News
• NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO's "WEEKEND EDITION" broadcast a feature on Boone's cantata "Ascencion" on March 29, 2008. Click HERE for NPR AUDIO. Ciick HERE for new Ascencion wesite, where you can hear audio, view news stories and read articles! (4/8/08)
• KENNEDY CENTER U.S. PREMIERE OF JOROPO JAM, March 29, 2008. Click HERE to view the video of the live broadcast! The video link is just below Corey Whitehead's bio, under "March 29, 2008." (4/8/08)
• THE CALIFORNIA REPORT recently broadcast a feature story on Boone's new Cantata, Ascecion. Read how to listen below (3/10/08)
• FRESNO BEE newspaper lists Boone's performnace at the ROGUE FESTIVAL a top-ten pick. See how you can listen to a podcast below (3/10/08)
• THE COLLEGIAN ran a feature story on Boone's performnace at the ROGUE FESTIVAL (3/10/08)
• Boone Receives American Composers Forum "Subito Award" for ASCENCION: A MULTI-MEDIA CANTATA!
(1/16/08)
• BOONE wins AMERICAN MUSIC CENTER "C.A.P. Award" to help fund ASCENCION:
A MULTI-MEDIA CANTATA!
• JOROPO, for a. sax and guitar posted on LISTEN page (12/7/07)
• Boone hosting CSU SUMMER ARTS course July 13-26, 2008. Guest arts include the
KRONOS QUARTET, Stefan Poetzsch, Howard Frazin, Guy Livingston, Kurt Rhode, and others!
• Doctoral paper on Benjamin Boone's music posted on Educational Resources page (10/15/07)
• Student-Centered Analytical Tool posted on Educational Resources page (10/15/07)
• Paris premiere of PLACE SETTING DJ by Guy Livingston! (9/27/07)
• FOUNDING FATHERS premiered on Vox Novus concerts (9/27/07)
• Joropo, for guitar and saxophone, World Premiere in Beijing, China! (8/16/07)
• Guy Livingston (Paris) commissions 60 second piano works (8/01/07)
• Ascencion Cantata premiere set for Feb 22 and 24, 2008 at CSUF (7/20/07)
• Boone records 60 second works for "Vox Novus 2008" (listen on LISTEN page!) (4/01/07)
• Boone's Graduate Students Present Research (5/01/07)
• Vox Novus 60 x 60 2004 Compilation CD to feature Boone (4/10/07)
• Boone Receives Fulbright Senior Specialist Award
• Alan Durst and Corey Whitehead Record Joropo for Centaur Records
• Harlem Sunset to be recorded by Branford Marsalis and Stephen Pollock
• Boone to perform with Grammy-award winning drummer Steve Mitchell
at the 2007 Rogue Festival.
• Con Man: The Musical
professional reading
• Flute Choir Pieces Published by ALRY
• Clifford Leaman Records Boone's Saxophone Sonata
• Boone's Research in Asperger's Syndrome Book
• Nina Assimakopoulos CD Featuring Boone Work Released
BOONE HOSTING CSU SUMMER ARTS COMPOSITION COURSE WITH THE KRONOS QUARTET JULY 13-26, 2008
All 23 CSU campuses come together every summer for an interdisciplinary Summer Arts Festival - an intensive 2 week program wherein students interact with guest artists from all over the world. This summer Boone will host "Composer Performer Collaboration: An Interactive Workshop for Composers." This is an AMAZING opportunity!! This hands-on workshop will give students the rare opportunity to collaborate one-on-one not only with master composers, but also with renowned professional performers during ALL stages of the compositional process – from conception to rough drafts to the performance and/or recording of their final product. These performers will include the KRONOS QUARTET, pianist Guy Livingston (Paris), violinist/violist Stefan Poetzsch (Germany), violist Kurt Rhode as well as CSUF faculty performers. Guest composers Howard Frazin, Jeff Atmajian and Ken Froelich round out the faculty! For more info vist click here.
kennedy center us premiere of joropo jam, March 30, 2008
Saxophonist Alan Durst and guitarist Corey Whitehead will perform the US premiere of Joropo Jam at the KENNEDY CENTER in Washington, DC. The world premiere of this piece occured in Beijing China this past summer. This piece was written for their CENTAUR RECORDS CD. You can hear this cut on the LISTEN page. You can buy tickets HERE.
ROGUE FESTIVAL PRESS - BOONES PERFORMANCE WITH GRAMMY-AWARD WINNING DRUMMER STEVE MITCHELL
Steve Mitchell played with Vince Guaraldi, Van Morrison, Mose Allison, Joe Henerson and numerous others. He is perhaps best known for his studio work on many Charlie Brown and Garfield TV specials. Boone played with Steve, Nye Morton (bass) and David Aus (piano) at the 2008 Rogue Festival. A live CD from these performances is in the works.
-To read a feature story (complete with photo!) on Boone's performance at the Rogue Festival, click HERE.
