Ann Cleare & Alex Mincek in ICE's "Animal Behaviors"

by Ted Gordon on June 5, 2017, 5:07 p.m.

(Ryan Muncy, saxophonist)

The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) consists of some of the best instrumentalists in contemporary music, who regularly champion ensemble works by some of the most fascinating composers of our time. In a free "pop-up" concert at Columbia's Miller Theatre on June 6th, members of ICE will split off to perform solo and duo works that dig into the sonic profiles of individual instruments and players, in a program titled "ICE: Animal Behaviors". 

ICE saxophonist Ryan Muncy will perform Ann Cleare's luna (the eye that opens the other eye) for alto saxophone, as well as Alex Mincek's Pendulum III, for alto saxophone and piano, alongside pianist Jacob Greenberg. In Cleare's luna, the composer writes that "the saxophone should be thought of as a dragonfly with eyes so big they cover almost its entire head, giving it a helmeted appeaance and a full 360-degree field of vision." Check out a recording below. 

ICE and Cleare will return to the Miller Theatre in 2018 with a Composer Portrait concert, featuring a newly-commissioned work, two world premieres, and performances of the square of yellow light that is your window and dorchadas. 

Mincek's Pendulum IIIis an early entry in the composer's Pendulum series, in which musical material oscillates between two poles, accellerating, decelerating, reaching tipping points, and repeating. Check out a 2015 recording by Michael Ibrahim and Ron Stabinsky below. 

Sound American Releases Alex Mincek Portrait Album "Torrent"

by Ted Gordon on April 20, 2017, 12:20 p.m.

On April 26th, Sound American releases a new album, Torrent, featuring the music of Alex Mincek—the composer's first solo album since 2011's self-titled release on Carrier Records. Torrent collects recordings of several new works for ensemble alongside extensive interviews and wrtitings on Mincek into a 28-page art-object, and is the first of Sound American's "Young Composer Portrait series".

Torrent includes recordings of several works performed by members of the Wet Ink Large Ensemble, Yarn/Wire, and the Mivos Quartet. These works were all composed in the past seven years, and include Pendulum VII, which is available from PSNY. Check out an excerpt below: 

In a special issue devoted to the music of Alex Mincek, Sound American offers several interviews between Mincek, the Wet Ink ensemble, Nate Wooley, and Jeremiah Cymerman. On the works collected and recorded on Torrent, Eric Wubbels notes:

"Each piece is a balance between objects and ideas that have been thoroughly tested and developed in previous pieces and new, exploratory, or experimental ideas (sounds, objects, forms). In any given piece, if the new ideas work well, they might find their way into the next piece, and so on... As a result, I see a kind of slow evolution and refreshing of the musical language within a style that maintains a strong profile and internal consistency."

For more critical analysis of Mincek's recent work, check out George Grella's long-form article on Mincek in Music and Literature, which describes him as "on the outside, looking out."

Anthony Cheung in Residency at 113 Composers Collective

by Ted Gordon on Feb. 3, 2017, 2:51 p.m.

On February 4th and 5th, Minneapolis' 113 Composers Collective hosts two performances by the Chicago-based Fonema Consort, featuring works by Anthony Cheung, James Dillon, Bethany Younge, and more. Before the concerts, which take place at the University of Minnesota's Ted Mann Concert Hall and St. Paul's Studio Z, Anthony Cheung will give a colloquium at UMN's Feguson Hall. (Note well that Cheung's contribution to the program is a work entitled après une lecture, in addition to his classic Roundabouts.) Cheung and the Fonema Consort represent two dynamic examples of Chicago's vibrant new music community, which has recently been growing with the arrivals of Alex Mincek and Sam Pluta. Check out movement 2 of Cheung's Roundabouts below: