Ostrava Days 2009: New Music Institute and Festival for Composers and Performers

Application deadline for the Institute is March 1, 2009.

Ostrava Days is not so much a school as it is a working environment. With two resident orchestras, the focus is on, but not limited to, working with large-scale ensembles. It features seminars by lectors, as well as presentations by guests and resident-students. Participants interact in an informal manner and one-on-one sessions are no exception. Approximately 35 student applications will be accepted.

Young and emerging composers and performers have the unique opportunity to work with leading personalities of contemporary music, including Christian Wolff, Bernard Lang, Richard Ayres, Petr Kotík, Michael Schumacher, Elliott Sharp, Rebecca Saunders, Phill Niblock, Ben Patterson, Thomas Buckner and others as listed in the enclosed leaflet.

Students also work with the Janá?ek Philharmonic Orchestra and the Ostravská banda for the duration of the 21-day program. Compositions by resident-students are performed in workshops and/or during the week-long festival of public concerts at the end of the program.

Three weeks at Ostrava Days (August 10 – August 30, 2009) not only gives students the opportunity for daily contact with lectors and guests, but also offers them the chance to consult and analyze their own compositions in an international environment of like-minded musicians.

Please feel free to contact us with your questions. For more detailed information please visit http://www.ocnmh.cz.

SOUNZ Community Commission

With support from the 2008 SOUNZ Community Commission sound artist Sam Hamilton leads the SHifting City Sound Plains collective.

He will lead two separate hour-long strategically mapped and guided ‘Sound Walks’ through central Auckland’s acoustic environment and a concert featuring the results of a field recording project.

Participating artists include Sam Hamilton, Sam Morrison, James McCarthy, Phil Dadson, Clinton Philips, and Dion Workman.

Venue and Booking Details

Cross Street Studios
Upstairs, 27 Cross Street, Newton

New Zealand

Events Happening at this Event

06 Dec 2008 Shifting City Sound Plains 1
06 Dec 2008 Shifting City Sound Plains 2
06 Dec 2008 Shifting City Sound Plains 3

NZSO-SOUNZ Readings reminder

Following two very successful sessions of NZSO-SOUNZ Readings in May and September this year, SOUNZ is now calling for submissions from composers who would like their orchestral works to be considered for either of the two Readings sessions planned for 2009.

A submission form and information sheet can be downloaded here [ http://sounz.org.nz/events/show/950 ] or contact SOUNZ if you would rather we sent one to you by mail.

Deadline for submissions: a full score and completed form: is 5pm, Friday 5 December 2008.

The Reading sessions planned for 2009 are on May 6,7 in the Wellington Town Hall and September 3,4 in the Michael Fowler Centre. Composers may express a preference for either of these sessions with their submission.

Farr & Psathas available in podcast double bill

Radio New Zealand Concert has released two popular New Zealand piano trios as a free download.

In association with Chamber Music New Zealand and Promethean Editions, the December 2008 instalment of Radio New Zealand Concert Podcast Classics is a double-bill of Gareth Farr’s Ahi, and John Psathas’s Island Songs.

Both works were performed by European piano trios on tour in New Zealand (the Kungsbacka Trio in September 2007, and the Eggner Trio in April 2008). Their performances were recorded by Radio New Zealand at Chamber Music New Zealand concerts in Wellington and Auckland.

Podcast Classics is an initiative of Radio New Zealand in partnership with New Zealand classical music organisations, making classical masterpieces available to listeners worldwide as free downloads. Works by New Zealand composers such as Ross Harris, Anthony Ritchie and the Wehi Whanau have been released, as well as core classical repertoire. A new podcast is released on the first of every month and is made available for two months.

In addition, William Dart will present a Podcast Companion programme on Ahi and Island Songs, examining the history and different interpretations of the two works and shedding light on the musical language of Psathas and Farr. This will be playing on Radio New Zealand Concert at 7pm on Thursday 4 December 2008, and on Upbeat from 12pm on Monday 26 January 2009.

Podcast available until the end of January at:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/podcastclassics/

More about the Podcast Companion programme:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/concert/highlights/podcast_companion