Michael Mayerfeld Bell
Julie Brandenburg
David Drexler
Geoffrey Gordon
Jens Joneleit
Gonçalo Lourenço
Dan Maske
Ileana Perez-Velazquez
Jeff Snyder
Max H. Yount
| Michael Mayerfeld Bell |
 |
 How
to describe Michael Mayerfeld Bell’s compositions?
Not "modern," certainly. He is too fond
of tunes for that. Not "postmodern," either.
He does not direct his music toward the solipsistic
erasure of boundaries and categories. Rather, he describes
his musical purpose as the delight of engagement—that
is, communication through the shared of something
that renews the cultural conversation.
Call it a participatory sound. Call it the sensibilities
of the folk musician, which is where he began his
musical life, singing and playing in a family band
with his father, two brothers, and an older cousin.
Or call it what he prefers to term it. Not modern.
Not postmodern. Not anti-modern. Rather, dialogic
music—that is, music which is in conversation
with performers and audiences about our future pasts
and past futures.
Michael has played and written for a variety of folk
groups over the years, and his tunes have been recorded
by half a dozen artists. In 2002, he appeared with
the Barn Owl Band on the National Public Radio show
A Prairie Home Companion, and performed one
of his compositions. In recent years, he has taken
up writing for the concert hall. But in keeping with
his background in folk music, he remains a self-taught
composer whose teacher has been music itself, and
its generations of performers and composers. Recent
compositions include a string quartet, a sonata for
either five violins or five mandolins, and several
works for piano. He is at work on his first symphony.
L'Ensemble Portique premiered Bell's Assumptions for flute, violin, cello and harpsichord in February
2005. A second premiere is scheduled for Fall 2005. |
| Julie Brandenburg |
|
Julie
Brandenburg has been composing and performing music
in the Midwest for 20 years. Recognized for her score
of the independent film “Once Upon a Monkey,” Brandenburg’s
compositions include music for rock bands and theater,
as well as for traditional chamber music ensembles.
She was the recipient of the Milwaukee Arts Board
Fellowship “Emerging Artist” Grant in
1994 and winner of the Sigma Alphi Phi Fraternity
Composition Contest (Madison, WI) in 2001. Brandenburg
is on the faculty at the Milwaukee Area Technical
College and works with Present Music as Composer
on their “Creation Project”, an educational
program designed for public school children.
L'Ensemble Portique premiered Brandenburg's Cantata Portique for flute,
cello, piano and computer in September 2004 and you missed you for flute,
violin and cello in December 2004. |
| David Drexler |
|
David
Drexler's compositions have been performed on three
continents by such groups as Synchronia, Sound--The
Alarm!, The Dutch Tuba Quartet, the EmergOrchestra,
and at the May in Miami Festival and the Winona State
University New Music Festival. His music has been
broadcast on Wisconsin Public Radio and many new-music
radio shows around the country. Drexler has received
grants and commissions from the Oakwood Chamber Players,
Music St. Croix, the Madison Chapter of the Wisconsin
Alliance for Composers, the Wisconsin Arts Board,
among others. His work "Liberal Media" was recorded
by the Oakwood Chamber Players and appears on their
CD Scenes.
L'Ensemble Portique premiered Drexler's Microcast for flute, Baroque
violin, viola da gamba and harpsichord in April 2005. |
| Geoffrey Gordon |
|
 Geoffrey Gordon’s
list of works include orchestral and chamber music--vocal
and instrumental--as well as scores for theater,
dance and film. His music has been called “brilliant” (Philadelphia
Inquirer), “stunning” (Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel), “wonderfully idiomatic” (Salt
Lake Tribune), and “haunting” (Strings
Magazine).
He has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including an ASCAP Young
Composer award, an Art Futures career grant, a Fellowship to the Composer Conference
at Wellesley, an Astral Career Grant from the National Foundation for Advancement
in the Arts, several NFMC awards, a grant from SACEM, and a fellowship from the
Cliff Dweller Arts Foundation. Gordon was recently nominated for the Chamber
Music Society of Lincoln Center Elise Stoeger Prize, which honors achievement
in chamber music composition, focusing on works written in the last five years.
He is the 2003 recipient of the Wisconsin Arts Board Artist Fellowship in Music
Composition.
Gordon’s music has been performed throughout the United States and Europe.
