New Music New College Announces 12th Season of Contemporary Music

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New Music New College, the region’s cutting-edge series of contemporary music, presents its 12th season beginning in the fall of 2010. Once again, director Stephen Miles has put together a varied and compelling program featuring some of the most innovative musicians of our time, coupled with performances featuring New College of Florida students. This year’s venues will include, for the first time, the College’s new Black Box Theater in the Hamilton Student Center, along with the Mildred Sainer Pavilion, College Hall and the PepsiCo Arcade in the Caples Fine Arts Complex, site of the third rendition of the wildly popular ‘rock happening under the stars,’ Crossroads III.

Subscriptions for the five-concert series are $55, with single tickets priced at $15.

In addition to the series, three special New Music events are planned for 2010-2011. These include a November performance of Cage’s Song Books at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in the Searing Galleries, and a February concert of mostly contemporary music performed by the Sarasota Orchestra as part of the College’s Celebration on the Bay to commemorate its 50th anniversary. New Music graduates will also participate in the Ringling International Arts Festival’s “Family Festival” in October. For more information, visit www.newmusicnewcollege.org, call (941) 487-4888 or e-mail [email protected].

New Music New College 2010-2011 Season

 Andrew McKenna Lee, guitarist/composer
Michael McCurdy, percussion
Lecture/demonstration: Friday, September 17, 3:30 pm, Mildred Sainer Pavilion
Concert: Saturday, September 18, 8:00 pm, Mildred Sainer Pavilion
Single tickets $15, series $55

Described as “full of imagination and technical expertise,” Andrew McKenna Lee’s music is an integral synthesis of contrasting elements from a variety of styles and influences. For his NMNC debut, Lee will perform his Five Refractions of a Prelude by Bach, a set of pieces based on Bach’s Prelude for Lute in D Minor, BWV 999. Percussionist Michael McCurdy will join Lee for other original compositions and Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint.

John Cage’s Song Books, performed by New College faculty and students
Lecture/demonstration: Friday, November 12, 3:00 pm, College Hall
Concert: Saturday and Sunday, November 13 and 14, 3:00 pm, College Hall
Single tickets $15, series $55

Cage’s Song Books (1970) are ranked among his most important works, employing the full range of his techniques and methods – from surprisingly simple songs, fully notated, to electronically-processed vocal sounds and theatrical actions. In this performance, five soloists will perform simultaneous recitals, moving from location to location in College Hall, inviting the audience to stay follow the music, the performers and their imagination.This is NMNC’s first production of the Song Books since its landmark performance at the Ringling Museum in 1998.

In the Dark: The JACK Quartet performs Georg Friedrich Haas’s In iij. Noct.
Lecture/demonstration: Friday, January 14, 3:30 pm, Black Box Theater, Hamilton Center
Concert: Friday, January 14, 8:00 pm, Black Box Theater, Hamilton Center
Concert: Saturday, January 15, 8:00 pm, Black Box Theater, Hamilton Center
Concert: Sunday, January 16, 4:00 pm, Black Box Theater, Hamilton Center
Single tickets $15, series $55

George Friedrick Haas’s In iij. Noct. offers the NMNC audience an experience of sensual immersion: sitting in the center of a completely dark space, the audience is surrounded by the intrepid musicians of The JACK Quartet. The music, derived in part from music by Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo, takes an unpredictable course, with the audience following entirely through the sense of hearing. The Los Angeles Times called The JACK Quartet’s performance of this work “a revelatory romp in the dark.” JACK’s performances at New College will help inaugurate the school’s new black box theater, located in Hamilton Center. Due to limited seating, the performance will be repeated three times. While at New College, The JACK Quartet will work with students and NMNC Director Stephen Miles on a new experimental composition.

Crossroads III: New College student rock bands plus Sarasota Orchestra musicians
Concert: Friday, March 4, 8:00 pm, PepsiCo Arcade (Caples Fine Arts Complex)
Single tickets $15, series $55

NMNC’s “Crossroads” concerts bring musicians of different backgrounds together to make artistic connections and explore new possibilities. Performing under the stars on three different stages, New College rock bands, including Physical Plant, mix it up with musicians of the Sarasota Orchestra, including Jay Hunsberger and John Miller. Come hear rock, classical and experimental music – and be prepared to move!

Dialogue
The Borup-Ernst Duo
Lecture/demonstration: Friday, April 29, 3:30 pm,
Mildred Sainer Pavilion
Concert, Saturday, April 30, 8:00 pm, Mildred Sainer Pavilion
Single tickets $15, series $55

Danish violinist Hasse Borup and American pianist Mary Kathleen Ernst have won critical acclaim for their performances of contemporary music. They have been hailed as “vibrant, charged and dynamic…with amazing technique and superb musicality.” For the final concert of the NMNC season, the Borup-Ernst Duo will perform music by Schoenberg, Cage, Beethoven, Judith Shatin and Lansing McLoskey. McLoskey, who is a member of the University of Miami faculty, will be on hand for both the lecture/demonstration and the concert.


SPECIAL NEW MUSIC EVENTS

New Music at the Ringling International Arts Festival “Family Festival”
Saturday, October 16 from 1 – 4 pm
John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art

New College graduates Christina Martin and Caitlin McMullen and Professor of Music Stephen Miles will be on hand to lead families through a special improvisational movement exercise with experimental pieces. From Chicago, Martin graduated in May 2010 with a concentration in music. Her senior project, created with Caitlin McMullen, was a collaborative experimental performance work that incorporates voice and movement. She was co-director of Acapellago, New College’s a cappella choir. McMullen graduated in May 2010 with a special area of concentration in Interdisciplinary Performance. She has performed and choreographed for Dance Tutorial at New College, and has collaborated with Fuzion Dance Artists.

New Music Night at the Ringling Museum: Cage’s Song Books at the Searing Galleries
John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art
Thursday, November 18 from 5 – 7:30 pm
Free with “Art After Five” Museum Admission: $10/adults, $5/children ages 6-17; free to Museum members

John Cage’s Song Books (1970) consist of 92 solos conventionally notated songs to theater pieces, in that are transformed electronically. For this selections from the Song Books in simultaneous course through the Searing Galleries. The vast sonic counterpoint to the modern and the various manifestations of abstraction. This 50th anniversary event marks New Music’s return to the Museum after its landmark first performance in 1998.

Celebration on the Bay Concert with Sarasota
Saturday, February 12 at 7 pm
New College Bayfront – Free

Artistic Director Leif Bjaland will lead the Sarasota Orchestra in a festive concert of mostly new music to celebrate the College’s 50th anniversary. Conductor laureate Paul Wolfe will lead the orchestra in a movement of Mozart’s 40th Symphony, the same work he conducted on the occasion of the Dedication of the Campus in 1962. The program includes the premiere of a new composition by New College alumnus Silas Durocher. Food and beverage will be available for purchase beginning at 5 pm. Fireworks follow the concert.

For more information, contact Linda Joffe, associate director of Public Affairs, at (941) 487-4154 or email [email protected].