By Paul Hertelendy
artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area music
Week of Dec. 11-18, 2006, Vol. 9, No. 41
Didgedo? Didn’t you do?
No, no, it's didjeridu, my favorite-name instrument, brought up to us from Down Under by one of the grand masters, composer Peter Sculthrope.
...
Stephen Kent played three didjeridus, with different pitches. He collaborated marvelously with the West Coast’s Del Sol String Quartet that has long championed modern music and done it stylishly, evocatively. [emphasis added]
...
Original article
Monday, December 18, 2006
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Press Release: Del Sol String Quartet's fall season
Announcing the Del Sol String Quartet's fall season:
"Premieres Without Borders"
(Nov. 5-10 in Point Reyes, Berkeley, Mountain View, and San Francisco)
Festival of New American Music "Four Seasons Concert" with the Melody of China
(November 11 at California State University, Sacramento)
"Concerts4Kids" (November 12 in Mountain View)
Click here to view the PDF of the press release.
"Premieres Without Borders"
(Nov. 5-10 in Point Reyes, Berkeley, Mountain View, and San Francisco)
Festival of New American Music "Four Seasons Concert" with the Melody of China
(November 11 at California State University, Sacramento)
"Concerts4Kids" (November 12 in Mountain View)
Click here to view the PDF of the press release.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Five Alive
In the San Francisco Classical Voice ...
By Mark Alburger
This being the Halloween season, you could say there were two extra guest artists featured with the Del Sol String Quartet on Sunday at St. Kevin's Church in San Francisco. There was the renowned guest-in-residence Joan Jeanrenaud, who was also the founding cellist with the Kronos Quartet. But the works by the other "collaborators" — Franz Schubert (1797-1828) and Marc Blitzstein (1905-1964) — were played so well the composers seemed to have risen from the dead. And Hyo-shin Na's howling treat Song of the Beggars highlighted the innovative tricks of the other works on the program.
More
By Mark Alburger
This being the Halloween season, you could say there were two extra guest artists featured with the Del Sol String Quartet on Sunday at St. Kevin's Church in San Francisco. There was the renowned guest-in-residence Joan Jeanrenaud, who was also the founding cellist with the Kronos Quartet. But the works by the other "collaborators" — Franz Schubert (1797-1828) and Marc Blitzstein (1905-1964) — were played so well the composers seemed to have risen from the dead. And Hyo-shin Na's howling treat Song of the Beggars highlighted the innovative tricks of the other works on the program.
More
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Del Sol's Rich Thrift
In the San Francisco Classical Voice
By Janos Gereben
Money, to be sure, is important — especially if you don't have it — but it's no substitute for brains and guts in musical leadership. Big budgets do not equal high standards of programming excitement and excellence. As reported here last week, small, "regional," fiscally constrained California Symphony, on a budget of $1.65 million, is offering more American and commissioned works than mighty San Francisco Symphony, with its $56 million annual budget. The good folks in Davies Symphony Hall may be playing better than ever, and serving hundreds of thousands of "mainstream" listeners well, but a season of six American works from a major American orchestra? Tsk, tsk.
More
By Janos Gereben
Money, to be sure, is important — especially if you don't have it — but it's no substitute for brains and guts in musical leadership. Big budgets do not equal high standards of programming excitement and excellence. As reported here last week, small, "regional," fiscally constrained California Symphony, on a budget of $1.65 million, is offering more American and commissioned works than mighty San Francisco Symphony, with its $56 million annual budget. The good folks in Davies Symphony Hall may be playing better than ever, and serving hundreds of thousands of "mainstream" listeners well, but a season of six American works from a major American orchestra? Tsk, tsk.
More
Tuesday, August 1, 2006
Review: Roumain's String Quartet #4 at Other Minds 11. Feb. 24-26, 2005
Roumain's String Quartet #4 at Other Minds 11.
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco.
February 24-26, 2005.
"Alone in the first movement, the Del Sol String Quartet revealed itself to be an enthusiastically expressive ensemble, able to play in confident points of imitation across rhythms increasingly complicated both for the performers counting cues and listeners keeping track of the music's hurtling sense of melodic and rhythmic accumulation."
Musicworks #92 Summer 2005, page 48
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco.
February 24-26, 2005.
"Alone in the first movement, the Del Sol String Quartet revealed itself to be an enthusiastically expressive ensemble, able to play in confident points of imitation across rhythms increasingly complicated both for the performers counting cues and listeners keeping track of the music's hurtling sense of melodic and rhythmic accumulation."
Musicworks #92 Summer 2005, page 48
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Press Release: "Four Seasons" concert
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Hong Wang
Melody of China
415-681-8599
http://www.melodyofchina.com
info@melodyofchina.com
San Francisco, CA – Chinese music ensemble Melody of China presents its Four Seasons concert series in which they collaborate with the vibrant, acclaimed Del Sol String Quartet. The two groups will perform an exciting fusion of eastern and western traditions, featuring two new commissioned works for the combined musicians as well as John Cage’s 1950 masterpiece for quartet (based on the seasons), Yuanlin Chen’s Two Prose Poems, and traditional Chinese music. World premieres in this concert series are Kui Dong’s Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter suite, Bay Area composer Duo Huang’s Deep Mountains, and Dawei Wang’s “Jasmine Flower.”
The Four Seasons concert series continues in June:
8:00 PM, Friday June 2nd, 2006
St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Avenue, Berkeley
Tickets: $20 general, $15 seniors (65 and older), $15 students
(415) 508-5799, www.melodyofchina.com/tickets.html
8:00 PM, Saturday, June 10th, 2006.
