Introduction to Los Muñequitos de Matanzas

Good evening. My name is Neil Leonard. We are extremely fortunate that MassMoCA and Jacob's Pillow have brought Los Muñuquitos de Matanzas to Massachusetts this weekend. When I began to investigate Cuban music in the mid-80s the only way to hear this music was to travel to Cuba. I was one of the few US musicians to make the pilgrimage to Cuba and it changed my life, as well as that of my peers.

Traveling to Matanzas, I could see that Cuban folkloric culture is unlike anything that we know in the US. Matanzas is the cradle of West African culture in Cuba and the Americas for that matter. Los Muñequitos are the living legacy of this culture. We have heard fragments of these roots in salsa, rumba, son and music throughout the Americas. What we will experience tonight is the most authentic expression of this tradition. The rhythms, chants and dances that Los Muñequitos will present have been passed down within their families for generations.

Though the work that you will hear/see tonight originated in Africa, some of the culture and beliefs found in the dances of the Muñequitos no longer exists in this form in Africa today. Africans in Cuba preserved their beliefs as a way of holding on to their identity despite enslavement and in some cases their practice was even endorsed by the Church. During the years of slavery, the Church set up African meeting places, or cabildos, to help the slaves feel more at home. In cabildos, the slaves were permitted to hold African religious rituals at fixed hours on specific holidays.
Los Muñequitos are now passing their legacy down to new communities, not only in Cuba, but in the US. Here, they have attracted a following of dancers, musicians and artist who look to Los Muñequitos to grasp strains the African legacy that they have kept alive.

On behalf of MassMOCA and Jacobs Pillow, please join me in giving our warmest Massachusetts welcome to Cuba's premiere folkloric group, Los Muñequitos de Matanzas!

Reverberations:

Neil Leonard + Rudresh Mahanthappa

Cutting-edge improvisors premiere "Reverberations," a piece that they co-wrote for two alto saxophones, live audio processing and interactive software.

Thursday, April 21, 8:00 pm
Berklee College of Music,
Electronic Production and Design Recital Hall
22 Fenway Road, Boston, MA

New CD, Marcel's Window - available online next week

Spring Events, News and Concerts

My new CD, "Marcel's Window" will be available on-line later this week. "Marcel's Window" features a suite of compositions performed by my quartet: Tom Lawton, piano; Lee Smith, bass; Craig McIver, drums.

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Thursday, April 21, 8:00 pm
Berklee College of Music

Neil Leonard/Rudresh Mahanthappa - alto saxophones/live electronics

We will premiere "Reverberations," a piece that I wrote for two alto saxophones, live audio processing and interactive software.

Berklee College of Music
Fenway Recital Hall
22 Fenway Road
Boston, MA 02115
admission: free

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Friday, April 29, 8PM
CyberartsCentral at Atlantic Wharf

Cyberpool, an evening of electro-acoustic improvised music by:
Jorrit Dijktsra - alto sax, analog electronics
Michael Bierylo - cyberguitar
Michael Evans - drums, percussion and
electronics
Ernst Karel - analog electronics
Neil Leonard - sax,
laptop, electronics
Andrew Neumann - laptop, analog electronics
Arvid
Tomayko-Peters - TOOB, laptop, electronics.

CyberartsCentral at Atlantic Wharf
290 Congress Street
Boston, MA 02210
phone: 617-524-2109
www.bostoncyberarts.org
admission: free

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Saturday, April 30, 8pm
Sunday, May 1, 2pm
Jacobs Pillow @ MASS MoCA’s Hunter Center

I will be introducing the Muñequitos de Matanzas' performance "Tambor
de Fuego en Homenaje a los Ancestros."
More info on this event and the Muñequitos can be found at:

http://neilleonard.com/articles/munequitos.htm
http://www.jacobspillow.org

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Monday, May, 2, 8PM
Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church

Dave Bryant Septet:
Dave Bryant - keyboards
Tom Hall - tenor saxophone
Neil Leonard - saxophones and electronics
Curt Newton - drums
Eric Rosenthal - drums
Jeff Song - cello
John Turner - bass

Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church
1555 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
$10 or donation

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May 4 , 6PM
Boston Library, Copley Branch
Jazz Week @ the Boston Public Library presents:

"On the Edge: Exploring the Creative Music Scene"
Musicians Dave Bryant, Tom Hall, John Kordalewski, and Neil Leonard
present a conversation about current trends, with performances by the
presenters.

Boston Library
Copley Square, Boston

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Tour of Cuba (May 9-23)
concerts in Havana: Teatro Nacional, Universidas de las Artes (ISA),
Museo de Bellas Artes
concerts in Santiago de Cuba: CUBADISCO Interntaional fair
details TBA

March 2011 DownBeat article on my work in Cuba

Berklee Students Connect with Cuban Counterparts During Havana Visit 

Berklee College of Music professor NeilLeonard and four students in his electronic production and design department have broken new ground, not on the Boston campus, but in theCaribbean. Cuban-American relations have loosened up on the cultural front so it’s not as difficult for American artists to travel to the island. The Berklee students and professor landed in Havana last December, not long after Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra made the trip.

Leonard wanted the pupils in his Interarts Ensemble — bassist Kate Bilinski, guitarist JohnHull, singer Julia Easterlin, pianist Enrico de Trizio — to be exposed to what he called “manifestations of interdisciplinary art and those wonderful Cuban artists who work across disciplines.”

The Cuban trip, which Leonard planned with help from the Laboratorio Nacional deMusic Electroacústica, turned out to be successful beyond his expectations.

“I’ve been to Cuba a number of times and had amazing experiences,” he said upon his return to Berklee. “But this was the highlight of my 25 years of encounters with Cubans, all packed into one week, sharing it with young musicians who were making their first contact with Cuba.”

Going in, Leonard was concerned about how well his students would collaborate with students at the prestigious Instituto Superior de Arte(ISA) on pieces intended for a concert, but ultimately, he said there was no problem: “They were ambassadors for the arts and did everything possible to be welcoming and appreciative of the Cubans.” 

Under the Havana moon, the students mixed music, dance, poetry and spirituality. A highlight of the ISA show was Bilinski and Hull on iPads manipulating and incorporating samples from the Cubans into the electronic music tradition,especially as ISA has just a fraction of the technology available at Berklee. Hull said, “It was cool to see how interested the ISA students were in the live performance software and controllers we were using.”

Days before a final concert at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Leonard had request•ed of his crew that they become aware of the artistic milieu in Havana. 

“I didn’t want them to try to become amateur specialists in Cuban music so much,” Leonard said. “I wanted them to allow themselves to be open to and partially inspired and influenced by the city of Havana.”

Toward that end, de Trizio went to a ceremony held at a castle and taped the shouts of a soldier leading a procession of marchers.

“As a composer, I’m always fascinated by paradoxes,” de Trizio said. “In this case, it’s a march, but the guy screamed a very nice melody then ‘silencio!’ and I ended up writing a lullaby.” As for lyrics, he and Easterlin adapted an Eliseo Diego poem about Havana’s impressive old architecture. “Silencio” turned up as one of the short vignettes written by the students for the Museo concert’s feature piece “Nuestro Tiempo” (“Our Times”).

