PRESS RELEASE

March 15th, 2004

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Travis Weller
travis@newmusiccoop.org
512-423-4888

AUSTIN NEW MUSIC CO-OP PRESENTS: WORKS OF THE NEW YORK SCHOOL COMPOSERS
JOHN CAGE, MORTON FELDMAN, EARLE BROWN AND CHRISTIAN WOLFF

In their most ambitious program to date, the Austin New Music Co-op will present
three full nights of performances by four pioneers of new American music. Each
of the three evenings will feature a unique program of ground breaking works
centered on a different idea from the oeuvre of the New York School composers.
Thirty musicians including the New Music Co-op ensemble along with guest artists
such as Alex Coke, Michelle Schumann, and Rick Reed, have been working hard
since last fall to prepare over three hours of music for this challenging
program. The program features twenty-four works spanning half a century.
Ensembles will range from an eighteen piece orchestra to chamber groups and
solos. Members of the cast will play a wide variety of instruments including
brass, strings, woodwinds, harp, electronics, and radios. Some pieces feature
full percussion sections and pianos being prepared, bowed, slapped, and
resonated by trumpets. They'll even be playing the living room coffee table.
This program is the NMC's tribute to four composers who changed music forever.

NMC PRESENTS: WORKS OF THE NEW YORK SCHOOL
CAGE, FELDMAN, BROWN, WOLFF
"CHANCE AND INDETERMINACY" FRIDAY APRIL 2ND 8:00PM
"OPEN FORM" SATURDAY APRIL 3RD 8:00PM
"SOUND AS SOUND" SUNDAY APRIL 4TH 8:00PM
BALLET AUSTIN ACADEMY (3100 GUADALUPE)
$7 ADMISSION AT THE DOOR, ADVANCE TICKETS AVAILABLE
THREE NIGHT PASSES AVAILABLE FOR $15

Detailed information and press photos for this event are available at the newly
re-designed New Music Co-op web site at:
(http://www.newmusiccoop.org/upcoming/)

Advance tickets available now at Thirty Three Degrees located at 4017 Guadalupe.
Call 302-5233 for ticket information.

 Austin, TX - Morton Feldman, by chance, met John Cage during the intermission
after Webern's Symphony op. 21 at Carnegie Hall in late 1949. The very next
year, Cage became acquainted with Earle Brown and a young Christian Wolff, only
16 at that time. Over the next five decades the four composers, each in his own
way, endeavored to free sound from its traditional role in western music. The
results of their work have made musical history and inspired generations of
composers, performers, and audiences.

 "When Keith Manlove proposed this idea last May, my first reaction was that it
would involve a lot of hard work," says violinist Travis Weller who will be
performing in twelve of the twenty-four pieces on the program "and I've been
totally impressed by the whole group's ability to pull it off." Members of New
Music Co-op have been inspired for many years by the work of these four
composers. As a result, these pieces have been given very close personal
attention. As part of the preparation, ensembles received coaching from
composer-performer Mary Oliver of the Netherlands during her January trip to
Austin. Her insight was a great help in understanding this demanding music.

 The program examines the works of each composer from the standpoint of the new
ideas they brought into the musical discourse. The program is arranged in a way
that will enable audiences to discover what the four composers were trying to
achieve by writing music as they did. One of three musical ideas conceived by
the New York School will act as a theme for each of the three nights. Those
themes are "Chance and Indeterminacy," "Open Form" and "Sound as Sound." In
order to put this music in historical context, NMC members will also read
excerpts from the writings of Cage, Brown, and Feldman.

Friday April 2nd 8:00pm: "Chance and Indeterminacy"
 Cage's well known "chance operations" are methods which result in musical
elements over which the composer has little control. His work with Zen led him
to accept the true nature of sounds and silences as we experience them in daily
life. The result is a list of works that cross established boundaries and often
defy conventional evaluation. "I consider Cage's early use of radio to be the
wellspring of many current concerns of today. People like myself who incorporate
shortwave broadcasts into their own compositions owe a debt to Mr. Cage for
opening a crack in the doorway 60 years ago and leaving it open." says long time
Austin experimental composer Rick Reed who will be performing in Imaginary
Landscape for 12 Radios. Also on Friday's program is "Fourteen" for chamber
orchestra and bowed piano, Brown's "December 1952" performed by the Gates
Ensemble, "Four Systems" and "Trio for Five Dancers" also by Brown, Two Cage
pieces for solo voice with electronics and Christian Wolff's "For one, two, or
three people" performed by James Alexander, Brent Fariss, and Travis Weller.

Saturday April 3rd 8:00pm: "Open Form"
 Many of Earle Brown's works supply performers with "musical material" without
specifying the exact way said material is to be arranged for performance. This
approach puts a great responsibility on the performer and often results in a
piece with an established character which can exist in many dynamic and exciting
ways. "What interested me the most about Earle Brown's work were his ideas about
music having a recognizable identity, yet always being different from one
performance to the next." says Bill Thompson who will be conducting Brown's
"Available Forms" for 18 piece orchestra. "It seemed to keep a work alive, and
allow the possibility of something unexpected to occur." Also on Saturday's
program are Wolff's "Changing the System" realized for 9 musicians, Cage's
"Four" by the Imbroglio String Quartet, Feldman's "Durations 4" and "De
Kooning", Cage's "Variations 1", and Brown's "November 1952."

Sunday April 4th 8:00pm: "Sound as Sound"
 The final installment of the program encourages the audience to experience
sounds purely as sounds rather than what the sounds might mean or represent. The
diverse set of pieces ranges from the moment-to-moment smooth surface of
Feldman's "Structures" performed by the Imbroglio String Quartet to Cage's
riotous percussion piece "Living Room Music." Sunday evening will also feature
Pianist Michelle Schumann, Austin's own "Queen of the prepared piano" whose Cage
performance of 2002 was named one of the "Top Three Arts Events" by the Austin
American Statesman. Also on Sunday's program are Wolff's "For Violinist and
Pianist", Two short piano pieces and a string quartet by Brown, and Feldman's
beautiful "The Viola in my Life" with soloist James Alexander.

About New Music Co-op

 The New Music Co-op is a community of composers and performers from the Austin
area dedicated to increasing awareness and understanding of new music. They
create opportunities for performance, education, and composition of adventurous
sound. The NMC advocates and presents a wide range of innovative and compelling
new works and provides a unique environment for collaboration and the free
exchange of musical ideas. 

 Since its founding, NMC has encouraged the composition and performance of
dozens of new pieces by local composers through a wide range of concert
presentations. They have made possible the performance of major 20th century
works including Terry Riley's "In C", Cornelius Cardew's "Treatise" and Pauline
Oliveros' "Four Meditations For Orchestra." Through its workshop series, NMC has
exposed local musicians to established international performers such as Frode
Gjerstad (Norway), John Butcher (UK), Mary Oliver, (Netherlands) and Pauline
Oliveros (NY, USA). 

You can read more about NMC at our web site: http://www.newmusiccoop.org/

# # #

Travis Weller
Member, New Music Co-op
travis@newmusiccoop.org
512-423-4888