUTS COMPOSERS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
>Annual New Music Festival presents Concerts and Artist Forums
>Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, San Francisco, March 7-9, 2002
>
>WHAT: Other Minds 8 showcases new directions in music by contemporary
>composers and performers in three days of concerts and artist forums.
>
>WHEN: Thursday - Saturday, March 7-9, 2002. Doors open at 6pm
> Thursday, March 7 - Artist forum at 7pm, Concert at 8pm
> Friday, March 8 - Artist forum at 7pm, Concert at 8pm
> Saturday, March 9 - Artist forum at 2pm, Concert at 7pm
>
>WHERE: Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, 3301 Lyon Street, San Francisco
>
>WHO: Composers Ellen Fullman (Seattle); Takashi Harada (Japan); Lou
>Harrison (Aptos, CA); Tania León (New York, b. Cuba); Annea Lockwood (New
>York, b. New Zealand) in collaboration with Thomas Buckner (New York);
>Pauline Oliveros (New York); Ricardo Tacuchian (Brazil); Richard Teitelbaum
>(New York); and Randy Weston (New York). Performers include African Rhythms
>Quintet, the Circle Trio, Continuum, the Kronos Quartet with Ellen Fullman
>on the 90-foot Long String Instrument, guitar soloist David Tanenbaum and
>others.
>
>MORE: Other Minds 8 features works by musical innovators who are shaping
>the sounds of the 21st century. Charles Amirkhanian, Other Minds Executive
>Director and Artistic Director for Other Minds 8 notes: "Other Minds
>Festivals remind everyone how satisfying and thrilling modern music at its
>most communicative can be."
>
>Festival highlights include four world premieres, some unusual
>instruments-among them the National Steel Guitar; Ellen Fullman's sound
>sculpture, a 90-foot Long String Instrument; and the rare and otherworldly
>early electronic orchestral instrument, the Ondes Martenot-and a special
>tribute to Lou Harrison, the dean of maverick American music.
>
>Free artist forums include pre-concert talks with the composers and a
>Saturday afternoon panel with Takashi Harada on the Ondes Martenot.
>
>Each evening Cow Hollow Catering creates OMCafé in the theater foyer,
>offering a menu of light supper and a la carte items beginning at 6pm.
>Stilt-walking dancer Pamela Wunderlich strolls in elaborate sculptural
>costumes before each concert and at intermission. Other Minds 8 is
>presented by Other Minds in association with the Djerassi Resident Artists
>Program.
>
>TICKETS: Concert tickets are $26 Premium; $18 General; $15
>Student/Senior (3-concert Festival Pass: $70 Premium; $45 General; $40
>Student/Senior)
>Advance tickets are available through City Box Office (415/392-4400), or at
>www.tickets.com. Group discounts are available. Walk-up sales are
>available at the box office on concert evenings beginning at 6pm.
>
>INFORMATION: Call 415/ 646-0760, or visit the Other Minds website at
>www.otherminds.org
>
>*******************************
>
>Images and releases available at:
>http://otherminds.org/Pressroom.html
>
>Media Contact:
>Diane Roby, 415/931-5367
>reddroby@earthlink.net
>
>COMPOSERS IN THE SPOTLIGHT AT OTHER MINDS 8
>Annual New Music Festival presents Concerts and Artist Forums
>Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, San Francisco
>March 7-9, 2002
>* * *
>"An event worth trumpeting" - Los Angeles Times
>"Astutely programmed and expertly produced" - San Francisco Chronicle
>"A rewarding showcase for the mind-bending talents of cutting-edge composers
>and performers" - San Francisco Examiner
>
>(San Francisco, CA, 9 JANUARY, 2002) - Other Minds, in association with the
>Djerassi Resident Artists Program, presents Other Minds 8, an annual
>festival that showcases new directions in music by renowned contemporary
>composers and performers. The Other Minds festival offers a rare
>opportunity to hear works by great musical innovators who are shaping the
>sounds of the 21st century. Concert programs include four world premieres,
>three unusual instruments, and a special festival tribute to Lou Harrison,
>the dean of maverick American music.
>
>Other Minds 8 brings together invited composers for four days of private
>sessions at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program in Woodside, followed by
>three days of concerts and artist forums in San Francisco,
>Thursday-Saturday, March 7-9, 2002. After three sold-out concerts last
>year, Other Minds 8 moves to the 1000-seat Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, 3301
>Lyon Street. Advance concert tickets are available through City Box Office
>(415/392-4400), or at www.tickets.com.
>
>Charles Amirkhanian, Other Minds Executive Director and Artistic Director
>for Other Minds 8 (OM 8) notes: "Other Minds brings the Bay Area many
>hybrid styles which reflect the diversity of global cultural innovation.
>Was it Chairman Mao or Lou Harrison who said, 'Let a thousand musics be
>cross-pollinated'? Other Minds Festivals remind everyone how satisfying and
>thrilling modern music at its most communicative can be."
>
>Composers featured at OM 8 are: Ellen Fullman (Seattle); Takashi Harada
>(Japan); Lou Harrison (Aptos, CA); Tania León (New York, b. Cuba); Annea
>Lockwood (New York, b. New Zealand), in collaboration with Thomas Buckner
>(New York); Pauline Oliveros (New York); Ricardo Tacuchian (Brazil); Richard
>Teitelbaum (New York); and Randy Weston (New York).
>
>Characterized by an eclectic range of musical presentations, Other Minds
>Festivals bring to Bay Area audiences some of the most exciting performers
>and listening experiences in contemporary music. OM 8 salutes Lou
>Harrison's 85th birthday (May 14, 2002) with a world premiere for National
>steel guitar solo and two major new keyboard works. Also honored as
>ground-breaking figures in the world of musical exploration are "Deep
>Listening" icon Pauline Oliveros (on the occasion of her 70th birthday, May
>30, 2002), and virtuoso jazz pianist-composer Randy Weston (who celebrated
>his 75th birthday on April 6, 2001), both of whom also present world
>premieres.
>
>A highlight of OM 8 will be Ellen Fullman's sound sculpture-a 90-foot long
>string instrument of encompassing resonance-installed in the Palace of Fine
>Arts Theatre for her world premiere with the Kronos Quartet of a work
>commissioned by Other Minds for the 2002 festival. Takashi Harada is a
>virtuoso of the Ondes Martenot - an electronic orchestral instrument of
>otherworldly tones that made its debut at the Paris Opera in 1928 - will
>perform his own works and others composed for the rare instrument. The
>festival presents compositions for guitar and keyboard by Ricardo Tacuchian,
>major force in Brazilian classical music and developer of the T-system,
>based on a scale of nine tones. Works by brilliant Cuban-born composer and
>conductor Tania León will be performed by baritone Thomas Buckner and the
>New York-based ensemble Continuum, which is known for its wide repertoire of
>contemporary music from all parts of the world. Buckner also appears with
>Annea Lockwood as co-composer and performer of "Duende," merging live vocals
>and electronic music. (Lockwood is notorious for past performances that
>included torching a piano and electronically amplifying its demise, and
>dropping a piano from a helicopter.) Highly revered avant-garde composer
>and accordionist Pauline Oliveros presents a world premiere with The Circle
>Trio, made possible in part by a grant from the Zellerbach Family Fund, as
>well as a work for keyboard performed by Sarah Cahill. Richard Teitelbaum
>integrates diverse sound sources as he combines electronic sounds of the
>Kurzweil synthesizer with solo shakuhachi. Legendary jazz pianist and
>composer Randy Weston closes the festival with his stellar African Rhythms
>Quintet, including the world premiere of a work commissioned for Other Minds
>8.
>
>Free artist forums include pre-concert talks with the composers on the
>theater stage, and a Saturday afternoon panel on the Ondes Martenot with
>Japanese composer and virtuoso Ondes performer, Takashi Harada.
>
>Each evening, the Festival spills into the lobby of the Palace of Fine Arts
>Theatre, where Cow Hollow Catering will create OMCafé in the theater foyer
>with a menu of light supper and a la carte items offered throughout the
>evening, beginning at 6pm. There, the audience is invited to feast and
>visit with other new and world music advocates, including the Other Minds
>composers, performers and friends, and browse through hard-to-find
>recordings and books available for purchase. Stilt-walking dancer Pamela
>Wunderlich, an audience favorite at last year's Festival, adds to the mix
>with an encore appearance before each concert and at intermission nightly in
>her elaborate sculptural costumes. Doors to the theater lobby open each
>evening at 6pm.
>
>FESTIVAL PROGRAM
>
>THURSDAY, 7 MARCH 2002
>6:00pm Lobby, Box Office and OMCafé open - Palace of Fine Arts Theatre
>
>7:00pm Artist Forum - A free artist forum on the theater stage with
>composers Ellen Fullman, Takashi Harada, Tania León, Pauline Oliveros,
>Ricardo Tacuchian, and Randy Weston, moderated by Charles Amirkhanian.