After that show, the Berklee gang went to thehome of master percussionists the Arango brothers, who were hosting a Yoruban holiday celebration in honor of the deity Chango. “I had chills when the entire patio of musicians erupted in a ritual chorus complete with beautiful harmonies,” Bilinski said.

Of other activities during the hectic week,there was a memorable visit with Chucho Valdés. Ge Trizio tried out his Steinway, with Easterlin singing. Thrilled by their music, Valdés took over on the keys and unleashed his own “Chucho’s Steps.” “We were in his parlor,” Leonard recalled, “listening to Chucho do his thing from three feet away. There’s nothing like that!” 

—Frank-John Hadley 

Berklee Distinguished Faculy Award

I am thankful to recieve the Berklee Distinguished Faculy Award along with colleagues JoAnne Brackeen, Greg Hopkins and Ross Bresler. This is a transcript of the the words that I shared on that occasion.

I am honored to receive this award. I would like to thank my colleagues in the MT Division and the EPD department for their support and inspiration. I would also like to thank my Chair, Kurt Biederwolf for his help every step of the way.
The degree to which I am effective as a faculty member is partially a result of the teachers that I had.
I studied saxophone Joe Allard for three years. Joe was sought out by Bill Pierce, Eric Dolphy, Michael Brecker and many more. Everything that Joe said was extremely insightful, remarkably clear. He was very tough without making it feel personal. Now, thirty years later, I still think about what he said every time I pick up the horn.

Later, I studied with composition Bob Brookmeyer for two years. Same deal. The critiques and ideas that he presented were always concrete, often tough, and assumed that you aimed to write at the highest level. Now, despite ten years of daily use, I have not worn out the advice that he shared with me.

I also learn from colleagues here at the college. Not long ago, I watched visiting artist, producer and engineer Nathaniel Kunkle, lecture to one of my classes. He was as insightful, clear and frank as Allard and Brookmeyer. The students sat up straight in their chairs for the duration and barely seemed to blink. Afterwards, I watched students as they left the classroom and I recognized that look on their face. One student said thee words to me as he passed ... "I got it." I knew that this one brief encounter might have changed his life - the puzzle about how to move forward was put together.

These teachers helped change my life. There is nothing more exciting to me than to help our students advance their work as artists, technologists and thinkers. Our connection might be long term, or simply one brief conversation. Either way it might be the tipping point where they grasp the compass that they will use for years to come.

I am grateful to the college and for giving me the opportunity to do this work for our students and grateful to my colleagues for their support and for teaching me.

Thank you.

2010 - Selected Events

December 10 to December 31, 2010
Dakar, Senegal

IIIrd World Festival of Black Arts & Cultures
Video installation with Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons

Location and hours TBA

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December 7 & 8 ,11:30am – 1:00pm
Isabel Stewart Gardner Museum

Ana Prvacki - Wandering Band
Featuring
Katie Bilinski - bass
Julia Esterlin - voice
Neil Leonard - saxophones
Christian Li - piano
Rose Seyfried - voice/laptop

The "Wandering Band" is a performance of vocalists and musicians performing on voice, piano, bass and saxophone wandering freely through the Gardner Museum. Conceived by artist Ana Prvacki, the Wandering Band artists will perform their daily practice of exercises, repertoire and improvisation while strolling through the galleries.

Born in 1976, Serbia / Yugoslavia, Prvacki has earned considerable intermational attention in the last decade.  In 2009, she was invited to participate in the show “The Girl Effect” at Lombard Freid Projects, New York and to create a series of performaces at  Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea (Turin). She has performed in various international biennials (2008, Sydney Biennial ; 2007, Singapore biennial; 2006 Turin Triennale). She has also participated in group shows such as    “25 Years Later: Welcome to Art in General”, New York (2007) . In 2010, upcoming invitations include the Pompidou Center in Paris (“Repetition”) , the Isabella Gardner Museum (Boston)  and MONA Tasmanis.

Isabel Stewart Gardner Museum
280 Fenway
Boston, MA 02115, United States
(617) 566-1401
http://www.gardnermuseum.org/

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November 27-December 5, 2010
Laboratorio Nacional de Musica Electroacoustica, Havana, Cuba
Neil Leonard and Berklee Interarts Ensemble in residence at the LNME

Concerts:
Wednesday, December 1, - Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA)
Friday, December 3 - Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
(Premiere of collectively authored work "Nuestro Tiempo" featuring Berklee Interarts Ensemble/Cuban students.)

Other performances and open rehearsals TBA

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Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Private concert: solo saxophone/computer/video

Eagle Hill School
Hardwick MA

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Friday, November 12th, 2010 - 8:00PM
Fenway Center

Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra by Francisco Noya

Neil Leonard - "Dreaming of an Island"
Gustav Host - "Mars" and "Jupiter" from the Planets
Philip Glass - "Heros"
"Uncharted" - suite from the video game score

The Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra presents the Boston premiere of professor Neil Leonard's multimedia work, "Dreaming of an Island".  Neil writes, "'Dreaming of an Island' revisits ideas that I first explored in video/installations with Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons. Our work focused on ancient cultural themes, and their impact on contemporary personal narrative. 
 
"The score for 'Dreaming of an Island' draws on West African Yoruba music that Campos-Pons heard as a child in Cuba. Yoruba folkloric melodies and rhythms are heard in combination with ideas from 21st century concert music, electronic music and jazz. The video projection for Dreaming of an Island is a montage created by myself and Magdalena Campos-Pons using a software system of my own design."

Fenway Center
77 Saint Stephen Street
Boston, MA 02115

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Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - 7:00PM
Musicacoustica Festival

Concert of works by:
Richard Boulanger, Neil Leonard, Benoit Granier

Central Conservatory of Music
China Center for Computer Music
Beijing, China

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Thursday, October 28, 2010 - 7:00PM
Mako Art Center

Concert of works by:
Richard Boulanger, Neil Leonard, Benoit Granier, Anthony De Ritis, Bruce Gremo, Gerald Chenoweth

Mako Art Center
Inside Hongdian Art Factory,
Courtyard 36, Guangqu Lu, Chaoyang district
Beijing, China

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September 23, 2010 - 9:30 PM
Castello Malaspina

Castello in Movimento: Boston/Essen converge for premiere of Interdisciplinary Work on September 25
 
Castello in Movimento at Castello Malaspina proudly presents the world premiere of a site-specific work featuring large scale video projection and electroacousic sound performance by Berklee College of Music's InterArts Ensemble, directed by Neil Leonard, and students of the Folkwang Hochschule, Essen, Germany. The twenty-minute piece will feature several of Berklee's most outstanding students performing on laptop and processed instruments: voice, electric bass, saxophones. Top students and faculty from the Folkwang Hochschule will project interactive video of processed imagery mapped to the castle’s exterior.

