Artburst

Heather Coltman Diane McNaron

2008-08-09T23:41:00Z

Valdo Sciammarella

2008-08-09T23:32:00Z

Throughout his life, he worked as a composer and choral director. In the 1950s, his unique style emerges, strong and decisive. During this time, he composed Cantigas de Amigo and a series of symphonic and vocal works: Canzona (1954); Cantata para la fundación de Buenos Aires (1956), based on the text of Argentine poet Juan de Garay; and using the text of famed Spanish author Miguel de Unamuno, Salmo 1 (1956). Also during this period, Sciammarella composed Cánticos rituales based on the texts of the Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda. In 1957, he composed the music for the opera, Marianita limeña, which won him a National Prize in 1958. It is also during these years that Sciammarella began writing for the theater and for films. For the theater, he wrote a total of twenty-four works between the years of 1953-1968. In 1959, he composed music for four films including the film, Spilimbergo, a documentary about the painter; the film was presented in the Bienal cinematográfica of Venice in 1960.

In the 1960s, with the German choreographer, Renate Schottelius, Sciammarella began to work with both dance and music, fulfilling one of his life’s ambitions. During this time, he composed Canciones para la vida y para la muerte, commissioned by the soprano, Phyllis Curtin. The work premiered in the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.

From the 1960s to the present, Sciammarella continues to create his astounding musical masterpieces, redefining his own music as well as musical genres. These talents earned him a place as a member of the National Academy of the Arts in 1985. In 1991, he was honored with a national prize by the Argentine government for la Sonata en Mí. In 1995, he won the prize “Malvinas argentinas” for el Concierto para piano y orquesta. Canciones de amor earned the Carlos López Buchardo prize in 1992. With his latest works, he challenges and stretches his musical genius with creations such as Variaciones sobre el tema popular ‘Palomita blanca’ for the marimba and violin in 2000. In 2001, he composed the Sinfonía ‘Verra la morte’ based on the work of Cesare Pavese. In addition, he has directed the choirs of the Wagnerian Association of Buenos Aires, the Caracas Opera, and the National Lyrical Theater of the

In Auburn

2008-06-20T01:00:00Z

Program for Bentley/Dalton

2008-05-04T21:00:00Z

Karen Bentley-Pollick, Violin
Grant Dalton, Percussion

In recital

Sunday, May 4
3:00 pm
Unitarian Universalist Church of Birmingham

Djembach: Suite for Solo Violin & Percussion (1997) Christian Woehr (b. 1951)
Commissioned by Kathleen Mattis Dedicated to a busload of Violists with one empty seat

Prelude for Tom Dumm: Allegro
Allemande for Bill Martin: Andante
Courante for Susan Kier: Moderato
Sarabande to LIbba & Wolf: Adagio
Gavotte for Mo Jacob: Moderato con maestoso
Trio for Leonid Gotman
Gigue for Katy Mattis: Allegro Vivo

March for Solo Timpani (1950) Elliott Carter (b. 1908)

Riconoscenza per Goffredo Petrassi for Solo Violin (1984)

Impossible Animals (1989 version for Violin and Synthetic Voices) David Jaffe (b. 1955)

Salsa for Karen for Violin and Percussion (1998) Ole Saxe (b. 1952)

Satumaa: Finnish Tango (Fairytale Land, 1955) Unto Mononen (1930 - 1968)

Fanitullen for Norwegian hardangerfele Odd Bakkerud (1931 - 1989)

Poem by Jorgen Moe (1813 – 1882)

Orange Blossom Special (1936) Ervin T. Rouse (1917 – 1981)

Pineapple Skinners

2008-04-02T04:10:00Z

In 1997 Tony Lombardo and Tom Dameron had dinner at Chez Lulu in Mountain Brook and at that dinner the legendary Pineapple Skinners came to life. Both men had a burning desire to play traditional jazz and thought that a five member acoustic band would be the perfect format to do so. Joining them were their friends Chuck King, Sam Ranelli Jr. and Mike Cogan. The group experimented with a number of styles of Dixieland Jazz and finally evolved as a group with their own distinctive and eclectic sound. The band plays all styles, but with just enough of a twist to be different. On their CD you can hear traditional jazz, big band tunes and even ukulele and lap steel.

