Americanensemble

AmericanEnsemble Three Nobody tells the Rova tions, and New Music on the Mountain is a concert Saxophone Quartet what to held at a Marin County mountaintop amphitheater. Decades, do. The ensemble sprang up Perhaps the most ambitious is Rovaté, a two-day from the Bay Area improvisa- cross-disciplinary event. This year’s outing, dedicated Four tion scene in 1977 and has to Buckminster Fuller, was a collaboration with Saxes remained true to its musical Lillevan, the German digital animation artist. vision ever since. Rova’s steady Propelling these events is Rova:Arts—a nonprofit focus is partly attributable to umbrella organization fueled by contributions and a its astounding continuity: Three of the four are portion of the quartet’s own fees. Rova:Arts also founders; Steve Adams, “the new guy,” joined in pays for a small office and a part-time administrator. 1988. “Just the fact that we’re still alive is amazing— “The hardest thing for any arts organization is to get not to mention that we continue to talk to each general operating money to keep the office open,” other,” jokes tenor saxophonist Larry Ochs. says Ochs. “Foundations are interested in doing Rova’s provocative, resolutely avant-garde music something really cool, rather than keeping things draws on influences as disparate as John Coltrane going on a day-to-day basis.” and Iannis Xenakis, Anthony Braxton and Olivier Given the uncompromising nature of the quartet’s Messiaen; Ochs describes it as “this nether region music-making, the economic ballast of Rova:Arts is all but a necessity. “Day to day, month to month, it’s a struggle,” Ochs admits. “That’s a way of saying the income does not match the effort. We feel great about the respect of our peers; we feel we’re well- supported by foundations. But has it been easy? No. Everybody’s always trying to figure out a way to make ends meet. That’s the story. It’s not an uncommon story. But I feel really lucky we’ve been able to continue to do this.” www.rova.org The Lark When the LARK Chamber Ascending Artists assemble on a concert plat- The Rova Quartet: between composition and free improv.” The quartet form, the scene (L-R) Jon Raskin, improvises in rehearsal, but the music is notated on stage tells much of the story. Musicians Bruce Ackley, before it reaches the performance stage. playing Western and world-music instruments Steve Adams, Given the quartet’s configuration, Ochs says, are arrayed across the stage; in their midst sit and Larry Ochs compositional guidelines are a necessity. “If you the four string players of the Lark Quartet. have four instruments with different sounds playing “It’s reflective of New York itself—a melting free, you’ve got one problem licked: whenever any- pot of all the people in the world,” says Kathryn one’s playing, you know who it is,” he says. “With four Lockwood, the Lark’s violist. The New York- saxes, though, you can step on each other’s space. You based ensemble, whose core members include have to think about composition and hierarchy.” the quartet plus percussionist Yousif Sheronick, Aside from a busy performing and touring sched- baritone Stephen Salters, and clarinetist Todd ule, Rova stages a number of annual events in the Bay Palmer, launched in 2008. Area. Improv:21 is a series of lecture/demonstra- 16 july/august 2009 Short Maria Millar has a confession: “I have a very short attention span.” It explains why she has Attention built a career across several disciplines— composition, violin, singing, even dancing. Span It may also be responsible for the crazy-quilt Theater eclecticism of Kilterclash, the New York- based violin/bass/drum trio that she founded in 2006. In her words, it’s “a world-music rock trio, steeped in the classical music tradition.” The daughter of an Irish father and a Japanese mother, Millar was raised in Edmonton, Alberta, where she was educated in a French- language immersion program. Later she studied violin at Juilliard. Her career as a solo artist—she put together a one-woman show of original compositions—provided the inspiration for founding Kilterclash. “I wanted to explore music where I could have other voices going on,” she says. The group now includes bassist Matt Aronoff and drummer Shawn Baltazor Millar’s background has proved to be a huge influence on her music for Kilterclash. A number might incorporate the sounds of the Irish fiddle or imitate the Japanese shamisen. She composes and sings in English as well as French. Even the instrumental makeup of Kilterclash Kilterclash, (L to R): is changeable—Millar and Aronoff alternate between acoustic and electric instru- Shawn Baltazor, ments. But no matter how far her music ventures toward the realms of rock or Maria Millar world music, the training that she received at Juilliard serves as a backbone for and Matt Aronoff her compositional methods; and