Duckworth's iOrpheus on YouTube

For those of you who couldn't make it to Australia a few months ago to see the performance of the William Duckworth and Nora Farrell opera iOrpheus, there's now a 10-minute film by Paul Davidson that includes interviews with the two creators and clips of the performance. You can see it here. For audio and video feeds of the work, go here.

Join the Australian performance of iOrpheus

As the Friday performance of William Duckworth's iOrpheus in Brisbane, Australia, looms (Thursday night in North America), the composer has posted instructions on how folks from around the world can contribute sounds to the production.

Duckworth's use of mobile phones touted

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation runs an article about how composer William Duckworth is inviting mobile phone users to participate in the iOrpheus performance in Brisbane on August 31. Nice quote from Duckworth: "Everybody's a musician, it's just kind of been trained out of us. We're just trying to get it all back to where people aren't afraid to participate."

Duckworth songs to be performed in Oregon

The annual Yachats Music Festival will be held July 13-15 in Yachats, Oregon, featuring music from everyone from Mozart to Chick Corea to Henry Cowell. The program will include a performance of some of William Duckworth's songs by baritone Thomas Buckner.

Down under Duckworth's new Web site

American composer William Duckworth, bundled up against the Australian summer cold but on fire with new ideas as usual, has arrived in Australia for his "public opera" performance of iOrpheus, scheduled for August 31 in Brisbane. It's the latest version of the opera he wrote with Nora Farrell. Details on the new web site. Online participation is supposed to be available for those who us who can't make it to Australia, but details have not been announced yet. Copies of iOrpheus (MP3 files and video files) may be downloaded from Cathedral, the main Duckworth-Farrell Internet site.

Gramley's reissued 'Deconstruction'

My copy of percussionist Joseph Gramley's "American Deconstruction" CD arrived over the weekend, and I got a chance to listen to it a couple of times. I bought it to obtain a recording of a William Duckworth piece, "Meditation Preludes." It's the longest selection on the album, clocking in at 11:05, but I discovered the whole album is rather good. The CD, reissued a few months ago, has five pieces, all by modern American composers. It's a really varied set -- the Duckworth is subtle and quiet (as befits the title, I guess), "The Anvil Chorus" by David Lang is rather noisier, and there's a fascinating piece by Steve Reich, "Nagoya Marimbas." There are also pieces by Paul Smadbeck and Dave Hollinden, composers previously unknown to me. The album held my interest throughout.
The album is not available on Amazon. The only way I know to buy it is through Gramley's web site.

Duckworth's '20 Sounds'

I've been reading William Duckworth's "20/20: 20 New Sounds of the 20th Century." It amounts to a useful education on modern music, featuring Duckworth's usual erudition and clear writing.

When I checked this book out the library, I couldn't wait to see which works made the list; I sat down in the library and looked at the book for a few minutes before leaving the building.

Here's the list:

Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, Claude Debussy
Maple Leaf Rag, Scott Joplin
The Rite of Spring, Igor Stravinsky
Pierrot Lunaire, Arnold Schoernberg
The Concord Sonata, Charles Ives
Rhapsody in Blue, George Gershwin
Bolero, Maurice Ravel
Quartet for the End of Time, Olivier Messiaen
Appalachian Spring, Aaron Copland
Sonatas and Interludes, John Cage
Mysterious Mountain, Alan Hovhaness
In C, Terry Riley
Drumming, Steve Reich
I Am Sitting in a Room, Alvin Lucier
4th String Quartet, Ben Johnston
Einstein on the Beach, Philip Glass
Perfect Lives, Robert Ashley
O Superman, Laurie Anderson
Miserere, Arvo Part
Atlas, Meredith Monk

Duckworth explains in his introduction that while he polled other composers to help him compile the list, at the end of the day he had to choose works which meant a lot to him personally. Most of the works are excerpted in a companion CD. The list seems to be rather weighted toward Americans and toward experimental composers.

I like much of the music on the list, although I was disappointed Schoernberg was included. I suppose we are stuck with him. My biggest disappointment, however, was that nothing by Prokofiev made the list.

