University at Buffalo (UB)
The Center for 21st Century Music is pleased to co-sponsor the golden ass, a chamber opera in one act by composer Tiffany M. Skidmore and librettist Patrick Gallagher. The performances, which feature members of the Slee Sinfonietta conducted by David Cubek, will take place Wednesday, March 13 and Thursday, March 14 at 7:30 p.m. in Slee Hall. the golden ass features UB Assistant Professor of voice, Tiffany DuMouchelle as Venus, visiting artists Nina Dante as Psyche, Adam Zahller as Cupid, Justin Anthony Spenner as Father, and choir comprised of UB students. Skidmore is Visiting Associate Professor and Birge-Cary Chair in Music Composition at UB. More information can be found at our blog, Edge of Center.
Soprano Susan Narucki and violinist Curtis Macomber, longtime advocates for the work of living composers, continue their collaboration around György Kurtág's iconic work for soprano and violin, Kafka Fragments, with a performance at Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at 7:30 p.m.
Kurtág's seventy-five-minute multi-movement work uses fragments of texts from the diaries of Franz Kafka, to create a kaleidoscopic world of sound, sense and expression. Each fragment – some lasting less than a minute –is singular and potent; each movement offers a glimpse of a distinct viewpoint, and each gain in meaning through juxtapositions throughout the work as a whole. More information can be found at our blog, Edge of Center.
Featuring premieres of works by UB composers developed over Duo Gelland’s 2023/24 residency. More information can be found at our blog, Edge of Center.
Christ the King Chapel, Canisius College, 6:00 p.m. (free)
The Slee Sinfonietta continues its season with a program examining the reflected influences music from Asia and American on contemporary composers. Conductor Jaman Dunn-Danger makes his Sinfonietta debut, and we are also delighted to welcome guest flutist and Western New York favorite, Carol Wincenc. Wincenc will be our soloist for UB Visiting Slee Professor Su Lian Tan’s evocative Autumn Lute Song, which also features erhu virtuoso Andy Lin. Carol will be heard as well in Lukas Foss’s For Toru, composed to the memory of Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu. William Kraft’s Encounter V “In the Morning of the Winter Sea” for cello and percussion is offered in tribute to the composer’s centennial (Kraft was born in 1923 and lived until 2022!). Chou Wen-chung’s Ode to Eternal Pine is based on material from Eternal Pine, commissioned by the Contemporary Music Ensemble of Korea (CMEK) for an ensemble of traditional Korean instruments. It is composed in the spirit and style of chong ak, the ancient Korean chamber music, retaining its tempo, meter, and modal characteristics with emphasis on the fluidity of instrumental voices rather than exploitation of novel colors. More information can be found at our blog, Edge of Center.
Tickets $10, or free with UB Student ID
Featuring works for saxophone by UB composers, developed over Hutchins’s 2023/24 residency. More information can be found at our blog, Edge of Center.
Baird Recital Hall, 7:30 p.m. (free)
Featuring works by UB students Francisco Corthey and Jonathan Rainous (premiere). More information can be found at our blog, Edge of Center.
Lippes Concert Hall, 6:00 p.m. (free)
Each year at the festival, the Slee Sinfonietta performs programs of works by June in Buffalo participant and senior composers. These concerts include everything from solo to chamber orchestra-sized settings, and feature UB faculty performers, along with guests from Western New York and locations around the country. More information can be found at our website, Center for 21st Century Music.
The Center for 21st Century Music is pleased to co-sponsor Tiffany Skidmore’s The William Blake Cycle, a multimedia saxophone opera for 5 saxophones (one player) with chamber ensemble, spatial audio, video, and theatrical direction. The performance of this work will be held Thursday, September 7 at 7:30 in the Lippes Concert Hall.
The William Blake Cycle features Kyle Hutchins as the saxophone soloist alongside artist from the slee sinfonietta, fonema consort, and others. Performers include, Dalia Chin (flutes), Rebeccah Parker Downs (cello), Sheldon Johnson (saxophone), Katherine Kennedy (soprano), Derek Shapiro (conductor), Justin Anthrony Spenner (baritone), Annie Stevens (percussion), Shannon Wettstein (piano), and Tiffany M. Skidmore (video and electronics). More information can be found at our blog, Edge of Center.
