From the monthly archives:

March 2011

Marino Formenti’s Hall of Echoes

March 23, 2011

Classical music is often saddled with an undue and cumbersome reputation for—ugh—purity. But digging around tells a different story: As in any art-form, there’s a hell of a lot of borrowing and intermingling going on. Acknowledged or unacknowledged; in tribute or in jest; deftly swiped or clumsily bungled—every piece of classical music, if you listen

Hear a Preview of the Bad Plus’ “Rite of Spring”

March 22, 2011

This weekend, on March 26, we’ll finally get to hear the Bad Plus renovate Stravinsky’s iconoclastic ballet The Rite of Spring. A world premiere commissioned by Duke Performances, the performance caps the jazz trio’s season-spanning residency at Duke, where they’ve been workshopping music written for them by Duke student composers. Darren Mueller has documented these

Reich & Kronos Transcend Representation with “WTC 9/11″

March 20, 2011

In art, representation is a fundamental concept, and metaphor a powerful convention. Although artifacts are distanced from the world by the fact of reference, they are nonetheless of the world as well. Performances happen. Sound waves produced by musicians travel through real space into living ears. The onus to overcome this distance is placed on

Interview: Steve Reich on “WTC 9/11″

March 18, 2011

This Saturday, March 19, Kronos Quartet performs the music of Steve Reich in Page Auditorium. Alongside Triple Quartet, Different Trains, and selections from The Cave, we’ll hear the world premiere of a new quartet called WTC 9/11, for live strings and recordings. The Thread’s Chris Vitiello reached the legendary composer by phone on Tuesday for

Interview: David Harrington & David K. Garner

March 17, 2011

by Darren Mueller
This season, Duke Performances has provided unique opportunities for Duke students to interact with visiting artists like the Abbey Theater of Ireland, Tift Merritt, and the Bad Plus. Part of this outreach has included a number of master classes and workshops with student groups like the Duke New Music Ensemble, colloquially known as

Interview: Judd Greenstein

March 16, 2011

This season, Duke Performances has challenged artists to collaborate outside of their regular genre-boxes, such as Tift Merritt and Simone Dinnerstein. The topic of adventurous hybridity in musical presentation is one that the composer Judd Greenstein can discuss with authority. As the curator of the Ecstatic Music Festival—ongoing at the Kaufman Center’s Merkin Concert Hall

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