He has been invited to the Atlantic Center for the Arts, La Napoule Art Foundation
in Cannes, and the Guildhall in London. He has served as Composer-in-Residence
at the Cliff Dweller Club in Chicago. His music has been featured on the Skylight
Chamber Music Series in Milwaukee, subscription concerts with the Contemporary
Music Consortium in Salt Lake City, the Music 1998, 1999 and 2000 Festivals in
Cincinnati, and the Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia.
L'Ensemble Portique premiered Gordon's wrecked angels for flute, cello
and guitar in May 2003 and Bright White Smooth for flute, bass clarinet
and piano in January 2004. Gordon's A Canticle in Shards for flute, oboe,
clarinet, bassoon and piano was recorded by L'Ensemble Portique in January 2005. |
| Jens Joneleit |
|
 Jens
Joneleit was born in the City of Offenbach, Germany.
He has written more than one hundred compositions,
including seven Symphonies, five Concerti, Orchestral
works with or without chorus and/or solo voices,
and many chamber music pieces combining live-acoustics,
tape and electronics. His works have been performed
widely across the world including the United States,
Germany and Eastern Europe by such orchestras as
the Moscow Symphony Orchestra and the Bohemian Philharmonic
of Budweis, Czech Republic.
Joneleit has been commissioned by various soloists,
ensembles and orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic
and the renowned new music ensembles the Wolpe
Trio, and the Ensemble gelber Klang.
He has been Composer-in-Residence for the city
of Regensburg, Germany; and Visiting-Artist at
the School of Architecture of Rice University,
Houston, TX.
Joneleit has released five world premiere recordings
on the label CYBELE 360.601 with the Ensemble
gelber Klang of Germany--receiving critical
acclaim from the German Press. His music has been
featured on KTRU-FM Houston, TX; WORT-FM Madison,
WI; South Dakota Public Television, and the Hessischer
Rundfunk (Hessian Public Radio) in Frankfurt, Germany.
...di altri spazi... (...OF OTHER SPACES...) for flute,
clarinet/bass clarinet, piano/celeste, and double bass was
commissioned and premiered by L'Ensemble Portique in August
2003. L'Ensemble Portique premiered Joneleit's ...the most
deserted fields... for baritone and flute in December 2004. |
| Gonçalo Lourenço |
|
 Gonçalo
Lourenço was born in Lisbon in 1979. A composer
of both instrumental and vocal music, he has written
for solo piano, many chamber combinations, choir
and orchestra. His music has been commissioned and
performed in Portugal, Iceland, Brazil and the United
States.
Lourenço studied composition with Carlos Vargas at the Conservatório
de Música de Setúbal and with Sérgio Azevedo and Christopher
Bochmann at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa. He earned a degree
in psychology from the Universidad de Lusófona.
As a chorister, Lourenço has sung with numerous choirs in Portugal, including
Coro Regina Coeli and Coro Ricercare in Lisbon. As conductor, he has worked with
Coro Dezstaccato, Grupo Coral de Lágos and Coro da Universidade Lusófona,
which he founded in 2004 along with the Coro Odyssea of which he serves as Artistic
Director.
Lourenço has composed music for cinema, producing the soundtracks of "Pestes
ao Ataque", "Círculo Mágico" and "Com Tradição".
L'Ensemble Portique premieres Lourenço's Alma Mater for flute,
violin, cello and piano in Fall 2005. |
| Dan Maske |
|
 Dan
Maske’s compositions have been performed throughout
North America, Canada, Europe, and Asia. Commissions
include the Skyline Brass, the Umpqua Chamber Orchestra,
the St. Norbert College Wind Ensemble, the Milwaukee
Youth Symphony Orchestra - Junior Wind Ensemble,
the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Youth Wind
Ensemble, and the Madison Chapter of the Wisconsin
Alliance for Composers (WAC). He is a member of the
WAC, the American Composers Forum, and the Society
of Composers.
Winner of the UW Concerto Concert Composition Contest; "First [,] Listen" Composition
Contest, and the "Ear N' Now Composition Contest," Maske has been a
finalist in the Illinois State University Composition Contest, the ASCAP Foundation
Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, and the Penfield Music Commission Project.