-To hear a Fresno Bee Rogue Festival Podcast, which features a review of the Rogue 2008 performnace, please click HERE and look for the MArch 5, 2008 posting.
American Music center and american composers forum help fund ascencion project
Boone received an American Music Center Composers Asisstance Fund grant, as well as an American Composers Forum Subito grant to help fund the Ascencion Cantata, which was premiered February 24, 2008. See below.
the california report airs feature story on ascencion cantata
Listen to a FABULOUS feature story that aired on California NPR stations on February 22, 2008! You need to find the story in the archive. Follow these directions:
1. Go to http://www.californiareport.org/
2. Scroll down to the fourth story for Feb. 22, 2008
3. Click on NATIVE AMERICAN OPERA, LISTEN (Real Media Stream - so you need REALPLAYER)
4. Then afterwards you can click on another link and see a slideshow.
FOUNDING FATHERS ON VOX NOVUS INTERNATIONAL MIX
One of my favorite radio shows on National Public Radio is “The Thomas Jefferson Hour,” wherein a moderator interviews “Thomas Jefferson” – played by humanities scholar and author Clay Jenkinson. This show has given me a greater appreciation for the wisdom of our “Founding Fathers” and served as the impetus for this work. Upcoming performances in NC, Montreal, New York, Orlando and numerous other venues are on the PERFORMANCE LOG page. You can Also hear this piece on the LISTEN page under SPECIAL PROJECTS.
WORLD PREMIERE OF PLACE SETTING DJ IN PARIS!
World renowned pianist Guy Livingston will premiere PLACE SETTING DJ -- which he commissioned -- at the Fondation des Etats-Unis, 15 boulevard Jourdan, Paris at 20:30 on 4 October, 2007. In Place Setting DJ, the performer places plates and glasses on the strings of the piano, then strikes them with eating utensils or slides the plates as a hip-Hop DJ would.
JOROPO, FOR GUITAR AND SAXOPHONE, WORLD PREMIERE IN BEIJING, CHINA
On August 21st my new piece for guitar and saxophone, Joropo, will be premiered in Beijing, China. This work was commissioned by saxophonist Alan Durst and guiatrist Coery Whitehead for their upcoming Centaur release. My works have been performed in China before, but this is the first time a world-premiere has happened there!
GUY LIVINGSTON COMMISSIONS PIANO WORKS
Pianist Guy Livingston, who currently lives in Paris and is the leading performer of Antheil, commissioned 60 second piano works for his next tour and project, Don't Panic II (Don't Panic I was a HUGE success -- see his website!). "My favorite piece is named "MY NAME IS G-U-Y L-I-V-I-N-G-S-T-O-N. Guy asked for a piece wherein he didn't touch the keys, so in this work, he spells his name with a drinking glass on the strings of the piano. I also wrote two pieces using riffs my two kids played on my MIDI keyboard when they were 2-4."
THE WORLD OF ASCENCION SOLORSANO: A CANTATA SET FOR FEBRUARY 22 AND 24, 2008 PREMIERE
This solo cantata documents the life of Ascencion Solorsano, a historically significant native-American. More details available on the CSUF website.
BOONE RECORDS 60 SECOND WORKS FOR VOX NOVUS
May 26, 2007: Wow, this was fun! I just finished whirlwind recording sessions with Nye Morton, bass; Vince Keenan, vocals and engineer; and Mark Stotzer, vocals. We recorded over 23 60 second tracks to submit to Vox Novus and then edited these with some existing materials, including tracks I had previously recorded with German violin marvel Stefan Poetzsch. I have posted the six tracks I ended up submitting under LISTEN>SPECIAL PROJECTS. Numbers, Figuratively Speaking and Founding Fathers are very different from my normal work, so i hope you can check them out. I've been commissioned to write a 60 second work for pianist Guy Livingston, so I have more of these to do. Let me know what you think!
BOONE'S GRAUATE STUDENTS PRESENT RESEARCH
May 5, 2007: Boone's graduate seminar at CSUF presented “An Explanatory Acoustic Analysis of Musical Patterns of Pitch Variation in Dyadic Conversation” at the Central California Research Symposium an April 12, 2007 and “Engaging Students Through Interdisciplinary Research” at the CSUF Regional Conference on Excellence in Teaching and Learning on April 13, 2007. Loren Lachs from the CSUF Dept. of Psychology was of GREAT help. BRAVO to this marvelous group of student researchers: Bryce Cannell, Aaron Bisel, Lyle Peters and Jered Sherrill!
VOX NOVUS 60 x 60 COMPILATION CD TO Feature BOONE
April 2007: The Vox Novus 60 x 60 Project has included Benjamin Boone and James Miley's "Middle East Peace Talks " for soprano saxophone and piano in its series of Pacific Rim concerts, and will now include it on its debut CD, Vox Novus 60 x 60: 2004-2005. Stay tuned for its release!
