The Steve Hudson Chamber Ensemble, led by composer Steve Hudson – piano/melodica, and featuring Zach Brock – violin, Jody Redhage – cello/voice, and Martin Urbach – cajon/percussion, returns to play a live show backing their critically acclaimed album “Galactic Diamonds” – on Friday, November 18th, 8 and 9:30pm, at An die Musik, 409 N. Charles Street, Baltimore. Call 888.221.6170 or 410.385.2638 for more info. There is a $10 cover charge.

Recent praise for their newest recording, Galactic Diamonds:

“the debut recording from his Steve Hudson Chamber Ensemble, Galactic Diamonds, is a collection of little gems.” — All About Jazz

“Once in a while something comes over the transom here that’s so disarmingly fun that it’s impossible to resist: the Steve Hudson’s Chamber Ensemble new album, Galactic Diamonds is a prime example. It’s a good-naturedly eclectic mix of third stream jazz with a catchy, quirky pop edge.” — Lucid Culture

“Whether pushing the envelope with energetic improvisations or crafting more gradually developing essays, the Steve Hudson Ensemble is consistently engaging.” — Christian Carey, Signal To Noise

Praised by Keyboard Magazine for his “exquisite compositions” and for “a quest for beauty in his lines that evoke the masters,” Steve Hudson has worked with Steven Bernstein, James Zollar, Marcus Rojas, and Claire Daly. Zach Brock has performed and recorded with Stanley Clarke, Joel Harrison, and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, while Jody Redhage currently tours with bassist Esperanza Spalding and has performed with the Tokyo String Quartet, and Bang on a Can.  Martin Urbach has shared the stage with Lee Konitz and Dave Liebman. The ensemble was recently selected to perform at Chamber Music America’s national conference in New York in January 2011, and in March 2011 toured Italy and Austria to promote “Galactic Diamonds.”

Steve Hudson is a pianist and composer based in New York City whose compositions and piano style embrace the history of jazz, blues, folk, and modern classical music, all with a free spirited love of improvisation. Recently, Steve and saxophonist Claire Daly premiered an extended suite at the Juneau Jazz Festival dedicated to the Alaskan explorer Mary Joyce which they also took to Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Held every year in late October, at the time of the birthday of the legendary Chinese philosopher, hundreds of young musicians compete in the annual Music Festival in Honor of Confucius (MFHC), where they perform selected Chinese music, as well as a western piece of their choosing, for a panel of judges. The Festival this year, although not open to the general public, will take place Sunday, October 23rd at the Sherwood Conservatory of Music. The deadline for application was September 19, – complete information is at www.chinesefinearts.org.

All first prize winners of the MFHC are invited to perform at the Annual Winners Concert. This yearʼs concert will be held on Sunday, November 20 at 3:00 pm at the historic Preston Bradley Hall in the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington. As always, this concert is free and open to the public. Parents and family, as well as the public, get the chance to hear and enjoy various musical pieces, originating from both the East and West. More information about the Chicago Cultural Center is at www.chicagoculturalcenter.org or by calling 312 744 6630.

Continue reading “27th Annual Music Festival in Honor of Confucius, sponsored by the Chinese Fine Arts Society”

VITAL VOX: A VOCAL FESTIVAL explores the myriad power of the human voice in its solo and ensemble forms across a multitude of genres. The 3rd Annual festival will take place on November 5 and 6 at 8pm, at the brand new Roulette, 509 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, NY (2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, G, D, M, N, R, B & Q trains and the LIRR). Tickets are $15 ($10 Students/Seniors/Members) and can be purchased at www.roulette.org or by calling 917-267-0363. VITAL VOX (www.vitalvoxfest.com) celebrates composer-performers in the vocal arts who stretch and expand the voice in new and original ways, continuing a strong contemporary tradition developed in the United States.

Over the course of two diverse evenings VITAL VOX explores “Voice + Keys” as well as “Voice + Strings.” The first evening will explore vocal works supported by keyboard instruments, whether the keys of the piano or ‘keys’ of a laptop. The second will delve into vocal music utilizing traditional western string instruments such as the cello and violin alongside world instruments like the bowed psaltery, hurdy gurdy and Finnish kantele. Performances draw from wide-ranging international influences and genres including jazz, experimental, contemporary, free improvisation, world music, and interactive electro-acoustic; Morse code, audio sampling, a house plant and theater collide in a heady, appealing mix of experimentation.

The November 5, 2011 program (Voice + Keys) includes ‘Vor an Sicht’ by Judith Berkson; ‘Scaling’ performed by Gelsey Bell and Paul Pinto; ‘{kaleid-o-phone}’ performed by Dafna Naphtali.

The November 6, 2011 program (Voice + Strings) includes ‘Wood in the Wind’ performed by Iva Bittova; Toby Twining Music (Toby Twining & Malina Rauschenfels); SoCorpo (Sasha Bogdanowitsch & Sabrina Lastman)

VITAL VOX premiered in May 2009 at Teatro IATI (International Theatre Arts Institute) in the East Village and continued in 2010 at ISSUE Project Room. Since its founding, the Festival has brought together some of the most talented & creative vocalists in NYC, and featured nearly 20 projects and 30 vocalists. Sasha Bogdanowitsch & Sabrina Lastman are Artistic Directors for the festival, which is produced by World in One & Roulette. Roulette is a major New York City venue for contemporary music and intermedia art, internationally recognized for the presentation and promotion of experimental contemporary music, an incubator for young talent and a laboratory where new ideas and new technologies are examined, appraised and developed.
VITAL VOX 2011 PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS:

Continue reading “Vital Vox Festival at Brooklyn’s New ROULETTE, Nov. 5-6”

On October 21 and  23, pianist Inna Faliks will perform a varied program at Chicago’s Music in the Loft including Schubert’s Sonata in a minor opus 143, Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes, numbers 10 and 11, Sofia Gubaidulina’s Chaconne, and Beethoven’s Appassionata sonata opus 57. Music in the Loft, founded in 1992, is dedicated to advancing the professional careers of today’s finest young musicians by providing a venue for the performance of chamber music in an intimate and acoustically superior setting. Performances will be held on Friday, October 21 at 8pm and Sunday October 23, at 3pm. Tickets are $25 ($10 for students) are area available at www.musicintheloft.org

And on November 18, Inna’s Music/Words series returns with Ms. Faliks on the piano along with Cecily Parks, poet. Cecily Parks’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Five Points, The Paris Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, The Yale Review, and elsewhere. The program will include works by CPE Bach, Debussy, Rameau and Beethoven. Pianist Inna Faliks created the series Music/Words in order to foster a chance for poets and musicians to work together and inspire each other, as well as to allow different audiences to come together for these musical-literary events. The concert will be held at Yamaha Artist Services Piano Salon, 689 5th Ave., New York City. Tickets are $20. 212-339-9995 for more information.