Posts in category: Composers

Andrea Montalbano (Italy, 1990) started to study the clarinet at 12 and graduated with honors at the Conservatory “A. Scontrino” of Trapani in 2009, in the clarinet class of M°Giancarlo Lumetta. Andrea attended masterclasses with Paolo Ravaglia, Richard Stoltzman, Andre Kerver, Calogero Palermo. In June 2011 Andrea has qualified as clarinet teacher at the Conservatory of music “G. B. Martini” in Bologna and during the same period has started his composition activity, writing the first works.

In 2014 Andrea studied music composition for movie at Civic Music School “C. Abbado” in Milan with Franco Piersanti and Sergio Miceli. Andrea attended composition masterclasses with Prof. Joel Hoffman (“UPBEAT” International Summer Music School – Croatia, 2015) and with Sidney Corbett and Alessio Elia (Master class in composition promoted by “She lives”, music association – Budapest, 2018).

As clarinet player, Andrea is active in classical, jazz and contemporary music, and collaborated with many composers and musicians to play premieres (“Essere è tempo”, by Mario Ruffini, at the Uffizi library in Florence, video in “Aristofane in Blue” by Maurizio Pisati at the Oscar Theatre in Milan, “I giorni della libertà” at the Comunale Theatre in Bologna, etc…).

Andrea’s compositions have been awarded in national and international composer competitions, and have been performed in many events and festivals: Winner in the category Classical/Operatic composition of The Artist Forum International Music Competition 2021; Composer Cum Laude and Best Work for Piano Trio at the Cum Laude Music Awards III Edition (2020-2021); Musica per archi 2016, 2017 and 2018 (KLK New Music) – Lviv (Ukraine); Winner at InterContinental Music Award 2021 in the category “Pangea – classic”; MUSLAB 2014 (Muestra Internacional de Musica Electroacustica); Sounds by the Sea 2014 (St. Pete Beach, Florida); ICMC 2013 – listening room (International Computer Music Conference); Emufest 2013 (International Electroacoustic Music Festival) and more.

His work “Mirage” (for string quartet) is published by Bèrben – edizioni musicali, and “Su Monte Mario” (for mixed choir), with text by Giosuè Carducci, was recorded by Coro Volante, conducted by Brett Scott, and published on “New Choral Voices, vol. 3” by Ablaze Records.

Andrea is clarinet teacher in the Middle School since 2014.

“Movimenti intrecciati” is a composition for string quartet with a duration of 7 minutes, written in the summer of 2018. As the title suggests, this work is a continuous intertwined sounds and rhythmic variations between the parts, with a structure repeated and expanded obsessively.

This work will be performed in Sydney International Composers Concerts 2023, Contemporary Chamber Music on April 14, 2023.

 Paolo Fradiani graduated (MA) with 110/110 and honours in Composition and Jazz, he studied at the Conservatory of Music “Alfredo Casella” in L’Aquila and Hochschule für Musik in Mannheim.

As a bass player he has played with some of the most relevant national and international festivals of jazz including Villacelimontana Jazz Festival, Atina Jazz, Tuscia in Jazz, Valsugana Jazz Tour (Trentino Jazz ), Festival Internazionale di Mezza Estate, Suono Italiano 2016 at the Italian Institute of Culture – Istanbul and live on national radio “Radio 3”.

His works have been performed in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and USA in festivals such as Festival di Bellagio e del Lago di Como, Invenzioni – New Tubes, Neuköllner Originaltöne, Heidelberger Kammermusikfestival, Werkstatt Neue Musik, Cello Modern, Geophon – Earquake, Arpissima, Casella in Concerto, Festival Arpe in Villa, Festival dei 2 Mondi di Spoleto, Stagione della Società Aquilana dei Concerti B.Barattelli, The Mannheim Project, Stiftung Mozarteum/Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Theater Aachen/Klassik Lounge, Symphony in the Gardens, Vinterfestspill i Bergstaden, Storioni Festival, Östergötland Music Days, Musikakademie Liszt Ferenc, TivoliVredenburg, Strings City, Zermatt Music Festival & Academy, Festival Nuova Consonanza; and performed by soloists, ensemble and orchestras like as Nabla Ensemble, Anemos Quartet, Ensemble Casella, EMCF Ensemble of Contemporary Music of Ferrara Conservatory, Insieme a Corde Vuote Ensemble, GAM Ensemble, Ensemble del Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana, Ensemble Impressionnisme, Ensemble der Musikhochschule Freiburg, Spinoza-Ensemble, MA.NM Ensemble, Ensemble Ludwig, Morii Ensemble, Scharoun Ensemble Berlin, Cantus Ansambl, der/gelbe/klang Ensemble, Bard Conservatory Orchestra, Ambassade Orchester Wien, Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali, “Collegium Musicum Mannheim” Sinfonieorchester, Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese, Symphony Orchestra of L’Aquila Conservatory, Sinfonieorchester TonArt Heidelberg, Sinfonieorchester Aachen, Toronto Concert Orchestra, Lappeenranta City Orchestra, Festival Sinfonietta, Pepperdine University Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonische Orchester der Stadt Trier, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Orchester des Pfalztheaters, Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, Sinfonieorchester der Robert Schumann Hochschule, Orquesta Filarmónica del CSMA, Pacific Symphony, Western Piedmont Symphony, Rockford Symphony Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Roma Tre Orchestra, Kammerakademie Potsdam, O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra, Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra, Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha-Eisenach and Berliner Philharmoniker soloists.

His works have been broadcast by radio stations NPO Radio4 (The Netherlands), SR 2 Kulturradio (Germany) and television broadcasters Arte TV (Germany/France) and Podium 19 (Belgium). was awarded at “Insieme a corde vuote” for L’Aquila, at the Italian Ministry of Education’s “Premio Abbado 2015” and at “National Festival of Italian Conservatoires – III Edition”; and winner of the national call SIAE “S’illumina Copia privata per i giovani, per la cultura”. Has been composer in residence at Società Aquilana dei Concerti “B. Barattelli”.

He is currently professor at the State Conservatory of Music “Lorenzo Perosi” in Campobasso (Italy)

His works are published by 2eleven edition musiQ, Da Vinci Edition, Donemus Publishing, Edition Margaux and Universal Edition.

His composition Nocturn I – II will be performed during the Sydney International Composers Concerts 2023 on April 14 2023 at TLC Theatre Sydney Australia.

Nocturne I
It is a narrative piece and a sound representation of the evocative atmospheres of Nietzschean thought derived from the light/darkness dualism. The piece is in song form and is thought, in part, of as a continuous contraction and relaxation of time.

Nocturne II
The piece is a mix derived, in part, from Prelude No.2 in C minor book I by Johann Sebastian Bach and from Avec le temps by Léo Ferré; it is organized as a perpetual motion of descending arpeggios that evoke the image of an infinite progression.

Eric Davis is a composer and performer based in Austin, TX. Eric graduated in May with a Bachelor’s in Music Composition from the University of Oklahoma, where he also studied French Horn, piano, organ, and music technology. As a performer, Eric has played works for a wide variety of instruments, including mandolin, bass guitar, steel drums, and live electronics, and has performed in numerous chamber groups and large ensembles. This blend of influences is evident in the fluid compositional style present in his works, which have been performed across 15 U.S. states and 3 countries.

“Coda” was written as an homage to the capricious and virtuosic finales of classic multi-movement chamber works. The piece opens with a fanfare-like primary theme in the cello before transitioning to a virtuosic piano cadenza, which introduces a secondary theme that is also developed throughout the work. A slow and brooding interior theme emerges, building into a second cadenza in the violin before ending the piece with a fiery recapitulatory passage.

John Tellez was born in Bogota, Colombia. At the age of ten, he took his first piano lessons with his uncle-in-law the conductor Pedro Enrique Peña Bernal.

At the age of 15, he began harmony and classical guitar studies with his uncle and he started composing his first compositions. At the same age, he took some lessons with the pianist Cecilia Casas, professor at the Conservatorio de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia and founder of the contemporary music festival of Bogota. One year later he took lessons with pianist and organist Juan Carlos López Peña, a professor at the Conservatorio del Tolima and the Colombian representative at the WPC (world piano conference) in Novi sad (Serbia) in 2018.

In 2012 he began his studies in piano at the Conservatorio de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia and in 2015 he began his studies in composition at the same institution. In the conservatory, he studies composition with Mauricio Arias, Gustavo Parra, Moisès Bertran I Ventejo y Harold Vásquez Castañeda, piano with Piedad Pérez, organ with Mauricio Nasi and theory with Svetlana Skriagina and Alena Krasútskaya.

His music has been performed in Colombia, the Netherlands, and Germany.

Preludes for Piano

The preludes have been thought of as small works in which I seek to work on very few elements. In each of the pieces, I proposed different elements: in the first, I worked with polymodality and a two-voice counterpoint that I endowed with impressionist elements; the second is influenced by minimalist music and consists of a bass ostinato and a melody that is born from the union of two melodic lines; the third consists of four harmonies that are varied throughout the piece; the fourth is based on the change of a synthetic scale on C, which progressively changes to the C major scale; the fifth takes minimalist elements and is based on a harmony of three voices, being the central voice in triads, the one that articulates the form of the piece.

In general, the preludes are characterized by having a small number of rhythmic and melodic motifs, their musical form varies thanks to the improvisational character, for which there was a pre-established formula for the formal structure of the entire work.

Randall Snyder was born in Chicago in 1944 and attended University of Wisconsin earning a DMA degree in 1973. He has taught at colleges in Illinois, Wisconsin and for several years at the University of Nebraska, where he was resident composer from 1993-2008. He currently is a free lance musician living in Lincoln, NE. and adjunct professor at Peru State College.

One for Mr. Taylor

This piece was inspired by the music of Cecil Taylor, whom I had the Privilege of hearing several times while a student at the University of Wisconsin when he was artist in residence. This music is not intended as a specific recreation, but rather, a document reflecting the emotional and physical impact his music exerted on me at that time. It juxtaposes music of extremes: quiet, mostly sustained, stratified music, alternating with violent, angular outbursts. The spirit of improvisational avant-garde jazz of the 1960s is pervasive throughout.

Cecil Taylor (March 25, 1929 – April 5, 2018) was an American pianist and poet. Taylor was classically trained and was one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an energetic, physical approach, resulting in complex improvisation often involving tone clusters and intricate polyrhythms.

Light of Faith
for Chamber Orchestra
by 
Chan Wing Wah (Hong Kong)

LIGHT OF FAITH for chamber orchestra was written for the 60th anniversary of the Chung Chi College, one of the colleges of The Chinese University of Hong Kong which was founded in 1963. It has a Music Department from 1965 of which the composer is an alumnus. The music begins with a slow introduction very soon bringing in a rhythmic section with a development. That may represent the inspiring university life of a freshman who was eventually led into a vast ocean of knowledge. Moving towards a climatic point, the College anthem was quoted. The melody of the College Anthem comes from “Annie Lisle”, a popular 1857 ballad by H. S. Thompson, a Boston songwriter in the U.S.A. It was adopted by Cornell University as the University Anthem in 1870. Thompson’s tune was then adopted as their alma maters by countless high schools, colleges, and universities worldwide, including quite a few Christian universities in mainland China.
Chung Chi College has a Christian background thus adopted this anthem right from the beginning of its establishment.