Participants are:
Prof. Neil Leonard (Berklee College of Music, Boston), Project Director
Prof. Claudius Lazzeroni (Folkwang Hochschule, Essen)
John Hull - live audio processing
Katie Bilinski - bass guitar/laptop
Rose Seyfried - voice/laptop
Enrico de Trezio - keyboards/laptop
Steffen Mueller - live video processing
Simon Deeg - live video processing
 Marius Tippkaemper - live video processing

Castello Malaspina
54035 Fosdinovo - Massa Carrara, Italia
telefono +39 0187 680013 - 0187 68891
www.castellodifosdinovo.it  info@castellodifosdinovo.it

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September 23, 2010 - 10:00 PM
Loggiato di Gemmi

Neil Leonard Quintet

Neil Leonard - alto/soprano sax
Giuliano Perin - vibes
Luciano Milanese - bass
Enrico de Trizio - Piano
Matteo Cidale - drums

Loggiato di Gemmi
via Bonaparte 11
Sarzana
tel. 0187620110

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May 13, 14, 3:00PM
Nuits Sonores Festival

Neil Leonard and Transitoire live

May 15, 8:00PM
Nuits Sonores Festival

Neil Leonard - solo saxophone
Michel Doneda/Tetsu Saïtoh - duo

Le Périscope
13 rue Delandine
69002 Lyon, France
http://www.periscope-lyon.com/

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Saturday, May 1, 2010 - 8:00 PM
GASP Gallery/Boston JazzWeek

Dave Tronzo/Bruno Råberg/Neil Leonard Trio

$12 suggested donation, $8 students and seniors

GASP Gallery
362-4 Boylston St., Brookline, MA, 02445
galleryinfo@g-a-s-p.net
617.418.4308

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Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - 7:00 PM
Primavera en Havana: XIII Festival Internacional De Musica Electroacustica

Neil Leonard - saxophones/electronics

Teatro Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Arte Cubano.

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Thursday, March 11, 2010 - sets at 8:00 PM and 9:30 PM

VIDEOFORMES 25/25 :: NIGHT WILL NOT FALL
Live Broadcast to the 25th anniversary of VideoFormes international
video art and digital culture festival; Clermont-Ferrand, France

Pierce Warnecke and Max Abeles Duo +
GLOBAL SONIFICATION NETWORK ENSEMBLE
Live sound and video processing
Sound: Pierce Warnecke, Jinku Kim, Enrico de Trizio, Neil Leonard,
Daniel Piccione
Video: Daniel Cevallos, Shane Butler, Merideth Hillbrand

$10 suggested donation, $6 students and seniors

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Berklee College of Music Electronic Production and Design professor Neil
Leonard introduces the Boston premiere of the film
MEREDITH MONK: INNER VOICE
Friday, February 19, 7 pm
Sunday, February 21, 3:30 pm
at the Institute of Contemporary Art, 100 Northern Ave., Boston

MEREDITH MONK: INNER VOICE (by Babeth M.VanLoo) As part of the ICA’s ongoing commitment to presenting the best film of art and artists, the ICA features a new documentary about Meredith Monk. A “musician of boundless imagination and vision,” (The Plain Dealer) Monk is a composer, singer, director/choreographer and creator of new opera, music theater works, films, and installations.

Inner Voice follows Monk as she creates her latest piece, Songs of Ascension, a major new work developed in collaboration with renowned artist Ann Hamilton. The film observes Monk’s process from her initial, solitary work to the rehearsal process, seeking the motivation and source of her creative force.

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January 14, 2010 - 4:00 PM
Panama Jazz Festival

Neil Leonard - saxophones/electronics
Special guests - TBA

Ascanio Arosemena Theater
Panama City, Panama

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January 8, 2009 - 8:00 PM
Dave Bryant Ensemble
Amazing Things Arts Center

Dave Bryant - keyboards
Neil Leonard - saxophones and live electronics
Tom Hall - saxophones
Jeremy Van Buskirk - live electronics
Jeff Song - cello and kayagum
John Voit - bass
Curt Newton - drums
Eric Rosenthal - drums

Amazing Things Arts Center
160 Hollis St
Framingham, MA 01701

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November 14th, 2009 - January 2nd, 2010
HOPE: YES WE CAN
Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons Exhibition
Bernice Steinbaum Gallery

Neil Leonard - sound for multimedia installation "My mother told me that I am Chinese"
by Magda Magdalena Campos Pons

Bernice Steinbaum Gallery
November 26 – December 31, 2005
3550 North Miami Avenue, Miami, FL
www.bernicesteinbaumgallery.com

DOM Cultural Center, Russia

cardiotest with Neil Leonard

Neil Leonard/David Clark Duo

40 Years of Jazz at NEC

October 24, 2009 - 1:30 to 2:45 PM
New England Conservatory Jazz 40th Panel Discussion

A Musician's Toolbox:
Marketing, promotion & technology

Alan Ett ‘78MM, (Pres. Alan Ett Music Group – LA)
Neil Leonard '84BM, '00MM composer/performer, Professor at Berklee College of Music
Paul Lipson ’96 ‘99MM (VP of Business Development at Pyramid, an interactive entertainment industry – SF)
Michael Ricci – founder of All About Jazz.com (internet resource)
Moderator: Bob Blumenthal, Marsalis Music, (Former Boston Globe Jazz Critic)

Pierce Hall., St. Botolph Building
New England Conservatory
Boston, MA 02115

GASP Gallery Gala

Alternative energy - GASP marks five years

MAKING IT HAPPEN: Half a decade in, Campos-Pons and Leonard's gallery stands out as a rare "alternative space" in a Boston art scene that is dominated by commercial and institutional venues.

Fall 2009 Events

September 30, 2009 - 9:00 PM
Bar Torino
Piero Bittolo Bon, sax/bass
Achille Succi, alto sax, bass clarinet
Neil Leonard, alto and soprano saxes

San Marco 4591 Campo San Luca
Venezia, Italy
041 520 7634
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October 1, 2009 - 8:45
Conservatorio C.Pollini

Giuliano Perin-Neil Leonard Sextet
Giuliano Perin - vibes
Neil Leonard - sax
Maurizio Scomparin - trumpet
Marcello Tonolo - piano
Luciano Milanese - bass
Massimo Chiarella - drums

Conservatorio C.Pollini
Auditorium Cesare Pollini
Padova, Italy
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October 3, 2009 - 9:30

Computer Art Festival, 2009
Auditorium Centro Culturale
Altinate - San Gaetano, Padova, Italy

Musiche per Galileo
Dinu Ghezzo, pianoforte
Neil Leonard, saxofoni
Carlo Meneghini, recitante
Interensemble E-Quartet
Gianpaolo Capuzzo, flauti diritti
Francesco Socal, clarinetti
Marco Pavin, chitarra elettrica
Bernardino Beggio, pianoforte

Programma
Bruno Maderna - Serenata per un Satellite (1969)
Dinu Ghezzo - Last letters (*)
Salvatore Macchia - In silenzio di notte (*)
John Yannelli - When Parallels Rays of Light Converge (*)
Michele Biasutti - Sidereus Nuncius (*)
Neil Leonard - Galilei-Leonard, Double Remix (*)
(*) prima esecuzione assoluta

Free and open to the public
Auditorium Centro Culturale
Altinate - San Gaetano
Padova, Italy
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October 24, 2009 - 1:30 to 2:45 PM
New England Conservatory Jazz 40th Panel Discussion

A Musician's Toolbox:
Marketing, promotion & technology
Alan Ett ‘78MM, (Pres. Alan Ett Music Group – LA)
Paul Lipson ’96 ‘99MM (VP of Business Development at Pyramid, an interactive entertainment industry – SF)
Michael Ricci – founder of All About Jazz.com (internet resource)
Moderator: Bob Blumenthal BOV (Former Boston Globe Jazz Critic)

