13th Other Minds Music Festival, March 6-7-8, 2008, Jewish Community Center San Francisco

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) January 25, 2008 -- Download photos, concert programs and releases at: http://otherminds.org/shtmlPressroom.shtml

Other Minds Presents 13th Other Minds Music Festival

Three world premieres and U.S. premiere of late work by John Cage

Thursday-Friday-Saturday, March 6-7-8, 2008 -- 7 p.m. Panel Discussions ? 8 p.m. Concerts

Kanbar Hall, Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California St., SF

The 13th Other Minds Music Festival (OM 13), curated by Other Minds Executive and Artistic Director Charles Amirkhanian, brings together nine innovative and unconventional composers from around the world for concerts and artist talks, presenting the most creative voices from across the musical spectrum. Invited composers are: Michael Bach (Germany), Dan Becker (USA), Elena Kats-Chernin (Uzbekistan/Australia), Keeril Makan (USA), Åke Parmerud (Sweden), Dieter Schnebel (Germany), Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith (USA), Morton Subotnick (USA), and Frances-Marie Uitti (USA/Netherlands). The 13th Other Minds Music Festival, presented in association with Djerassi Resident Artists Program and the Eugene and Elinor Friend Center for the Arts of JCCSF, includes three world premieres commissioned by Other Minds, and the American premiere of One13 by John Cage, composed in collaboration with guest artist Michael Bach.

The 13th Other Minds Music Festival concerts are Thursday, March 6; Friday, March 7; and Saturday, March 8, 2008, at the Jewish Community Center's Kanbar Hall, 3200 California Street (at Presidio Ave.), San Francisco. Concerts begin at 8pm; panel discussions with composers and performers at 7 p.m. For detailed information visit otherminds.org

Single-concert tickets are $25-$35. Festival passes for all three concerts are $65-$79 (not available online). Youth 17 and under (with valid ID) will be admitted free of charge on the day of the concert, pending available seating. For advance tickets, call the JCCSF Box Office at (415) 292-1233 or purchase online, jccsf.org. Tickets may also be purchased in person or by mail from JCCSF Box Office, 3200 California Street, San Francisco, CA 94118.

Festival Schedule

Thursday, March 6 --

COMPOSERS: Dieter Schnebel, Michael Bach, Åke Parmerud, Elena Kats-Chernin, Frances-Marie Uitti, Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith

PERFORMERS: Michael Bach, Lisa Moore, Frances-Marie Uitti, Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith with Anthony Brown and Del Sol String Quartet

Opening night features two remarkable cellists: Frances-Marie Uitti, in a solo performance, employs her pioneering two-bow technique; Michael Bach uses his curved Bach.bow in a work written especially for Bach by German composer Dieter Schnebel (b. 1930), based on a harrowing text by Heinrich Böll (1917-1985).

Åke Parmerud's (b. 1953) work combines intricate timbral ideas with a driving, pulsating energy. Writing for piano, Elena Kats-Chernin (b. 1957) spins melodic figures into a virtuosic web of repetition and variation. Their works will be performed by Lisa Moore, co-founder of Bang On A Can All-Stars.

Opening night concludes with the world premiere of Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith's sixth string quartet, Taif: Prayer in the Garden of The Hijaz, commissioned by Other Minds. A free jazz legend, Smith has developed his own composition and notation system for improvisers called "Ankhrasmation." He performs with percussionist Anthony Brown and Del Sol String Quartet.

Friday, March 7 --

COMPOSERS: Åke Parmerud, Michael Bach, John Cage, Dieter Schnebel, Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith, Dan Becker

PERFORMERS: Michael Bach, Adorno Ensemble, Other Minds Ensemble

Other Minds honors one of its guiding spirits, John Cage, with the American premiere of One13. Composed in collaboration with and dedicated to Michael Bach, this late composition explores with profound simplicity the world of possibility afforded by Bach's curved bow. With the ability to bow all four cello strings at once, Bach created his work 18-7-92 as an exploration of twenty ways to perform one note. This led to the co-authorship of One13, which consists of one live part and playback of three parts pre-recorded by the soloist.

Works by Dieter Schnebel expose two more sides of his wide-ranging oeuvre: Quintessenz, for four vocalists with piano, reflects the composer's multifaceted background: Schnebel studied theology and philosophy as well as music at the University of Tübingen, found inspiration from Theodor Adorno, Ernst Bloch and Albert Schweitzer, and worked as a pastor before becoming a professor of music. Poem für 4 Köpfe reveals Schnebel's capacity for experimentation and innovation.

The evening concludes with a world premiere commission by San Francisco post-minimalist Dan Becker, with San Francisco's Adorno Ensemble.

Saturday, March 8 --

COMPOSERS: Keeril Makan, Elena Kats-Chernin, Dan Becker, Morton Subotnick

PERFORMERS: David Shively, Del Sol String Quartet, Elena Kats-Chernin, Morton Subotnick, Kathleen Supové

Electronic music pioneer Morton Subotnick (b. 1933) takes the stage with pianist Kathleen Supové for his recent composition, The Other Piano. Dan Becker's stunning, complex Revolution, performed by Supové on disklavier with recordings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is a piece of haunting, lyrical power.

Saturday's concert includes the world premiere of a work for solo percussion by Keeril Makan, commissioned by Other Minds. Percussionist David Shively and Del Sol String Quartet perform Makan's gnarly Static Rising. Del Sol performs works of Elena Kats-Chernin, with the composer at the piano.

Other Minds, a private not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization based in San Francisco, is dedicated to the encouragement and propagation of contemporary music in all its forms. Projects include the annual Other Minds Music Festival, Other Minds Records, Other Minds New Music Séance Concerts, "Music From Other Minds" on KALW 91.7-FM, and the History of New Music Preservation Project, making content from the Other Minds Archive available for free on the web at radiOM.org.

Other Minds gratefully acknowledges Festival support from: National Endowment for the Arts, Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, Argosy Foundation Contemporary Music Fund, Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, Bernard Osher Foundation, Goethe-Institut, Netherland-America Foundation, Inc., American Scandinavian Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation; Amoeba Music, San Francisco Bay Guardian, Yamaha Corporation of America, Sherman Clay & Co.; hotel sponsor The Monte Cristo Hotel.

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