Pulitzer Prize winning composer Kevin Puts talks with Eugenia Zukerman and Emily Ondracek-Peterson of http://notedendeavors.com about the importance of recordings for composers. How good do the recordings need to be? Do they need to be commercial? Watch to find out!
Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for his debut opera Silent Night, Kevin Puts has been hailed as one of the most important composers of his generation. Critically acclaimed for his distinctive and richly colored musical voice, Puts’ impressive body of work includes four symphonies as well as several concertos written for some of today’s top soloists. His newest work, The City (Symphony No. 5), co-commissioned by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in honor of its 100th anniversary and by Carnegie Hall in honor of their 125th anniversary, will receive its premiere in Baltimore and New York in April 2016.
Do women face challenges in the conducting and composing worlds? What are they? Here, trailblazing composer and conductor Victoria Bond discusses those challenges and her view of what the future might hold.
Bond has a masters and doctorate from the Juilliard School, where she was the only female in the conducting program, and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California. She has taught at Juilliard, The Conductor’s Institute, New York University and in the spring will design and teach online courses for Nyack College. She has honorary doctorates from Hollins and Roanoke Colleges, and Washington and Lee University. She was voted Woman of the Year, Virginia in 1990 and 1991.
A major force in 21st century concert music, Victoria Bond leads a dual career as composer and conductor. Her compositions have been praised by the New York Times as “powerful, stylistically varied and technically demanding,” and her conducting has been called “impassioned” by the Wall Street Journal and “full of energy and fervor” by the New York Times.
***Watch the entire interview with Nico at Noted Endeavors’ website: WATCH HERE.
Star composer Nico Muhly discusses with Noted Endeavors founders Eugenia Zukerman and Emily Ondracek-Peterson some ways in which young composers can get their music into the hands of performers, and how that will help to progress one’s career.
Nico Muhly (b. 1981) is a composer of chamber music, orchestral music, sacred music, opera, ballet, and music for collaborators across a variety of fields. He has been commissioned by St. Paul’s Cathedral and Carnegie Hall, and has written choral music for the Tallis Scholars and the Hilliard Ensemble, songs for Anne Sofie von Otter and Iestyn Davies, an encore for violinist Hilary Hahn, and a viola concerto for Nadia Sirota. The Metropolitan Opera recently commissioned him to compose Marnie for its 2019-2020 season, based on Winston Graham’s 1961 novel that was adapted into an Alfred Hitchcock movie.
Muhly has scored ballets for choreographer Benjamin Millepied, including the most recent work for Paris Opera Ballet, and films including The Reader, Kill Your Darlings, and Me, Earl And The Dying Girl, in addition to arranging music by Antony & the Johnsons and the National. His debut CD Speak Volumes (2007) was the first of many collaborations with the artists of Reykjavik’s Bedroom Community label, and with singer/songwriter Thomas Bartlett (Doveman), he is half of the gamelan-inspired song project Peter Pears. He lives in New York City.
Pianist Simone Dinnerstein has enjoyed great recording successes; her estimable career was launched by her recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Here, Simone talks with Noted Endeavors founders Eugenia Zukerman and Emily Ondracek-Peterson about the importance of artists owning their own masters and the process of licensing recordings. American pianist Simone Dinnerstein is a searching and inventive artist who is motivated by a desire to find the musical core of every work she approaches. NPR reports, “She compels the listener to follow her in a journey of discovery filled with unscheduled detours . . . She’s actively listening to every note she plays, and the result is a wonderfully expressive interpretation.” The New York-based pianist gained an international following because of the remarkable success of her recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, which she raised the funds to record. Released in 2007 on Telarc, it ranked No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Classical Chart in its first week of sales and was named to many “Best of 2007” lists including those of The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The New Yorker.
The four solo albums Dinnerstein has released since then – The Berlin Concert (Telarc), Bach: A Strange Beauty (Sony), Something Almost Being Said (Sony), and Bach: Inventions & Sinfonias (Sony) – have also topped the classical charts. Dinnerstein was the bestselling instrumentalist of 2011 on the U.S. Billboard Classical Chart and was included in NPR’s 2011 100 Favorite Songs from all genres. In spring 2013, Simone Dinnerstein and singer-songwriter Tift Merritt released an album together on Sony called Night, a unique collaboration uniting classical, folk, and rock worlds, exploring common terrain and uncovering new musical landscapes. Dinnerstein was among the top ten bestselling artists of 2014 on the Billboard Classical Chart.