Pierce Hall., St. Botolph Building
New England Conservatory
Boston, MA 02115
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October 26, 2009 - 8:00 PM
Bryant / Leonard / Song / Newton @ Outpost
Dave Bryant - keyboards
Neil Leonard - saxophones and electronics
Jeff Song - cello and kayagum
Curt Newton - drums

Outpost 186 1/2 Hampshire Street
Inman Square, Cambridge, MA
http://www.zeitgeist-outpost.org
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October 29-November 12, 2009

Instytut im. Jerzego Grotowskiego
(Jerzy Grotowski Institute)
International Theater Festival

Me/Dea
An adaptation of Euripides' Medea conceived and performed by
I Pedoni dell' Aria
Music by Cristian Sommaiuolo and Neil Leonard

Rynek-Ratusz 27, 50–101 Wroclaw, Poland
http://www.myspace.com/ipedonidellaria
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November 15, 2009, 7:00 PM
Neil Leonard/David Clark Duo

Neil Leonard - solo saxophone/electronics
David Clark - acoustic bass/electronics

Free and open to the public

Berklee College of Music
Fenway Recital Hall
22 Fenway Road, Boston
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November 21, 2009
Autumn Moscow Festival of New Music, Russia

Neil Leonard - solo saxophone/electronics

Concert of works by composers from Berklee College of Music and IRCAM
Venue and time: TBA
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November 22, 2009
DOM Cultural Center, Russia

Neil Leonard - solo saxophone/electronics

Also appearing, Sergey Letov/Maral Yakshieva Duo
http://www.dom.com.ru/
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December 5th, 2009 - 8:00 PM
Dave Bryant Band
Longy School of Music

Dave Bryant - keyboards
Neil Leonard - saxophones and live electronics
Tom Hall - saxophones
Jeremy Van Buskirk - live electronics
Jeff Song - cello and kayagum
John Voit - bass
Curt Newton - drums
Eric Rosenthal - drums

Longy School of Music
1 Follen St, Cambridge, MA‎
(617) 876-0956‎
www.longy.edu

Tra Ealileo e il Futurismo

Galilei-Leonard, Double Remix (2009)
for saxophone and live electronics
Composed by Neil Leonard
World Premiere

Galilei-Leonard, Double Remix revisits material from two pieces that I composed using the computer as a key resource. The first composition is entitled Partita Tripla con Galilei (2009). While working on this piece I created a library of sounds based on a recording of Vincenzo Galilei's madrigal In Exitu Israel. Individual processed notes from In Exitu Israel are used in the first part of Double Remix to invoke celestial/angelic voices.

The second source is a composition named M87 (1995) from my debut solo CD Timaeus. M87 is named after a giant elliptical galaxy photographed by the NASA Hubble Space Telescope. M87 is believed by some to be a supermassive black hole. The Hubble photos shows a 5000 light-year long jet stream made up of electrons being ejected outward at near light-speed.

Partita Tripla con Galilei was composed in collaboration with Padova based composers Maura Capuzzo, Marco Braggion and coordinated by Nicola Bernardini for the Giornata dell' Ascolto, Padova, 2009. In Exitu Israel was sung by Alessandro Carmignani and used with his kind permission. Parts of the remix of M87 were created with Gadi Sassoon (aka Memory 9) in London, 2008.

Mimi Rabson Is Living in a Post-Bach World

Berklee instructor commissions new works for solo violin, By James Reel

Neil Leonard says of his contribution, “Mimi’s Metamorphology,” “The piece is a tribute to Mimi’s ability to find links between classical, folk, and jazz traditions. I also wanted to showcase her work in combining interpretation, improvisation, and live electronics. I've followed Mimi's performances for years and I marvel at her ability to learn and adapt in order to play with the unique groups of musicians that she has encountered.

“About 60 percent of the violin part is very precisely notated. The remaining 40 percent is an improvisational recapitulation of those materials. When Mimi performs the work, the audience is unable to determine which parts are notated and which are improvised—where my pen leaves off and her bow continues the musical idea.” —J.R.

These acts are hard to beat

These acts are hard to beat

These acts are hard to beat

By Bob Young / Jazz/World Preview
Friday, September 4, 2009

World music and jazz presenters are clearly counting on an improved economy to loosen wallets this fall. Look no further for proof than this fall’s ambitious lineup.

Always surprising guitarist Charlie Hunter rolls out his new CD, “Baboon Strength,” on Sept. 11 at the Regattabar in Cambridge. That same night, the quintet Agachiko, with Ken Field and Gabrielle Agachiko, digs into the Nina Simone songbook at Inman Square’s Lily Pad in Cambridge.

Among the hot young voices with club showcases are alto-sax man Benny Reid at the Regattabar on Sept. 29, and clarinetist and composer Darryl Harper’s C3 Project features poetry and dance at Scullers on the same day. Look for back-to-back nights of exploratory sounds at Outpost 186 in Inman Square on Sept. 25 with Strange Guitar, which features groups led by Jeff Platz, Kevin Frenette and Chris Welcome. And on Oct. 26 it’s the foursome of Neil Leonard, Jeff Song, Curt Newton and former Ornette Coleman keyboardist Dave Bryant.

The Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival takes place over nine days in various clubs and venues starting Sept. 18, with Berklee Performance Center shows with Branford Marsalis on Sept. 23, and Kickin’ the Blues with David Sanborn, Kevin Mahogany and Amina Claudine Myers on Sept. 25. The free outdoor, six-block-long party on Columbus Avenue on Sept. 26 is always big fun. Jane Bunnett, Donald Harrison and Melvin Sparks are among this year’s acts.

The annual John Coltrane Memorial Concert is a two-parter (Sept. 26-27), with Saturday’s show at Northeastern’s Blackman Theatre featuring the John Coltrane Memorial Ensemble, and Sunday’s show at Hibernian Hall a smaller group of Syd Smart, Stan Strickland, Laszlo Gardony and others.

New England Conservatory is blowing out the candles on the 40th anniversary of its jazz studies program with major shows, including the Wayne Shorter Quartet with NEC’s Philharmonia on Oct. 24 at Jordan Hall, and the NEC Jazz Summit on Oct. 23 with Fred Hersch, Gunther Sculler, Don Byron, Rachael Price and others.

The Caribbean is represented at Cambridge Carnival on Sept. 13, which kicks off in Kendall Square. Brazil gets fresh takes on the bossa nova Sept. 10 at the Beehive with Joao Marcos and Teresa Ines, and psychedelia Oct. 4 at the Somerville Theatre with Os Mutantes. Brazilian legend Milton Nascimento returns to town at Berklee Performance Center Nov. 15.

Cuban drum sensation Dafnis Prieto gets to showcase his pioneering rhythms as bandleader on Oct. 16 at the Villa Victoria Center for the Arts, which will be followed on Nov. 6 by another Rock en Espanol multiband extravaganza.

Other hot shows: the Chicago Afrobeat Project (Johnny D’s, Sept. 30); electro-tango outfit Bajofondo (Paradise, Oct. 1); South African prog rockers BLK JKS (pronounced Black Jacks, T.T. the Bear’s Place, Oct. 4); the Warsaw Village Band (Somerville Theatre, Nov. 6); and Bollywood singer Kailash Kher (Somerville Theatre, Nov. 13).