Old First Church, 1751 Sacramento Street, San Francisco
Tickets: $15 general, $12 seniors (65 and older), $12 students
Box office: (415) 474-1608
http://www.oldfirstconcerts.org/calendar.html
Composer Kui Dong was born in Beijing, China and received B.A. and M.A. degrees in theory and composition from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. In 1991 she moved to the United States, where she obtained a Ph.D. in composition from Stanford University. Since 2003, she has been an associate professor of music at Dartmouth College. Kui Dong's compositions span diverse genres and styles and include ballet, orchestral and chamber works, chorus, electro-acoustic music, film scores and multi-media art. While studying at the Central Conservatory in Beijing, she studied Western classical and early contemporary music, Chinese classical and folk music, and produced a number of chamber and orchestral compositions. She has received numerous honors and awards including the 2001 ISCM international composition prize, a Rockefeller Bellagio Residency and residency at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program.
Duo Huang was born in Hunan, China. At a very young age, he worked as a pianist and composer in The Song & Dance Troupe of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. He was later accepted by Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Twice recipient of the prestigious “Sheng Xing Gong” award, Huang graduated with first class honors and received his B.A. and M.A. degrees in composition in 1989. From 1982-1992, Huang produced numerous works including a three-act ballet for orchestra, as well as film scores and commercials for major television stations and broadcasting companies across the country. He also freelanced as a performer with symphony orchestras in Beijing. Since 1995, he has worked as a software engineer in San Mateo and has continued to compose and perform with Melody of China and other musicians.
Dawei Wang has composed orchestra music, songs, and Chinese traditional dance music. Many of his musical compositions are used as music text material for colleges and universities throughout China, particularly in the Shanghai area. His world premiere, Jasmine Flower, is a quartet for four Chinese instruments, based on a very popular folk song from Jiangsu Province. Wang is currently a resident composer, the music director of Melody of China, Los Angeles branch, and is a member of the China Musician Association, Shanghai branch. At age 18 Wang began to compose and conduct orchestra. Wang attended the Music School of Shanghai Teachers University, and from 1982-1989 was the Director of Music Education & Research Center in Shanghai College of Education.
Del Sol String Quartet was awarded First Prize for Adventurous Programming (Mixed Repertory) by ASCAP/Chamber Music America in January 2006. Founded in 1992 during a residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts (Alberta, Canada), Del Sol focuses on performance of new chamber music and lesser known 20th century works, collaborates with many living composers, and presents a home season of its own concerts in the Bay Area. Del Sol also actively tours and conducts educational outreach activities at schools and universities in the Bay Area and elsewhere – all in an effort to continually reach new audiences. Del Sol recently was featured with hip-hop violinist/composer Daniel Bernard Roumain on the CBS Evening News with Bob Schieffer.
Melody of China is a Chinese music ensemble based in the San Francisco Bay Area, formed in 1993 by a group of enthusiastic professional musicians from some of the most prestigious music conservatories in China. The ensemble has a twofold mission: to promote Chinese classical, folk and contemporary music, and to provide quality entertainment through the synergy between an ancient cultural tradition and the youthful, multicolored American culture. The group performs regular concerts and presents a variety of educational programs for local schools and the community.
The Four Seasons concert series is supported in part by grants from the National Endowment For The Arts, the James Irvine Foundation, Meet the Composer (Commissioning Music/USA Fund), Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, San Francisco Arts Commission, and the Zellerbach Family Fund.
###
Contact:
Hong Wang
Melody of China
415-681-8599
http://www.melodyofchina.com
info@melodyofchina.com
San Francisco, CA – Chinese music ensemble Melody of China presents its Four Seasons concert series in which they collaborate with the vibrant, acclaimed Del Sol String Quartet. The two groups will perform an exciting fusion of eastern and western traditions, featuring two new commissioned works for the combined musicians as well as John Cage’s 1950 masterpiece for quartet (based on the seasons), Yuanlin Chen’s Two Prose Poems, and traditional Chinese music. World premieres in this concert series are Kui Dong’s Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter suite, Bay Area composer Duo Huang’s Deep Mountains, and Dawei Wang’s “Jasmine Flower.”
The Four Seasons concert series continues in June:
8:00 PM, Friday June 2nd, 2006
St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Avenue, Berkeley
Tickets: $20 general, $15 seniors (65 and older), $15 students
(415) 508-5799, www.melodyofchina.com/tickets.html
8:00 PM, Saturday, June 10th, 2006.
Old First Church, 1751 Sacramento Street, San Francisco
Tickets: $15 general, $12 seniors (65 and older), $12 students
Box office: (415) 474-1608
http://www.oldfirstconcerts.org/calendar.html
Composer Kui Dong was born in Beijing, China and received B.A. and M.A. degrees in theory and composition from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. In 1991 she moved to the United States, where she obtained a Ph.D. in composition from Stanford University. Since 2003, she has been an associate professor of music at Dartmouth College. Kui Dong's compositions span diverse genres and styles and include ballet, orchestral and chamber works, chorus, electro-acoustic music, film scores and multi-media art. While studying at the Central Conservatory in Beijing, she studied Western classical and early contemporary music, Chinese classical and folk music, and produced a number of chamber and orchestral compositions. She has received numerous honors and awards including the 2001 ISCM international composition prize, a Rockefeller Bellagio Residency and residency at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program.