Duckworth piece slated for New York City performance

The New York Times reports:

THOMAS BUCKNER (Thursday) The baritone Thomas Buckner, here presented by the World Music Institute as part of the Interpretations series (which he curates), has long been a champion of avant-garde music. He will perform new works for voice and various instruments, including William Duckworth’s “Their Song” for baritone and piano. Petr Kotik conducts the New York premiere of Christian Wolff’s “37 Haiku” for baritone, oboe, horn, viola and cello, and the world premiere of “A People’s History” by R. Chris Dahlgren for baritone, flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, celeste, violin and cello. At 8 p.m., Merkin Concert Hall, 129 West 67th Street, Manhattan, (212) 501-3330, kaufman-center.org; $10; $7 for students. (Vivien Schweitzer)

Duckworth live in Boston, northern California

Composer William Duckworth gets live performances on opposite coasts for two of his signature pieces, "Southern Harmony" and "The Time Curve Preludes."

"Southern Harmony" will be performed 8 p.m. Friday (March 16) at First Church in Cambridge, Congregational, by Boston Secession; Arvo Part, Gavin Bryars and Ruth Lomon also are featured on the program. More info here. The promotional postcard has a photograph of four women who are easy on the eyes, next to a headline announcing the name of the show, "Surprised by Beauty."

Then at 8 p.m. March 24 on the opposite coast -- Arcata, Calif., on the campus of Humboldt State University, not far from the Oregon border -- pianist Robert Elfline performs "The Time Curve Preludes." (Well, nine out of 24, according to the program.) Duckworth shares the show with Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Janacek and Cowell.

Both Duckworth pieces are available from Emusic.

We're gonna party like it's 1607

The current (March 9) issue of The Week magazine mentions that Italy celebrated the 400th birthday of the opera with a new staging of Monteverdi's "Orfeo," first staged in Mantua in 1607. "Orfeo" was a very early opera, not the first or the second, The Week explains, but "the first to be adopted by performers elsewhere." The Feb. 24 performance in Arizona of William Duckworth's "iPod Opera 2.0" (also based on the Orpheus myth), noted earlier in this blog, was timed to fall on the 400th anniversary of that first performance of "Orfeo." If you missed the earlier posting, information here.

Duckworth's iPod Opera 2.0 completed

As promised, the Cathedral site released the 26th and final episode of William Duckworth and Nora Farrell's iPod Opera 2.0 podcast. There's a podcast for video episode and and a separate feed for MP3 files.

The podcast was created for Apple iPods; Apple folks can easily subscribe to it on iTunes.

But it's also easy for Windows computer owners to obtain the podcast. I got my copies of the files by right-clicking the podcast URLs at Cathedral and then pasting them in to Google Reader.

When I downloaded the final track, "The Moresca," I burned an audio CD of all of the tracks in order. Whether by accident or design, the entire 26 tracks fill up almost all of a homemade audio disk -- 78 minutes and 53 seconds of a CD disk limited to 80 minutes of music.

If you want to watch the video versions of the tracks on a Windows computer, you'll need to download a copy of Quicktime.

In other Duckworth news, one of the composer's solo albums, "Southern Harmony," has just become available on Emusic.

Cathedral live broadcast is Saturday

Cathedral, the music site/online artwork created by composer William Duckworth and graphic artist and software designer Nora Farrell, on Saturday will present a live concert over the Internet and also will reach a notable milestone.

The concert, a performance of the Cathedral Band, which features Duckworth, Farrell and other musicians, will be in Phoenix at 7 p.m. Saturday Mountain Standard Time. Video of the show will be webcast from the Cathedral site, and a "hear the webcast" link will activate on the site a few hours before the broadcast.

Also Saturday, the 26th (and final) episode of Duckworth and Farrell's iPod Opera 2.0 will be premiered at the concert and released at the Cathedral site. All 26 MP3 music files and MP4 video files will then be available at Cathedral as a feed subscription.

