New Yorker Festival: Composers on the Edge October 7, 2006

Composers on the edge.
Mason Bates is a composer of classical music and electronica and a d.j. known as Masonic. He graduated from the Columbia-Juilliard program in 2001, with degrees in music composition and English literature, and is a recipient of the Charles Ives Scholarship and Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His symphonic work “Omnivorous Furniture” received its New York première last March.

Corey Dargel is a composer, lyricist, and singer of electronic art songs. He graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory in 2001, with a bachelor’s degree in composition. He is currently a resident artist at HERE Arts Center in New York, where he is developing the concert-theatre work “Removable Parts.” His début album, “Less Famous Than You,” came out in May.

Nico Muhly received a master’s degree in music composition from the Juilliard School in 2004. His works have been performed by the American Symphony Orchestra and the Juilliard Orchestra. He conducted Björk’s score for the film “Drawing Restraint 9” and, in collaboration with Maira Kalman, was commissioned to compose a song cycle based on “The Elements of Style,” which premièred in New York in 2005.

Joanna Newsom began playing the harp at the age of eight. She studied Celtic, Senegalese, and Venezuelan harp techniques, and later became interested in Appalachian folk and bluegrass and started writing and performing songs. She has recorded two EPs, “Walnut Whales” and “Yarn and Glue,” and a full-length album, “The Milk-Eyed Mender.” She has also played with the post-punk band the Pleased.

Alex Ross is a staff writer at The New Yorker. He covers classical music, from Baroque opera to the downtown avant-garde, and has profiled Bob Dylan, Radiohead, and Björk. His first book, “The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century,” will be published next fall. He wrote about student composers in his New Yorker article “Ignore the Conductor,” from 2004.

10 p.m. BargeMusic
Fulton Ferry Landing at Old Fulton Street, Brooklyn

(Note: All programming is subject to change. Tickets available at 12 noon E.S.T. on September 7th, at ticketmaster.com, at all ticketmaster outlets, or by calling 1.877.391.0545. All ticket orders are subject to service charges.)

Official Website: http://festival.newyorker.com/schedule_1007_night.cfm