The University of New Mexico The College of Fine Arts, Department of Music Presents the Thirty-fifth Annual JOHN DONALD ROBB COMPOSERS’ SYMPOSIUM in conjunction with The Society of Composers, Inc. Region VII Conference April 2 - 5, 2006 Participating Composers: Roger Reynolds David Arbury Paul Lombardi Brian Belet Ruth Lomon Brian Bevelander Panaiotis Paul Coleman Samuel Pluta Daniel Davis Richard Power Michael Eckert Bruce Reiprich Michael Edgerton Martin Rokeach Matthew H. Fields Jason Rosenberg Glenn Hackbarth Jeremy Sagala Ryan M. Hare Beth Wiemann Warner Hutchison Scott Wilkinson Kari Juusela Stephen Yip Deborah Kavasch Tommy Yu Mei-Ling Lee Ya’aqov Ziso David S. Lefkowitz Lecturers Michael Boyd, Michael Edgerton, Steven Schick Artists in Residence Steven Schick red fish blue fish ACME Symposium events are held at the University of New Mexico Center for the Arts, and at the Outpost Performance Space. All events are free and open to the public. Dr. Christopher Mead, Dean, College of Fine Arts Dr. Steven Block, Chair, Department of Music Composers’ Symposium Staff Dr. Christopher Shultis, Artistic Director Alicia J. Ultan, Managing Director; Director, John D. Robb Musical Trust Ethan E. Smith, Graduate Assistant, John D. Robb Musical Trust Victoria Weller, Keller Hall Manager Manny Rettinger, Audio Engineer Cover art: from CD “Process and Passion” by Karen Reynolds © 1994 CD © 2004 Pogus Productions P21032-2 The University of New Mexico John Donald Robb John Donald Robb (1892-1989) led a rich and varied life as an attorney, composer, arts administrator, and ethno- musicologist. He composed an impressive body of work including symphonies, concertos for viola and piano, sonatas, chamber and other instrumental music, choral works, songs and arrangements of folk songs, two operas, including Little Jo, a musical comedy, Joy Comes to Deadhorse, and more than sixty- five electronic works. Robb’s orchestral works have been played by many major orchestras in the U.S. and abroad and under noted conductors, such as Hans Lange, Maurice Abravenel, Leonard Slatkin, Gilberto Orellana, and Yoshimi Takeda, among others. During his two decades as an international lawyer in New York, Robb studied composition with Horatio Parker, Darius Milhaud, Roy Harris, Paul Hindemith and Nadia Boulanger. In 1941, at the age of 49, Robb left his law career to become head of the music department at the University of New Mexico and served as Dean of the College of Fine Arts from 1942-57. During his tenure at UNM, Robb’s fascination with Hispanic folk music led to his collection of over 3,000 field recordings of traditional songs and dances from the American Southwest, South America and Nepal which formed the nucleus of the John Donald Robb Archive of Southwestern Music at the University of New Mexico. He wrote two books on the subject, including Hispanic Folk Songs of New Mexico (1954) and his authoritative book Hispanic Folk Music of New Mexico and the Southwest: A Self Portrait of the People (1980). Robb received numerous honors and grants including the honorary Doctor of Music from the University of New Mexico. The St. Louis Symphony premiered a movement from his Third Symphony in 1962. Most recently the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of David Oberg recorded several of Robb’s works which have been distributed internationally. A CD entitled Pictures of New Mexico, featuring Robb’s piano works performed by pianist Tatiana Vetrinskaya, was released on the John Donald Robb Musical Trust’s own Triangulum record label in 1999. The John D. Robb Musical Trust was established at UNM in 1989 by John D. and Harriet Robb. The mission of the Trust, in collaboration with UNM, is to support the music and musical legacy of John Donald Robb, to further his inspiring commitment to education and to advance the understanding of music of the Southwest. Since 1989, the Trust has supported the editing of many of Robb’s compositions; performances of his and other composers work at the UNM Composers’ Symposiums and other national and regional venues; a scholarship for the study and performance of Robb’s piano work; several CD recordings, including those with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra; a comprehensive exhibit celebrating the life and work of Robb at Zimmerman Library; and many other projects. The Trust established the John D. Robb Graduate Music Assistantship at UNM in 2000 and initiated the John D. Robb New Mexico Composers’ Competition in 2003. Most recently, the Trust presented John D. Robb’s folk opera, Little Jo, at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in October 2005 under the direction of conductor, Guillermo Figueroa. Featured Composer Roger Reynolds Roger Reynolds was educated in music and science at the University of