Duo Huang was born in Hunan, China. At a very young age, he worked as a pianist and composer in The Song & Dance Troupe of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. He was later accepted by Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Twice recipient of the prestigious “Sheng Xing Gong” award, Huang graduated with first class honors and received his B.A. and M.A. degrees in composition in 1989. From 1982-1992, Huang produced numerous works including a three-act ballet for orchestra, as well as film scores and commercials for major television stations and broadcasting companies across the country. He also freelanced as a performer with symphony orchestras in Beijing. Since 1995, he has worked as a software engineer in San Mateo and has continued to compose and perform with Melody of China and other musicians.
Dawei Wang has composed orchestra music, songs, and Chinese traditional dance music. Many of his musical compositions are used as music text material for colleges and universities throughout China, particularly in the Shanghai area. His world premiere, Jasmine Flower, is a quartet for four Chinese instruments, based on a very popular folk song from Jiangsu Province. Wang is currently a resident composer, the music director of Melody of China, Los Angeles branch, and is a member of the China Musician Association, Shanghai branch. At age 18 Wang began to compose and conduct orchestra. Wang attended the Music School of Shanghai Teachers University, and from 1982-1989 was the Director of Music Education & Research Center in Shanghai College of Education.
Del Sol String Quartet was awarded First Prize for Adventurous Programming (Mixed Repertory) by ASCAP/Chamber Music America in January 2006. Founded in 1992 during a residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts (Alberta, Canada), Del Sol focuses on performance of new chamber music and lesser known 20th century works, collaborates with many living composers, and presents a home season of its own concerts in the Bay Area. Del Sol also actively tours and conducts educational outreach activities at schools and universities in the Bay Area and elsewhere – all in an effort to continually reach new audiences. Del Sol recently was featured with hip-hop violinist/composer Daniel Bernard Roumain on the CBS Evening News with Bob Schieffer.
Melody of China is a Chinese music ensemble based in the San Francisco Bay Area, formed in 1993 by a group of enthusiastic professional musicians from some of the most prestigious music conservatories in China. The ensemble has a twofold mission: to promote Chinese classical, folk and contemporary music, and to provide quality entertainment through the synergy between an ancient cultural tradition and the youthful, multicolored American culture. The group performs regular concerts and presents a variety of educational programs for local schools and the community.
The Four Seasons concert series is supported in part by grants from the National Endowment For The Arts, the James Irvine Foundation, Meet the Composer (Commissioning Music/USA Fund), Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, San Francisco Arts Commission, and the Zellerbach Family Fund.
###
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Press Release: "Northernn Lights"
"Northern Lights" -- A Tribute to Canadian Composers by the Del Sol String Quartet
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Kate Stenberg
Del Sol String Quartet
415-665-7847
http://www.delsolquartet.com/
kate@delsolquartet.com
San Francisco, CA -- Del Sol String Quartet (DSSQ) will showcase four of the most innovative living composers from Canada in the next concert of the Del Sol Performing Arts Organization’s Home Season. At the upcoming "Northern Lights” concert, DSSQ will perform the world premiere of String Quartet No. 2, "Nostalgia" (2002/2006), by Ronald Bruce Smith (b. 1961, Canada). The performance also includes “As You Pass A Reflective Surface” (1991) by Linda Catlin Smith (b. 1957, USA), String Quartet No. 3 (1981) by R. Murray Schafer (b. 1933, Canada), and “Spanish Garland --12 Folk Melodies from Spain” (1993) by José Evangelista (b. 1943, Spain).
DSSQ will perform this repertoire in four concerts across the Bay Area.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006, at 8:00pm - Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley.
Thursday, May 25th, at 7:00pm - Tateuchi Hall, Finn Center, 230 San Antonio Cir., Mountain View.
Friday, May 26th, at 8:00pm - the Green Room of the SF War Memorial, 401 Van Ness Ave.,San Francisco.
Sunday, May 28th, at 4:00pm - the Dance Palace, 5th and B Streets, Point Reyes Station.
Tickets for each performance are available at the door: $20/$15 seniors/$7 students.
In January 2006 DSSQ was awarded First Prize for Adventurous Programming (Mixed Repertory) by ASCAP/Chamber Music America. Founded in 1992 during a residency at the Canadian artists' retreat, Banff Centre for the Arts, DSSQ specializes in music of the Americas and recently was featured with hip-hop violinist/composer Daniel Bernard Roumain on the CBS Evening News with Bob Schieffer.
Ronald Bruce Smith's evocative music is based on mathematical principles but is full of emotional depth and is as exquisitely wrought as a maple leaf. Smith's music often has a contemplative character, a preoccupation with enhancing the resonance of a given ensemble and an openness to new sound sources. Although DSSQ has played two of the movements of this work previously, this performance marks the world premiere of the entire four-movement composition.
Linda Catlin Smith's "As You Pass A Reflective Surface" (1991) uses notes sparingly to create a shimmering, ethereal space. She writes, "I want to make time larger than it is, as though the listener is examining something up close --closer than a usual perspective . . . an intimate perspective."
R. Murray Schafer is known as the writer of books on the world soundscape and its evolution. His String Quartet No. 3 (1981) is a four-movement essay of surpassing complexity.
José Evangelista, a composer, computer scientist and physicist born in Valencia, Spain, has resided for over thirty years in Montréal and often incorporates traditional ethnic music into his work. His "Spanish Garland" treats twelve different folk melodies from Spain in an inventive and whirlwind tour de force.