Lippes Concert Hall, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets $10, or free with UB Student ID
Duo Gelland was founded in 1994 by the violinists Cecilia and Martin Gelland who met in the Danish Radio Symphony orchestra and started exploring the duo repertoire together. In addition to their workshop on Monday, September 18, and their concert on Tuesday, September 19, Duo Gelland and UB composers will meet with the students of Buffalo String Works for a new project. Duo Gelland will deature works by Arnold Schönberg, Tiffany M. Skidmore, Erika Förare, Mikael Forsman, Birgitte Alsted, and Hans-Joachim Hespos. More information can be found at our blog, Edge of Center.
Workshop: Baird Recital Hall, 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. (free)
Concert: Baird Recital Hall, 7:30 p.m. (free)
The season-opening concert on Tuesday, October 17 in Lippes Concert Hall will be led by the brilliant Argentinian conductor/composer, Christian Baldini. The title of the evening’s program, “Pan-Americana,” honors Hispanic Heritage month with works by composers throughout the Americas. The program will include works by Edgard Varése, Nora Ponte, Christian Baldini, Henry Cowell, Gabriel Bolaños, and Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon. The Slee Sinfonietta and the Center for 21st Century Music attempt to continue the forward-looking, work of the Pan-American Association of Composers. More information can be found at our blog, Edge of Center.
Lippes Concert Hall, 7:30 p.m.
Anthony R. Green, composer, performer, and social justice artist, will be in resident in the Music Department at the University at Buffalo on Friday, November 10, working with our PhD student in composition, as well as giving a composer talk open to the public. The core of thought behind his various output is expressed through his experiences related to social justice, such as immigration, civil rights, black queerness/queer racism, and more. More information can be found at our blog, Edge of Center.
Masterclass: 10:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. B1 Baird (North Campus)
Composer Talk: 2:00-3:40 p.m. B1 Baird (free)
As a collaborator and contemporary extraordinaire, Kyle Hutchins will be featuring music in collaboration with Ted Morre, Leah Reid, Barry Moon, The Honourable Elizabeth A. Baker, and premiering works by Margaret Schedel, and Cort Lippe in his recital Thursday, November 16. Kyle has performed well over 200 world premiers of new works for saxophone.
Kyle Hutchins, an internationally acclaimed performing artist and improviser, will be presenting on his professional experiences and experimental performance practice concluding with a question and answer session. During his workshop, Kyle will be demonstrating contemporary extended techniques for saxophone, how to notate these techniques, and more about the possibilities for saxophone performance in the contemporary context.
Concert: Thursday, November 16 in Baird Recital Hall, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets $10, or free with UB Student ID
Workshop: Friday, November 17 in Baird Recital Hall, 2:00-4:00 p.m. (free)
Fonema Consort is an internationally recognized ensemble dedicated to the commissioning of new works by living composers and has premiered over 50 new works since 2012. Fonema Concort’s residency, sponsored by the Center for 21st Century Music, includes a lecture by Pablo Chin, a co-founder of the renowned ensemble, discussing his own compositions. Composer, pedagogue, and interpreter of contemporary composition, Julio Estrada, will also provide a lecture on his various compositions Friday, December 1. Fonema Consort will rehearse and record five new works composed by students in the University at Buffalo’s graduate composition studio.
Fonema Concort’s program for their concert on Friday, December 1 will include pieces by Julio Estrada, Graciela Paraskevaís, and Pablo Chin.
Pablo Chin Lecture: in Baird Recital Hall (free)
Julio Estrada Lecture: Friday, December 1 in Baird Recital Hall (free)
Recording Session: in Baird Recital Hall (free)
Concert: Friday, December 1 in Lippes Concert Hall, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets $10, or free with UB Student ID
Please visit our Archives for a complete list of previous guest artists