Cathedral maintains a e-mail list for announcements; here is the official e-mail on the concert which is supposed to go out today:

February 19, 2007

Hello All,

If you have been following The iPod Opera 2.0—The Myth of Orpheus, The Chronicler, and Eurydice—you know that the 26th and final podcast occurs this Saturday, February 24, 2007.

To celebrate, we’re going to Second Stage West in Phoenix for a live performance of Part II of the opera, Orpheus, The Myth Retold, with

William Duckworth-music

Nora Farrell-parallel worlds

DJ Tamara-digital mix

VJ Paris-live video

William Barton, didgeridoo

AJ Sabatini, as The Chronicler

and introducing the IAP iPod Continuo

If you are in Phoenix, the concert begins this Saturday night at 7:00 pm MST. If not, you can watch us live on the web at

http://cathedral.monroestreet.com

As you may know, The iPod Opera 2.0 began a 2-year trilogy about the Orpheus myth that expands the experience from personal and in your ear, to in concert in Phoenix, to in public over 5 sq kms of the South Bank Parklands in Brisbane, Australia.

Below are the details of the journey. We hope you will be able to join us, either live or online.

Best wishes to all,

William Duckworth and Nora Farrell

* * *

The iPod Opera 2.0

* * *

Part 1

The Myth of Orpheus, The Chronicler, and Eurydice

Podcast at 2-week intervals: April 10, 2006 to February 24, 2007

Video and audio: http://cathedral.monroestreet.com/rss/ipo204.xml

Audio only: http://cathedral.monroestreet.com/rss/ipo203.xml

If you prefer, you can subscribe to the opera from the music category in the podcast section of iTunes.

And no iPod? No problem. You can also see the opera online at:

http://cathedral.monroestreet.com/ipo20/

Incidentally, the final episode of the opera will be podcast on Saturday, February 24, 2007, 400 years to the day since Monteverdi first staged Orfeo.

Part 2

Orpheus: The Myth Retold

Second Stage West, Phoenix, Arizona

Saturday, February 24, 2007, 7:00 pm

We will celebrate the conclusion of the podcasts and the anniversary of Orfeo with a live performance and retelling of the myth at Second Stage West in Phoenix featuring VJ Paris, AJ Sabatini, DJ Tamara, William Barton, and an 8-voice iPod Continuo, plus Nora Farrell and me. For those of you not in the Phoenix area, a video feed will be available online at

http://cathedral.monroestreet.com

Part 3

iOrpheus

A Public Opera for South Bank Parklands

Brisbane Australia

Friday, August 31, 2007, time TBD

Finally, we will be mounting an outdoor version of the opera in the streets and promenades of South Bank Parklands, Brisbane, Australia on August 31, 2007. Comprising a Fanfare, 5 Acts, and 5 Ribbons of Sound, it will be performed on iPods, cellphones, and laptops, along with interactive installations and live performers. We expect several thousand people to take an active role, and thousands more to participate as observers. The opera will also be webcast live. Performers will include students from the Queensland Conservatorium of Griffith University, as well as a number of surprise guests.

Katsumata performs Duckworth on YouTube

Japanese violinist Ritsu Katsumata has posted her performances at the Buffalo Biennial of Duckworth6: Sea of Dreams, her invention based on No. 6 of Duckworth's "Time Curve Preludes." The music will be featured on her album, "Voodoo Bach," which will be released in May. Take a moment to look at these videos and let her win you over.

Duckworth recording becoming available

American composer William Duckworth has written more than 200 pieces, but the amount of music available on recordings is frustratingly small. Bit by bit, though, more of his work is becoming available. Percussionist Joseph Gramley is re-releasing his 2000 album, "American De-Construction." The longest piece on the album is Duckworth's "Meditation Preludes." The release also has pieces by Steve Reich, David Lang, Paul Smadbeck and Dave Hollinden. The re-release doesn't seem to be available yet -- at least on Amazon -- but the original is on Gramley's web site, which also offers a 6 minute, 21 second stream of the "Meditation Preludes" and sound samples of the other pieces.