"Quiero Amanacer" - Neil Leonard remixes Danilo Perez's "Panama Suite"

"Quiero Amanacer" - Neil Leonard remixes Danilo Perez's "Panama Suite"

Neil Leonard's live remix of Danilo Perez' "Panama Suite." Recorded at the Panama Jazz Festival 2009. Broadcast live on national television. Alfredo Hildrovo - drums Ricaurte Villareal - percussion Fernando Medina - percussion

Bryant/Newton/Leonard/Song @ Outpost

Sunday 14 June @ Outpost 8pm $10 or b/o

Dave Bryant - piano / Curt Newton - drums / Neil Leonard - sax & electronics / Jeff Song - cello

Concerts & Readings @ OUTPOST 186
186 ½ Hampshire St. Cambridge Ma
617.876.0860 ~ all ages ~ http://www.zeitgeist-outpost.org

Giornata dell' Ascolto 2009

Partita Tripla con Galilei

Partita Tripla con Galilei

Azione musicale per altoparlanti ed installazione centrale
Piazza d' Erbe
La Giornata dell’Ascolto
Terza edizione Padova - 24 maggio 2009.

In uno spazio reale e in un tempo immaginario, un raro madrigale di Vincenzo Galilei (compositore rinascimentale, padre del celebre Galileo) viene innestato in un corale di Johann Sebastian Bach, scritto un secolo più tardi, da tre compositori di oggi, seduti attorno al tavolo virtuale di Internet. Nel centro della piazza il mercato dei giorni feriali proseguirà, soltanto con I suoi suoni, durante la tutta la Giornata dell'Ascolto – impermeabile alle elucubrazioni musicali vicine e lontane.

Il madrigale di Vincenzo Galilei è In Exitu Israel cantato in tutte le sue parti da Alessandro Carmignani (per gentile concessione dell'esecutore), il corale di Bach è il primo corale della cantata BWV12 Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, I compositori di oggi sono Maura Capuzzo, Neil Leonard e Marco Braggion coordinati da Nicola Bernardini. L'installazione sonora nel centro della piazza è stata curata da Gil Frison assistito dagli studenti del corso di Tecnico di Sala di Registrazione del Conservatorio C.Pollini di Padova coordinati da Francesco Morosinotto.

Partita Tripla con Galilei

Musical event for loudspeakers and center installation
Piazza d' Erbe
La Giornata dell’Ascolto (Listening Day)
Third edition, Padova - May 24, 2009.

In a real space and in an imaginary time, a rare madrigal by Vicenzo Galilei (renaissance composer and father of the celebrated Galileo) is implanted in a choral by Johann Sebastian Bach, written a century later, by three composers of today sitting around a virtual table via the Internet. In the centre of the piazza the disembodied sounds of the daily market continues during the entire Giornata dell' Ascolto - impermeable to the musical events held in close and distant sites around the city.

The madrigal of Vicenzo Galilei is In Exitu Israel, performed acappella by local singer Alessandro Carmignani (and used with his kind permission). The Bach chorale is the first chorale of the cantata BWV12 Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen. The composers are Maura Capuzzo, Neil Leonard and Marco Braggion coordinated by Nicola Bernardini. The sound installation in the center of the piazza was curated by Gil Frison assisted by the students of the Tecnico di Sala di Registrazione (Music Recording and Engineering program) of the Conservatorio C.Pollini di Padova and coordinated by Francesco Morosinotto.

Computer Music Journal review of Rondo da Passeggio

Computer Music Journal - Volume 33, Number 1, Spring 2009

PDF version of review by Amalia de Götzen

EXCERPT FROM THE ARTICLE:

According to Mr. Durante:

Its theoretical background (here drastically summarized) is that modern culture provides a superabundance of objects (musical objects in our case) but less and less opportunities for appropriate listening conditions. During the day a number of ''different ways of listening" are offered to the citizens (and visitors) of the city to help them retrieve the very sense (and sensibility) of the act of listening. The musical “repertoire” becomes a function of the psychoacoustic and social processes under way rather than an object of fetishism. In order to reach the goal, a relatively broad range of listening experiences are selected, from Persian poetry of the 13th century sung in the 13th-century City Hall building—the Salone della Ragione, to historical Western repertoire, to newly composed music. This was the case for Rondò da Passeggio, which was especially conceived for the listening conditions of a Paduan portico. (electronic mail communication)

Mr. Durante continues:

The idea to produce a multiple linear installation over a stretch of 350 meters is in itself original, but despite that the event reached the national media in the simplified representation of a curiosum, originality per se was not the goal: more important was the choice of collective composition, one that de-empasized the centrality of egoin the compositional processes of the West (a centrality which significantly runs across both ''high" and ''low" musical cultures). On the other hand the project faced and focused some characteristic problems of post-avant-garde music: the listener ''walked through" music rather than joining the crowd at the concert hall or standing in front of one single installation. In this way the listener defined (or rather interacted with) the form of music according to one's walking speed and/or to the special interest for each individual installation, slowing down, speeding up or stopping. At the same time, the installation compelled the casual passer-by to come to terms with sonorities that did not (probably) belong to his or her daily experience. This represents, in itself, a statement within an urban culture (in Padua as anywhere else) that exposes individuals to the daily violence of sounds “not chosen.” Not least, the project posed compositional problems of interrelationship (formal, stylistic, textural) between different parts of the installation. These problems may have been successfully solved (or possibly less than successfully solved); but beyond this point, most important was that the new problems generated new reflections. Hence, the intention to repeat the experience at the next Giornata dell'Ascolto in 2009. (ibid.)

CMJ Reviews http://204.151.38.11/cmj/reviews/33-1/deGotzen-Padua.html

Apostolos Paraskevas Featured in Performance at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, April 3, 2009

Grammy-nominated Composer/Concert Guitarist Apostolos Paraskevas Featured in Performance at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, April 3, 2009

A visual as well as musical experience
Apostolos Paraskevas, the Grammy-nominated Greek-born composer and concert guitarist known for his highly theatrical and occasionally irreverent showmanship, returns to Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Friday, April 3, at 8:00 PM. This concert also includes guest artists Eleni Calenos (Soprano), John Muratore (Guitar), Winnie Dahlgren (Vibes), Bahman Panahi (Setar/Tar), Neil Leonard (Soprano Saxophone), the Tantalus Guitar Quartet, the Boston Players string quintet, and Del Lewis (Actor/Narrator), all under the baton of Guest Conductor Francisco Noya. Music on the program will be by Dr. Paraskevas and Guest Composer Anthony Paul De Ritis, who is writing a piece specifically for this production.

About Apostolos Paraskevas
Classical Guitar Magazine/London acknowledged him as the only guitarist ever to have a major orchestral piece performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall, and the international press as the only musician who performed there in a Grim Reaper’s outfit! Dr. Paraskevas, a Lukas Foss protégé of the early 90's, studied with Leo Brouwer and Theodore Antoniou. He has had numerous of his works published, and has many recordings to his credit. As a soloist and composer he collaborated with orchestras around the world. Paraskevas has received five First Prizes in International Composition Competitions. He is the Founder and Artistic Director of the International Guitar Congress/Corfu and an Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music.

Tickets
To obtain tickets or further information regarding this event, please visit the Distinguished Concerts web site, www.DCINY.org. Tickets can also be purchased by calling the DCINY box office, 212.707.8566, x 307 or directly from the concert venue.

