New Music Alert: Earplay

earplay nurtures new chamber music. earplay links audiences, performers, and composers through concerts, commissions, and recordings of the finest music of our time.

Earplay has started giving free concerts (which is probably why I've only just heard of them). Earplay put together a sparkling concert of works by living (and near-living) composers. Earplay made me notice the resemblance between myself and Ligeti:



Uncanny, isn't it?

There's nothing I love more than a free concert of contemporary classical music. However, I have a few tips for groups performing this type of music:

1. Chamber music requires chamber spaces. I suppose some people consider Herbst Theater a chamber space, but when you have 2 performers on stage and 50-odd people scattered throughout a large theater the feeling you get is more that of attending a music school noon-time recital (required for all music majors), not an exciting evening of new and glamorous music (contemporary classical music is very sexy, people).
2. Glamour requires alcohol. I highly recommend performing in a space that allows alcoholic beverages (or beverages of any kind) into the theater. People who like new music like to drink. And we like to drink while taking in sexy musical events. We do not like having to suck down a glass of wine in five minutes during intermission.
3. Get creative. Contemporary music deserves a contemporary setting. Do something different. Shake it up a bit. Play with lighting, staging, large mammals, anything to add a little sparkle and wit to the performance. In order to build a new audience for this music (something these groups always proclaim they want to do), you have to compete with a lot of crazysexycool things out there. Business as usual is not going to cut it!

Tonight's performance was by all accounts wonderful and well worth the $5 donation I gave at the door. Earplay's next performance is May 21st, as part of the San Francisco International Arts Festival. If you like new music, make it a point to attend.

As for the folks at Herbst Theater, I have three words:
Oil the chairs.

Good night!