NYCC Salon Minutes

MacKay Studio, The National Opera America Center

330 Seventh Avenue, Seventh Floor

August 26, 20189

Attendance: Paul Aljian, Richard Brooks, Tamara Cashour, Robert Cohen, Eric Heilner,  Hubert Howe, Carl Kanter, Linda Marcel, David Mecionis, Timothy Miller, Gayther Myers, Thomas Parente, David Picton, John de Clef Piñeiro, Dana Richardson, Dan Siegler, Shing-kwei Tzeng (guest) 

There was no steering committee meeting before this salon, but two important announcements were made:

The winner of our 2019 John Eaton Memorial Competition is Cheng Jin Koh for her composition Ecstasy for Piano Quartet.  Honorable mention is also awarded to Derek Cooper, Michael Salvatore Grebla, and Ursula Kwong-Brown. All four will be awarded free one-year membership in the New York Composers Circle, and the winner’s piece will be performed on one of our upcoming concerts.

The dates and locations of our concerts this season will be as follows:

    Wednesday, October 30, 2019 at the Little Church Around the Corner

    Thursday, December 12, 2019 at Marc A. Scorca Hall

    Wednesday, January 22, 2020 at Scorca Hall

    Tuesday, February 26, 2020 at the Little Church

    Tuesday, March 24, 2020 at Scorca Hall

    Tuesday, April 21, 2020 at Scorca Hall

    Wednesday, May 13, 2020 at the Little Church

Details of the programs and performers will be posted on the Calendar page of the website shortly.

Salons for the rest of 2019 are scheduled for September 22, October 20, November 24, and December 15 (all Sundays). Spring salon dates have not been set yet, but we will be applying for them soon.  Due to the good attendance at today’s salon, where we had several persons who have not been able to attend on Sundays in the past, we may try to hold one or more of them on a week day. The Steering Committee would welcome your feedback on that possibility.

I also urge you to check out the new changes and additions to our web site: http://newyorkcomposerscircle.org/. Thank you Tim Miller!

SALON MINUTES (2:00-4:30)

Works heard:

Shing-kwei Tzeng, The Arts of Tai-chi 42 Postures as Interactive Performance.  Mr. Tzeng, our visitor today from Taiwan, described and demonstrated how he attaches sensors to his body to respond to his tai-chi movements to control sound. He then played a video of a performance.  He explained how tai-chi generates two complementary forces, which generate four aggregates, which generate eight trigrams.  The project integrates mind, motion and music.

Dana Richardson, Dark Light for solo piano. A you tube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ePP0_mBVgY) of a live performance at Tenri on October 14, 2018 by Simon Mulligan, duration 15'30".

Eric Heilner, Short Story for Violin and Piano, MIDI performance, duration 8'30". Eric played this work at a previous salon, where people made several suggestions, which he has incorporate into this revision of that work.

David Mecionis, Nomen Sublatum for trumpet and cornet, MIDI realization, duration 3’30”. The work was inspired by the passing of a friend. It seemed to be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for live performers. This is a work in progress, and another movement is also contemplated.

Robert Cohen, Neptune’s Treasures for brass quintet. There are four movements entitled “The Descent of the Bathyscape, Reef Madness, Lonesome Blobfish,” and “Venting Hydrothermal,” plus a coda entitled “Neptune Rises.” The work was just composed and is intended for our projected brass quintet concert.

REFRESHMENTS (4:30-5:00)

Our next salon will be on Sunday, September 22. Members are invited to attend the steering committee meeting at 1:00 PM.

Emeritus Professor Hubert S. Howe, Jr.

Aaron  Copland School of Music

Queens College C.U.N.Y.

Flushing, New York 11367

(929) 344-2209

https://www.huberthowe.org/