Mitografie del Corpo/Mappe fisiche di spazi immaginari

March 4, 2009
ore 11,30

CONCERT/CONFERENCE
Mitografie del Corpo
Mappe fisiche di spazi immaginari

Rossella Bonito Oliva
Docente di Filosofia all'Università degli Studi di Napoli L'Orientale

Gennaro Carillo
Docente Storia delle Istituzioni Politiche
Università degli Studi Suor Orsola Benincasa

Pedoni dell'Aria
Alessandro de Vita regista drammaturgo
Luca Marra attore cantante
Marina Esposito attrice
Francesca Esposito attrice cantante
Cristian Sommaiuolo musicista

Neil Leonard (Musings for Medea)
Docente di Musica elettronica
Berklee College of Music Boston

Rosario Squillace
Direttore artistico Teatro Stabile Galleria Toledo

http://www.unisob.na.it/eventi/eventi.htm?vr=1&id=5183

World on a string

World on a string

Boston Globe - February 23, 2009

The violin breaks out into jazz, rock, Latin, funk, hip-hop, and contemporary classical in the capable hands of Mimi Rabson. The Berklee College of Music professor will play pieces for solo violin that she commissioned from Berklee composers. Norman Zocher's "Rock Ethic" grabs inspiration from Bach; Winston L. Maccow's "Tell Me" incorporates jazz chords, rhythmic funk, and fusion; "Canto Iberico" by Victor Mendoza uses Latin American phrasing; Stephen Webber's "Flash Meets Miles" shows off Rabson's percussive style. The violinist will also play two pieces bearing her name - "Mimi's Mood" by Joanne Brackeen and "Mimi's Metamorphology" by Neil Leonard. 7 p.m. Free. The Boston Conservatory, 8 the Fenway, Boston. (March 14 at 5 p.m. at Hingham's South Shore Conservatory.) 617-536-6340. www.bostonconservatory.edu JUNE WULFF

All About Jazz

The New Year brings a new reason to celebrate every Friday night at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where Art After 5 brings the top names in jazz and international music to the Museum’s elegant Great Stair Hall. Each Friday evening the space becomes a lively concert hall, with table service, cocktails, elegant caf-style appetizers, and desserts. The winter 2009 season features popular favorite artists and several exciting newcomers.

Alto Saxophonist Neil Leonard (February 27) is known for his innovative yet accessible approach to composition and improvisation, combining soulful ballads with electronic and synthetic sounds to create a rich, complex musical landscape. In addition to performing with the Boston Ballet, Hiram Bullock, Don Byron, Frank Lacy, Uri Caine, Orlando Cachaito Lopez (Buena Vista Social Club), John Medeski and many others, Leonard has been collaborating with visual artists for two decades, and is widely recognized as an expert in music for multimedia. He has created sound for installations at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Kitchen in New York, the Seattle Art Museum, and Boston Museum of Fine Arts. His compositions have been performed at Carnegie Hall, Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Banff Festival for the Arts, and the International Computer Music Convention. Leonard is an Associate Professor in the Music Synthesis Department at Boston’s Berklee College of Music.

Clinics @ Panama Jazz Festival

PRE-INSCRIPCIÓN ABIERTA
PRE-INSCRÍBETE YA! enviando un e-mail con tu nombre y numero de teléfono a inscripcion@amplificapanama.org o 6618-1299

Los siguientes talleres, charlas y clínicas se lleverán a cabo en el Teatro Ascanio Arosemana de la ACP.

Taller de Sampling alrededor de la ciudad de Panama.
Dirigida por Prof. Neil Leonard de Berklee College of Music
Fechas: Lunes 12 y Martes 13 de Enero.

Clínica de introducción al Diseño de Sonido, Producción Electrónica y Síntesis Musical
Dirigida Por Prof. Neil Leonard de Berklee College of Music
Fecha: Miércoles 14 de Enero.

Clínica de Remezcla
Dirigida Por el Prof. Neil Leonard de Berklee College of Music
Fecha: Viernes 16 de Enero

Four Boston-Area Concerts, February 16 – March 14

MASTER VIOLINIST MIMI RABSON DEBUTS THE BERKLEE VIOLIN SOLOS
A bold new collection of newly commissioned solo repertoire for 21st century violin 

“Dazzling violin phenom” (Boston Globe) MIMI RABSON will premiere newly commissioned work for solo violin by renowned Berklee College of Music composers in four Boston-area concerts, February 16 – March 14.  The new body of music showcases the violin’s new voice in the 21st century, embodying contemporary genres, technology, and urban street cred. The composers commissioned by Rabson include jazz great JOANNE BRACKEEN, Latin vibraphonist VICTOR MENDOZA, interactive composer NEIL LEONARD, turntable guru STEPHEN WEBBER, jazz/funk bassist WINSTON MACCOW, and guitar luminary NORM ZOCHER.  The works draw from jazz, funk, rock, Latin, hip-hop and contemporary classical music, and utilize improvisation, effects pedals, new performance techniques, and interactive computer performance. 

The collaboration between this unique group of composition masters and world-class violinist Rabson produces a new musical vocabulary for the violin that bends genres and redefines the role of the contemporary violinist. She’ll be premiering the Berklee Violin Solos:

Monday, Feb. 16
Longy School of Music Jewett Hall of First Church, Cambridge, MA
10 a.m. President’s Day. Free and open to the public. 617-876-0956, www.longy.edu

Thursday, Feb. 19
Berklee College of Music David Friend Recital Hall, Boston, MA
7:30 p.m. Free and open to the public. (617) 266-1499 www.berklee.edu
921 Boylston Street in the Uchida Building

Monday, Feb. 23
The Boston Conservatory 8 The Fenway, Boston, MA
7 p.m. Free and open to the public. (617) 536-6340 www.bostonconservatory.edu

Saturday, March 14 South Shore Conservatory 1 Conservatory Drive, Hingham, MA
5 – 6 p.m. Free to SSC students; non-SSC students: $10. (781) 749-7565

Fall '09, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA

Mimi Rabson has distinguished herself as one of Boston's most creative and versatile musicians. She appears regularly in classical, jazz, klezmer and other eclectic performances and frequently leads her own ensembles. She is a first-prize winner of the Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship in composition for 2003. She was a founding member of the Klezmer Conservatory Band and worked with that organization for many years touring, recording, composing and acting as musical director. Rabson appeared with Itzhak Perlman on “The Late Show with David Letterman" and was featured in a documentary about Klezmer music called "A Jumpin' Night in the Garden of Eden". Ms. Rabson served as musical director to academy award winner, Joel Grey in his production of “Borschtcapades ‘94”. Her composition "Klezzified" was featured on Saturday Night Live.

Rabson's other performance credits include the premiere of “Fresh Faust” by Leroy Jenkins, the soundtrack for the award winning film “Sensorium” by Karen Aqua, the Boston Gay Men's Choir, the Boston Camarata, the New England Ragtime Ensemble, the Klezmatics, Sabana Blanca, Abby Rabinovitz, Deborah Henson-Conant, the Pablo Ablanedo Octet, and XLCR. She has appeared on A Prairie Home Companion twice, at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Wolf Trap, the Mann Center, the Place des Arts in Montreal and at many other world class venues. Ms. Rabson is an Associate Professor at the Berklee College of Music.

