Adventures in New Music: The New Juilliard Ensemble at Alice Tully Hall

Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, photograph by Robert Mintzes

Composer Dylan Mattingly once said, “Part of the excitement to me of hearing something completely new is that you have no idea what it’s going to be. Nothing has proved it not the best thing in the world.” Mattingly’s statement has become my mantra when hearing brand new works, and I’ve discovered many a “best thing” as a result.

My Year In Music 2013

This year, I’m even more relieved than last year that I’m not a professional critic assigned to assemble a “top ten” music list for 2013. Instead, here is a year-end offering of highlights from my personal musical journey throughout the year.

I also want to recognize the composer and musicians who participated in This Life in Music profiles during 2013: Maxwell J McKee, Sabrina Tabby, Dávid Adam Nagy, Lucy Dhegrae, and Amy Garapic, as well as composer Dylan Mattingly, for his guest post on his new work, The Bakkhai (a report on the premiere of The Bakkhai is included in this post). It was a pleasure and privilege to present each of them on Prufrock’s Dilemma. Thanks to all!

This Composing Life: Composer Molly Joyce

Composer Molly Joyce

Update: Molly Joyce, whose 2012 interview appears below, has a track up for GRAMMY consideration. Please join me in wishing her the best of luck. (You can listen to Form and Flee on the listening list at the end of the interview.)

I first learned of Molly Joyce at the Contemporaneous concert Just for Us. Her piece Dollhouse was one of those chosen by Contemporaneous in its call for scores for that year. She explained that her composition came out of a dark time when she was questioning her “whole pursuit of a career as a composer.” What was astounding to me at the time, and remains so, is the way she composed her way through that dark time to create a piece of such affirming joy.