"Living and playing in the material world" : facing the challenges of freelance gigs

This discussion/lecture demonstration explores the challenges faced by a conservatoire trained guitar soloist working as a freelance musician. Guitarists are trained, primarily, as both soloist and chamber music participants. These skills are often supplemented with classes in career development, publicity, networking, pedagogy, etc. Whilst these—and all the other requisite classes in harmony, counterpoint, history, etc. —are essential, there is another rewarding side of the profession for the classical guitarist in the genre of playing plucked string “parts” with orchestras, large ensembles and opera companies. It is been my experience that, despite the real opportunities in the profession, this is an area in which classical guitarists are little prepared. I know this was my “real world” experience and my excursion into this area was fraught with joys and sorrows, as well as frustration and satisfaction. This discussion/lecture/demonstration presents a cross section of my own experiences, “war stories,” experiments, and performances. Including "real life" tips on repertoire, preparation, equipment, score/part study, listening, and courtesy, recording and performance situations with these ensembles I hope to pass professional and practical advice to the emerging classical guitarist to prepare them to cope and succeed in thee rewarding and challenging performance opportunities

String Sing-Along (Sympathetic Vibration) Is Not the Key to Banjo Sound

Among instruments that do not sport explicit sympathetic strings, banjos produce particularly strong sympathetic and other secondary sounds arising from interactions among the melody strings. That certainly contributes to the characteristic timbre and is easily demonstrated and explained. However, a sampling-synthesis experiment suggests that it is not an essential feature of what distinguishes banjo sound from other acoustic, plucked instruments

Theodore Antoniou: Celebration and Tribute, March 25, 2008

This is the concert program of the Theodore Antoniou: Celebration and Tribute performance on Tuesday, March 25, 2008 at 4:00 p.m., at the Concert Hall, 855 Commonwealthe Avenue. Works performed were KOMMOS B for orchestra by Theodore Antoniou, Cantilena (2nd mvt. of Concertino for Contrabass and Orchestra, piano reduction) by Theodore Antoniou, I Yria Zoi by Manolis Kalomiris, Fengaraki by Manos Hadzidakis, and Variations for Theodore by Julian Wachner, James Smith, Naftali Schindler, Apostolos Paraskevas, Reiko Yamada, Ivana Lisak, Pedro Malpica, Altin Volaj, and Alex Kalogeras. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Center for the Humanities Library Endowed Fund

Program Notes for Graduate Recital

The purpose of this research paper is to provide scholarly program notes to accompany the Graduate Recital of Season Cowley, which took place on May 9, 2015. Program notes for John Adams’ Gnarly Buttons (1996), Eric P. Mandat’s Tricolor Capers (1980), Krzysztof Penderecki’s Quartet for Clarinet and String Trio (1993), and Derek Bermel’s Theme and Absurdities (1993) are included

Soloists of ALEA III, December 12, 1989

This is the concert program of Soloists of ALEA III performance on Tuesday, December 12, 1989 at 8:00 p.m., at the Tsai Performance Center, 685 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts. Works performed were Four Songs, Opus 2 and Two Songs, Opus 14 by Arnold Schoenberg, Sequenza I for solo flute by Luciano Berio, Contrasts by Béla Bartók, Largo by Charles Ives, Paintings by Louis Andriessen, Two Likes for Contrabass by Theodore Antoniou, and Elegiac by Paul Brust. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Humanities Library Endowed Fund

Deus Ex Machina, December 12, 2010

This is the concert program of the Deus Ex Machina performance on Sunday, December 12, 2010 at 8:00 p.m., at the Marshall Room, 855 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts. Works performed were Slimecake (class edit) by Maxwell Chamberlin, Whale Song by Katrina Peters, Blub by Brian Gaffney, Monster Chase by Christopher James, 269090 by Richard Gruenler, X.O. by Aaron Kirschner, three stones by Heather Stebbins, Dilates by Lesly Hinger, Alone Time by Joshua Liu, Floating Dream by Yi-Chun Hung, Treetops by Patrick Manian, Non-Holonomic Perturbations by Gabe Venegas, and Peakin' and Freakin' by Greg Friedlander. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Center for the Humanities Library Endowed Fund

Boston University Choral Ensembles

This is the concert program of the Boston University Choral Ensembles performance on Saturday, October 16, 1999 at 8:00 p.m., at the Concert Hall, 855 Commonwealth Avenue. Works performed were Veni Domine, Op. 39 No. 1 by Felix Mendelssohn, Gesange fur Frauenstimme by Robert Schumann, Folk Songs of the Four Seasons, III. Autumn by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Psalm 42, Wie der Hirsch Schreit nach frischem Wasser by Felix Mendelssohn, Four Motets by Francis Poulenc, From a Pioneer Songbook by Charles Fussell, The Bluebird by Charles Villiers Stanford, My love dwelt in a Northern land by Edward Elgar, The Turtledove by Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Hallelujah from "The Mount of Olives," Op. 85 by Ludwig van Beethoven. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Humanities Library Endowed Fund

The folk fiddle music of Lithuania’s coastal regions

Publisher PD