Kyle Gann cutting new album, writing new book

Composer and writer Kyle Gann reports on his blog that he has just finished a two-day recording session with pianist Sarah Cahill for his upcoming album on the New Albion label. No release date has been announced yet. In the meantime, Gann includes a link to an eight-minute rough edit of a piece from the new album, and a previous collaboration with Cahill, "Long Night" is available on Emusic.

Meanwhile, the Poughkeepsie Journal reports that Gann has received a $40,000 grant for his book, "Music After Minimalism."

"Gann said the funds will enable him to take a semester off to work on the book, which focuses on composers such as Glenn Branca, William Duckworth and John Luther Adams," the news item explains.

Duckworth announces new recordings, performances

Composer William Duckworth has announced that two new recordings of his music will be issued this year.

With help from Duckworth, Japanese electric violinist Ritsu Katsumata has created "Sea of Dreams" a 20-minute version of Prelude 6 from Duckworth's "Time Curve Preludes," perhaps his best-known piece. The album will be released in May, but excerpts are available now here. ("Time Curve Preludes" is widely available at the various music downloading services such as iTunes, Emusic etc.)

"Beyond that, the Japanese marimba virtuoso Mika Yoshida is planning to release my 'Writing on Water' for live and prerecorded marimbas later this year, but I don't think a definite date has been set yet," Duckworth writes. This will apparently be the first-ever available recording of the work.

Duckworth and his collaborators, the Cathedral Band, will be onstage performing "The Myth Retold" at 8 p.m. MST Feb. 24 at Second Stage West in Phoenix; the performance will be available as a video and audio stream at Cathedral.

Duckworth and Nora Farrell are going to Tokyo in March for "for 3 concerts and 3
workshops focusing on cell phones as musical instruments."

Later in the year, it's off to Australia for iOrpheus a "public opera" which premieres Aug. 31 at South Bank Parklands in Brisbane.

"It is expected to include 2000 participants. Nora and I will be there for 3 months
to plan and carry out this project," Duckworth explains.

More information later as these various events draw closer.

Just call Duckworth Mr. January

One of my favorite composers, William Duckworth, hasn't updated the news on his official web site lately, so I don't know what he's going to be up to during 2007. But I'm pretty sure he's all too aware of how the passage of time puts pressure on today's creative artist. He's serving as the month of January for Spoken Days, a verbal calendar that's apparently an Internet project for artist Jerry King Musser. Duckworth recites "Monday, January 1" and so on, with various audio in the background, including dripping water. Disappointingly, the audio is supplied by Musser, not Duckworth, although Musser's site shows a range of interests and is worth a look.

William Duckworth revealed

I few days ago, I mentioned I had discovered William Duckworth by listening to a piece called "Mysterious Numbers" on an album by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony. Not that I'm a music expert, but it was interesting to hear such a wonderful piece by someone I'd never heard of. I tried to find out more about him but had trouble finding useful information on the Internet.

I finally found a weblog posting by composer and critic Kyle Gann provides useful insight into Duckworth's music and a handy list of works to look for. (I downloaded the "Time Curve Preludes" from Emusic a few days ago, and it's just as great as Gann says it is.) Here's a key quote from Gann's posting: "If there is any composer from the 1980s and '90s whose music is sturdy, enduring, and universal enough to go into the standard repertoire, it is Duckworth's."

William Duckworth

I've been listening to an album by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony called "The New American Scene III." The album overall is pretty good, but the real surprise for me was a piece about 20 minutes long called "Mysterious Numbers," a composition in three movements by a guy named William Duckworth. (My wife heard it and asked me, puzzled, if it was "Rhapsody in Blue," if that gives you an idea of the work's charm.) Has anyone else noticed this dude? What else should I hunt up? Cathedral, his "work of music and art for the web," is here.

Addendum: Steve Layton suggests an album on Emusic, "The Time Curve Preludes"; Robert Gable at aworks recommends hunting up a copy of a piece called "Imaginary Dances."