The Composers’ Forum is a weekly meeting for faculty members, students, and interested members of the public to discuss music composition and related topics. Several times a year, the Composers’ Forum brings distinguished guest composers to the Cornell campus.

Forum meetings take place on Fridays at 1:25 PM in the Alfred E. Kahn Seminar Room, room 316, within the Sidney Cox Library of Music and Dance (main entrance at 220 Lincoln Hall), except where noted. All meetings are open to the public.

Each semester or year, an overriding topic is selected. For Fall 2011 the topic mirrors that of the Cornell Society for the Humanities: sound. Student composers will be asked to present seminar-style lecture-presentations on a topic of their choosing (to be discussed with faculty).

Festival Chamber Orchestra information is available here.

Calendar

FALL 2011

August 26th: DMA composer Michael Small on his recent music; summer activities discussion
September 2nd: Discussion of recent pieces by DMA student composers
September 9th: Professor Kevin Ernste: sound editing and manipulation techniques for composers
September 16th: Student Composer seminars I: Jesse Jones
September 23rd: Student Composer seminars II: Charles Cacioppo, Taylan Cihan
September 30th: Visiting composer William Kraft
October 7th: Student Composer seminars III: Takuma Itoh, Peter Fahey
October 14th: Student Composer seminars IV: Peiying Yuan, Michael Small
October 21st: Guest Composer David Borden
October 28th: Guest Composer and Alumni Joseph Phibbs (tentative date)
November 4th: Student Composer seminars V: Amit Gilutz, Nicco Athens
November 11th: Visiting composer Willam Bolcom
November 18th: Master Class with Professor Steven Stucky
November 25th: Thanksgiving recess
November 29th: Special forum session with Guest Composer Xiaogang Ye
December 2nd: Faculty seminar on teaching composition

SPRING 2012

January 27th: Master Class with visiting composer Chaya Czernowin: composers Michael Small, Taylan Cihan, and Yuan Peiying presenting recent work
February 3rd: Student Composer job interview follow-ups: Takuma Itoh and Eric Nathan
February 10th: Student Composer’s discuss their recent and ongoing music
February 17th: Student Composer job talks: Amit Gilutz and Jesse Jones
February 24th: Student Composer job talks: Chris Stark
February 29th: Special session: Composer Fred Frith on “Composing for Film”, Guerlac Room A.D. White House, 4:30pm
March 1st: Special session: Improvisation Masterclass and open rehearsal with Cornell Avant‐Garde Ensemble, 9:30pm B20 Lincoln Hall
March 9th: Visting composer and Cornell Alumni Chrisopher Hopkins
March 16th: Visting composer Pauline Oliveros (80th Birthday Celebration)
March 31st: Festival Chamber Orchestra (FCO) Concert (details in the concert calendar)
April 6th: FCO Concert follow-up, listening, and discussion
April 13th: Talea Ensemble, part of their visit and performance with CCCP
April 20th: Guest Composer Per Bloland on his music and techniques
April 27th: CCCP pieces discussion
May 4th: “Music Cognition, Technology, Society” conference discussion

Topic Suggestions for “sound”

Deep Listening and the Music of Pauline Oliveros

The Physiology and Psychology of Human Hearing

R. Murray Schaefer and the World Soundscape Project

Sound Art and Soundscapes

Sound and Image

The Prepared Piano and the History of Piano “stops”

Space and a Compositional Element

The Music of Henry Cowell

Conlon Nancarrow and the Machine as Performer

Noise and/or Music

Spectralism(s) and Spectralists

Silence

Articulation and envelope

Studio Techniques and Acoustic Music

Futurism’s Past (and Future)

Messiaen’s bird transcriptions and their compositional renderings

Orchestration: solos, doubling, and sections

Fundamentals of Acoustics

Synthesis techniques of the 1940′s and 50′s

DMA student recitals

Sunday, October 16th, 3:00 pm, Barnes Hall Auditorium: D.M.A. Recital: Takuma Itoh, composer.

Wednesday, October 26th, 8:00pm, Barnes Hall Auditorium: D.M.A. Recitals: Jesse Jones and Amit Gilutz, composers.

Wednesday, November 16th, 8:00pm, Barnes Hall Auditorium: D.M.A. Recital: Eric Nathan, composer. Features Three by Three, Remembrances, Spires, Wing Over Wing, Walls of Light and Sands Flowing, performed by pianist Hui Wu, clarinetist Richard Faria, flutist Wendy Mehne, violinist Nicholas DiEugenio, soprano Judith Kellock, and the Ithaca Brass, with Eric Nathan as conductor.