Michigan. His compositions incorporate elements of theater, digital signal processing, dance, video and real-time computer spatialization, in a signature multidimensionality of engagement. The central thread woven through Reynolds’ uniquely varied career entwines language with the spatial aspects of music. This center first emerged in his notorious music- theater work, The Emperor of Ice Cream (1961-62; 8 singers, 3 instrumentalists; text: Wallace Stevens), and is carried forward in the VOICESPACE series (quadraphonic tape compositions on texts by Coleridge, Beckett, Borges and others), Odyssey (an unstaged opera for 2 singers, 2 recitants, large ensemble, multi-channel computer sound; bilingual text: Beckett), and JUSTICE (1999; soprano, actress, percussionist, computer sound and real-time spatialization, with staging; text: Aeschylus). In addition to his composing, Reynolds’ writing, lecturing, organization of musical events and teaching have prompted numerous residencies at international festivals. He was a co-director of the New York Philharmonic’s Horizons ‘84, has been a frequent participant in the Warsaw Autumn festivals, and was commissioned by Toru Takemitsu to create a program for the Suntory Hall International Series. Reynolds’ regular masterclass activity in American universities also extends outward: to the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Ircam in Paris, the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, to Latin America and Asia, to Thessaloniki. His extensive orchestral catalog includes commissions from the Philadelphia, Los Angeles and BBC Orchestras. In 1988, perplexed by a John Ashbery poem, Reynolds responded with Whispers Out of Time, a string orchestra work which earned him the prestigious Pulitzer Prize. Critic Kyle Gann has noted that he was the first experimentalist to be so honored since Charles Ives. Reynolds’ writing—beginning with the influential book, MIND MODELS (1975), and continuing, most recently, with FORM AND METHOD: Composing Music (2002)—has also appeared widely in Asian, American and European journals. Reynolds’ music, recorded on Auvidis/Montaigne, Lovely, New World, Pogus, and Neuma, among others, is published exclusively by C.F. Peters Corporation, New York. In 1998, Mode Records released WATERSHED, the first DVD in Dolby Digital 5.1 to feature music composed expressly for a multi-channel medium. “As in all art making, there is a kind of ‘alchemy’ going on [producing] a richly nuanced and authentic result,” wrote Richard Zvonar in Surround Professional. In the same year, The Library of Congress established the Roger Reynolds Special Collection. Writing in The New Yorker, Andrew Porter called him “at once an explorer and a visionary composer, whose works can lead listeners to follow him into new regions of emotion and meaning.” UNM Composers’ Symposium Daytime Schedule 2006 Unless otherwise noted, all events take place in Kurt Frederick Hall (CFA B120) Sunday, April 2 6:00 p.m. Conference Registration: Keller Hall Lobby 7:30 p.m. Concert: Keller Hall Monday, April 3 8:00 a.m. Conference Registration: Keller Hall Lobby 9:00 a.m. Welcome: Steven Block, chair, UNM Music Department LECTURE BY MICHAEL BOYD: The Music of Roger Reynolds 10:00 a.m. Composition Seminar (Room B117) comments by Michael Eckert, Michael Edgerton, Ruth Lomon 12:00 p.m. LUNCH for all visiting composers, UNM Student Union, Santa Ana Room 2:00 p.m. MEET THE COMPOSER: Roger Reynolds 4:00 p.m. Concert: Keller Hall 7:30 p.m. Concert: Keller Hall Tuesday, April 4 9:30 a.m. Beginning Composition Seminar (B117) comments by Bruce Reiprih 11:00 a.m. Concert: Outpost Performance Space 5:30 p.m. LECTURE BY MICHAEL EDGERTON Zappa Speaks Again: “The Tempo Mental Rap Variations and The 21st Century Voice” University Art Museum: Center for the Arts 7:30 p.m. Concert: Keller Hall 9:00 p.m. Concert: Keller Hall Wednesday, April 5 10:00 a.m. LECTURE BY STEVEN SCHICK “The Percussionist’s Art: Same Bed, Different Dreams” 11:00 a.m. Composition Seminar (B117) comments by: David Lefkowitz, Roger Reynolds, Beth Wiemann 12:00 p.m. SCI Region VII meeting (CFA 1108) 2:00 p.m. ASK THE COMPOSER: Roger Reynolds 4:00 p.m. Concert: Keller Hall 7:30 p.m. Concert: Keller Hall Concert Programs Concert I Sunday, April 2, 2006 7:30 p.m., Keller Hall, UNM Fine Arts Center Chasing Karma (2000) Kari Juusela Carmelo de los Santos, violin; David Schepps, cello canvas: mix (2004) Paul Coleman Electronic Music Esquisses (1992) Ruth Lomon I. Les Cloches II. La Fete III. Memories de Madeline Williamson, piano Intermission Liebeschlag (2002) David Arbury Scott Ney, percussion The Fox and the Grapes (2003) Deborah Kavasch Deborah Kavasch, soprano; Julie Ann Giacobassi, English horn A Voice to Face (2005) Ya’aqov Ziso Mark Enslin, conductor Heidi Jones,