Violists Mat Maneri and Tanya Kalmanovitch have completed a successful Kickstarter campaign to help fund their first album as a duo, achieving 112% funding with five days remaining.
Ralph Farris and ETHEL’s new album featured in New York Times
When not working as a composer, Ralph Farris performs in the pioneering string quartet ETHEL.
The group’s new album, Documerica, takes inspiration from the Environmental Protection Agency’s 1971 Project Documerica, which commissioned photographers across the United States to capture images of the environment and it’s impact on society. The album features new compositions by ETHEL members as well as music commissioned from acclaimed composers Mary Ellen Childs, GRAMMY®-winning jazz drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr., Chickasaw Nation’s Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate and James “Kimo” Williams. Each of these composers brings their own voice, regional and generational background to a collection of pieces that explores uniquely American music: the blues, jazz, Native American and Bluegrass.
Documerica is out this Friday on Innova. The New York Times is streaming the entire album this week. Check it out here.
Kalmanovitch Maneri Duo launch Kickstarter campaign in support of new record "Magic Mountain"
Photo by Yola Monakhov.
Tanya Kalmanovitch and Mat Maneri have launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to manufacture and distribute their new duo recording Magic Mountain.
The album is a suite of nine improvised pieces for two violas. The title is borrowed from Der Zauberberg, Thomas Mann’s 1924 novel about a young man whose three-week visit to a Swiss sanitarium mysteriously turns into seven years. Like Mann, Kalmanovitch and Maneri are fascinated by the mystery of time and the ambiguity of memory and modern experience. Their playing is an exploration of those themes, and they blend composition and improvisation to create a kind of chamber music that has never been heard before and will never be heard again.
Check out the campaign at Kickstarter.
Ralph Farris' music for Aquila Theatre premieres in London
A Female Philoctetes premiered in April 2014 to sold-out audiences at Brooklyn Academy of Music's Fisher Hillman Studio and has been featured on NPR's "All Things Considered" and "The Diane Rehm Show." The play features incidental music by Ralph Farris, who joined the company's artistic director Desiree Sanchez to work on the production as composer and musical director.
Sophocles' ancient play, Philoctetes, captures a reality for all combat veterans who have been physically wounded and explores ethical dilemmas, as dynamic and relevant today as they were to the Greeks 2500 years ago. Aquila Theatre's production explores this ancient play, re-imagining the title role played as a female combat soldier.
The performance is on Tuesday, June 30 at 6:00 pm at Cruciform Lecture Theatre - London, UK: Tickets and info can be found here.
Pitchfork review of High Risk
“High Risk is not so much an album of jazz augmented by electronic instrumentation, but an album performed by players that are very conscious of and interested in electronic music.”
Read more here
All Music reviews High Risk Album
“Many of the tracks, like the opening “Molten Sunset,” begin with Shigeto summoning a kaleidoscopic, shimmering rainbowscape that Douglas and his band ride ever cloudward. ”
Read the entire review here.
High Risk Tour Kicks Off Today!
If you've been enjoying Dave Douglas' latest album High Risk that dropped June 23rd, it's time to check the band out live. Dave Douglas and High Risk are on tour now in the USA and Canada. Click here for more info and tickets.
Don't know what to expect? Here's some great reviews from PopMatters, All Music and Pitchfork.
And don't forget to buy the album now on BandCamp or iTunes!
PopMatters reviews Dave Douglas' High Risk Album
“Where one influence ends and another one begins is a mystery, and that’s what will guarantee High Risk‘s status as a wholly unique album. With any justice, it will also serve as a template for future electro-jazz.”
Read more here
High Risk Album Released Today
Andy Clausen composes for Bloomberg's The Spark
After composing the score for Bloomberg Businessweek's 85th Anniversary film, "The Great Disruptors" Andy has been hard at work writing for a new set of videos that are part of Bloomberg's new series The Spark. The videos all share stories of cutting-edge innovation in technology, science, medicine—even farming, from self-braking cars to transparent solar cells. Check out the first in the series: