THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 31, 1996 TAG: 9603300039
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 111 lines
ON MONDAY, F. Gerard Errante will do something very foreign: He will take to the stage at Old Dominion University with his didgeridoo, khlui, mbira and shakuhachi.
Alone in the spotlight, Errante will perform his own music with instruments from Australia, Thailand, Zimbabwe and Japan. The music will be filtered through a effects processor; the instruments' soaring, tinkling or growling sounds will be digitally delayed, creating an overlapping collage of sound as the Norfolk musician moves from instrument to instrument.
The ethnic instruments aren't the only exotic aspect of the Monday concert sponsored by Norfolk Chamber Consort. The program itself - recent works by five of Virginia's most accomplished composers - is a rare occurrence throughout America.
``Unfortunately, all too rare,'' said Errante, co-director (with Allen Shaffer) of the Consort, which was founded in 1969 as a forum for new, adventurous and little-heard music.
``It's a shame. It's the only era people aren't excited about hearing the latest works,'' he said. ``Nowadays, music is something of a museum art, rather than a vibrant, living art.
``Well, we're trying to change that. We're trying to have a concert be an exciting event, where people can see composers as real live people.''
Besides the performance, a free panel discussion with the composers is scheduled for 2 to 4 p.m. Monday at ODU. The event was funded by Meet The Composer, a New York-based organization that underwrites the participation of composers in the presentation of their work.
Errante said he thinks it helps the new-music scene when ``we present programs where not only is the music approachable, but the artists are approachable,'' he said.
``For me, it's almost unnatural not to talk to the audience from the stage. You don't want to be a stuffy lecturer. But if the music is challenging, people love to have something to latch onto.''
In the Consort's 27-year history, this is the third program of new Virginia music, Errante said.
The featured composers are:
Adolphus Hailstork, music professor and composer-in-residence at Norfolk State University, whose work has been commissioned and performed by major music groups and premiered by such significant artists as pianist Leon Bates. On Monday, two of Hailstork's harp solos, ``Impromptu I and II,'' will be performed, as well as ``Arabesques,'' a work for flute and percussion commissioned by Virginia Symphony players Rob and Debra Cross.
Errante, a Norfolk State music professor and avant-garde clarinetist, has extensively toured Japan, Australia and America. His second CD, ``Conversations with Myself,'' will be released in the fall on the Capstone label. His piece incorporating ethnic instruments with an effects processor is titled ``Shadows of Ancient Dreams.''
Judith Shatin is professor of music at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where she directs the Virginia Center for Computer Music. Her innovative music is widely performed, most recently by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the National Symphony Orchestra. Her ``Janus Quartet,'' which contrasts traditional harmonies with more contemporary sounds, will be presented here.
Margaret Brouwer is composer-in-residence with the Roanoke Symphony and Washington and Lee University, where she is music professor. She also directs Sonoklect, a new-music festival she founded at W&L. Her Chamber Concerto for clarinet with percussion and piano will be performed.
Allan Blank, professor of composition at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, has had many of his works published and recorded. His four ``Selected Songs'' will feature mezzo-soprano Fay Putnam and pianist Ruth Easterling.
``That's a strong group. And they are all well known to us,'' said Nancy Clarke, executive director of the American Music Center in New York, an information center that promotes the performance of contemporary American music.
In the past, musical trends kept a stronger hold on the composers' output. These days, Clarke said, ``new music sounds like many things. It's reflective of the diversity of our culture.''
If there is a trend, it is the growing inclination of composers to listen to their audiences, Clarke said. ``It's not so much that they're writing music that's more `accessible,' but that they're becoming more responsive to their audience.''
In effect, she said, ``they're reaching out to include the audience with their writing.''
Shatin, speaking from her home in Charlottesville, said her own work now incorporates traditional harmonies and is ``easily perceptible upon first hearing.''
Errante said he was surprised when he heard a tape of her new quartet being presented in Norfolk. ``A lot of her earlier stuff is fairly academic or intense,'' he said. ``Her recent work is more approachable.
``It seems as we are approaching the end of the millennium, people are relaxing a bit more. People talk about the new romanticism.
``I joke about the new accessibility. But I think people are coming by it honestly. It's not like, `I want to get an audience, so I'll write down to them.'
``It's more that people want to write music that communicates to people on a soul-emotional level rather than a head-intellectual level. It seems we're trying to find that middle ground.''
That is, to write music with substance that elicits deep feelings. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
CHRISTOPHER REDDICK/The Virginian-Pilot
Composer F. Gerard Errante will perform on the Australian didgeridoo
and other instruments.
Photos
Among the composers whose works are on the program are Adolphus
Hailstork of Norfolk State and Judith Shatin of U.Va.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE BIOGRAPHY MUSIC COMPOSERS by CNB