The Band’s name cam from an episode of the Andy Griffith Show that finds Barney buying Thelma Lou a present...he picks her up a pineapple skinner. Tony should know because in the early 1990s he taught a course at UAB about the classic sitcom.

The members of the band are all unique individuals in their own right. Tony teaches at John Carroll High, Tom is an artist and Hospital Pharmacist at Carraway Methodist Medical Center, Chuck teaches music, performs and is a professional photographer, Mike works for DHL and repairs and restores instruments, and Sam works for EWTN. Tom and Tony deal with the business end of the group while Chuck and Mike are the real musical directors with Sam being the spiritual advisor. There is a brotherhood shared that transcends the music...they also enjoy and have fun together.

The band plays traditional gigs, but also has been hired for funerals, weddings and one divorce.

You can visit their website at http://www.pineappleskinners.com

Mary Elizabeth Neal

2008-04-01T04:08:00Z

Mary Elizabeth Neal is a student at Florida State University, pursuing a M.M. in composition and studying with Ladislav Kubick. She received her B.M. in composition from Birmingham-Southern College where she studied primarily with Dorothy Hindman and Charles Norman Mason. She attended the 2005 Czech-American Summer Music Institute in Prague studying with Ladislav Kubick. She has attended master classes with performers such as double bassist Robert Black, the Goliard Ensemble, the Atlas Saxophone Quartet, the Korona Guitar Qvartet, and composers such as Chen Yi, Eric Whitacre, Michael Torke, Eric Ewazen, Neil Rolnick, and Ellen Zwillich-Taffe. Her music has been played by the Bach Festival Chamber Choir (Rollins College), Birmingham-Southern College New Music Ensemble, and the Birmingham Art Music Alliance. She is a member of the Birmingham Art Music Alliance and the Florida State University student chapter of Society of Composers, Inc.
Included in March 30, 2008

Combustion

2008-04-01T04:06:01Z

Combustion for solo cello is structured in five short movements, based on four types of combustion:

Incomplete, in which oxygen levels are not adequate enough for the fuel to react completely with the oxygen, producing numerous byproducts. Incomplete combustion is the most commonly occurring form of combustion in nature.
Slow, which occurs at low temperatures. Respiration is a form of slow combustion.
Rapid, in which large amounts of heat and light energy are released, often resulting in fire. This the type of combustion used in internal combustion engines, and
Turbulent, which consists of turbulent flows. Turbulent combustion is used for industrial applications because the turbulence aids in mixing processes between the fuel and oxidizer.

Each movement is inspired by the given type of combustion but is not intended to imitate that particular sound. Combustion is the winner of the 2008 MTNA Composition Competition in the Young Artist Division.

Richard Nance

2008-04-01T04:05:00Z

Richard Nance has been a long-time collaborator with Hultgren and other sonic subversives in the south. He is a graduate of UAB and has recently earned a doctorate from De Montfort University in Leicester, United Kingdom. His electronic music is based on plasticity in sound. Recently, his work has played in Montreal, Paris, Turin, Glasgow, London and Liverpool.
Work in included March 30, 2008

Analogies of Control

2008-04-01T04:04:00Z

Analogies of Control is “composed for the ear and by the ear.” Performer-composer communication has generally been conveyed in written terms of a score. Since the advent of recording, the nature of that communication has changed. Improvisers endeavor in instantaneous composition. Composers have created fixed sound accompaniments for their written music. Because this work’s construction was with audible material, it has two aspects of existence and is a new type of open form. The aural score is only in the ears of the cellist who renders the score to the audience. What the cellist actually hears is the sound of heat exchange via various metal. What the audience hears are derivations of cello, both the performer and the composer’s.
Richard Nance
Included in March 30, 2008

