Artist profiles

  • Olivia Block, by Richard Termine for The New York Times Newer Music bonus track As reported for my Newer Music column in the Boston Globe yesterday, sound artist Jason Lescalleet is launching a quarterly duo-concert residency at 3S Artspace in Portsmouth, NH, this Saturday night with the world premiere of Sonorous Vessels, a composition jointly

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  • Jason Lescalleet, by Tim Bugbee "Lescalleet fosters community on CD and new concert series"Boston GlobeApril 14, 2015 The sixth episode in the continuing saga of Newer Music focuses on Jason Lescalleet, a performer whose work made an impression on me years ago and still does. I recall vividly instances of Lescalleet's visceral, almost violent approach

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  • "A Winged Victory for the Sullen celebrates serendipity"Boston GlobeMarch 21, 2015 The fifth installment of my monthly Newer Music column is out today, and covers the ambient cum post-classical chamber music duo A Winged Victory for the Sullen: Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie, from Stars of the Lid, and Dustin O'Halloran, of Devics. The duo and their

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  • Joanna Wallfisch and Dan Tepfer, by Josh Goleman "Wallfisch, Tepfer learn to collaborate on CD and onstage"Boston GlobeMarch 13, 2015 Singer Joanna Wallfisch, who describes herself as having been a "bad student," learns to slow down and pay closer attention to the art she creates. Pianist Dan Tepfer, a self-proclaimed nerd engaged by virtuosity in

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  • As America takes stock of itself in this complex time-cycle, it is important to understand that one person can still make a difference. That not everyone has to follow the tried-and-true traditional path—to get tried-and-true traditional results. Steve Backer opened a door for a generation of creative artists to connect to the greater culture (and

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  • The New York Times building, by Richard Drew/AP I'd intended to make the previous "Days between" post the last…until such time as I once again fall so badly behind that I can't locate the 10 to 15 minutes it takes to flog a bit of my writing for The New York Times here on my

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  • The second in an occasional (though not occasional enough) series that started with a blog post in October, here's another omnibus entry covering all of my writing for The New York Times between the Bard Music Festival in mid-August and the New York Philharmonic concert of November 14, both blogged up individually elsewhere. The first

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  • The New York Times building, by Richard Perry/The New York Times I've promised myself for quite some time now that I'd finally get around to catching up with posting my writing for the Times here with a couple of omnibus posts, and now I'm finally making the time for it. Here's the first, covering everything

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  • John Shiurba JazzizMay 1999 Bay Area guitarist and free-improvisor John Shiurba hit upon the idea of his new Limited Sedition record label soon after buying a CD burner last year: "I just wanted to put out CDs of my music, and music that I think is worthy," he explains. "But the idea of shopping tapes

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  • Swing shift.

    Sometimes the road ahead is simply a matter of being in the right place at the right time…and knowing the right people. Back in the spring of 2000, with my illustrious public-relations career at an impasse after BMG Classics eliminated almost everyone in the department, I got an interesting offer from Larry Blumenfeld, then the

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  • Lauren Worsham, by Kristin Hoebermann Interview with Lauren Worsham [link missing]Time Out New York, Feb. 21–27, 2013 An excruciatingly short snippet from a lengthy, wide-ranging and brilliantly fun conversation with Lauren Worsham (full name: Lauren Worsham Jarrow), who plays Flora in New York City Opera's stylishly spooky production of Benjamin Britten's opera The Turn of

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  • Karen Gillan, Matt Smith, Chris Hardwick and Caroline Skinner outside the Ziegfeld Theater Q&A, Caroline Skinner, Executive Producer of Doctor WhoThe New York Times Artsbeat, August 29, 2012 Prior to the preview screening of the Doctor Who season premiere, "Asylum of the Daleks," at the Ziegfeld Theater last Saturday night, described in the previous post,

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  •   Pauline Oliveros at the Bang on a Can Marathon, by Jennifer Taylor/The New York Times   "Strange Sounds Led a Composer to a Long Career"The New York Times, August 12, 2012 Profiling the composer, improviser and teacher Pauline Oliveros for The New York Times was an incredible privilege; the only problem is that it

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  • No dejes que…

    Photograph: Roberto Sanchez Interview: CaifanesTime Out New York, Oct 6–12, 2011 In this article about the seminal Mexican alt-rock band Caifanes, recently reunited and now en route to New York's Hammerstein Ballroom for an October 12 show, I start by evoking the reunions of Led Zeppelin, Cream and the Pixies. For admirers of rock en

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  • New frontier.

    "In Brooklyn, a New Leader Who Knows No Boundaries"The New York Times, October 2, 2011 An article about the arrival of Alan Pierson as the new artistic director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, an esteemed ensemble that has known tremendous highs and disheartening lows over the years. At a time when the orchestra is not only

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  • Legacy tour.

    "Avant-Garde Dancing Feet, Tickling Composers' Minds"The New York Times, March 18, 2011 An article about the making of Music for Merce, a newish 10-CD box set issued by the invaluable New World record label. The box is devoted to a well-chosen cross-section of the myriad musical scores that came into being through the auspices of

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  • Here comes the flood.

    Photograph by Eric Calvi "Unleashing a Creative Deluge"The New York Times, December 7, 2010 A preview story regarding the composer, performer and director Mikel Rouse, whose latest stage creation, Gravity Radio, opens tonight at the BAM Harvey Theater with additional performances on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. For many folks, the Thursday performance will be the

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  • Temporary residence.

    Photograph: Tina Tahir/DG Anne-Sophie MutterThe illustrious German violin virtuoso is this season's artist-in-residence at the New York Philharmonic.Time Out New York, November 18-24, 2010

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  • Porcupine Tree; photograph by Diana Nitschke Interview: Steven Wilson of Porcupine TreeThe Volume blogTime Out New YorkSept. 20, 2010 Founded in England at the onset of the 1990s, Porcupine Tree was originally passed off as a "forgotten" old-school prog-rock band. But yarn-spinning ceded to singer, guitarist and bandleader Steven Wilson's knack for reconciling vintage influences

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  • Every rose has its thorn.

    "Remaking a Dark Tale, With Real-Life Notes"The New York Times, September 19, 2010 An article about Hannah Lash, a strikingly gifted young composer who overcame a huge emotional and professional setback this summer as she completed Blood Rose, a 40-minute chamber opera based on the tale of "Beauty and the Beast." The opera will have

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