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Back to Home > Sports > 49ers > Sunday, May 11, 2003 Andrew Gilbert ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Posted on Fri, Feb. 28, 2003 story:PUB_DESC ANDREW GILBERT: JAZZ TALK Other Minds gathers unusual mix of musicians By Andrew Gilbert TIMES CORRESPONDENT Even with the spectacular array of musicians and composers featured at Other Minds 9, the Bay Area's most prestigious new music event, the person most likely to provide the festival's signal moment won't be in attendance. Lou Harrison, whose irrepressibly beautiful music blends Asian and Western styles, was scheduled to participate in the festival, reuniting with longtime friend Ned Rorem, a fellow lion-in-winter composer. But Harrison, a resident of Aptos in Santa Cruz County since 1953, died of a heart attack on Feb. 2 while traveling to another festival in Columbus, Ohio. His legacy will be celebrated at the conclusion of the festival's opening concert on Wednesday with a performance of Harrison's "King David's Lament for Jonathan." Composed in 1941, the work will be performed by San Francisco Opera tenor Harold Meers accompanied by Jake Heggie and Mark Morash, playing piano four hands with interlocked arms. The San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus will repeat the piece, singing a 1985 version that Harrison arranged for the group, and then the audience will be invited to join for a final rendition. The symbolism of the ever-widening circle of singers is a perfect tribute to Harrison, who always sought to bring new voices into the musical community. "He was so generous with information," said composer Charles Amirkhanian, executive director of Other Minds. "Whenever he would say something very esoteric to me, he would say, 'Well Charles, as you know,' like I was on the inside, even though it was about, say, fifth century B.C. culture. But Lou was so widely read." Even before the festival opens at the Palace of the Fine Arts Theatre with a concert featuring the West Coast premiere of Rorem's epic "Evidence of Things Not Seen," Harrison is being incorporated into Other Minds. The festival's Web site features a page on which some three dozen people to date have posted reminiscences of Harrison. The anecdotes are funny, earthy and often marked by sly wit, but above all, they demonstrate how pervasive his influence has been, not necessarily stylistically but spiritually in the sense of an irresistible life force. Indeed, the 80-year-old Rorem's very presence at this year's festival, after a vow not to travel following the 9/11 attacks, is due to Harrison's cajoling. "Lou had such a good time at the festival last year for his 85th birthday that he emerged more refreshed than when he came in," Amirkhanian said. "He called Ned and said, 'I know you don't want to travel, but this is something you just can't miss.'" Come to think of it, that's pretty much what each of the festival's four evenings offers, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience a diverse program of new music in the presence of the composer. Each concert is preceded by an hourlong artists' forum with that evening's composers and musicians. Thursday's program features the world premiere of Ge Gan-ru's "Four Studies for Peking Opera," performed by pianist Gloria Cheng and the Onyx String Quartet. China's first avant-garde composer, Gan-ru has been largely overlooked since settling in the United States some two decades ago, which makes this premiere, commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission, a particularly exciting event. Percussion master Evelyn Glennie, who usually performs in orchestral settings, gives a solo percussion recital on the five-octave marimba and snare drum. And Oakland-based Amy X Neuburg performs her solo work for voice and electronics, "Six Little Stains." "She's like Laurie Anderson and Pamela Z, but with incredible compositional chops and amazing stage presence and just a huge voice," Amirkhanian said. "Her lyrics are about very tough things that happen to people in East Oakland. She's part performance artist, part Bob Dylan. She has a grasp of electronics that's just stunning." March 7's program features the brilliant avant-garde jazz bassist William Parker performing his piece "Spirit Catcher," with Oluyemi Thomas on reeds, Barbara Sandidge on flugelhorn and Doctor E. Pelikan Shalto on recorders, whistles and flutes. Daniel Lentz's ambitious "Cafe Desire," an electronic cantata for 58 performers, is also on the bill, featuring the Other Minds Ensemble, the Phoenix Bach Choir, vocalists Linda Childs and Britt Quentin and pianist Sarah Cahill. "It will probably never be done in the U.S. again," Amirkhanian said. "It's just too complicated to produce it, because you need a full mixed choir of 24 people, 200 crystal wine glasses, a female baritone and a male soprano." The festival closes on March 8 with the U.S. premiere of Stephen Scott's "Paisajes Audibles" (Audible Landscapes) for soprano and bowed piano. Commissioned by the Other Minds Festival as part of Meet the Composer Commissioning Music/USA, the piece features soprano Victoria Hansen and Colorado College Bowed Piano Ensemble, a 10-member group that plays inside the piano. "They move like they're choreographed by Nijinsky," Amirkhanian said. "Each one can only play one note at a time, either with nylon fishing line or Popsicle sticks covered with horsehair. It's just an amazing achievement." The final program opens with a solo performance by German-born composer Stephan Micus on Armenian bass duduk and other traditional instruments with prerecorded sounds. Though he's recorded extensively for ECM on various traditional instruments, particularly shakuhachi, the Japanese end-blown bamboo flute, he hasn't performed in California for some 20 years. His music is a fascinating mixture of ancient and contemporary, as he modifies traditional instruments or combines them in new ways. He recently spent several months in Armenia studying the bass duduk, a double reed instrument made from apricot wood, with the instrument's foremost master Jivan Gasparian. "It's a very simple instrument with a limited range, a little more than an octave and there are no keys," Micus said from the Spanish island of Mallorca, where he lives. "It has a very sensuous sound, very breathy like the shakuhachi, and I'm bringing them together. They are really wind instruments, relatives of the wind." PREVIEW ? WHAT: Other Minds 9 ? WHEN: 8 p.m. Wednesday through March 8 (7 p.m. discussions prior to each performance) ? WHERE: Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, 3301 Lyon St., S.F. ? HOW MUCH: $15-$26 individual, $45-$81 four-concert pass ? CONTACT: 415-392-4400, 762-BASS, www.tickets.com , www.otherminds.org ? SCHEDULE: Is as follows: ? WEDNESDAY: Tribute to Ned Rorem -- "Three Barcarolles for Piano," Sarah Cahill; "Evidence of Things Not Seen," S.F. Opera Center singers, guest musicians; "King David's Lament for Jonathan," featuring tenor Harold Meers, pianists Jake Heggie and Mark Morash ? THURSDAY: Ge Gan-ru, "Four Studies for Peking Opera"; Amy X Neuberg, "Six Little Stains"; Evelyn Glennie, solo percussion recital ? MARCH 7: Daniel Lentz, "Cafe Desire"; Jack Body, "Sarajevo" for piano; William Parker and trio, "Spirit Catcher" ? MARCH 8: Stephan Micus, "On a Silent Wing"; Stephen Scott, "Paisajes Audibles" for soprano and bowed piano <5284112.htm?template=contentModules/emailstory.jsp> <5284112.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp> <5284112.htm?template=contentModules/reprintstory.jsp> email this <5284112.htm?template=contentModules/emailstory.jsp> | print this <5284112.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp> | license this | reprint this <5284112.htm?template=contentModules/reprintstory.jsp> Shopping & Services Find a Job Find a Car Find a Home Find an Apartment Classifieds Ads Shop Nearby List Your Apartment Vacancies Click here to find out more! Click here to find out more! Help | Contact Us | Site Index | Archives | Place an Ad | Newspaper Subscriptions | News by Email About The Contra Costa Times | About Realcities Network | Terms of Use & Privacy Statement | About Knight Ridder | Copyright