The New Music Agency Fall Concert:

The New Music Agency's inaugural concert, "The Night of the Living Composers", was just one year ago on, coincidentally, October 28th.  

It was noticed at that time that this date is also the Feast of St. Jude, the Patron Saint of Lost or Hopeless Causes.  Contemporary music in Lincoln, lost or hopeless cause ... hmm.  Actually, the first year for The New Music Agency has gone quite well:

We've performed six (6) concerts, featuring twenty-six (26) different pieces of music. Two of those concerts were performed in June and July, presenting contemporary classical music at a time of year not normally considered condusive to concert-going.  We think there should be more live music in the summer!  We have taken our music across state lines (not yet considered a felony) for a concert at the University of Wyoming, Laramie. With the exception of one work by Leonard Bernstein, all of the music on our concerts has been composed by composers who are still alive and kicking. We have two composers amongst our ranks and have performed compositions that were written expressedly for members of our group. Our audiences have responded very warmly and have expressed appreciation of our efforts.  The folks at the Unitarian Church have been very welcoming and supportive. We have recently been invited to perform on the Lied Center's Free at 6 performance series.  Thank you Lied Center!

Not bad for the first year. The future also looks promising.  On this concert, we have a premiere of a new work, which gives an air of anticipation (excitement, trepidation, fear, or whatever) to the evening.   We also have a number of new works waiting in the wings that we plan on presenting in the near future.  

In addition, on this concert we have a couple of repeats of works we premiered in Nebraska this past summer. The occasional repetition of a new composition on Agency concerts can be counted on. Some of these pieces take a fair amount of effort to work up, so having another crack at performing them is rewarding to the players. And also: all too often, new works get one hearing and that's it - there's nothing wrong with giving an unfamiliar work another hearing to catch what was missed the first time. People re-read books, or go to a challenging movie two or three times to give additional meaning to their first impressions. If you experienced "Exploding Carousels" back in July, you'll probably pick up a bit more this go 'round.

Click on these links to read more about each composition:



We're having a fun, rewarding time performing these concerts, and we feel we're doing important work.  We hope to see you there!  - k.