On Sunday March 17, Michael Gordon’s newest work for orchestra, Beijing Harmony, is premiered by Kristjan Jarvi and the Beijing National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra.
Gordon writes about the new work:
I wrote Beijing Harmony as part of Composing China, a project in which I (along with four other composers) was asked to compose a work that reflected upon my first hand impressions of China…
continue readingMichael Gordon’s music merges subtle rhythmic invention with incredible power embodying, in the words of The New Yorker‘s Alex Ross, “the fury of punk rock, the nervous brilliance of free jazz and the intransigence of classical modernism.”
Over the past 30 years, Gordon has produced a strikingly diverse body of work, ranging from large-scale pieces for high-energy ensembles to major orchestral commissions to works conceived specifically for the recording studio…
continue readingComposed for the Concerto Köln—one of today’s most respected Baroque ensembles—Lost Objects introduces the concept of an early-instrument modern orchestra (as opposed to a modern-instrument orchestra playing early music). The multimedia production features the direction by the celebrated filmmaker Francois Girard. Michael Gordon shares a preview.
Listen to an audio piece about how composer Michael Gordon and filmmaker Bill Morrison work together and what went into their 13th collaboration, inspired by the 100th anniversary of the city of Miami Beach.
The composer Michael Gordon and filmmaker Bill Morrison have been fusing their visions for upwards of 17 years …
continue reading(…) Concerto Köln, which has about 30 members, is a collective: They own their work and manage themselves. The members are involved in the creation of every project. This is very unusual. Orchestras usually are run from the top down. The board of directors hires the management, which hires the conductor and the orchestra. The low people on the totem pole are the musicians, whose professional lives are dictated to from above. Here with Concerto Köln, and with a few other orchestras that I have worked with (mostly in Europe), management is hired by the orchestra…
continue readingOn October 14 at Bowling Green State University, Mantra Percussion gives the US premiere of Michael Gordon's percussion sextet, Timber — followed by a North American tour that includes the Canadian premiere on October 22 at the X Avant Festival (with indie rock-duo Buke & Gass).
The new work, an evening-length tour de force scored for six graduated wooden 2x4s brings the physicality, endurance and technique of percussion performance to a new level…
continue readingOn October 14 at Bowling Green State University, Mantra Percussion gives the US premiere of Michael Gordon’s percussion sextet, Timber — followed by a North American tour that includes the Canadian premiere on October 22 at the X Avant Festival (with indie rock-duo Buke & Gass).
The new work, an evening-length tour de force scored for six graduated wooden 2x4s brings the physicality, endurance and technique of percussion performance to a new level…
continue readingOn April 27, the Melbourne Symphony gives the Australian premiere of Michael Gordon’s Dystopia at the 2012 Metropolis New Music Festival.
Commissioning Rushes
by Dana Jessen
http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/commissioning-rushes/
As musicians, we frequently talk about the process of composing music. Most often we discuss the various methods a composer goes through to realize his or her work. Yet there is another facet of such an undertaking that often isn’t discussed—the performer’s side of commissioning a large-scale work. On September 15th, six colleagues and I gave the world premiere of Rushes, a new 60-minute composition for seven bassoons by Michael Gordon…
continue readingMichael Gordon’s percussion sextet Timber, “six players, six two-by-fours, one hour of aural hypnosis” (TimeOut NY) is toured from Canada to Ireland to Germany and beyond by co-commissioners Slagwerk Den Haag and Mantra Percussion.
Recognized by The New Yorker Magazine as one of the ten most memorable performances of 2012, Timber is a mesmerizing and unique evening-length work…
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