classical traditions filter into her music. At a recent Kilterclash concert, Millar even took a solo turn with the Bach Chaconne. “It’s a striking and new backdrop for the Chaconne—my favorite work for solo violin,” she says. Like everything the group does, it’s a way of asserting the unity of music across cultures and genres. www.kilterclash.com The notion of expanding past a traditional None of the current Lark string players— string quartet has its roots in the Lark’s 2006 Lockwood, violinists Deborah Buck and premiere of Daniel Bernard Roumain’s fifth Harumi Rhodes, and cellist Caroline Stinson— String Quartet. In the last movement, the were with the quartet at its 1984 founding. But composer called for the musicians to clap their a founding tradition continues: as a quartet, hands; the quartet carried the idea one step the Larks remain an all-female ensemble. The further by inviting Sheronick (Lockwood’s hus- current group doesn’t see the configuration as band) to devise a percussion part. a feminist statement. “I don’t know what the The Larks have always had a vigorous com- first women had in mind, but once it started, missioning program—Aaron Jay Kernis won a it just stuck,” says Lockwood. “We have a good 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Musica Instrumentalis, time— a social time. That’s just a bonus of the a Lark commission. Their new commissions all-female aspect of it.” take into account the larger ensemble: Glen Velez www.larkchamberartists.com and Kenji Bunch are composing new pieces for the Larks and Sheronick, and William Bolcom is writing a song cycle for the quartet plus Salters. 17 AmericanEnsemble Supply The perusal score Creating the PDFs is a labor-intensive has long been a process, in many cases involving page-by- and necessary evil of page scans of handwritten scores. In a few of repertory planning. the scores—especially those that are available Demand An organization or for purchase through Schirmer’s retail partner ensemble hoping to Hal Leonard—LockLizard software prevents assess an unfamiliar piece must first contact users from printing out the PDF. The restric- the publisher for a full score; in the next few tion will almost definitely be in place when weeks, all the important decision-makers Schirmer makes chamber music available must make their judgments from the one online, in order to prevent users from copy- hard copy before deciding to rent parts. ing out the parts and avoiding rental fees. G. Schirmer has recently started an Schirmer’s current plan calls for incorpo- initiative that streamlines the process. The rating its entire 5,000-title catalog, including publisher’s new online department, chamber music, within the next few years. SchirmerOnDemand, puts downloadable The publisher also intends to add sound files PDF copies of scores in reach of anyone with to give users an additional decision-making an Internet connection. Schirmer will still tool. The eventual aim is to make offer perusal scores to people who request SchirmerOnDemand a valuable resource for them. But through SchirmerOnDemand, the musical community at large. “What if you’re interested parties can now get instantaneous writing a paper on Corigliano, or you have to access to works under consideration. give a pre-concert lecture?” asks Lancino. “We The scheme isn’t entirely new. Carl think that access to this information is only Fischer, for one, has long offered download- good—for publishers, composers and musi- able recordings of its music for school bands, cians alike.” digital.schirmer.com orchestras and choruses; and in the past two years, it also provided PDFs of some of these scores. “All the major publishers in school music have been doing this kind of thing,” says Larry Clark, vice president of instrumental music at Fischer. “What Schirmer is doing is taking it to professionals.” Schirmer launched the project with an initial batch of 500 online scores, concentrating on large-scale pieces—operas and orchestral works— by 20th-century and contemporary composers, including Elliott Carter, Joan Tower and John Corigliano. “When you’re looking at 10,000 square feet of repertory, instead of getting overwhelmed, you have to decide what goes first,” explains Kristin Lancino, the company’s vice-president. 18 july/august 2009 Paired The Cavatina Duo has a secret: they’re married. The pairing of guitarist Denis Azabagic and flutist Eugenia Moliner makes so much Up musical sense that people don’t necessarily know that they’re husband and wife. On a recent tour of Spain, in fact, a presenter booked them into separate hotel rooms. A mistake, perhaps, but Azabagic jokes, “It’s not a bad idea to have two separate rooms—especially after a rehearsal!” The couple met in the early ’90s as students at the Rotterdam Conservatory.

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