Jazz Magazine

Neil Leonard Quartet at Philadelphia Art Museum

Neil Leonard Quartet performs "Sonic Memories In/Site" and other new works.

In 2007 Leonard and Cuban born artists Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons were commissioned by Philagrafika to create music and a multimedia installation to celebrate the renovation of the Paul Robeson House in West Philadelphia. Leonard composed "Sonic Memories In/Site" for an all-star group of Philadelphia jazz veterans and premiered the work in Robeson's home. This February, Leonard returns to Philadelphia to perform this suite and other new works at PMA and to record this music for an upcoming CD. A native of Philadelphia, Leonard spent his formative years playing in groups with local greats Odean Pope, Robin Eubanks, Bobby Zankel, Byard Lancaster, Tom Lawton, Jymmie Merritt and Uri Caine. Since then Leonard has lived and worked in Boston, Cuba and Italy. Leonard's upcoming performances include Carnegie Hall, Galleria Toledo, (Naples), and the Panama Jazz Festival.

February 27, 2009
Philadelphia Art Museum
Art After 5
Neil Leonard - woodwinds
Tom Lawton - piano (Dave Douglas, Don Byron)
Lee Smith - bass (Mongo Santamaria, Cedar Walton, Roberta Flack)
Craig McIver - drums (Max Roach M-Boom, Odean Pope)

February 28/29, 2009
Recording session with same group.

Performance at Carnegie Hall with Apostolos Paraskevas

I will be featured on Paraskevas' A Night With The Aristocrats for soprano saxophone, acoustic guitar and string quintet.

PRESENTED BY DISTINGUISHED CONCERTS INTERNATIONAL:

APOSTOLOS PARASKEVAS, GUITAR/COMPOSER

Distinguished Concerts Artist Series

Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
Friday, April 3, 2009 at 8 PM

6th Annual Panama Jazz Festival

6th Annual Panama Jazz Festival Set For January 12-17, 2009, Founder/Artistic Director Danilo Perez Announces

The Wayne Shorter Quartet and legendary pianist Chucho Valdes are among the headliners for the extraordinary Panama City-based festival, which includes performances, an extensive array of workshops and master classes, and auditions for admission and scholarships to several major music schools. Tickets go on sale December 1st.

Richmond, CA (Billboard Publicity Wire/PRWEB ) November 13, 2008 -- American jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter's acclaimed quartet with Danilo Perez, John Patitucci, and Brian Blade, and the legendary Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés are among the headliners at the 6th annual Panama Jazz Festival, which will take place in Panama City January 12 through 17, 2009. The Boston-based Panamanian pianist Danilo Perez, who founded the festival in 2003 and whose Danilo Perez Foundation coordinates its educational component, anticipates more than 16,000 attendees.

"The Panama Jazz Festival has been a magical journey to a dream we've had for years in Panama," says Perez. "We, as a country, see the entire world pass through the Panama Canal every day, and we are honored to be the bridge of the Americas. But today, we are proud to say that every year--for the past six years--the Panama Jazz Festival has been the national event where the world does not pass by, but makes a stop in our wonderful land. The world's best jazz artists, as well as students and volunteers from all over the globe, unite in Panama with one goal in mind: to celebrate the world's diversity through jazz."

For the fourth consecutive year, the Panama Jazz Festival will offer clinics and courses on music technology under the auspices of the Berklee College of Music Production and Engineering Department (MP&E) and Music Synthesis Department (MS). Courses on recording, mixing, and live sound will be presented by Rob Jaczko, Chair of MP&E; Alejandro Rodriguez, Associate Professor of the MP&E Department; and Neil Leonard, Chair of Berklee's Music Synthesis Department.

Upcoming recording by Quadraphonnes

Quadraphonnes saxophone quartets will be including my piece 4151 Walnut on their debut CD. More info TBA.

Chelsea Luker- Soprano/Alto Sax
Mary Sue Tobin- Soprano/Alto Sax
Michelle Medler- Tenor sax
Mieke Bruggeman- Baritone Sax

Recording EP with Oren Fader

In December I will be recording an EP of guitar music with NY based guitar virtuoso Oren Fader.

Oren Fader's web site

Oren Fader is active as a performer of both traditional and contemporary classical guitar repertoire. Reviewing his solo New York City recital, Guitar Review magazine stated: "His scholarship, technique, and intelligent musicianship are plainly evident and the beauty of his tone is consistently compelling." As Nylon Review wrote in a recent online interview, Mr. Fader “seems to have his hand in just about everything interesting.”

He has performed hundreds of concerts in the United States, Europe, and Asia with a wide range of classical and new music groups, including the Met Chamber Ensemble, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, New York City Opera, New York City Ballet, New York Philharmonic, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Mark Morris Dance Group, New World Symphony, Absolute Ensemble, Poetica Musica and Speculum Musicae. As a member of the award- winning new music ensembles Cygnus, Fireworks, and Glass Farm, he has premiered more than 100 solo and chamber works with classical and electric guitar, including compositions by Babbitt, Wuorinen, Machover, Biscardi, Currier, Naito, Pollock, and many others. Recent highlights include a performance of Boccherini "Fandango" Quintet with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the "Aranjuez" Concerto at Brooklyn College. Mr. Fader can be heard on over 20 commercial recordings and film; his work is featured in the classical guitar parts for the recent film Everything is Illuminated. Bridge Records recently released the Cygnus Ensemble's second CD, Gone for Foreign, and next fall the Anderson/Fader guitar duo will release a CD with music written for them, including works by Wuorinen, Lang, Rokeach, and Johnson. Mr. Fader’s latest solo recordings include Another's Fandango, featuring 500 years of guitar music, and First Flight, containing 10 premiere solos written for Mr. Fader by New York City composers. Guitar Review's recent review noted that his skill, “particularly his conductor-like understanding, is palpable on every track." Oren Fader is member of the Manhattan School of Music guitar and chamber music faculty.

Juan Blanco remembered in the Miami Herald

Posted on Fri, Nov. 07, 2008
Cuban composer who was innovator

By DANIEL FERNANDEZ
EL NUEVO HERALD

Cuban composer Juan Blanco, a pioneer of Latin American electro-acoustic music, died Wednesday in Havana of respiratory failure. He was 89. Blanco died at Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital, where he was being treated for kidney problems and hypertension.
Born in Mariel, Cuba, in 1919, Blanco established himself early as a defender of experimental music without forsaking the sensibility of traditional Cuban sounds. He defined himself as the inheritor of modern Cuban composers such as Alejandro Garcia Caturla and Amadeo Roldan.

Blanco composed more than 160 works that have been interpreted by the National Symphonic Orchestra of Cuba and by soloists such as Paquito D'Rivera, Leo Brower, Merceditas Valdes and Tata. He also composed pieces for television, movies, ballet and outdoor performances.

Neil Leonard III, a performer and authority on music for multimedia, wrote of Blanco in 1991: ``The fact is that the music of Blanco is Cuban music. He cannot get away from Cuban music. Regardless of his selection of instruments or themes . . . he could base a piece on an Asian theme, and it would still be Cuban music. He is Cuban -- deeply Cuban, in the purest sense of the philosophy represented by idiosyncrasy of a Cuban people.''

