Slideshow: 2017 New Music Gathering at Bowling Green
Arlene & Larry Dunn
New Music Gathering organizers Matt Marks,
Mary Kouyoumdjian, Danny Felsenfeld, Lainie Fefferman, and Jascha Narveson (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
After holding its first two events on opposite coasts — at San Francisco Conservatory of Music in January, 2015, and at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore in January, 2016 — the third New Music Gathering touched down in the midwest. The MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music at Bowling Green State University College of Musical Arts hosted NMG 2017 in Bowling Green, Ohio, May 11-13, 2017. Percussionist and educator Steven Schick delivered a stirring keynote address and a mesmerizing headlining performance.
Despite its small-town locale, BGSU is a generative force in mew music. Their highly regarded DMA program is focused exclusively on contemporary music, and in October they will host their 38th annual Bowling Green New Music Festival. Nearly 500 new music enthusiasts from near and far convened in Bowling Green for NMG 2017, three days of performances, demonstrations, panels, camaraderie, and boundless love for the music of right now and the people who make it. About half of the attendees took part in at least one event presentation.
After the festivities came to a close, local host Kurt Doles, Director of the MidAmerican Center, was still beaming. “It was an honor and a privilege to host the New Music Gathering at Bowling Green this year,” Doles enthused. “It was an incredible experience for our students and faculty to interact with some of the best minds and talents working in new music today, and I’m thrilled we were able to open more eyes and ears to Bowling Green’s outstanding level of commitment to contemporary music. NMG is such an overwhelmingly positive environment for the exchange of art and ideas, it should be on the bucket list for everyone working in new music today.”
The following image gallery is generously provided by New Music Gathering. All photos are by Tina Tallon of SALT Arts Documentation, who somehow managed to be in three or four places at once, all weekend long.
NMG 2017 began with Cardew’s The Great Learning: Paragraph 7, led by Ron Silver and Steve Miles of New Music New College #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
BGSU event host Kurt Doles welcomes attendees #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
Steven Schick keynote: In Pursuit of an Externally Facing Artistic Practice #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
Amanda Williams (3rd from right) speaks about new operatic narratives on a panel with DeCarlo Raspberry, Frances Pollock, Joshua Espinoza, Claire Galloway Weber, and Alex Carrico #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
Mezzo-Soprano Megan Ihnen speaks on place making with new music #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
Kathleen Supové, Yu-Lien The, and Stephanie Titus perform Arlene Sierra’s Urban Birds #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
Jordan Curcuruto performs Munus, her own work for speaking percussionist #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
Popebama: Erin Rogers, saxophone, and Dennis Sullivan, percussion #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
Rex Duo: sopranos Lisa Perry and Danielle Buonaiuto perform Aperghis’ Recitations #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
ICE percussionist Ross Karre performs Ashley Fure’s Silver Lung 2 #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
Lindsey Goodman performs BGSU faculty composer Elainie Lillios’ Undulating Tide #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
Becky Brown (harp), Amanda Waggoner (soprano), and Mark Snyder (guitar) perform Snyder’s Facets of Love #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
#Musochat goes live at #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
BGSU DMA composer Hong-da Chin demonstrates flutes from China #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
Composer Lyn Goeringer demonstrates the Theremin #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
Michael Hall and Alan Theisen premiere Theisen’s Lamassu #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
Greg Oakes performs Viet Cuong’s Apparition #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
Latitude 49 performs Gabriella Smith’s Huascarán #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
Steven Schick performs Xenakis’ Rebonds #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
Composer Lou Bunk and percussionist Tim Feeney lead a performance of Cage’s Variations III #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
Kurt Doles signals a changeover during Composer/Performer Speed Dating #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
BGSU students Steven Sloan, Daniel Bayot, and Daniel Landis perform Bayot’s The Philosophy of Wood #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
Anti-Depressant Duo: Kathleen Supové and Jennifer Choi perform Susie Ibarra’s Merienda #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
Nick Fox and 5 other percussionists perform Grisey’s Le Noir de l’Etoile #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
Hajnal Pivnick premieres David Bird’s shutter for violin and prepared piano #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
Duo Rossignol: Mary Matthews, flute, and BGSU DMA student Hilary LaBonte perform Kate Soper’s Only the Words Themselves Mean What They Say #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble close the show #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
It’s a wrap! NMG organizers with BGSU alum Jennifer Higdon #NMG2017 (photo: Tina Tallon/SALT Arts Documentation)
