Beyond Cage: Kate Soper, Alex Mincek, Morton Feldman, and More!

by Ted Gordon on Oct. 27, 2012, 1:49 p.m.

John Cage's name is plastered all over New York City right now, as it should be: this year, he would have turned 100 years old. And what better way to celebrate Cage's pioneering work than premiering new boundary-pushing compositions alongside mid-century works that inspired them? The S.E.M. Ensemble, as a part of their massive Beyond Cage Festival, is doing just that in concerts in several venues around New York, including premieres of new works by PSNY Composers Kate Soper and Alex Mincek, and performances of works by Morton Feldman, Luigi Nono, and Karlheinz Stockhausen, among many others. 

On October 28th, The S.E.M. Ensemble, joined by Ian Antonio of Yarn/Wire and Kate Soper of Wet Ink, premiere Soper's The Crito. and Mincek's V, both composed in 2012. 

For an idea of what these works could sound like, check out an earlier work by Soper for voice and flute: 

Be sure to attend the concert of major orchestral works by Morton Feldman on November 5th at Alice Tully Hall, which will include the American Premieres of Flute and Orchestra and Violin and Orchestra, as well as Piano and Orchestra and Structures for Orchestra! 

Two Weeks, Four Concerts

by Ted Gordon on May 18, 2012, 3:04 p.m.

As the '11-12 season comes to a close, late May sees four terrific events in New York, featuring PSNY composers from around the country. 

First up: Red Light New Music presents their season-closing concert on May 21st at Symphony Space in New York. Music in Layers features both new and newly arranged chamber music works, written by John Cage and Red Light New Music composers Christopher Cerrone, Adrian Knight, Vincent Raikhel, Liam Robertson and Scott Wollschleger, performed by the core Red Light New Music Ensemble. The program includes the NYC Premeire of Adrian Knight's Trio, available on PSNY:

On the heels of that Monday night concert is a Wednesday night with Wet Ink with the Peter Evans Quintet at Roulette, performing Alex Mincek's "Pendulum VII," forthcoming from PSNY. (We're working as fast as we can to get everything ready for publication!)

The next day, May 24th, sees the premiere of Histories, by the composer collective Sleeping Giant, which includes our composers Andrew Norman, Christopher Cerrone and Timo Andres, along with Ted Hearne, Jacob Cooper, and Robert Honstein. Premiering the work will be the Deviant Septet, formed around the core instrumentation of Stravinsky's L'HIstoire du Soldat, here performing a work described as a "companion piece" to that great masterwork of the early 20th century. The performance will take place at Brooklyn's Issue Project Room.

And, finishing out the month of May, Bang on a Can pianist Vicky Chow performs Christopher Cerrone's Hoyt-Schemerhorn at The Stone on May 29th. (If you haven't been to The Stone yet, now's your chance!)   

Wet Ink and Talea Ensemble Provide New Music for Autumn

by Ted Gordon on Nov. 23, 2011, 11:56 a.m.

Though the weather is increasingly dark and gray, and the holiday season will soon tempt us to forgo exploring new music in favor of familiar holiday music, there still exist shining beacons of new music in this wintry sea.

One such beacon - Wet Ink, which includes PSNY composers Kate Soper and Alex Mincek - has just come back from a Californian tour, where they made a deep impression on the local press. The tour ended up back in Brooklyn, at Roulette, with a program featuring Teresa McCollough performing the World Premiere of "In My Own Skin " by Alvin Singleton, and Alex Mincek and Ian Antonio (also of Yarn/Wire and Zs) performing Alex's "Nucleus."

If you haven't heard "Nucleus", here's a taste from the awesome recording on Carrier Records: 

Next up for Wet Ink: a residency at Duke University in December. And for Kate Soper, the premiere of a new work for soprano and violin, "cipher," by the SEM Ensemble at the Paula Cooper Gallery on December 13th. 

The Talea Ensemble has just held two recording sessions at the American Academy of Arts and Letters of two works by Anthony Cheung: "Windswept Cypresses" and "Centripedalocity."

Cheung, who is their pianist, will also be performing on their awesome program on Sunday the 27th at the Roger Smith Hotel, which includes works by Berio, Bartok, Nono, and Larry Polansky. It's a rare treat to hear these works, especially Nono's "'Hay que Caminar' Soñando", live: 

Hats off to these ensembles for keeping autumn vibrant with new music!