>
>8:00pm Concert
>Other Minds 8 opens with Takashi Harada, composer and virtuoso performer on
>the Ondes Martenot, performing his own compositions and works for Ondes
>Martenot by André Jolivet, Shin-ichiro Ikebe, and Darius Milhaud, with
>Hiroko Sakurazawa on piano. The concert continues with compositions for solo
>guitar by Lou Harrison, beginning with "Serenade for Frank Wigglesworth"
>(1952) and including the world premiere of a new work for National steel
>guitar (2001) with David Tanenbaum, soloist. Tanenbaum also will perform
>Ricardo Tacuchian's "Páprica" for solo guitar (1999), followed by "Impulsos
>No. 2" for two guitars (1980) with Michael Kudirka and Eric Benzant-Feldra,
>and "Imagem Carioca" for four guitars (1987) with The Mexican Guitar Quartet
>featuring Tomás Barreiro, Santiago Gutierrez Bolio, Santiago Lascurain, and
>Rodrigo Placencia. A world premiere by Pauline Oliveros and The Circle
>Trio, featuring Oliveros on accordion, violinist India Cooke, and vocalist
>Karolyn van Putten, concludes the opening night program.
>
>FRIDAY, 8 MARCH 2002
>
>6:00pm Lobby, Box Office and OMCafé open - Palace of Fine Arts Theatre
>
>7:00pm Artist Forum - A free artist forum on the theater stage, with Thomas
>Buckner, Lou Harrison, Annea Lockwood, and Richard Teitelbaum, in discussion
>with Charles Amirkhanian.
>
>8:00pm Concert
>The first half of Friday's concert salutes Lou Harrison, as keyboard soloist
>Linda Burman-Hall performs "Sonata for Harpsichord" (1999) and "Incidental
>Music to Corneille's Cinna for tack piano" (1955-6), followed by "Trio for
>Violin, Cello and Piano" (1991) with The Harmida Piano Trio. The concert's
>second half presents Annea Lockwood and Thomas Buckner performing their
>collaborative composition "Duende" (1997), with Lockwood on computer and
>vocals by baritone Buckner. Richard Teitelbaum's "Blends" (1977) for
>shakuhachi and Kurzweil synthesizer features Teitelbaum on keyboard, with
>shakuhachi soloist Masayuki Koga. Takashi Harada makes a second festival
>appearance on the Ondes Martenot, performing his "Voyage en septembre" and
>Toru Takemitsu's "Distance de Fée" with pianist Hiroko Sakurazawa. To close
>the concert, pianist Sarah Cahill performs Pauline Oliveros' "Quintuplets
>Play Pen: Homage to Ruth Crawford" (2001).
>
>SATURDAY, 9 MARCH 2002
>
>2:00pm "The Art of the Ondes Martenot" Demonstration/Discussion/Performance
>A free artist forum on the Ondes Martenot, with Takashi Harada, composer and
>Ondes Martenot soloist;
>Hiroko Sakurazawa, piano; and Charles Amirkhanian, moderator.
>
>6:00pm Lobby, Box Office and OMCafé open - Palace of Fine Arts Theatre
>
>7:00pm Concert - Palace of Fine Arts Theatre
>Part one of OM 8's closing concert features Ellen Fullman's 90-foot Long
>String Instrument, which will engulf the audience with visceral vibrations.
>Fullman joins the Kronos Quartet in the world premiere of her new work for
>LSI and string quartet (2001), commissioned by Other Minds, made possible in
>part by a grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission and the members of
>Other Minds' donor circle, A Gathering of Other Minds.
>
>The concert continues at 8 pm with the Other Minds Ensemble performing Annea
>Lockwood's "Immersion" (1998) for percussion duo, using marimba, quartz
>gong, and two tam-tams. Cheryl Seltzer and Joel Sachs of NY-based ensemble
>Continuum will perform Ricardo Tacuchian's "Estruturas Gêmeas (Twin
>Structures) for Piano Four-Hands" (1978). Tania León's "Arenas d'un tiempo"
>(Sands of Time, 1992) for clarinet, cello, and piano follows, performed by
>Continuum, with David Gresham, clarinet; Kristina Reiko Cooper, cello; Tom
>Kolor, marimba; Cheryl Seltzer, piano; and Joel Sachs, piano and conductor.
>León's "Canto" (2000) for baritone, clarinet/bass clarinet, percussion,
>piano and cello-based on texts by expatriate Cubans living in the U.S.-will
>also be performed by Continuum and baritone Thomas Buckner, for whom the
>work was written. The festival concludes with Randy Weston, recently
>described in the New York Times as "a towering presence possessed of
>eloquence, dignity, and a scholar's intellect" (Robin D. G. Kelley, July 8,
>2001). Weston performs on piano with his African Rhythms Quintet, featuring
>T.K. Blue, saxophone and flute; Benny Powell, trombone; Alex Blake, bass;
>and Neil Clark, African percussion. Their performance includes "Blues for
>Langston Hughes" (2002), a world premiere commissioned by Other Minds for OM
>8.