During the 1960s, Blanco was music director of the Cuban National Council for Culture. In that position he opposed censorship of foreign music, especially from the United States.

Although he could not teach officially at a government institution for several decades, he organized vanguard concerts out of a small studio at the Cuban Institute for Friendship with People that influenced new generations of composers, such as Juan Piñera and his own son, Juan Marcos Blanco.

In 1981, he established the International Festival of Electro-acoustic Music that was entitled Springtime in Varadero.

During the 1990s, Blanco continued his musical experimentation with the use of computers. His studio was renamed as the National Laboratory of Electro-acoustic Music. Various institutions commissioned pieces of music from him, allowing him to travel throughout Europe, Latin America and China. In 1993, he presented several of his compositions in Boston.

In 2002, Blanco was awarded the Cuban National Prize for Music.

He had six children, two of whom live in Miami.

In memory of Juan Blanco (1919-2008)

En el dia de hoy, a las 10:50 am falleció a los 92 años producto de un paro respiratorio, el Maestro Juan Pedro Blanco Rodriguez, pionero de la música electroacústica en América y fundador y director del Laboratorio Nacional de Música Electroacústica.
Su cadáver estará tendido en la funeraria de Calzada y K y el entierro se efectuará mañana a las 9:00 de la mañana.

Juan Pedro Blanco Rodriguez, aged 92, pioneer of electroacoustic music in America, as well as founder and director of the National Electroaocustic Music Laboratory, passed away today in Havana at 10:50 am due to a respiratory arrest.
His burial will take place tomorrow morning at the Cemetery Cristobal Colon in Havana.

Neil Leonard's articles on Juan Blanco

Teaching Music at the College Level Seminar at New England Conservatory

Teaching Music at the College Level
Thurs. Nov. 6: 6-7:30 pm Keller room

Do you really NEED a Doctorate?
What are the types of schools that need music faculty?
What kinds of jobs are available?
Come to the workshop and find out:
What employers look for
How to make your applications competitive
How to gain experience now
Cover letters, CVs, interview strategies and more!

About the panelists:

Neil Leonard works as a sound artist, composer and saxophonist. His ensemble featured Marshall Allen, Bruce Barth, Don Byron, Robin Eubanks and Uri Caine. Leonard’s Dreaming of an Island, (for orchestra, electronics and live-video) was premiered by Kirk Trevor and the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. Leonard's composition Totems was premiered at Carnegie Hall. His Echoes and Footsteps was featured by the Tel Aviv Biennial for New Music, Issue Project Room (NYC) and the Auditorium di Roma. Leonard's collaborative work with visual artist Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons was featured by the 49th Venice Biennial, Museum of Modern Art (NYC); purchased by the National Gallery of Canada; and presented by the U.S. State Department at Dakar Biennial. Leonard composed the music for Relatives, by Tony Oursler and Constance DeJong featured by the Whitney Biennial. Leonard is co-owner of Gallery Artist Studio Project in Boston. In the past year Leonard organized two festivals of electronic music with concerts in Rome, Venice, La Spezia, Siena, Tel Aviv, Haifa, New York and Boston. Leonard is Interim Chair of the Music Synthesis Department and Professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He taught sound installation at the University of Padova and the C. Pollini Conservatory, Italy. He has taught courses in electronic music and multimedia at Northeastern University, Massachusetts College of Art and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts.

Pianist Deborah Nemko is on the faculty at Bridgewater State College and also teaches in the NEC Preparatory program. She appears in concerts throughout the United States and Europe as both soloist and collaborative artist. In 2002 she performed the Belgian debut of Diane Goolkasian Rahbee's Sonata No. 2 in the Vresse sur Semois International Festival for Pianists and appeared in concert at Carnegie Hall in Rahbee's Concert in a retrospective of her compositions in 2004. Her performance of Rahbee's Preludes from her compact disc Preludes and Toccatinas was featured on Radio Mona Lisa, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and on The Classical Discoveries Radio Program, Princeton. A champion of contemporary music, composers Dianne Rahbee, Scott Brickman and Justin Rubin have written works for her. Dr. Nemko is a frequent adjudicator for the New England Conservatory Preparatory Program's Concerto Competition, the Music Teachers National Association Arizona, and Massachusetts State Competitions. Much in demand for her teaching as well as performances, she has conducted master-classes at Buffalo State College, Chapman University, and at Greenfields Chamber Music Institute, Vermont. She is currently on the faculty of the New England Conservatory's Piano Preparatory Program. Dr. Nemko regularly presents papers and lecture recitals at the International Conference on Arts and Humanities, the International Festival of Women Composers, the College Music Society National and Regional Conferences, MTNA National Conference and the Schubert Club. Dr. Nemko was on the faculty of the International Piano Week, Belgium, from 2001-2005. She is currently the president of the Northeast Region of the College Music Society.

Oliver Chamberlain is the former co-chair of the Composition and History Department in theCollege of Musical Arts at Bowling Green State University and the former Executive Director of the Center for the Arts at the Universityof Massachusetts Lowell. Chamberlain has been president of New England Presenters, Merrimack Lyric Opera and Indian Hill Music Center. He has helped a number of people edit their applications, including his own daughter who has just begun the position of associate production manager at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. He gained experience in teaching, publishing, directing and performing before applying to a university. He has coached people prepare cover letters, CVs and interviews. He has been published on the subjects of medieval motets, computer projection of arts center revenue, arts marketing and pricing the performing arts. He holds graduate degrees in Choral Conducting from NEC, in Music History from Brandeis University and in Arts Administration from the American University in Washington, D. C. He has interests in collecting American art glass, designing gardens and is a prize-winning photographer.

Eric Hewitt serves as the music director and conductor of The Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble, as well as chair of the woodwind department. He also serves as music director and conductor of the White Rabbit avant-garde ensemble, which is the ensemble-in-residence at Harvard University, and the Charles River Wind Ensemble in Watertown, MA. As a saxophonist, Eric Hewitt has presented critically acclaimed premieres by Luciano Berio, Gunther Schuller, Christian Lauba, and dozens of young and up-and-coming composers. He has been a soloist with nine Boston area ensembles, including the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the FROMM Players at Harvard, and the New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble and has been featured as soloist on tours to Japan, Venezuela, and Cuba. He is also a member of the Radnofsky Saxophone Quartet. Mr. Hewitt recorded the Donald Martino Saxophone Concerto in piano reduction (previously unreleased), working with Dr. Martino at the sessions, and has recorded the saxophone quartet music of Iannis Xenakis and Franco Donatoni. He was a member of the Ryles Jazz Orchestra from 2000 until 2004 and performed with jazz legends such as Arturo Sandoval, John Faddis, Bob Brookmeyer, Ed Calle, George Garzone, Frank Vardarous, Jerry Bergonzi, Slide Hampton, George Russell, Marvin Stam, and Phil Wilson.

Panama Jazz Festival

Panama Jazz Festival Site

I will be performing in and teaching at the Panama Jazz Festival, Jan. 12-17, 2009.

Other participants include:

Wayne Shorter, Johnn Patitucci, Danilo Pérez, Brian Blade, Chucho Valdés, Marco Pignataro, Eddie Gómez, Billy Drummond, Luba Mason, Hubert Laws, Rubén Blades.