The sax quartet Prism has announced its performance schedule for the current season. I’m happy to say this includes a performance of my Straight Up, which I wrote for the group’s 20th anniversary a few years ago. My piece was one of a group of twenty-three short pieces written for the occasion, and all of them have been recorded for Innova. CD release concerts will take place at WXPN’s World Cafe here in Philly, and at The Stone in New York, May 28 and May 31, respectively. (I’m a Penn faculty member, but I can’t get my music heard on Penn’s quite commercial “non-commercial” radio station, despite that station’s supposed allegiance to “real musical variety” - at least my music can sneak into the station’s live performance space.) The Prism season also features a program of music by Greek composers, including Xenakis and Penn alum Stratis Minakakis; and a program of premieres, including music by David Rakowski, Lisa Bielawa, Perry Goldstein, Caro Haxo, and the quartet’s own Matthew Levy.
Tag: Prism Saxophone Quartet
Upcoming in Philly
Plenty of new music in the next few days in Philadelphia:
-the Prism Sax Quartet celebrates its 25th anniversary with a concert at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Friday, January 29. Note the early start time of 5:45. Billed as a CD release party, the program includes music by Steve Mackey, Jacob TV, Roshanne Etezady, Bill Albright, and Lei Liang. New Yorkers have to wait till Sunday night to hear this show at (le) Poisson Rouge. Go here to read a fine piece by David Patrick Stearns about Prism, and here for a clip of Prism playing my Short Stories.
Update: Very nice to see Prism written up in the NY Times Arts & Leisure section.
-the American Composers Orchestra does a run-out of their Friday night Zankel Hall program to the Annenberg Center in Philly on Saturday, January 30. Anne Manson conducts music by Sebastian Currier, Roger Zare, and Paquito D’Rivera.
-the Daedalus Quartet (with guest colleagues) plays Beethoven, Schoenberg (your chance to hear Verklärte Nacht live) and a new piece by Lawrence Dillon on Sunday, January 31, in Amado Recital Hall on the U Penn campus.
There may be other events I am missing, but these three concerts alone add up to something of a new music festival.
Watching Dudamel
I enjoyed the new John Adams symphonic suite, City Noir, on the PBS broadcast of the L.A. Phil’s inaugural concert with Gustavo Dudamel. But beyond enjoying the piece, it was a pleasure simply to see 30 minutes of PBS airtime given to a new American composition.
Another pleasure was to see colleague Tim McAllister from the Prism Saxophone Quartet playing the virtuosic saxophone solos in the Adams. His vivid and impassioned playing was a highlight of the piece. Head over to the Audio Samples page at jamesprimosch.com to hear Prism playing a clip from my Short Stories.
