Living American Composers: New Music from Bowling Green
Airs locally Friday 8 - 9 p.m.
Distributed internationally through the Public Radio Exchange (PRX)
"Magnetic North for new music lovers points to Bowling Green, Ohio."
— David Lang, Grammy and Pulitzer Prize winning composer
For nearly four decades, hundreds of composers, performers, and lovers of contemporary music have descended annually on a small college town in northwest Ohio for a singular event: the New Music Festival at Bowling Green State University (BGSU). Home to the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music, BGSU also sponsors a multi-venue concert series called Music at the Forefront, which shines a spotlight on new and exciting young musicians.
Produced by WGTE Public Media and hosted by Brad Cresswell, Living American Composers: New Music from Bowling Green is an award-winning program which features live concert recordings from the New Music Festival and Music at the Forefront, alongside the commercial discography of related composers, alumni, and BGSU faculty. Designed with the adventurous classical listener in mind, the program features audience-friendly works that are introduced by their respective composers and performers.
Recent highlights include an ongoing feature called Living Women Composers, which is curated and hosted by Pulitzer Prize and Grammy-winning composer (and BGSU alumna) Jennifer Higdon. We also offer in-depth profiles of cutting edge groups including Latitude 49, Conspirare, Roomful of Teeth, Alarm Will Sound, and the New Music Ensemble at Grand Valley State University.
Besides Jennifer Higdon (who also serves as occasional co-host), other composers and performers include multi Grammy Award-winner Michael Daugherty, “The Exploding Pianist” Kathleen Supové, Pulitzer winners David Lang and Kevin Puts; Bearthoven frontman Karl Larson, and the highly-acclaimed Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble among many others.
Information for Station Programmers
Listen to sample episodes below:
In Concert: New Music Gathering II
Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble (credit: SALT Arts Documentation) In our final episode for season five, we hear a concert performance from the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble, made up entirely of works commissioned by the group. Part of the 2017 New Music Gathering at Bowling Green State University.
Music heard in this episode (all performances by the GVSU New Music Ensemble):
Alexandra Gardner: Vixen
David Biedenbender: Red Vesper
Molly Joyce: Bite the Dust
Sarah Kirkland Snider: You Are Free
Adam Cuthbert: Location Sharing
Jad Abumrad: Counting in C
Audio Extra: Listen to the entire episode with introductions by the GVSU ensemble's founder and director, Bill Ryan. (posted with permission)
Listen • 59:00
Close Up with Kathleen Supové
Pianist Kathleen Supové (supove.com) We visit with action-packed performance artist/keyboardist (and force behind The Exploding Piano) Kathleen Supové, with some of her best performances – including a concert appearance at Bowling Green State University.
Music heard in this episode:
Randall Woolf: What Remains of a Rembrandt
Kathleen Supové, piano with soundtrack
FCR170
Neil Rolnick: Digits
Kathleen Supové, piano with computer
BGSU New Music Festival (Innova 656)
Carolyn Yarnell: The Same Sky
Kathleen Supové, piano with soundtrack
Koch International 7572
Audio Extra:
Listen to the entire episode (posted with permission).
Listen • 59:00
Music at the Forefront: Spektral Quartet
Spektral Quartet (credit: Dan Kullman) We spend the hour with the Chicago-based visionary ensemble Spektral Quartet and some of the works created just for them, including selections from a recent Music at the Forefront concert at Bowling Green State University.
Music heard in this episode:
Marcos Balter: Chambers
Spektral Quartet
Parlour Tapes+ PT001
Chris Fisher-Lochhead: Hack – Set 4 – Pryor, Williams, Ms. Pat, Notaro
Spektral Quartet
DSL-92198
David Reminick: The Ancestral Mousetrap: IV. Bringing a Dead Man Back Into Life
Spektral Quartet
DSL-92198
Hans Thomalla: Bagatellen
Spektral Quartet
(recorded live in concert at BGSU, 2016)
Learn more about Spektral Quartet's ringtone project, Mobile Minatures, at http://spektralquartet.com/mobile-miniatures/
Audio Extra: Listen to the entire episode (posted with permission).
Listen • 59:00
Focus On: Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble
Quince Ensemble by Aleksandr Karjaka (http://www.karjaka.com/) We spend the hour with the Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble as they introduce works from their latest recording, Hushers.
Music heard in this episode (all performances by Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble):
Giacinto Scelsi: Sauh III & IV
New Focus 177
Kate Soper: Songs for Nobody
New Focus 177
Warren Enström: Hushers
New Focus 177
Molly Herron: Stellar Atmospheres
Also feat. Molly Herron, The Dervishes
Kivie Kahn-Lipman, bass viol
Loren Ludwig, bass viol
Doug Balliett, violone
Quince is:
Amanda DeBoer Bartlett, soprano
Kayleigh Butcher, mezzo-soprano
Elizabeth Pearse, soprano
Carrie Henneman Shaw, soprano
Audio: Listen to the entire episode (posted with permission).
Listen • 59:00
Focus On: Evan Chambers
Evan Chambers by Brad Cresswell University of Michigan composer and BGSU alumnus Evan Chambers takes us a personal tour of his extraordinary cantata "The Old Burying Ground" – a setting of simple yet powerful texts taken from old epitaphs, which are paired with modern poems.
Music heard in this episode:
Evan Chambers: selections from The Old Burying Ground
Introduction/And Pass From Hence Away
Nancy Eliza/Pompeii/Emma
O Say Grim Death
A Bar So Pure/Uncut Grass/O Drop On My Grave
Paths of Peace
University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra/Kiesler
Tim Eriksen, folksinger; Nicholas Phan, tenor; Anne-Carolyn Bird, soprano
Dorian Sono Luminus 92113
Audio: Listen to the entire episode (posted with permission).
Listen • 59:00