BOONE RECEIVES FULBRIGHT SENOIR SPECIALIST AWARD
"Oh, my, I guess I'm now a senior...." said ever-youthful Boone in jest upon learning of his award from the J. William Fulbright Foundation. As part of the award, he traveled to the Republic of Moldova where he worked with Adelina Sefarta, Professor of Music at "A. Russo" Balti State University on the developement of music curriculum materials and worked with students and faculty on music pedagogy, composition, performance and theory. Previously, George DeGraffenried, a former colleague at CSUF and now Chair of Music at San Francisco State, visited Moldova and co-ordinated a campus-wide donation of books and computers to Balti State. Highlights of Boone's trip include working with a Moldovan rock band, dancing into the evening during a departmental celebration, sampling world-class cognac, presenting concerts with Balti students across the country and learning more about Moldova.
SELMER ARTIST ALAN DURST AND COREY WHITEHEAD RECORD "JOROPO" FOR CENTAUR
CSUF colleague Alan Durst commissioned a work for alto saxophone and guitar for his debut Centaur Records CD with Corey Whitehead. Of the work, Boone says, "I wanted to write something fun - something that has a Latin influence because Corey knows that. I also wanted something flashy for Alan - something where could show of his technique. I happened to hear a Joropo rhythm and loved it -- so the piece is based on that. It's fast, flashy and furious! Alan hardly has a chance to catch a breath!" The recording sessions took place in December 2006 and the recording will be released in 2007. Stay tuned for ordering information!
HARLEM SUNSET TO BE RECORDED BY BRANFORD MARSALIS AND STEPHEN POLLOCK
Tenor saxophonist Stephen Pollock recently commissioned Boone to write a duo for him to record with saxophone legend Branford Marsalis. "I decided to write something that would show off Steve's tone and Branford's improvisation ability," says Boone. "And so I revisited a piece I composed and used to play when I lived in New York, Harlem Sunset. I wrote it one day looking out the window of a practice room at Manhattan School of Music. My friend Mike Stewart really likes the tune, and so it was fun to redo it for Steve and Branford. I hope I can be at the session. That would be cool." Stay tuned for release info!
BOONE TO PERFORM WITH GRAMMY-AWARD WINNING DRUMMER STEVE MITCHELL AT THE 2007 ROGUE FESTIVAL
"I am so excited to perform with Steve at the Rogue Festival on March 2, 3, 9 and 10," says Boone. "Steve has done it all -- he performed with Vince Guaraldi for all of the "Charlie Brown" television specials, Van Morrison, Joe Henderson, Mose Allison, Dave Brubeck....and Nye Morton will be on bass. I'd better start practicing!" The performances will take place at Studio 65 (corner of Shields and Maroa in Fresno) at 9:30, with the exception of March 9th which begins at 730. All funds from the March 3rd performance will go do to aid the Dafur crisis.
Alry to Publish Flute Choir Works
ALRY Publications, whose support and promotion
has made Over the Edge a staple in the advanced Flute Choir repertoire,
announced plans to publish two upcoming works by Boone for flute quartet/flute
choir. The first will likely be released in 2005, and the next (a commission
from UpTown flutes which will involve an educational component) in 2006/2007.
UPDATE: These new works are out and being performed widely now!
Saxophonist Clifford Leaman Records Saxophone Sonata
Saxophonist extraordinaire Clifford Leaman, who has been featured on the cover of the Saxophone Journal, and whose premiere of Leslie Bassett’s concerto at the World Saxophone Congress a few years ago was hailed by critics, recorded Benjamin Boone’s Saxophone Sonata PsychoTherapy: A Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano (in four movements) in the late summer of 2004. Clifford commissioned Psychotherapy a few years ago, and premiered it at the North American Saxophone Alliance Convention in Tucson. The Equilibrium CD of which PsychoTherapy is a part is due to be released in 2005. Keep your eyes and ears out for this – it includes some GREAT new pieces – all with interesting titles! UPDATE: This CD is out and it is FANTASTIC! Please order it!
Boone’s Research included in Asperger’s Syndrome Book
Judith Martinovich, an Asperger’s Syndrome researcher, will include Boone’s research on pitch synchrony in her upcoming book. “This is one way musicians can help people in a meaningful way – by taking their musical knowledge and applying it to other disciplines. The results are often positive,” says Boone. See “Music as Words” for more information on Boone’s research.
Flutist Nina Assimakopoulos Releases Euterpe Recordings CD
Flutist Nina Assimakopolos has recently released a CD with a theme near and dear to flutists’ heart: music inspired by the myth of Pan. Her Euterpe CD, titled Arcadian Murmers: Pan in Pieces vol. 1, features the first movement of Boone’s solo flute work, A Tribute to Debussy’s Syrinx: I. The Wood Nymph of Nonacris, for which Boone received an ASCAP Grants for Young Composers. Nina’s interpretation is fantastic. Check it out on the CDs page, and listen to the clip at Nina’s site www.ninaassimakopoulos.com
updated 03/10/08
