New sounds abound at School of Music

Oct 03, 2008 (The State - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- NYT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Lovers of new music might want to show up at the USC School of Music with tents and sleeping bags this weekend.

The newly-formed World Symphonic Jazz Orchestra performs tonight. The Southern Exposure series brings the acclaimed International Contemporary Ensemble to the stage Saturday.

Another concert series wraps up Sunday with a program that's mostly 20th- and 21st-century pieces.

Stay over until Mondayand you can be part of the celebration of composer Elliott Carter's 100th birthday (which is in December). Carter is one of the most acclaimed American composers of the past 50 years -- and yes, he's still working.

The convergence of all this newish music happened by accident.

"There's always a lot going on here," said music school dean Tayloe Harding.

--The World Symphonic Jazz Orchestra was started last spring by Sonia Jacobsen, who teaches world music, composition and improvisation at USC. She also runs the New York Symphonic Jazz Orchestra.

"We hired Sonia on a research (grant) that is usually for the hard sciences," Harding said.

Most of the 15 musicians (woodwinds, strings, brass and a jazz rhythm section) are undergraduates.

And the music?

"Argentine tango mixed with some pan-Latin influences, Lebanese/Turkish music, Balkan music (Moldova/Ukraine) mixed with some funk, Middle Eastern/Klezmer/Afro/Blues, Cuban bolero, Sephardic/Latin, Venezuelan folk," according to Jacobsen.

The concert includes pieces by Rabih Abou-Khalil from Lebanon; Mikhail Alperin of Ukraine; American jazz guitarist Jim Hall; and Juan Tizol from Puerto Rico.

"It's the kind of music you never hear in our building," Harding said.

--The International Contemporary Ensemble, based in New York and Chicago, is in heavy demand. Last month it did the first U.S. performance of Iannis Xenakis's only opera, "Oresteia." The group just released two CDs.

The New York Times called ICE, as it is often dubbed, "one of the most adventurous and accomplished groups in new music."

For this, its first concert in the South, the group will play John Cage's 1942 "Credo in U.S.," a sonic ride for percussion, electric buzzers and FM radio; George Crumb's lyrical "Voice of the Whale" from 1971; and Peter Maxwell Davies' "Eight Songs for a Mad King" (1969) which includes live video and DVD projections.

Along with doing the concert, ensemble members will review music composition student work.

"They're eager to work in the community and with students," said John Fitz Rogers, series organizer. "It's an incredible opportunity for students to have pieces (examined) by first-rate contemporary music players."

--The Freeman concerts have been around for 25 years, but this year they feel younger.

"We're trying to include lots of different stuff on the series-- most of it audience-friendly," said Peter Kolkay, a music professor who helps organize the all-faculty concerts. "As the faculty gets more interested in contemporary music, I think you'll see more of it on these concerts."

This one will showcase new faculty members Jennifer Parker-Harley on flute and Michael Harley on bassoon playing "Trio" by Bill Douglas, best known for his "new age" music.

Other music includes the 1946 Divertimento for trumpet, trombone and piano by Boris Blacher, a German whose music was banned by the Nazis, and 20th century pianos pieces by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Scriabin..

--The Carter birthday bash will have music from the 1940s and the past 15 years: "Cello Sonata," "Eight Etudes and a Fantasy" and "Eight Pieces for Solo Timpani" from the early years and "Au quai for Viola and Bassoon" and "Retracing" from the recent.

"The new work is generally light-hearted and less concerned with formal games than is the earlier," said Kolkay, who organized the concert.

The composer's music has been both challenging and popular and he has been very prolific. He has had four new works premiere this year.

The concert will be introduced by music historian J. Daniel Jenkins, who wrote his doctoral thesis on Carter.

"Retracing," for solo bassoon, was written for Kolkay, who will perform it.

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