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Event
9th Annual Back Cove Contemporary Music Festival (April 7-9)
Every year, the Portland Conservatory of Music celebrates the best in contemporary music across a variety of genres, with a particular focus on Maine and New England composers. This year's schedule is as follows:
FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 7:30 PM, WOODFORDS CHURCH SANCTUARY, 202 Woodford St., Portland
The festival begins with a major U.S. premiere, and features performances by several of the leading figures in the Portland music scene. The premiere is Elliott Schwartzs String Quartet No. 3, Portrait for Deedee, his last major work before he passed away last year. Performing it will be a long-time champion of new music, the Portland String Quartet. Another tribute to Schwartz is a piece by Mark DeVoto for organ and piano, featuring Harold Stover on the Woodfords Church organ. Stover will also perform works by himself, Eric Sawyer, and Delvyn Case. The rest of the program showcases the Portland Piano Trio, presenting new pieces by Stephanie Ann Boyd, Delvyn Case, Francis Kayali, and Nancy Gunn.
SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 2:00 PM, WOODFORDS CHURCH SANCTUARY, 202 Woodford St., Portland
The Saturday afternoon program features more tributes to artistic giants we lost in 2016: Bill Matthews string quartet Lux aeterna for Maine dance legend Marcy Plavin, solo piano pieces by John McDonald for composer Elliott Schwartz and soprano Phyllis Curtin, and a performance by UMaine and UMF students of pieces by the avant-garde pioneer Pauline Oliveros. The concert also includes chamber music for strings, winds, piano, and solo guitar by John Newell, Bruce Fithian, Vin Shende, Gregory Hall, Jesse Feinberg, and Colby College students Liam Butchart and Colleen Wright. Several fine student musicians from the Portland Conservatory will also be performing.
SUNDAY, APRIL 9, 2:00 PM, SPACE GALLERY, 538 Congress St., Portland
The focus Sunday is on music with spoken word, in a nod to National Poetry Month. Former Maine Poet Laureate Betsy Sholl reads several of her jazz poems in collaboration with musicians Gary Wittner and Jim Cameron, and Mark Tiptons quartet Les Sorciers Perdus performs with Downeast poet Alan Brooks. Philip Carlsen offers New World Suite No. 3, a setting for string trio of a long, contrapuntal poem by Robert Bringhurst, which the musicians speak while they play. Similarly, there are solo pieces with dramatic vocalizations for the performers, by Josh DeScherer on double bass, and by Josh Newton for the flutist Nicole Rawding. In Jet-Pack for One, Beth Wiemann combines her bass clarinet playing with an electronic reading of a poem by Miriam Gamble. The program is rounded out with pieces by Gustavo Aguilar and Bill Matthews that include video and improvisatory elements.
Tickets are $15 per concert; free for children and students with ID.
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LocationWoodfords Congregational Church (View)
202 Woodford Street
Portland, ME 04103
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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