Music08 Showcases Reich, Rzewski and Body

Beethoven and Mozart were once new, an obvious truth that should be recalled every time a premiere or an unknown name appears on a concert program.
   MusicX, the annual new music festival at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, explicitly or not, has been reminding local listeners of that fact for the past dozen years.
   Music08, the latest and possibly last edition of MusicX -- a victim of cost-cutting at UC -- will do so again, beginning at 8:30 p.m. June 15 in Robert J. Werner Recital Hall (see "Future of MusicX" in News, June 8).
   Program for the concert, which is free and open to the public, is music by Frederic Rzewski and Joel Hoffman, including Rzewski's "The Fall of the Empire," performed by CCM percussionist Allen Otte, and Piano Trio No. 2, "Lost Traces," by MusicX artistic director Joel Hoffman, head of the CCM composition department.  Rzewski and Hoffman will close the show with their joint composition Music08, Music, Part I, for duo piano.
   The eight-day festival offers free public performances daily in Werner Hall or UC's Corbett Auditorium.  The final concert, 3 p.m. June 22 in the Great Hall of the Tangeman University Center, features the Cincinnati premiere of famed composer Steve Reich's Double Sextet.

eighth blackbird

The 22-minute work will be performed by the Grammy-winning contemporary ensemble eighth blackbird times two.  Like looking into a mirror, the six-member group will perform along with a recording of themselves.
   Double Sextet was co-commissioned by CCM, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Orange County Performing Arts Center ( California), London's Southbank Festival, City of Liverpool and University of Richmond ( Virginia), where the world premiere took place in March, 2008.
    "As usual, things come to Cincinnati a little bit later, but it is one of the official premieres and the main reason Steve Reich is coming this year," said Hoffman.  If you know Steve Reich's Pulitzer Prize-winning "Different Trains," written for the Kronos Quartet in 1988, it's the same kind of format, he said.  "They laid down a bunch of tracks, it was recorded, fixed onto a CD and when they perform it, they play along with the CD.  If you go to YouTube and search on eighth blackbird and Steve Reich you can see clips of eighth blackbird recording the recorded parts."  Eighth blackbird will perform "singing in the dead of night" by David Lang, Michael Gordon and Julia Wolfe (Bang on a Can) on the same concert.
   In addition to Reich, MusicX has brought a "who's who" of contemporary composers to Cincinnati, including Louis Andriessen, Milton Babbitt, William Bolcom, Bright Sheng, Chen Yi, John Corigliano, John Harbison, Lou Harrison, Aaron Jay Kernis, Michael Nyman, George Rochberg, Frederic Rzewski, Kaija Saariaho, Augusta Read Thomas and Michael Torke, among others.  See www.uc.ccm.edu/musicx and click "archives" for details.
   This year's guest composers are Reich, Rzewski and New Zealand composer Jack Body, all of whose music will be heard on Music08 programs.  They will work with a group of invited young composers in daily master classes and rehearsals.  The faculty consists of guest artist and members of the CCM faculty, including eighth blackbird (MusicX's ensemble in residence), pianists Emanuele Arciuli and Gao Ping, violinist Duccio Ceccanti, violist Dorotea Vismara Hoffman, cellists Vittorio Ceccanti and Parry Karp and CCM percussionist Allen Otte.
   As in prior years, Music08 repertoire comprises new music and masterworks from the 20th and 21st centuries performed by students and guests.  Names like Elliott Carter, Luciano Berio, Bolcom, Morton Feldman, John Cage and Charles Ives appear on programs.  Incoming CCM dean Douglas Knehans' "spin" for cello and fixed format electronics opens the concert at 8:30 p.m. June 19 in Werner Hall.  Music by Hoffman, head of the composition department at CCM, and pianist/composer Gao Ping is also featured.

   For a daily update, visit Music08 assistant manager Kyle Werner's blog at http://kylewerner.com/Site /Blog/Blog.html

Music08 schedule.

June 15.

• 8:30 p.m. Werner Hall. Frederic Rzewski : "The Fall of the Empire." "Moonrise with Memories," Parts I-III.  Joel Hoffman: "Blue and Yellow." Piano Trio No. 2, "Lost Traces." Rzewski/Hoffman: Music08 Music, Part I. Allen Otte, percussion.  Asterisk ensemble. Rzewski, Hoffman, piano.
  

June 16.

•  6 p.m. Werner Hall. Music by Elliott Carter, Rzewski and others. Asterisk ensemble.

• 8:30 p.m. Werner Hall. Music by Fabio Vacchi, Luciano Berio, Michele dall'Ongaro, Marcello Panni and Ann Millikan. Duccio Ceccanti, violin. Vittorio Ceccanti, cello. Emanuele Arciuli, piano.
  

June 17.

• 6 p.m. Werner Hall. Young composers.

• 8:30 p.m. Werner Hall. Music by Gao Ping, Jack Body and others. Gao Ping, piano. Duccio Ceccanti, violin.
  

June 18.

• 6 p.m. Werner Hall. Young composers.

• 8:30 p.m. Werner Hall. Jack Body: "Fire in the Belly." "Aeolian Harp." "Rainforest." "Intimate History No. 2: Steve." "Tribute to the Blues." Guest artists. Neil Gittleman, conductor.
  

June 19.

• 6 p.m. Werner Hall. Young composers.

•  8:30 p.m. Werner Hall. Music by Douglas Knehans, Morton Feldman, John  Cage and Charles Ives. Arciuli, violin. Amy Gillingham, cello.
  

June 20.

• 6 p.m. Werner Hall. Young composers.

•  8:30 p.m. Werner Hall.  Hoffman: "unaccompanied minor." Sonata for Cello and Piano.  Rzewski: "War Songs." Daniel Kessner: "Harmonic Space" (Music08 competition winner). eighth blackbird, Karp, cello. Christopher Karp, Rzewski, piano.
  

June 21.

• 6:30 p.m. Werner Hall. Young composers.

• 8:30 p.m. Corbett Auditorium. Reich: Cello Counterpoint. Violin Phase. Music for 18 Musicians. Guest artists. Gittleman, conductor.
  

June 22.

• 3 p.m. Great Hall, Tangeman University Center. Reich: Double Sextet. David Lang, Michael Gordon and Julie Wolfe (Bang on a Can), "singing in the dead of night." eighth blackbird. 

All concerts are free and open to the public.  For further information, see www.ccm.uc.edu/musicx.