>
>TICKETS
>
>Tickets for Other Minds 8 concerts are: $26 Premium; $18 General; $15
>Student/Senior. A 3-concert Festival Pass is available for $70 Premium, $45
>General, and $40 Student/Senior.
>A 20% discount is offered for groups of ten or more persons. A Benefactor's
>Ticket for a single concert, guaranteeing best seating and an invitation for
>two to the Festival Composers' Reception, is $100.
>
>To purchase tickets, call City Box Office at (415) 392-4400 (M-F 9:30am-5pm,
>Sat. 10am-4pm); or fax ticket requests to (415) 986-0411. Online ticket
>purchase is available at www.tickets.com. (Per-ticket service charges are
>added.) Ticket orders, with check or credit card number enclosed, may be
>mailed to City Box Office, 180 Redwood Street, Suite 100, San Francisco, CA
>94102. Concert tickets will be available for walk-up sales at the Palace of
>Fine Arts Theatre Box Office beginning at 6pm each concert evening.
>
>Further festival information is available at 415/ 646-0760, or by visiting
>the Other Minds website at www.otherminds.org
>
>ABOUT OTHER MINDS
>
>Dedicated to new and unusual music in all its forms, Other Minds was founded
>in San Francisco by Artistic and Executive Director Charles Amirkhanian and
>Board President Jim Newman in 1992, and presented the
>first Other Minds Festival in 1993. The annual new music festival,
>presenting today's most innovative composers in concerts and discussion, has
>become one of the most important events on the international new music
>calendar, and offers Bay Area audiences an up-to-the-minute report on the
>increasingly borderless realms of classical, experimental, jazz, world, and
>electronic music, as well as new and emerging forms. Other Minds Festivals
>are known for their international scope, incorporation of new technologies,
>multidisciplinary collaborations, and tradition of encouraging relatively
>unknown but gifted young composers. Presented in association with the
>Djerassi Resident Artists Program, the festival concerts are preceded by
>four days of private sessions at the Djerassi Program in Woodside, giving
>the composers a rare chance to discuss critical questions in depth and to
>get to know one another on a more personal basis.
>
>Other Minds' mission is furthered by its exhaustive documentation efforts;
>CD projects, including recent issues of music by George Antheil, Igor
>Stravinsky, and Conlon Nancarrow, with a forthcoming release of the music of
>Ezra Pound; musical archives; a content-rich website -
>http://www.otherminds.org - soon to include live webcasting; informative
>newsletter; and collaboration with other organizations to present innovative
>musical programs.
>
>Other Minds continues an ongoing collaboration with the San Francisco
>Symphony. In December 2001 Michael Tilson Thomas led the SF Symphony in the
>world premiere of Ice Field (2001) for multiple orchestras by Henry Brant.
>Commissioned by Other Minds, Ice Field is a spatial composition for nearly
>100 musicians who were arranged throughout Davies Symphony Hall, with the
>88-year-old composer improvising on the mighty Ruffatti pipe organ.
>
>Other Minds 2001-2002 programs are made possible in part by the BMI
>Foundation, the Ann & Gordon Getty Foundation, Grants for the Arts/San
>Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, Phaedrus
>Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation Creativity and Culture Program,
>Rockefeller Foundation MAP Fund, San Francisco Arts Commission, Thendara
>Foundation, Zellerbach Family Fund, and Other Minds' donor circle, A
>Gathering of Other Minds. Amoeba Music once again lends its support as an
>Official Sponsor for Other Minds Festival 8. New sponsors include
>Andante.com as an Official Sponsor and The Maxwell Hotel as the Official
>Hotel Sponsor of Other Minds 8. KPFA Radio returns as a media sponsor. (as
>of 1/9/02)
>
>UPCOMING FROM OTHER MINDS
>Beginning in the Summer of 2002, Other Minds' newly designed website will
>provide access to a host of archived recorded broadcast programs on
>contemporary music, some of which will be from the 6000 tapes recently
>acquired by Other Minds from the Music Department archives of Berkeley's
>KPFA Radio. In 2003, Other Minds plans to introduce a round-the-clock web
>radio station, broadcasting the musical sounds of the 21st century to every
>corner of the globe. Broadcasts will emanate from studios in the Bay Area.
>
>For further information on OM 8 call 415/ 646-0760, or visit
>www.otherminds.org
># # #
>MEDIA REQUESTS call 415/931-5367
>
>************************************
>
>
>