For information: http://www.delsolquartet.com/ or
Contact: kate@delsolquartet.com
Phone: 415-665-7847
# # #
PSA Request
For Immediate Release: April 4, 2006
Contact: Kate Stenberg
415-665-7847, kate@delsolquartet.com
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT REQUEST
EVENT: "NORTHERN LIGHTS” – A TRIBUTE TO CANADIAN COMPOSERS
EVENT DATE: WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2006, 8 PM
EVENT LOCATION: ASHBY STAGE, 1901 ASHBY AVE, BERKELEY, CA
EVENT DATE: THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2006, 7 PM
EVENT LOCATION: TATEUCHI HALL. FINN CENTER. 230 SAN ANTONIO CIRCLE,
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA
EVENT DATE: EVENT DATE: FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2006, 8 PM
EVENT LOCATION: GREEN ROOM OF THE SF WAR MEMORIAL, 401 VAN NESS AVE.,
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
EVENT DATE: SUNDAY, MAY 28, 2006, 4 PM
EVENT LOCATION: DANCE PALACE, 5TH AND B STREETS, POINT REYES STATION, CA
15 SECONDS:
DEL SOL STRING QUARTET WILL SHOWCASE FOUR OF THE MOST INNOVATIVE LIVING COMPOSERS FROM CANADA: R. MURRAY SCHAFER, JOSÉ EVANGELISTA, RONALD BRUCE SMITH, AND LINDA CATLIN SMITH. WEDNESDAY, MAY 24TH, THROUGH SUNDAY, MAY 28TH AT VARIOUS VENUES IN THE BAY AREA.
VISIT DELSOLQUARTET.COM OR CALL 415-665-7847 FOR MORE INFORMATION.
# # # #
Founded in 1992, the Del Sol String Quartet specializes in music of the Americas. The Del Sol Performing Arts Organization brings chamber music to the general public through the Quartet’s concert performances, educational and community outreach programs, composer retrospectives, commissioning of new works, and recordings.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Kate Stenberg
Del Sol String Quartet
415-665-7847
http://www.delsolquartet.com/
kate@delsolquartet.com
San Francisco, CA -- Del Sol String Quartet (DSSQ) will showcase four of the most innovative living composers from Canada in the next concert of the Del Sol Performing Arts Organization’s Home Season. At the upcoming "Northern Lights” concert, DSSQ will perform the world premiere of String Quartet No. 2, "Nostalgia" (2002/2006), by Ronald Bruce Smith (b. 1961, Canada). The performance also includes “As You Pass A Reflective Surface” (1991) by Linda Catlin Smith (b. 1957, USA), String Quartet No. 3 (1981) by R. Murray Schafer (b. 1933, Canada), and “Spanish Garland --12 Folk Melodies from Spain” (1993) by José Evangelista (b. 1943, Spain).
DSSQ will perform this repertoire in four concerts across the Bay Area.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006, at 8:00pm - Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley.
Thursday, May 25th, at 7:00pm - Tateuchi Hall, Finn Center, 230 San Antonio Cir., Mountain View.
Friday, May 26th, at 8:00pm - the Green Room of the SF War Memorial, 401 Van Ness Ave.,San Francisco.
Sunday, May 28th, at 4:00pm - the Dance Palace, 5th and B Streets, Point Reyes Station.
Tickets for each performance are available at the door: $20/$15 seniors/$7 students.
In January 2006 DSSQ was awarded First Prize for Adventurous Programming (Mixed Repertory) by ASCAP/Chamber Music America. Founded in 1992 during a residency at the Canadian artists' retreat, Banff Centre for the Arts, DSSQ specializes in music of the Americas and recently was featured with hip-hop violinist/composer Daniel Bernard Roumain on the CBS Evening News with Bob Schieffer.
Ronald Bruce Smith's evocative music is based on mathematical principles but is full of emotional depth and is as exquisitely wrought as a maple leaf. Smith's music often has a contemplative character, a preoccupation with enhancing the resonance of a given ensemble and an openness to new sound sources. Although DSSQ has played two of the movements of this work previously, this performance marks the world premiere of the entire four-movement composition.
Linda Catlin Smith's "As You Pass A Reflective Surface" (1991) uses notes sparingly to create a shimmering, ethereal space. She writes, "I want to make time larger than it is, as though the listener is examining something up close --closer than a usual perspective . . . an intimate perspective."
R. Murray Schafer is known as the writer of books on the world soundscape and its evolution. His String Quartet No. 3 (1981) is a four-movement essay of surpassing complexity.
José Evangelista, a composer, computer scientist and physicist born in Valencia, Spain, has resided for over thirty years in Montréal and often incorporates traditional ethnic music into his work. His "Spanish Garland" treats twelve different folk melodies from Spain in an inventive and whirlwind tour de force.
For information: http://www.delsolquartet.com/ or
Contact: kate@delsolquartet.com
Phone: 415-665-7847
# # #
PSA Request
For Immediate Release: April 4, 2006
Contact: Kate Stenberg
415-665-7847, kate@delsolquartet.com
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT REQUEST
EVENT: "NORTHERN LIGHTS” – A TRIBUTE TO CANADIAN COMPOSERS
EVENT DATE: WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2006, 8 PM
EVENT LOCATION: ASHBY STAGE, 1901 ASHBY AVE, BERKELEY, CA
EVENT DATE: THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2006, 7 PM
EVENT LOCATION: TATEUCHI HALL. FINN CENTER. 230 SAN ANTONIO CIRCLE,
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA
EVENT DATE: EVENT DATE: FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2006, 8 PM
EVENT LOCATION: GREEN ROOM OF THE SF WAR MEMORIAL, 401 VAN NESS AVE.,
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
EVENT DATE: SUNDAY, MAY 28, 2006, 4 PM
EVENT LOCATION: DANCE PALACE, 5TH AND B STREETS, POINT REYES STATION, CA
15 SECONDS:
DEL SOL STRING QUARTET WILL SHOWCASE FOUR OF THE MOST INNOVATIVE LIVING COMPOSERS FROM CANADA: R. MURRAY SCHAFER, JOSÉ EVANGELISTA, RONALD BRUCE SMITH, AND LINDA CATLIN SMITH. WEDNESDAY, MAY 24TH, THROUGH SUNDAY, MAY 28TH AT VARIOUS VENUES IN THE BAY AREA.