In February 2015, Sony Classical released Dinnerstein’s newest album Broadway-Lafayette, which celebrates the time-honored transatlantic link between France and America and includes Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Philip Lasser’s The Circle and the Child: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, written for Dinnerstein. The album was recorded with conductor Kristjan Järvi and the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra by Grammy-winning producer Adam Abeshouse.
Dinnerstein’s performance schedule has taken her around the world since her triumphant New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in 2005 to venues including the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Vienna Konzerthaus, Berlin Philharmonie, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and London’s Wigmore Hall; festivals that include the Lincoln Center Mostly Mozart Festival, the Aspen, Verbier, and Ravinia festivals, and the Stuttgart Bach Festival; and performances with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Berlin, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Kristjan Järvi’s Absolute Ensemble, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and the Tokyo Symphony.
Dinnerstein has played concerts throughout the U.S. for the Piatigorsky Foundation, an organization dedicated to bringing classical music to non-traditional venues. She gave the first classical music performance in the Louisiana state prison system when she played at the Avoyelles Correctional Center, and performed at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women in a concert organized by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Dedicated to her community, in 2009 Dinnerstein founded Neighborhood Classics, a concert series open to the public hosted by New York public schools which raises funds for the schools.
Dinnerstein is a graduate of The Juilliard School where she was a student of Peter Serkin. She also studied with Solomon Mikowsky at the Manhattan School of Music and in London with Maria Curcio. Simone Dinnerstein lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and son. She is managed by Ekonomisk Mgmt and is a Sony Classical artist.
Star composer Nico Muhly has blogged about his struggles with depression. Here, Nico talks with Noted Endeavors founders Eugenia Zukerman and Emily Ondracek-Peterson about mental health issues in classical music. Nico advocates for a destigmatization of depression and mental illnesses (and their treatments) and a divorce of mental illness from analysis.
Nico Muhly (b. 1981) is a composer of chamber music, orchestral music, sacred music, opera, ballet, and music for collaborators across a variety of fields. He has been commissioned by St. Paul’s Cathedral and Carnegie Hall, and has written choral music for the Tallis Scholars and the Hilliard Ensemble, songs for Anne Sofie von Otter and Iestyn Davies, an encore for violinist Hilary Hahn, and a viola concerto for Nadia Sirota. The Metropolitan Opera recently commissioned him to compose Marnie for its 2019-2020 season, based on Winston Graham’s 1961 novel that was adapted into an Alfred Hitchcock movie.
Muhly has scored ballets for choreographer Benjamin Millepied, including the most recent work for Paris Opera Ballet, and films including The Reader, Kill Your Darlings, and Me, Earl And The Dying Girl, in addition to arranging music by Antony & the Johnsons and the National. His debut CD Speak Volumes (2007) was the first of many collaborations with the artists of Reykjavik’s Bedroom Community label, and with singer/songwriter Thomas Bartlett (Doveman), he is half of the gamelan-inspired song project Peter Pears. He lives in New York City.
It’s easy to get stuck in a practice room. But, don’t stop exploring opportunities for self-promotion. Break of Reality cellist Patrick Laird talks with Noted Endeavors founders Eugenia Zukerman and Emily Ondracek-Peterson about the importance of getting your music to listeners.
Patrick Laird is a much sought-after cellist and composer/arranger. He is widely recognized as the cellist, founding member, and principal songwriter for the cello-rock ensemble “Break of Reality”.
As a performer with Break of Reality, he has given concerts in over 40 states across the U.S. in major performing arts centers, rock clubs, concert halls and colleges. Recent highlights include a sold-out tour of Alaska and direct support for the rock group “Cake”.
Patrick arranged and performed the theme song from the HBO show “Game of Thrones”. Break of Reality released a video of the performance on YouTube, which has since received over 8 million views.His songs are streamed over 20 million times a year on internet radio, and his music has been featured in national television programs, including Dateline NBC and America’s Investigative Reports on PBS, which went on to win an Emmy.
You’ve heard that record sales have fallen drastically. But, can effective strategies buck that trend? Break of Reality cellist Patrick Laird talks with Noted Endeavors founders Eugenia Zukerman and Emily Ondracek-Peterson about strategies for successful record sales.