Maske has released recordings with ensembles The Skyline Brass and the Oakwood
Chamber Players on Arizona University Recordings as well as with several
independent labels. He is published with Sentinel Dome Publications and Alliance
Publications, Inc.
In addition to composing, Dan is active as teacher and conductor. He performs
regularly with his chamber rock ensemble Far Corner.
Maske earned his BFA in music theory/composition and his MM in music composition
from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and a DMA in music composition
from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
L'Ensemble Portique performed Maske's VISIONS in August 2003. That performance
was recorded live and is included on L'Ensemble Portique's CD Taste
of Portique. Maske's And None Leads Out for baritone, flute,
violin, bassoon and piano was premiered in December 2004. |
| Ileana Perez-Velazquez |
|
 Ileana
Perez-Velazquez is a Cuban born composer currently
an Assistant Professor of Music Composition and Electronic
Music at Williams College, MA. She received several
national composition awards in Cuba, including the
first prize of composition for chamber music in the
contest of the National Union of Writers and Artists
of Cuba (UNEAC), and the first music composition
prize from the Musical Youth of Cuba. Perez-Velazquez
was a recipient of a 2000 Cintas Fellowship in Composition
administered by Arts International, NY.
Perez-Velazquez’ compositions have been performed in concerts and International
Festivals in Cuba, the United States, Venezuela, Colombia, Spain, the Netherlands,
and France. She has been commissioned by soloists, ensembles, and orchestras,
including commissions from the Flux Quartet, Cuarteto Eco from Madrid, Insomnio
instrumental ensemble from the Netherlands, Minneapolis Guitar Quartet, and the
Instrumental Ensemble Nuestro Tiempo from the National Symphony Orchestra of
Cuba. She is currently working on a commission from the Berkshire Symphony Orchestra.
Perez-Velazquez earned a Doctoral Degree in Music Composition from Indiana University,
a Masters in Electroacoustic Music from Dartmouth College, and a Bachelors in
Composition and Piano from the Instituto Superior de Artes (ISA) Cuba. She has
taught composition, electronic music, and theory at Portland State University,
Portland, OR, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota, Colombia, and in the
ISA, Havana, Cuba. "Arte Tripharia", Spain, publishes her music.
L'Ensemble Portique recorded Perez-Velazquez's Cipres for flute, violin,
cello and guitar in March 2004. |
| Jeff Snyder |
|
 Jeff
Snyder is a composer, electronics performer and sound
artist working in New York City. His works, which
characteristically employ combinations of acoustic,
electric, and electronic instruments, have been performed
by a variety of ensembles. In addition to his concert
works, he has frequently collaborated with artists
from other mediums, including choreographers, visual
artists, and video artists.
Jeff earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison,
where he studied with Stephen Dembski and Joel Naumann. As a current doctoral
candidate at Columbia University, he continues his compositional studies under
the direction of Fred Lerdahl and Sebastian Currier.
Recently, Jeff has joined the Wet Ink composers' collective, presenting concerts
of new music in New York. He can often be seen performing solo electronic music
under the moniker Scattershot, or as one-half of the Disembodied Head of Peter
Ladefoged, one-third of the experimental electronic trio Jesus Crisco, or one-quarter
of the video game rock band, The Power-Ups. In addition to his own electronic
works, Jeff enjoys remixing other artists and has produced remixes for artists
ranging from Public Enemy (working with collaborator Ryan Smith) to TV Pow.
L'Ensemble Portique premieres new work by Snyder in Fall 2005. |
| Max H. Yount |
|
 Max
H. Yount is Professor of Music and Chair of the Music
Department at Beloit College. He serves as organist
at Saint Paul Lutheran Church in Beloit, and appears
regularly as harpsichordist with the Rockford Symphony
Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Wisconsin
Baroque Ensemble, and the Eaton Chapel Players. He
has toured the United States, Canada and Germany
as concert organist and harpsichordist. He holds
Master and Doctor of Music degrees from the Eastman
School of Music and has studied harpsichord under
Isolde Ahlgrimm in Salzburg and Louis Bagger in New
York. As composer, Mr. Yount has written music for
chorus, chamber ensembles and orchestra, as well
as for solo instruments, and his compositions have
been performed throughout the United States and Germany.
A live performance of Yount's Sonata for Flute, Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord can
be heard on L'Ensemble Portique's Taste
of Portique CD. |
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