VISIT DELSOLQUARTET.COM OR CALL 415-665-7847 FOR MORE INFORMATION.
# # # #
Founded in 1992, the Del Sol String Quartet specializes in music of the Americas. The Del Sol Performing Arts Organization brings chamber music to the general public through the Quartet’s concert performances, educational and community outreach programs, composer retrospectives, commissioning of new works, and recordings.
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Chinary Ung Receives Koussevitzky Commission for New Del Sol Piece
Library of Congress Koussevitzky Foundation Announces 2005 Commission Winners
The Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress and the Koussevitzky Music Foundation Inc. have awarded commissions for new musical works to nine composers. The commissions are granted jointly by the foundations and the performing organizations that will present the newly composed works.
...
Chinary Ung will write a new work for the San Francisco-based Del Sol String Quartet. This marks the third Koussevitzky award for Ung, whose earlier commissions were for mezzo-soprano and chamber ensemble ("Mohori," 1973) and for wind quintet ("Spiral VII," 1994). Born in Cambodia, Ung came to the United States in 1964 to attend the Manhattan School of Music, where he received degrees in clarinet performance before earning his doctorate in composition at Columbia University. In 1989 he became the first American to win the coveted Grawemeyer Award for his "Inner Voices," commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Published exclusively by C.F. Peters, his music is recorded on the CRI, New World and Argo labels. Ung is professor of composition at the University of California, San Diego.
Original article
The Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress and the Koussevitzky Music Foundation Inc. have awarded commissions for new musical works to nine composers. The commissions are granted jointly by the foundations and the performing organizations that will present the newly composed works.
...
Chinary Ung will write a new work for the San Francisco-based Del Sol String Quartet. This marks the third Koussevitzky award for Ung, whose earlier commissions were for mezzo-soprano and chamber ensemble ("Mohori," 1973) and for wind quintet ("Spiral VII," 1994). Born in Cambodia, Ung came to the United States in 1964 to attend the Manhattan School of Music, where he received degrees in clarinet performance before earning his doctorate in composition at Columbia University. In 1989 he became the first American to win the coveted Grawemeyer Award for his "Inner Voices," commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Published exclusively by C.F. Peters, his music is recorded on the CRI, New World and Argo labels. Ung is professor of composition at the University of California, San Diego.
Original article
Saturday, April 1, 2006
Antheil: Quartets
by Elaine Fine, American Record Guide, March/April 2006
... The Del Sol Quartet is a young ensemble from San Francisco. It is clear that Antheil's music speaks to them, and they seem to understand it thoroughly. After decades of people trying to understand what Antheil was all about, this quartet is able to 'hear' his visionary voice very clearly, and now we can too....
... The Del Sol Quartet is a young ensemble from San Francisco. It is clear that Antheil's music speaks to them, and they seem to understand it thoroughly. After decades of people trying to understand what Antheil was all about, this quartet is able to 'hear' his visionary voice very clearly, and now we can too....
Wednesday, February 1, 2006
Press Release: "A Civil Rights Reader for Strings, Laptop & DJ"
Media Contact: Diane Roby, RED Communications
(415) 931-5367, reddroby@earthlink.net
Photos available for direct download:
Daniel Bernard Roumain — http://dbrmusic.com/download.htm
Del Sol — http://www.delsolquartet.com/press.html
Other Minds presents Daniel Bernard Roumain performing
A Civil Rights Reader for Strings, Laptop & DJ
with Del Sol String Quartet and special guest DJ Scientific
Monday, March 6, 2006, 7:30pm
Kanbar Hall, Jewish Community Center, 3200 California Street, San Francisco
San Francisco, February 1, 2006 — Hip-hop meets the string quartet as Other Minds presents an evening of cutting edge music-making with charismatic Haitian-American composer and classical violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain performing A Civil Rights Reader for Strings, Laptop & DJ in concert with the Del Sol String Quartet and DJ Scientific. The one-night-only concert of Roumain’s string quartets, performed together for the first time, is presented by Other Minds in association with the Eugene and Elinor Friend Center for the Arts and Sozo Media. The event is followed by a discussion onstage with Roumain and Charles Amirkhanian, Executive & Artistic Director of Other Minds. The concert is on Monday, March 6, 2006, at 7:30 pm at Kanbar Hall in the Jewish Community Center, 3200 California St., San Francisco. Tickets ($30 / $26 / $20) are available online at www.jccsf.org/tickets, or by calling the JCCSF Box Office at (415) 292-1233. The event is sponsored by historic Stewart Mineral Springs of Weed, CA, which will give away a weekend getaway for two to a lucky audience member. For further information, contact Other Minds at (415) 934-8134, www.otherminds.org.
Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) is a pioneer in new musical forms who marries the instrumentation of string quartet with electric violin, laptop, and hip-hop turntablist. The Del Sol String Quartet reunite with Roumain, whose String Quartet No. 4 they premiered in a spellbinding performance at the 11th Other Minds Music Festival in March 2005. This first-ever performance of four of Roumain’s string quartets, A Civil Rights Reader, celebrates iconic figures of American Civil Rights to whom he dedicates each piece: Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., and Maya Angelou.
