BGSU hosts 35th annual New Music Festival Oct. 15-18

BOWLING GREEN, O.—The 35th annual Bowling Green State University New Music Festival will showcase the work of more than 30 guest composers and performers Oct. 15-18. The four-day international festival includes concerts, lectures and an art exhibition. This year's featured guests include award-winning composer Paul Dresher with his ensemble Double Duo and visual artist Nathalie Miebach.

Organized by BGSU’s MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music (MACCM), the College of Musical Arts and the Fine Arts Center Galleries, the festival supports the creation of new work and engages both the University and city communities in the process of music appreciation and awareness.

The festival gets underway at 6 p.m. Oct. 15 in the Willard Wankelman Gallery with an exhibition and performance of  “Sound/Sculpture,” works by Miebach and Harry Bertoia, with performances by the Gamelan Kusuma Sari and the Combustible Arts Ensemble. Artist talks begin at 6, performances at 7. The exhibition through Oct. 18.

Composer talks and performances begin the morning of Oct. 16, and culminate with a concert of orchestral and wind ensemble works by Dresher, BGSU’s Distinguished Artist Professor Marilyn Shrude, Paul Hong-Da Chin and Kevin Walczyk. The performance begins at 8 p.m. Oct. 18 in Kobacker Hall at the Moore Musical Arts Center. Tickets for the Saturday concert can be purchased at www.bgsu.edu/arts.

Dresher is an internationally active composer noted for his ability to integrate diverse musical influences into his own coherent and unique personal style. He pursues many forms of musical expression including experimental opera/music theater, chamber and orchestral composition, live instrumental electro-acoustic music, musical instrument invention, and scores for theater and dance. He has received commissions from such organizations as the Library of Congress, the Spoleto Festival USA, the Kronos Quartet, and Chamber Music America. He has performed or had his works performed throughout the world, and his music has been recorded on nine record labels.

Classically based and inventively performed, Double Duo combines traditional chamber instruments, performed by Bang on a Can All Stars founding member Lisa Moore on piano, and long-time collaborator Karen Bentley Pollick on violin, together with a pair of newly invented instruments: a Marimba Lumina played by percussionist Joel Davel and a Quadrachord, a 14-foot long, guitar-like stringed instrument invented by Dresher that is plucked, bowed, hammered and strummed. This contemporary music concert, performed on both “old” and new instruments, results in a wholly unique live performance experience that is both visual and aural.

Miebach is a Boston-based sculptor who translates weather data into woven sculpture and musical scores. She is the recipient of numerous awards and residencies, including a TED Global Fellowship. Her work has been shown in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Her sculptures have been reviewed by national and international publications, spanning fine arts, design, technology and science audiences, including Art In America, Art News, Sculpture, The New York Times, Form, Wired – UK and American Craft Magazine.    

Founded in 1980, the New Music Festival has hosted such notable composers as John Adams, Milton Babbitt, John Cage, Chen Yi, John Corigliano and Joan Tower, and more than 400 other guest composers and musicians.

Except for the Oct. 18 concert, festival events are free, and all are open to the public. Online tickets will be available up to midnight the night before the concert. To purchase tickets in person or by phone, call 419-372-8171 or visit the Arts Box Office, located in the Wolfe Center for the Arts, Monday-Friday, noon-5 p.m. The College of Musical Arts Box Office will be open two hours prior to the performance.

For a complete schedule of events, visit www.bgsu.edu/newmusic or contact the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music at 419-372-2685.

COMPLETE FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

Wednesday, October 15
6 p.m., Willard Wankelman Gallery, School of Art
Exhibition and Performance:
“Sound/Sculpture:” works by Nathalie Miebach and Harry Bertoia, with performances by Gamelan Kusuma Sari and the Combustible Arts Ensemble. Artist talks begin at 6, performances at 7. Exhibition runs September 9 through October 18.

Thursday, October 16
1 p.m., Bryan Recital Hall
Composer Talk: Paul Dresher
3 p.m., Bryan Recital Hall
Concert: music by Lou Harrison, Elliott Schwartz, William Dougherty, Pablo Chin, Jenni Brandon and Steven Snowden
7:30 p.m., Kobacker Hall
Concert: works by Paul Dresher, Morgan Krauss, Reiko Fueting, Libby Larsen, Christopher Dietz and Tetsuya Yamamoto
9:30 p.m., Clazel Theatre, 129 N. Main St., Bowling Green
Concert: music by Paul Dresher, Robert Erickson, Amy Beth Kirsten, James Romig and Ian Dicke

Friday, October 17
10:30 a.m., Bryan Recital Hall
Concert: music by Paul Dresher, Ashley Fu-Tsun Wang, Christopher Chandler, Elainie Lillios and Mikel Kuehn
2:30 p.m., Bryan Recital Hall
Concert: works by Nathan J. Stumpff, Garth Knox, James Romig, Sebastian Currier and Gregory Mertl
4:30 p.m., Bryan Recital Hall
Talk: Jeffrey Nytch, “The Entrepreneurial Symphony”
8 p.m., Kobacker Hall
Concert: Paul Dresher Double Duo; works by Paul Dresher, John Cage and Martin Bresnick

Saturday, October 18
10:30 a.m., Conrad Choral Room, Wolfe Center
Young Composers’ Concert: Music by students from the Toledo School for the Arts and winners of the 2014 BGSU Young Composers Competition.
2:30 p.m., Bryan Recital Hall
Concert: music by HyeKyung Lee, Takuma Itoh, Matthew Harder, Christopher Biggs and Jeffrey Nytch
8 p.m., Kobacker Hall ($)
Concert: Orchestral and wind ensemble works by Marilyn Shrude, Paul Dresher, Hong-Da Chin and Kevin Walczyk

Locations:
The Moore Musical Arts Center houses Bryan Recital Hall and Kobacker Hall.

The Willard Wankleman Gallery is located in the School of Art building, south of the Wolfe Center and east of the Library.

The Conrad Choral Room is located in the Wolfe Center for the Arts.

The Clazel Theatre is located at 129 N. Main St. in downtown Bowling Green.


Admission:
Most events are free and open to the public.

Tickets for the final Saturday concert can be purchased at
www.bgsu.edu/arts.

Online tickets will be available up to midnight the night before the concert. To purchase tickets in person or by phone, please call 419-372-8171 or visit the Arts Box Office, located in the Wolfe Center for the Arts, Monday-Friday, noon-5 p.m. The College of Musical Arts Box Office will be open two hours prior to the performance.

The Festival schedule is subject to change.