Patrick Laird is a much sought-after cellist and composer/arranger. He is widely recognized as the cellist, founding member, and principal songwriter for the cello-rock ensemble “Break of Reality”. As a performer with Break of Reality, he has given concerts in over 40 states across the U.S. in major performing arts centers, rock clubs, concert halls and colleges. Recent highlights include a sold-out tour of Alaska and direct support for the rock group “Cake”.
Patrick arranged and performed the theme song from the HBO show “Game of Thrones”. Break of Reality released a video of the performance on YouTube, which has since received over 8 million views.His songs are streamed over 20 million times a year on internet radio, and his music has been featured in national television programs, including Dateline NBC and America’s Investigative Reports on PBS, which went on to win an Emmy.
As the found of a successful record label (Oxingale), cellist Matt Haimovitz is intimately familiar with the problems posed by streaming music services. In this segment with Noted Endeavors founders, Eugenia Zukerman and Emily Ondracek-Peterson, Matt posits that music should NOT be free as it degrades cultural appreciation. Music and art should be valued as much as “putting food on the table.”
Haimovitz made his debut in 1984, at the age of 13, as soloist with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic. At 17 he made his first recording with James Levine and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, for Deutsche Grammophon. Haimovitz has since gone on to perform on the world’s most esteemed stages, with such orchestras and conductors as the Berlin Philharmonic with Levine, the New York Philharmonic with Mehta, the English Chamber Orchestra with Daniel Barenboim, the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Leonard Slatkin and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra with Kent Nagano. Haimovitz made his Carnegie Hall debut when he substituted for his teacher, the legendary Leonard Rose, in Schubert’s String Quintet in C, alongside Isaac Stern, Shlomo Mintz, Pinchas Zukerman and Mstislav Rostropovich.
In 2000, he made waves with his Bach “Listening-Room” Tour, for which, to great acclaim, Haimovitz took Bach’s beloved cello suites out of the concert hall and into clubs across the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. Haimovitz’s 50-state Anthem tour in 2003 celebrated living American composers, and featured his own arrangement of Jimi Hendrix’s “Star-Spangled Banner.” He was the first classical artist to play at New York’s infamous CBGB club, in a performance filmed by ABC News for “Nightline UpClose.” Soon thereafter, Haimovitz launched Oxingale Records with his wife, composer Luna Pearl Woolf. Oxingale records have since received wide acclaim for its stunning recordings.
Are you using Facebook and Twitter effectively? What is a good post? How can you harness the power of social media to develop a fan base? Break of Reality cellist Patrick Laird talks with Noted Endeavors founders Eugenia Zukerman and Emily Ondracek-Peterson about what he has found to be effective social media strategy.
Patrick Laird is a much sought-after cellist and composer/arranger. He is widely recognized as the cellist, founding member, and principal songwriter for the cello-rock ensemble “Break of Reality”.
As a performer with Break of Reality, he has given concerts in over 40 states across the U.S. in major performing arts centers, rock clubs, concert halls and colleges. Recent highlights include a sold-out tour of Alaska and direct support for the rock group “Cake”.
Patrick arranged and performed the theme song from the HBO show “Game of Thrones”. Break of Reality released a video of the performance on YouTube, which has since received over 8 million views.His songs are streamed over 20 million times a year on internet radio, and his music has been featured in national television programs, including Dateline NBC and America’s Investigative Reports on PBS, which went on to win an Emmy.
Composers, do you provide performers with MIDI mockups? Pulitzer Prize winning composer Kevin Puts talks with Eugenia Zukerman and Emily Ondracek-Peterson of Noted Endeavors about his experiences with providing MIDI mockups for performers/conductors to study.
Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for his debut opera Silent Night, Kevin Puts has been hailed as one of the most important composers of his generation. Critically acclaimed for his distinctive and richly colored musical voice, Puts’ impressive body of work includes four symphonies as well as several concertos written for some of today’s top soloists. His newest work, The City (Symphony No. 5), co-commissioned by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in honor of its 100th anniversary and by Carnegie Hall in honor of their 125th anniversary, will receive its premiere in Baltimore and New York in April 2016.
Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for his debut opera Silent Night, Kevin Puts has been hailed as one of the most important composers of his generation. Critically acclaimed for his distinctive and richly colored musical voice, Puts’ impressive body of work includes four symphonies as well as several concertos written for some of today’s top soloists. His newest work, The City (Symphony No. 5), co-commissioned by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in honor of its 100th anniversary and by Carnegie Hall in honor of their 125th anniversary, will receive its premiere in Baltimore and New York in April 2016.