“Daniel's music unites the best qualities of research and questioning with pure entertainment,” says Amirkhanian. “He's just the kind of breakthrough composer that Other Minds loves to champion. This really is ‘revelationary’ music that speaks to a wide audience, including more traditional classical fans. His obviously sympathetic chemistry with Del Sol has given him the best-ever performances of his string quartet pieces. And the musical portraiture of his Civil Rights heroes in each work contribute an added emotional layer of musical imagination.”
The program features the Del Sol String Quartet performing String Quartet No. 1, X (1993); String Quartet No. 2, King (2001); String Quartet No. 3, Powell (2003); and String Quartet No. 4, Angelou (2004) with electric violin and turntablist, which was commissioned by Other Minds and premiered at the 2005 Other Minds Festival. Roumain joins Del Sol on electric violin for String Quartet No. 2 and No. 4, with turntablist DJ Scientific.
Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) is a composer, performer, violinist, and bandleader who seamlessly blends funk, rock, hip-hop and classical music into a new sonic vision. His dramatic soul-inspiring pieces range from orchestral scores to energetic chamber works to rock songs and electronica, all embracing modern musical genres woven with a multicolored spectrum of popular music. His music was chosen by The New York Times as the #3 Best Classical Moment of 2003, and is praised by classical and popular music critics alike. DBR has collaborated with Philip Glass, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Vernon Reid, DJs Radar, Spooky, and Scientific, Susan Sarandon, Cassandra Wilson, and an array of orchestras and chamber ensembles. His 9-piece band DBR & THE MISSION, features an amplified string quartet, drum kit, keyboards, vocalist, DJ, and laptopist. The Dallas, Memphis, San Antonio, and St. Louis orchestras have performed or commissioned his works. He is Music Director of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and Assistant Composer-in-Residence of the Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL). DBR performed his arrangements of Cassandra Wilson's Glamoured with the jazz vocalist and her quintet while conducting the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and Buffalo Philharmonic; rocked with DJ Spooky at the Lincoln Center Summer Festival; and composed music for and performed in the European premiere of Bill T. Jones' Another Evening at the RomaEuropa Festival in Italy. As Artist-in-Residence at Arizona State University, he performed ROCKESTRA:A Hip Hop Music and Dance Party featuring DJ Radar, and returned to collaborate with Philip Glass in SEEN AND HEARD:Philip Glass and Daniel Roumain Together on Screen, Stage and in Sound. Current projects include Vision Blinding for violin, video, and voice, his fourth evening-length solo show; 24 Bits: Hip Hop Studies and Etudes performed by DBR on piano and laptop; and the most recent Bill T. Jones/DBR collaboration, Blind Date, a large-scale work for multiple video installations, a classical violinist, two throat-singers, and the company. On March 17th, the American Composers Orchestra will premiere his Call Them All: Fantasy Projections for Film, Laptop and Orchestra at Zankel Hall in New York. For more information or to hear selections of his music, visit www.dbrmusic.com
Del Sol String Quartet — Kate Stenberg and Rick Shinozaki, violinists, Charlton Lee, violist, and Monica Smith, cellist — was honored recently with first prize in the 2006 ASCAP/Chamber Music America Award for Adventurous Programming in the category of “mixed repertoire chamber groups.” Founded in 1992, the Del Sol String Quartet began in residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts, followed by a residency at San Francisco State University in association with the Alexander String Quartet. In February 2005 Del Sol premiered the Other Minds-commissioned Quartet No. 4 of Daniel Bernard Roumain at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. The success of the collaboration led to this effort to introduce more of Roumain’s works to San Francisco. Del Sol appears on programs presented by Other Minds, San Francisco Performances, Montalvo Arts Center, and Santa Fe New Music/Santa Fe Opera. Del Sol’s critically-acclaimed 2005 CD of the complete string quartet repertory of George Antheil (1900-1959) on the Other Minds label (OM 1008-2) is the definitive recording of these pieces and is available from the webstore at www.otherminds.org.
DJ Scientific (Chris Davis, originally of Oakland, CA), a seasoned producer, engineer, laptopist and DJ, attended the School of Audio Engineering in New York. He became prominent performing at New York clubs and social events. He has collaborated extensively with Daniel Bernard Roumain since 2003 as a member of DBR & THE MISSION, where he has helped develop a unique, amplified, hip-hop-inspired soundscape. DJ Scientific performed with Roumain and Del Sol at Other Minds 11 in 2005, and has performed with Roumain at numerous other venues, including The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. He recently designed sound installations for the Studio Museum in Harlem, and founded a DJ collective, C.O.S. Productions.
Other Minds is a leading organization for new and experimental music in all its forms, devoted to championing the most original, eccentric, and underrepresented creative voices in contemporary music through the annual Other Minds Music Festival, the online new music archives at RadiOM.org, and the Other Minds Records label. The organization has just been awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s “Save America’s Treasures” program in the amount of $180,000 to continue digitizing audiotapes of interviews and music by leading composers of the 20th century recorded over a thirty-year period at KPFA Radio in Berkeley. In partnership with the Internet Archive, Other Minds is making the newly-digitized files available free for listening at www.radiOM.org. The 12th Other Minds Music Festival is scheduled for December 8-9, 2006, at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. Invited composers include Daniel David Feinsmith (San Francisco), Per Nørgård (Denmark), Peter Sculthorpe (Australia), Markus Stockhausen (Germany), and Maja Ratkje (Norway). Stay tuned for additional composers to be announced.
