Friday Festival Recap – July 05 – 2013

Today’s recap takes a slightly different bent. With so much focus on our recent festival it seemed appropriate to take a step back. Here we have glimpses at Local Composers Concerts from years past. We’re proud of our tradition fostering regional music.

 

Two composers chat at the 2010 Local Composers Concert

Kathryn Swanson-Ellis and Gale Gardiner chat after successful performances of their music at the 2010 festival.

 

Tawnie Olson introduces her work, À mon seul désir, during the 2011 Local Composers Concert.

 

Owen Weaver takes a much deserved bow after an incredible performance of Lisa Coon‘s Percussion Sculpture No. 1 at the 2012 festival.

 

 

The 2013 Festival is upon us!

One week from tonight, Wednesday March 6th, the 2013 Festival Guest Composer Hilary Tann we speaking at the Hartt School’s Composer’s Seminar. These lectures are fun and exciting and FREE! If you are at all interested in her music or her compositional approach and style, this will be a fun and rewarding hour of discussion. For more info visit http://womencomposersfestivalhartford.com/?page_id=530

Afterwards, you can head over to the Charter Oak Cultural Center for the Local Composers Concert. The unifying theme of the concert is that all of the composers are from the greater Tri-State/New York areas. However, the pieces are extremely varied in style and instrumentation. For more info visit http://womencomposersfestivalhartford.com/?page_id=352

So come check out an evening of exploration and discussion, and a concert of diverse music supporting local women.

 

 

Picture Wednesday – August 15, 2012

Meet Stuart Breczinksi.

Stuart is a New York-based oboist, improviser, composer, and educator whose early interest in making unusual sounds on the oboe has developed into a passion for creating and sharing innovative audio with audiences of all backgrounds. A proponent of chamber and contemporary music, Stuart is an original member of ensemble mise-en, Ensemble Moto Perpetuo, and The Generous Ensemble. He has also performed as a chamber musician with the Bang on a Can Summer Institute at MASS MoCA, Contemporaneous, Performance 20/20, and Tactus. In 2011, he played on the Local Composers Concert  in the trio Silk Spinners by our resident composer Gilda Lyons. For more information on Stuart and his upcoming performances visit stuartbreczinski.com.

Stuart Breczinski plays 2011 Local Composers Concert

Picture of the Day – July 20, 2012

Here Elisabeth Tomczyk and Katie Cousins are featured performing a movement of Ellen O’Meara’s Orbits, for violin, clarinet, and piano, on the 2011 Local Composers Concert. A Brooklyn based composer and instrumentalist, Ms. O’Meara is a strong advocate of new music and her works can be found here.

Katie Cousins and Elisabeth Tomczyk

Picture of the Day – July 19, 2012

In addition to featuring a diverse array of musical styles, the Local Composers Concert also presents audiences interaction with the many composers living near Hartford. Here Tawnie Olson introduces her duo for bassoon and piano, À mon seul désir. Of the piece, Dr. Olson says:

This piece was inspired by Elizabeth Shoemaker, her skilled interpretation of Saint-Saëns’ Bassoon Sonata, and by an idea of marriage informed by my relationship with my own husband. At first the instruments seem to co-exist peacefully, but independently, but after a crisis material is passed back and forth between them. This dialogue incites the bassoon to jubilant virtuosity, and then the opening material returns; the piece has come full circle. The circle – the shape of a wedding ring and an ancient symbol of perfection – is also meant to be suggested by the piano part’s slow journey through its entire range. The title of this piece comes from the final Lady and the Unicorn tapestry, in the collection of the Musée de Cluny.

Recordings of Tawnie Olson’s music and updates on her projects can be found here.

Tawnie Olson presents her Music