Alloy

Last May, I had the distinct pleasure to go to LA with Andy Akiho—everyone’s favorite composer-workaholic-pan player—and an all-star group of percussionists for the West-Coast debut of Andy’s Alloy, a new take on traditional Trinidadian steel band music.  The occasion was the LA Phil’s laudable Green Umbrella series; a program featuring Berio’s Recital 1, a new percussion concerto by Joe Pereira (performed by Colin Currie) and Alloy. The piece welds (get it, “welds”?) a powerful timbral imagination (watch for the foot-operated junk metals, the scrap-heap drumkit and the creative extended pan techniques) with a fluid and intuitive rhythmic sense.  You can read Mark Swed’s review,  where he extols the “wonderfully engaging variety of sounds a dozen players can get from Caribbean drums (with the help of found materials, including drums made from satellite dishes),” here.

A few days before the concert, a few of the group suggested to Andy that we needed a video of Alloy.  We joked that it would be just perfect to find a warehouse in which to record it, a film crew that would work for cheap, a recording engineer who knew what he was doing, and a truck (for free).  We were still joking as Andy told us all to find black t-shirts (we didn’t), still kidding as pulled into LA’s warehouse district in a borrowed truck and a rented van, and maybe only a little serious as we began pushing aside cardboard boxes of imported toys to set up the pans.  The result, as you can see, is wonderful!

Stay tuned for more information about  New Morse Code performing Andy's music in Jan, Feb, and beyond…

Pattering Through the Holidays

New Morse Code's recording of Robert Honstein's "Patter" (with the wonderful Anne Lanzilotti) is featured on "I Care If You Listen's" Winter 2012 Mixtape, alongside great music by Florent Ghys and Missy Mazzoli. Give it a download!

Turning

A(n HD) video from the premiere of Paul Kerekes’ “Turning,” live at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.  Hannah, Paul and I are excited to take the rest of the piece for a spin February 7th, on Yale’s New Music New Haven series!  More information is forthcoming… Not shown: almost two minutes of page re-arranging pre-downbeat.

Boris Kerner

Preparations are underway for the premiere of Caroline Shaw's "Boris Kerner:" tempo is set to "baroque" and the pots are tuned. Check it out in Princeton on Tuesday the 20th at 7:30 pm!

Extra, Extra!

Even though this post doesn’t have effusive ASL interpreting, I hope it’s informative. The big news here is that I’ve accepted an appointment as Visiting Lecturer in Percussion at Cornell University, where I’m director of the Steel Band and World Drum and Dance Ensemble.  Although I’ve always prided myself on being a total drum nerd, these two genres of music are relatively new to me.  I’m humbled to have been given the opportunity to start exploring, and so far both bands are sounding great, no thanks to me.  More information about the program is available here.

If you’re in the Ithaca area on November 16th, you can hear the fruits of this semester’s work: a joint concert featuring the Cornell Steel Band and WDDE, with special guests Nukporfe, Dr. James Burns’ crack team of Ewe drummers and dancers from Binghamton University.  Nukporfe really smokes, as these videos will attest.  This free concert will begin with the Steel Band at 6:00 on Ho Plaza.  WDDE and Nukporfe will follow inside Willard Straight Hall: more information is available here.

Cornell has a vibrant music scene, and I’m excited to get involved.  Stay tuned for for some recitals and other performances, but in the meantime you can catch me with the Cornell Chorale on November 30th, for a performance of Vincent Persichetti’s Winter Cantata for women’s voices, marimba, and flute.

What’s next for New Morse Code?  On November 20th, we’ll  premiere a new piece by Caroline Shaw on thePrinceton Sound Kitchen’s series (formerly the Princeton Composer’s Ensemble).  I can’t wait!  Also on the Princeton show is the ever amazing Janus Trio.  Stay tuned tonewmorsecode.com for the latest telegraphs.

Lastly, this semester I’m filling in for Ayano Kataoka as lecturer in percussion at UMass Amherst. The studio is a great group of people: nice enough to put up with my terrible puns, at least.  I’m honored and humbled to be put in charge of such a great percussion ensemble.  If you’re in the area, please check out our joint concert with the UMass Symphony Band on December 4th at the UMass Fine Arts Center, featuring some classic chamber percussion repertoire.

To sign up to recieve updates direct to your inbox, click here or head on over to the "contact" section of the site.

Hope to see you soon!

Mike