The March 6 concert is sponsored by historic Stewart Mineral Springs of Weed, near Mt. Shasta. At the concert, a lucky audience member can win a 2-night getaway at Stewart Mineral Springs’ newly remodeled Wellness Room Cabin (the first of its kind in Northern California). The winner will also have the opportunity to experience a mineral bath in the healing waters of the Springs, which will include relaxing in a woodstove-heated sauna. For more information on Stewart Mineral Springs, view www.stewartmineralsprings.com
— For more information, visit www.otherminds.org —
(415) 931-5367, reddroby@earthlink.net
Photos available for direct download:
Daniel Bernard Roumain — http://dbrmusic.com/download.htm
Del Sol — http://www.delsolquartet.com/press.html
Other Minds presents Daniel Bernard Roumain performing
A Civil Rights Reader for Strings, Laptop & DJ
with Del Sol String Quartet and special guest DJ Scientific
Monday, March 6, 2006, 7:30pm
Kanbar Hall, Jewish Community Center, 3200 California Street, San Francisco
San Francisco, February 1, 2006 — Hip-hop meets the string quartet as Other Minds presents an evening of cutting edge music-making with charismatic Haitian-American composer and classical violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain performing A Civil Rights Reader for Strings, Laptop & DJ in concert with the Del Sol String Quartet and DJ Scientific. The one-night-only concert of Roumain’s string quartets, performed together for the first time, is presented by Other Minds in association with the Eugene and Elinor Friend Center for the Arts and Sozo Media. The event is followed by a discussion onstage with Roumain and Charles Amirkhanian, Executive & Artistic Director of Other Minds. The concert is on Monday, March 6, 2006, at 7:30 pm at Kanbar Hall in the Jewish Community Center, 3200 California St., San Francisco. Tickets ($30 / $26 / $20) are available online at www.jccsf.org/tickets, or by calling the JCCSF Box Office at (415) 292-1233. The event is sponsored by historic Stewart Mineral Springs of Weed, CA, which will give away a weekend getaway for two to a lucky audience member. For further information, contact Other Minds at (415) 934-8134, www.otherminds.org.
Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) is a pioneer in new musical forms who marries the instrumentation of string quartet with electric violin, laptop, and hip-hop turntablist. The Del Sol String Quartet reunite with Roumain, whose String Quartet No. 4 they premiered in a spellbinding performance at the 11th Other Minds Music Festival in March 2005. This first-ever performance of four of Roumain’s string quartets, A Civil Rights Reader, celebrates iconic figures of American Civil Rights to whom he dedicates each piece: Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., and Maya Angelou.
“Daniel's music unites the best qualities of research and questioning with pure entertainment,” says Amirkhanian. “He's just the kind of breakthrough composer that Other Minds loves to champion. This really is ‘revelationary’ music that speaks to a wide audience, including more traditional classical fans. His obviously sympathetic chemistry with Del Sol has given him the best-ever performances of his string quartet pieces. And the musical portraiture of his Civil Rights heroes in each work contribute an added emotional layer of musical imagination.”
The program features the Del Sol String Quartet performing String Quartet No. 1, X (1993); String Quartet No. 2, King (2001); String Quartet No. 3, Powell (2003); and String Quartet No. 4, Angelou (2004) with electric violin and turntablist, which was commissioned by Other Minds and premiered at the 2005 Other Minds Festival. Roumain joins Del Sol on electric violin for String Quartet No. 2 and No. 4, with turntablist DJ Scientific.
Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) is a composer, performer, violinist, and bandleader who seamlessly blends funk, rock, hip-hop and classical music into a new sonic vision. His dramatic soul-inspiring pieces range from orchestral scores to energetic chamber works to rock songs and electronica, all embracing modern musical genres woven with a multicolored spectrum of popular music. His music was chosen by The New York Times as the #3 Best Classical Moment of 2003, and is praised by classical and popular music critics alike. DBR has collaborated with Philip Glass, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Vernon Reid, DJs Radar, Spooky, and Scientific, Susan Sarandon, Cassandra Wilson, and an array of orchestras and chamber ensembles. His 9-piece band DBR & THE MISSION, features an amplified string quartet, drum kit, keyboards, vocalist, DJ, and laptopist. The Dallas, Memphis, San Antonio, and St. Louis orchestras have performed or commissioned his works. He is Music Director of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and Assistant Composer-in-Residence of the Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL). DBR performed his arrangements of Cassandra Wilson's Glamoured with the jazz vocalist and her quintet while conducting the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and Buffalo Philharmonic; rocked with DJ Spooky at the Lincoln Center Summer Festival; and composed music for and performed in the European premiere of Bill T. Jones' Another Evening at the RomaEuropa Festival in Italy. As Artist-in-Residence at Arizona State University, he performed ROCKESTRA:A Hip Hop Music and Dance Party featuring DJ Radar, and returned to collaborate with Philip Glass in SEEN AND HEARD:Philip Glass and Daniel Roumain Together on Screen, Stage and in Sound. Current projects include Vision Blinding for violin, video, and voice, his fourth evening-length solo show; 24 Bits: Hip Hop Studies and Etudes performed by DBR on piano and laptop; and the most recent Bill T. Jones/DBR collaboration, Blind Date, a large-scale work for multiple video installations, a classical violinist, two throat-singers, and the company. On March 17th, the American Composers Orchestra will premiere his Call Them All: Fantasy Projections for Film, Laptop and Orchestra at Zankel Hall in New York. For more information or to hear selections of his music, visit www.dbrmusic.com
Del Sol String Quartet — Kate Stenberg and Rick Shinozaki, violinists, Charlton Lee, violist, and Monica Smith, cellist — was honored recently with first prize in the 2006 ASCAP/Chamber Music America Award for Adventurous Programming in the category of “mixed repertoire chamber groups.” Founded in 1992, the Del Sol String Quartet began in residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts, followed by a residency at San Francisco State University in association with the Alexander String Quartet. In February 2005 Del Sol premiered the Other Minds-commissioned Quartet No. 4 of Daniel Bernard Roumain at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. The success of the collaboration led to this effort to introduce more of Roumain’s works to San Francisco. Del Sol appears on programs presented by Other Minds, San Francisco Performances, Montalvo Arts Center, and Santa Fe New Music/Santa Fe Opera. Del Sol’s critically-acclaimed 2005 CD of the complete string quartet repertory of George Antheil (1900-1959) on the Other Minds label (OM 1008-2) is the definitive recording of these pieces and is available from the webstore at www.otherminds.org.
