Contemporary Classics July 23, 2019 - Contemporary Classical Music at the Spoleto Festival Show 2

Tonight is the second of three shows featuring contemporary classical music which I heard at this year’s Spoleto festival in Charleston South Carolina which ran from May 24 until June 9. We will be doing these three shows over the next several weeks.  There are two principal series that have contemporary classical music: Music in Time and the Chamber Music series.  In addition there are several additional concerts which feature contemporary classical music.  Now this does not include dance or drama which may feature some music. 

Let start with Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Ró.  This was performed as part of the Music in Time series concert entitled Rebellion in Greenery on May 26^th in the Woolfe Street Theater. At the festival this was performed by members of the Spoleto Festival Orchestra conducted by John Kennedy.  

Steve Reich’s Runner for big Ensemble was also part of the Music In Time Series – in this case a concert entitled Stay on it on May 31^st in the College of Charleston Simons Center Recital Hall  by musicians from the Spoleto Festival Orchestra.  

Next we have Francis Poulenc: Trio for Oboe, Bassoon & Piano.  This work was performed as part of the Chamber Music series on June 1^st and 2^nd at the Dock Street Theater by James Austin Smith, oboe; Amy Harmon, bassoon and Pedja Muzijevic.  It is in 3 movements: (1) Presto (2) Andante & (3) Rondo. 

Lets close out this hour be a brilliantly funny audience participation tune by Canadian composer Nicole Lizee called Family Sing-a-Long & Game Night.  This was performed as part of the Music In Time Series on May 25^th as part of a concert called the Living Earth Show by the pair of multi-instrumental musicians, Travis Andrews & Andy Meyerson, calling themselves The Living Earth Show.  The show featured a series of very entertaining series of pieces from their repertoire.  One of which was Nicole Lizee “Family Sing-a-Long & Game Night”.     

We are going to close tonight’s show with a work by a composer you may not be familar with - Julius Eastman. Julius Eastman was a former child soprano and ballet dancer from Ithaca, New York, who studied piano and composition at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute.  Eastman first came to prominence with Buffalo University’s early 70s avant-garde SEM Ensemble, performing with Morton Feldman, John Cage and Pauline Oliveros. Through bravura piano and vocal recitals at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center.  But in the late 1970s became disillusioned with all the white composers surrounding him as part of SEM, turned down a performance with Pierre Boulez and the New York Philharmonic.  This began a downward spiral that ended in homelessness and poverty.  Unfortunately much of his music has been lost as a result of his homelessness.  And as part of the “Stay On It” program done by John Kennedy as part of the “Music In Time” series at Spoleto he featured a performance of Julius Eastman “Stay On It” by members of the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in a performance on June 1^st in the Simons Center of the College of Charleston