A performance by New York City-based Threefifty Duo (Brett Parnell, guitar and Geremy Schulick, guitar) will kick off the inaugural season of Music at First on February 19th, 2010 at 7:30pm. Music at First is a new music series to be held at First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn from February through May of 2010. First Presbyterian Church is located in Brooklyn Heights at 124 Henry St. There is a $10 suggested donation which will be collected at the door. There will be no advance reservations or ticket sales. For more information, please contact musicatfirst@gmail.com.

This series, curated by Wil Smith (New York composer who also serves as organist at First Presbyterian), occurs monthly, featuring one performer or ensemble per evening. Each concert will last about an hour and half each. Smith describes the new series, Music at First, as “a diverse mix of New York City’s best new music ensembles and performers, accessible to a wide audience of both community members and seasoned new music listeners.” Future performances include pianist Kathleen Supové on March 26, cellist/vocalist Jody Redhage and Fire in July on April 16 and flute/percussionist duo Conor Nelson and Ayano Kataoka on May 28 (CD release). » Read more: Threefifty Duo headlines new Brooklyn Music Series

Composers Concordance presents a marathon concert entitled ‘Composers Play Composers’
on Sun., Jan. 31, 2010 - 6PM doors, 7-10PM performance.
Drom
85 Avenue A (between 5th & 6th), New York, NY
212-777-1157.
Live visuals by Astrid Steiner (luma.launisch) and media by Carmen Kordas.

The 23 composers, chosen by a somewhat “random criterion” from an initial list of 150 are: Roger Blanc, Thomas Bo, Luis Andrei Cobo, Charles Coleman, Dan Cooper, Larry Goldman, David Gotay, Patrick Grant, Franz Hackl, Don Hagar, Arthur Kampela, Alon Nechushtan, Daniel Palkowski, Milica Paranosic, Akmal Parwez, Joseph Pehrson, Gene Pritsker, Paola Prestini, Jody Redhage, Kamala Sankaram, William Schimmel, Andrew Violette, and Theodore Wiprud.

This concert, in collaboration with VisionIntoArt, will consist of a 3 hour performance with 23 composers playing their own works. The marathon will have 3 sets with 2 short 10 minute breaks.

Each set will start off with a trio composed by Franz Hackl, trumpet, Charles Coleman, baritone voice and Gene Pritsker on electric guitar. Works and composers featured in the marathon include Arthur Kampela playing and strumming the cello like a guitar, Joseph Pehrson’s piece for piano based on a Beatles song, a composition by Dan Cooper for 7-string electric bass, piano and percussion, a piece for voice and berimbau by Milica Paranosic, a work for soprano sax and piano by Alon Nechushtan, a piece for voice and electronics by Kamala Sankaram and a piano piece by Luis Andrei Cobo.Gene Pritsker, Composers Concordance co-director talks about the concept for this presentation:

“We are exploring the relationship composers have with their instruments and how they go about writing music in which they know that they will be the performer. Dan Cooper and I talked about assembling a large group of composers and requesting a four minute composition from each. We are programming them back-to-back in a marathon setting and constructing a performance that highlights the composer as a performer: short compositions as vehicles for direct expression, from the composer’s mind to body to the audience.”

On the selection of composers: “We selected 150 composers and e-mailed them all on a secretly chosen day and time. The first 23 to respond to this e-mail were programmed for the event. We created a random criterion as opposed to a competition for choosing the participating composers, though all 150 candidates were composers whom we, the Composers Concordance directors, knew and respected.”

Tickets are $10 with a mandatory 2-drink minimum.

The Danny Fox trio will be playing a free show at Caffe Vivaldi in the west village and debuting some new music.

Danny Fox- piano
Chris van Voorst van Beest- bass
Max Goldman- drums

Caffe Vivaldi, 32 Jones Street (Just off of Bleecker east of 7th avenue south)

1 train to Christopher A,C,E,F,V to West 4th
No Cover

www.myspace.com/dannyfoxgroup
www.dannyfoxmusic.com

Madeline Bruser

Relax, recharge, and open up your playing at Meditation for Musicians: A City Retreat
Led By Madeline Bruser

Shambhala Meditation Center, 118 West 22nd Street, 6th Floor, New York, January 30-31

Saturday, January 30, 7pm: Public Talk
Sunday, January 31, 10am – 7:30pm: Meditation and Music Workshops

Come to a relaxed, noncompetitive environment and discover how meditation can help you cultivate the physical ease, mental focus, and emotional range you need for both practicing and performing. The program will include meditation instruction and practice, discussions, a contemplation to help you transform stage fright into confidence, and music workshops, for all instruments, combining physiological, meditative, and musical principles to help you

Sunday schedule
10:00 a.m. Meditation instruction and practice
12:00 noon Discussion
1:00 Lunch (order in or bring your own)
2:15 Walk to nearby Tenrii Cultural Institute
2:30 Music workshops
4:45 Tea break
5:15 Music workshops
6:45 to 7:30 Closing discussion

Performing participants (by application only): $190 full program (includes Saturday)

Nonperforming participants: $95 full program (includes Saturday)

To register, contact the Shambhala Meditation Center: 212-675-6544

Madeline Bruser has presented seminars and workshops at the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, the University of Southern California, the Canadian Conservatory of Music, the MedArt World Congress on Arts and Medicine, the World Piano Pedagogy Conference, the Music Teachers’ National Association convention, and college music departments and music teachers’ organizations in the United States and Canada.

The Avian Orchestra presents Fantastic Music for a Fabulous Time: Chamber rock for the 21st Century.

Wed, Jan. 6th, 2010, 8:00pm @The Cell, 338 West 23rd Street, NYC (bet. 8th and 9th Avenues.)

Tickets $20/$10 students
Seating is LIMITED so buying tickets ahead is strongly encouraged.
Purchase tickets on-line here.

Celebrating their new CD release, The Avian Orchestra, a seven-piece chamber band, once again returns to New York City to rip through a program of rock-and-roll inspired music. They’ve been polishing up with performances in the region over the last month and are ready to give you a great show on Wednesday night at The Cell. The CD will be available for purchase at the low price of $10 and the composers will be around to sign and customize your copy. Even better, hang around after the concert for a WINE AND SWEETS RECEPTION while you chat with the musicians and composers!

The program, a modern mash-up of high and low culture, includes:
• Fantastic Music for a Fabulous Time – Peter Flint’s full-on homage to the musical excess.
• I Wish They All Could Be – Conrad Cummings’ Beach Boys piano fantasy.
• Cable Ready – Michael Gandolfi’s virtuosic trio, quoting Bach, Brahms, and the blue
• Smoke n’ Wid – Richard Belcastro’s slamming quartet for electric guitar and chamber rock trio.
• The Vinyl Six – Jonathan Newman’s tribute to the theme and variations power ballad.
• Swells – David Laganella’s full deconstruction of California surf guitar music

as well as some other musical surprises.

Hear samples of the music here.

The musicians of the Avian Orchestra are among the top free-lance musicians in New York City and will challenge, enthrall, and entertain you with this evening of exciting new music by some of America’s top living composers. A perfect way to add some sizzle to your winter weekend!

The Avian Orchestra is:
Peter Flint, Jr. – artistic director, piano
Arash Amini, cello
Cyrus Beroukhim, violin
Oren Fader, electric guitar
Blair McMillen, piano
Chris Nappi, percussion
Ann Cecil Sterman, flutes
Andrew Sterman, saxophones

For more info visit: http://www.avianmusic.com