DJ Scientific (Chris Davis, originally of Oakland, CA), a seasoned producer, engineer, laptopist and DJ, attended the School of Audio Engineering in New York. He became prominent performing at New York clubs and social events. He has collaborated extensively with Daniel Bernard Roumain since 2003 as a member of DBR & THE MISSION, where he has helped develop a unique, amplified, hip-hop-inspired soundscape. DJ Scientific performed with Roumain and Del Sol at Other Minds 11 in 2005, and has performed with Roumain at numerous other venues, including The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. He recently designed sound installations for the Studio Museum in Harlem, and founded a DJ collective, C.O.S. Productions.
Other Minds is a leading organization for new and experimental music in all its forms, devoted to championing the most original, eccentric, and underrepresented creative voices in contemporary music through the annual Other Minds Music Festival, the online new music archives at RadiOM.org, and the Other Minds Records label. The organization has just been awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s “Save America’s Treasures” program in the amount of $180,000 to continue digitizing audiotapes of interviews and music by leading composers of the 20th century recorded over a thirty-year period at KPFA Radio in Berkeley. In partnership with the Internet Archive, Other Minds is making the newly-digitized files available free for listening at www.radiOM.org. The 12th Other Minds Music Festival is scheduled for December 8-9, 2006, at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. Invited composers include Daniel David Feinsmith (San Francisco), Per Nørgård (Denmark), Peter Sculthorpe (Australia), Markus Stockhausen (Germany), and Maja Ratkje (Norway). Stay tuned for additional composers to be announced.
The March 6 concert is sponsored by historic Stewart Mineral Springs of Weed, near Mt. Shasta. At the concert, a lucky audience member can win a 2-night getaway at Stewart Mineral Springs’ newly remodeled Wellness Room Cabin (the first of its kind in Northern California). The winner will also have the opportunity to experience a mineral bath in the healing waters of the Springs, which will include relaxing in a woodstove-heated sauna. For more information on Stewart Mineral Springs, view www.stewartmineralsprings.com
— For more information, visit www.otherminds.org —
Tuesday, January 3, 2006
Del Sol Quartet on Top
in San Francisco Classical Voice, Music Reviews
by Janos Gereben
San Francisco's Del Sol Quartet has been named the year's winner of the Chamber Ensemble/Mixed Repertory category for 2005-2006 by Chamber Music America and ASCAP. The quartet's Kate Stenberg, Rick Shinozaki, Charlton Lee, and Monica Scott have been much in the news lately, especially with their release of the complete string quartet repertory of George Antheil on the Other Minds label, which was nominated for a Grammy. As reported in Music News, the quartet has also engaged in an extensive exchange program, both touring Korea and sponsoring concerts here of musicians from Korea (under the title of "Del Seoul," har, har).
Del Sol's new award will be given at CMA's 28th annual national conference ("Chart Your Course: Navigating in an Unpredictable Culture") in New York City, January 12-15. The quartet will perform at the conference, as well. Among the other local winners is Babatunde Lea of Vallejo in the jazz ensembles category. For the first time, the recipient of the CMA's highest honor, the Richard J. Bogomolny Service Award, is a jazz artist: Billy Taylor, pianist, educator, TV and radio host, member of the National Council on the Arts, Kennedy Center Artistic Advisor for Jazz, and recipient of major honors, including the National Medal of Arts.
Original article
by Janos Gereben
San Francisco's Del Sol Quartet has been named the year's winner of the Chamber Ensemble/Mixed Repertory category for 2005-2006 by Chamber Music America and ASCAP. The quartet's Kate Stenberg, Rick Shinozaki, Charlton Lee, and Monica Scott have been much in the news lately, especially with their release of the complete string quartet repertory of George Antheil on the Other Minds label, which was nominated for a Grammy. As reported in Music News, the quartet has also engaged in an extensive exchange program, both touring Korea and sponsoring concerts here of musicians from Korea (under the title of "Del Seoul," har, har).
Del Sol's new award will be given at CMA's 28th annual national conference ("Chart Your Course: Navigating in an Unpredictable Culture") in New York City, January 12-15. The quartet will perform at the conference, as well. Among the other local winners is Babatunde Lea of Vallejo in the jazz ensembles category. For the first time, the recipient of the CMA's highest honor, the Richard J. Bogomolny Service Award, is a jazz artist: Billy Taylor, pianist, educator, TV and radio host, member of the National Council on the Arts, Kennedy Center Artistic Advisor for Jazz, and recipient of major honors, including the National Medal of Arts.
Original article
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