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Philip Glass, Steve Reich to headline June in Buffalo
Annual festival and conference dedicated to young composers to be held June 2-7 in Slee, Baird halls
By SUE WUETCHER
Reporter Editor
Composer Philip Glass, most recently in the public eye for his Oscar-nominated score for the film "The Hours," will be among the world-renowned names on the list of "Resident Artists" at this year's June in Buffalo festival, presented by the Department of Music.
Philip Glass in Quebec City
PHOTO: DENIS MÉTHOT
Also appearing as resident artists during the annual festival are Steve Reich, a man who The New York Times rates as "among the great composers of the century;" Pulitzer Prize winners Charles Wuorinen and John Corigliano, who composed the Academy Award-winning score for the film "The Red Violin;" video artist Beryl Korot, and UB's own David Felder.
An internationally known festival and conference dedicated specifically to composers, June in Buffalo will take place from June 2-7 in Slee and Baird halls on the UB North Campus. The theme of this year's festival, "Music and the Visual Image," is based on the visual image—whether as impetus, source or representation.
Felder, Birge-Cary Chair and coordinator of composition in the Department of Music, is artistic director of the festival.
Offering an intensive schedule of seminars, lectures, master classes, panel discussions and open rehearsals, June in Buffalo provides an extraordinary opportunity for about 30 young composers from around the world to work with professional musicians and a distinguished faculty. A highlight of the schedule are the afternoon workshop/performances and evening concerts that are open to the general public and critics. Each of the invited composers has one of his/her pieces read or performed during an afternoon workshop presentation and receives a recording of the performance for future study and demonstration purposes. Performances feature resident ensembles and soloists internationally known as interpreters of contemporary music.
The evening concerts feature the work of the resident composers—some of the most prominent composers in contemporary music—performed by resident ensembles. The evening schedule will kick off at 8 p.m. June 2 in Slee Concert Hall with "An Evening with Philip Glass," featuring a performance of Glass' "Third Symphony," followed by an informal talk by Glass—considered to be one of the most important and influential American composers of the past century.
In addition to his work with the Philip Glass Ensemble, Glass has worked with a number of the world's most well-known performers and ensembles. His work is perhaps most notable for its cross-disciplinary element, including work for the theater ("Einstein On The Beach," "Satyagraha"), collaborations with some of the major figures in today's dance world (Twyla Tharp and Lucinda Childs), music for film (scores for "The Thin Blue Line;" "Hamburger Hill;" "Candyman," and Martin Scorcese's "Kundun," for which he received an Oscar nomination), as well as such highly inventive projects as a live-performance operatic score for Cocteau's "La Belle et La B�te."
An artist who has gained international renown over the course of a distinguished career, Steve Reich recently was called "…America's greatest living composer" by The Village Voice. Work by Reich and video artist Beryl Korot will be featured in a concert at 8 p.m. June 4 in the Drama Theatre in the CFA. The performance will include Reich's "Piano Phase" and "Triple Quartet," plus "Three Tales" by Korot and Reich.
From his early taped speeches "It's Gonna Rain" (1965) and "Come Out" (1966) to his and Korot's music theater piece with video, "The Cave" (1993), Reich's path has embraced not only aspects of Western classical music, but the structures, harmonies and rhythms of non-Western and American vernacular music, particularly jazz.
Reich's music has been performed by major orchestras and ensembles around the world, including the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas; New York Philharmonic, conducted by Zubin Mehta, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, also conducted by Thomas.
He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1994 and to the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts in 1995, and was awarded Commandeur de l'ordre des Arts et Lettres in 1999.
John Corigliano is internationally celebrated as one of the leading composers of his generation. Charles Wuorinen has been composing since he was five and he has been a forceful presence on the American musical scene for more than four decades. The two composers will appear as part of a "Double Feature" on June 3 in Slee Concert Hall. The double feature includes a 7 p.m. concert with music by Wuorinen and an 8:30 p.m. concert with music by John Corigliano
In 1970, Wuorinen became the youngest composer to win the Pulitzer Prize in music. The Pulitzer and the MacArthur Fellowship are just two among many awards, fellowships and other honors to have come his way.
His works have been recorded on nearly a dozen labels, including Koch and Deutsche Grammophon, and have been nominated for a Grammy Award.
In 1962, he co-founded The Group for Contemporary Music, one of America's most prestigious ensembles dedicated to performance of new chamber music. In addition to cultivating a new generation of performers, commissioning and premiering hundreds of new works, the Group has been a model for many similar organizations that have appeared in the United States since its founding.
Wuorinen is a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
In orchestral, chamber, opera and film work, Corigliano has won global acclaim for his highly expressive and compelling compositions and his kaleidoscopic, ever-expanding technique. He also is a Pulitzer Prize winner (2001) and has won the Academy Award for Best Original Score, and the 1991 Grawemeyer Award.
David Felder's work earns continuing recognition through performance and commissioning programs by important individuals and organizations. It may be broadly characterized by its highly energetic profile through its frequent employment of technological extension and elaboration of musical materials and its lyrical qualities.
Work by Felder will be performed during two concerts during June in Buffalo. It will be featured, along with that of Glass and Tigran Mansurian, during a concert by the New York New Music Ensemble and the Baird Trio at 8 p.m. June 5 in Slee. On June 6 in Slee, Quatuor Bozzini and Miles Anderson, trombone, will perform works by Felder, Corigliano and Glass at 8 p.m. in Slee.
Daytime concerts presented in the workshop format and featuring performances of works by emerging composers are free. There is a charge for the evening concerts; prices vary. Tickets for these concerts can be obtained at the Slee Hall box office from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday, at the UB Center for the Arts box office from noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, or at all Ticketmaster locations.
For more information, including ticket prices and the full slate of concerts, visit the June in Buffalo Web site at http://www.music.buffalo.edu/juneinbuffalo/, or contact J.T. Rinker at 645-2765, ext. 1254, or jtrinker@buffalo.edu.