2008 Festival of New American Music

All of the main events for the 2008 Festival are listed on the Schedule page.

This year's festival will run from November 6-16. Kicking off the festival will be a keynote address by composer/music journalist Kyle Gann (picture at left) at noon on Thursday, November 6 in the Music Recital Hall. Gann was the new-music critic for the Dallas, Texas Village Voice from 1986 to 2005. Since 1997 he has taught music history and theory at Bard College. Gann has also taught at Columbia University, Brooklyn College, the School of the Art Instutute of Chicago, and Bucknell University. His writings throughout his career include more than 2400 articles for more than 45 publications.

Later that evening, at 8:00pm in the Music Recital Hall, the Gala Performance will signal the opening of the festival with performances by the Cygnus Ensemble, Seattle Chamber Music Players, clarinetist Jean Kopperud, and pianist Stephen Gosling, all of whom will be featured on additional concerts and masterclasses throughout the festival. The Seattle Chamber Players (pictured at right) is a quartet comprised of clarinetist Laura DeLuca, violinist Mikhail Shmidt, cellist David Sabee, and flutist Paul Taub. In addition to the Gala Performance, the Seattle Chamber Players will perform on Sunday, November 9 at 8pm in Capistrano Hall 151.

Composer/Percussionist Steven Schick (pictured at left) will be performing the music of John Adams on Wednesday, November 12 at 8:00pm in the Music Recital Hall. Schick is Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of California, San Diego and a Consulting Artist in Percussion at the Manhattan School of Music. He was the percussionist of the Bang on a Can All-Stars of New York City from 1992-2002, and from 2000 to 2004 served as Artistic Director of the Centre International de Percussion de Genève in Geneva, Switzerland. Schick is founder and Artistic Director of the percussion group, "red fish blue fish," and in 2007 assumed the post of Music Director and conductor of the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus.

Double bassist Robert Black (pictured at right) will be presenting a concert entitled "Bang on a Bass" on Friday, November 14 at 8pm at St. Paul's Episcopal Church (14th and J Streets in Sacramento). Black is a performer with the Bang On A Can All Stars, New York City’s hard-hitting new music ensemble. He has commissioned, collaborated, or performed with musicians from John Cage to D.J. Spooky, Elliott Carter to Meredith Monk, Cecil Taylor to young emerging composers. A recipient of numerous grants, Black received a 1998 Bessie Award for his collaborative work with The School of Hard Knocks in New York. He has also recorded for Sony Classical, Point/Polygram, Koch International, CRI, Neuma Records, Gasparo, Opus One, Artifact Recordings, and Folkways Records.

On Saturday, November 15, the Contrasts Quartet will be performing the music of Aaron Jay Kernis at 8pm in the Music Recital Hall. Acclaimed for their exhilarating performances of old and new repertoire, the Contrasts Quartet is a group of four extraordinary virtuosi including clarinetist Ayako Oshima, violinist Lisa Kim, cellist Caroline Stinson, and pianist Evelyne Luest. The group has recorded the works of Aaron Jay Kernis on the Phoenix label, and they have been honored with awards and grants from the American Composers Forum, Meet the Composer, the Fromm Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music and Chamber Music America. The Quartet has been invited to perform in Europe and across the United States. Concert appearances have included performances at Carnegie's Weill Hall, Merkin Hall, Miller Theatre, Symphony Space and live appearances on New York's WNYC Radio. They have also been artists-in-residence at the Norfolk Summer Festival in Connecticut, the Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida, Music in the Park Series in St. Paul, Minnesota, Detroit Pro Musica, Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, and Bowdoin College in Maine.

To see more concerts during this year's Festival of New American Music, visit the schedule page. There is no admission charge for Festival events. Parking for evening concerts is free after 7pm in the parking structure adjacent to our building. For daytime events, a limited number of courtesy permits will be available in the lobby of the music building one hour prior to event start times. Daily permits may also be purchased for $5 at the information booth on campus or from the machine on the fifth floor of the parking structure. For driving directions or more information, click here.

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