William Price

2008-04-01T04:03:00Z

William Price’s music has been performed at many national and international events including the 2006 International Clarinet Association Conference, the 2005 Region IV and VIII North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA) Conferences, the 2004 and 2002 NASA Biennials, the 2003 International Sonic Circuits Festival, the 2002 SEAMUS Conference, the XII World Saxophone Congress, the 12th Annual Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival, and the Imagine 2 Music Festival. He has received awards and commissions from numerous organizations including ASCAP, the Percussive Arts Society, the American Composers Forum, the National Association of Composers, USA, the Alabama Music Teachers Association, the Louisiana Music Teachers Association/MTNA, and the Southeastern Composers League. William is currently Assistant Professor of Music Theory at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Included in performance March 30, 2008

Sans Titre V

2008-04-01T04:02:00Z

The fifth installment in a series of works for solo instruments, Sans Titre V for amplified cello was commissioned by Hultgren. The work explores contrasts in musical distance and aural proximity. The use of amplification and electronic effects, such as reverberation and digital delay, are used to reduce the distance between the audience and the performer and provide a feeling of an alternative sonic environment, a space within a space. Musical distance is achieved through the use of tonal and atonal materials within a modified strophic-variation structure. Throughout the composition, three main musical ideas are explored and developed: the brief but unrelenting ”interruption,’ the extended discursive “interjection,” and the longer musical “digression.”
William Price
Included in March 30, 2008

Mikel Kuehn

2008-04-01T04:01:00Z

Composer Mikel Kuehn received degrees in composition from the Eastman School of Music (Ph.D., M.A.) and the University of North Texas (B.M.); his music has received awards and honorable recognition from ASCAP and BMI (student composer awards), the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (2000 and 2002 First Hearing Contests), Eastman (Hanson and McCurdy Prizes), the League of Composers/ISCM, the University of Illinois Salvatore Martirano Memorial Composition Contest, and the Luigi Russolo Competition (Italy). In addition to his work as a composer, Kuehn has lectured on aspects of contemporary music at conferences of the Society for Music Theory, the Society of Composers, Inc., the Society for Electroacoustic Music in the U.S., and the 2003 Eastman Berio Festival. He is the author of nGEN, a free multi-platform computer music application used internationally and is currently Associate Professor of Composition at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Most recently, he was a resident composer at the Banff Centre where a concert of his music was presented including two world premieres. He will be a resident at the MacDowell Colony in the spring of 2006. He is also an avid jazz pianist.
Included in March 30, 2008

Chiaroscuro

2008-04-01T04:00:00Z

Chiaroscuro was written for Hultgren. The title (from Italian meaning “bright/dark”) comes from the technique of drawing that focuses extensively on the use of shading to create the illusion of depth. This composition is an intimate piece that captures the resonance of the cello from percussive to pitched sounds. Like a pencil or charcoal drawing, the creation of a palate stemming from one source (the cello) that would be further shaded, highlighted and exaggerated by the electroacoustic music, which is generated entirely from recorded cello sounds. The formal structure of Chiaroscuro encompasses three large sections with the addition of an introduction and a coda. The introduction, percussive in nature, serves to conjure the sound at the opening of the piece, while the coda is a reflection of the piece as a whole. The middle section consists of a controlled improvisation using thematic elements found throughout the work.
Mikel Kuehn
Included in performance of March 30, 2008

Amy Canada

2008-04-01T03:56:00Z

Amy Canada earned her M.A. in composition from the State University of New York in Stony Brook, a B.M. in piano performance from William Paterson University and has pursued advanced studies in composition at Temple University. Her composition teachers include Daria Semegen, Jeffrey Kresky, John Link, and Maurice Wright.
Included March 30, 2008

Elegy

2008-04-01T03:55:00Z

Elegy was composed following the tragedy that occurred on September 11, 2001. Through shifting textures of slow lyrical lines that are interrupted by stuttering pizzicato phrases, the piece aims to convey coexisting emotions of sorrow and apprehension. The relatively systematic construction of the piece, which utilizes tetrachords, reflects an attempt to restore order to the psychological turmoil suffered by Americans during the aftermath of the tragedy.
Amy Canada
Performed: March 30, 2008