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June in Buffalo to be held June 5-10

Festival for composers attracts esteemed faculty, accomplished students

Published: May 11, 2006

By ALANA JAGODZINSKI
Reporter Contributor

June in Buffalo, the internationally renowned festival and conference dedicated to composers that is presented annually by the Department of Music, will be held June 5-10 on the North Campus.

The festival boasts an esteemed faculty of some of the world's most recognized current classical music composers, and annually attracts approximately 30 of the most serious and accomplished student composers from across the globe.

The week includes an intensive schedule of seminars, lectures, master classes, panel discussions and open rehearsals for all festival enrollees, as well as afternoon and evening concerts open to the general public and critics.

This year's resident faculty composers are David Felder, Birge-Cary Chair and coordinator of composition in the UB Department of Music and artistic director of June in Buffalo; Bernard Rands, winner of the 1984 Pulitzer Prize in music and a major force in contemporary music; Augusta Read Thomas, whose music has been programmed by many of today's most prominent conductors; Harvey Sollberger, recipient of an award from the National Institute of Arts and Letters and two Guggenheim Fellowships; Charles Wuorinen, a forceful presence on the American musical scene for more than four decades; and special guest composer Gunther Schuller, a world-renowned composer, conductor, performer, educator, record producer and publisher.

Resident ensembles, which present the music of the student and faculty composers in public workshop and concert settings, are New York New Music Ensemble, Ensemble SurPlus and the Slee Sinfonietta, UB's resident professional chamber orchestra. Other musicians being featured this year include pianist James Avery; guitarist Magnus Andersson; UB faculty members Tony Arnold, soprano, and Movses Pogossian, violin; and "Stockhausen's bass" Nicholas Isherwood.

The concert schedule:

Monday, June 5

  • 4:30 p.m., Baird Recital Hall, 250 Baird Hall, works by emerging composers performed by various artists. Free.

  • 8 p.m., Lippes Concert Hall, Slee Hall, New York New Music Ensemble, works by faculty composers, including Gunther Schuller's "A Bouquet for Collage" and Augusta Read Thomas' new "Six Piano Etudes." The six etudes were written in homage to six other well-known composers, including Berio, Bartok, Messiaen, Boulez, Feldman and Rakowski. $12, $9, $5.

Tuesday, June 6

  • 4:30 p.m., Baird Recital Hall, New York New Music Ensemble, works by emerging composers. Free.

  • 8 p.m., Lippes Concert Hall, Slee Hall, Slee Sinfonietta, works by faculty composers, including David Felder's "November Sky." $12, $9, $5.

Wednesday, June 7

  • 8 p.m., Lippes Concert Hall, Slee Hall, Ensemble SurPlus, works by faculty composers. $12, $9, $5.

Thursday, June 8

  • 4 p.m., Lippes Concert Hall, Slee Hall, Ensemble SurPlus, works by emerging composers. Free.

  • 7 p.m., Lippes Concert Hall, Slee Hall, Ensemble SurPlus, works by emerging composers. Free.

Friday, June 9

  • 4 p.m., Black Box Theatre, Center for the Arts, Project Isherwood, works by David Felder, Mauricio Kagel and others commissioned by Nicholas Isherwood. Free.

  • 8 p.m., Lippes Concert Hall, Slee Hall, Tony Arnold, soprano, and Movses Pogossian, violin, performance of Kurtag's "Kafka Fragments," recently recorded by the artists. Free.

For more information about June in Buffalo, contact J.T. Rinker at 645-2765, ext. 1254, or at jtrinker@buffalo.edu.