Select events of interest to composers

Monday, September 26th, 8:00 pm, Barnes Hall Auditorium: Guest artists Winston Choi and Amy Williams, pianists, perform a tribute to György Kurtág. Features works by Kurtág, Stravinsky, Ligeti, Amy Williams, and portions of Roberto Sierra’s Treinta y tres formas de observar un mismo objeto. Xak Bjerken and Andrew Zhou join the duo to perform a newly discovered arrangement of Edgard Varèse’s orchestral masterpiece, Ameriques, for two pianos (eight hands).

Tuesday, September 27th, 6-7:00 pm, Anabel Taylor Hall: Cornell University organist Randall Harlow presents a session on writing for the organ, specifically focussed on new techniques. This presentation is part of a larger organ commissioning project planned for 2012.

Tuesday, September 27th, 8:00 pm, Barnes Hall Auditorium: Guest artist Adam Unsworth presents a program of recent works for horn, including premieres by Catherine Likhuta for violin, horn, and piano, and Kevin Ernste for solo horn and electronics.

Wednesday, September 28th, 8pm, J(ust)A(bout)M(usic) dorm-North Campus : Cornell Percussion, the Cornell Avant-Garde Ensemble, and the Cornell Electroacoustic Music Center present Mayda Mayas and Tony Buck. More details here.

Wednesday, September 28th, 8pm, The Haunt: Deerhoof with Powerdove (Annie Lewandowski, Benjamin Piekut) and Keir Neuringer.  More details and tickets ($$) here.

Friday, September 30th, 8:00pm, Bailey Hall: CU Winds: Wind Symphony and Wind Ensemble; Cynthia Johnston Turner, conductor, with guest composer William Kraft and soloist Tim Feeney, present “O Fortuna.” Features Kraft’s Timpani Concerto (1983, newly arranged for winds), selections from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, a newly published work by grad composer Eric Nathan, and works by Prokofiev, Strens, and Rudin.

Wednesday, October 5th, 12:30pm, Anabel Taylor Chapel: Midday Music for Organ, features new works by Eastman School of Music composers, performed by Eastman organists.

Sunday, October 9th, 7pm, Ithaca College’s Iger Lecture Hall (JJWCM 2105): Karel Husa Visiting Professor of Composition Lecture: A talk by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Melinda Wagner about her music and musical life. Contact: ekibelsbeck@ithaca.edu or 274-3717.

Monday, October 10th, 7pm, Ithaca College’s Hockett Family Recital Hall: Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 4; Wagner: Little Moonhead (inspired by the fourth Brandenburg) Wendy Mehne, flute and Nicholas DiEugenio, violin; Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Jeffery Meyer.

Tuesday, October 18 – 8:15 p.m. in Ford Hall (Ithaca College): Ithaca College Wind Ensemble, Stephen Peterson, conductor.  Includes a performance of Eric Nathan’s ”Evening Glow” as well as works by Husa, Owens, and Mozart.

Thursday, October 20th, 8:00 pm, Setnor Auditorium (Syracuse University): Open End, Music of Messiaen, Ives, Carter, Ran, Waggoner & a premiere by Jesse Benjamin Jones, plus 4 Improvisations.

Sunday, October 30th, 3:00 pm, Johnson Museum of Art: “Look and Listen”—a musical celebration of the opening of the museum’s new wing with new works that reflect specific works and spaces throughout the museum. Features Cornell faculty performers at specific museum locations, joined by guests Richard Faria, clarinet; Nicholas DiEugenio, violin; Wendy Richman, viola; and Sqwonk, a bass clarinet duo from San Francisco, performing ten premieres by Cornell composers. Closes with a group improvisation on the fifth floor 5:00-6:00 PM. Produced by the Cornell Contemporary Chamber Players; Niccolo Athens and Peiying Yuan, directors.

Friday, November 4th, 8:00 pm Barnes Hall Auditorium: Guest artist: Juan Carlos Garvayo, piano. Features works by Jesús Torres, Carlos Fariñas, Mauricio Sotelo, Albéniz, and Ginastera, as well as Roberto Sierra’s Sonata.

Sunday, November 6th, 3:00 pm Barnes Hall Auditorium: Contrapunkt: Liza Sobel and Andrew Bunyea, directors. Features music composed by Cornell undergraduate composers.

Sunday, November 13th, 3:00 pm, Bailey Hall: CU Winds: Wind Symphony and Wind Ensemble; Cynthia Johnston Turner, conductor, and Ensemble X, with guest composer William Bolcom and trumpeter Frank Campos. CUWE performs Symphony No. 1 with Mr. Campos and The Palace Rhapsody by Aulis Sallinen. CUWS presents Graceful Ghost Rag, and Ensemble X plays Orphée Sérénade.

Saturday, December 3rd, 8:00 pm, Barnes Hall Auditorium: Cornell University Jazz Band; Paul Merrill, director, with guest trombonist Bret Zvacek.