• About Jeff von der Schmidt, the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble & LA International New Music Festival

Sound Travels with Jeff von der Schmidt

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Sound Travels with Jeff von der Schmidt

Tag Archives: Claude Debussy

The Buddha on the Mantle and My Path to Việt Nam

01 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Composers, Contemporary Music, Hanoi, LA International New Music Festival, Los Angeles, Music, Southwest Chamber Music, Travel, Vietnam, Vu Nhat Tan

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Asia, Buddhism, Claude Debussy, Erik Satie, Hanoi, Joan Huang, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Kent Nagano, Kim Ngoc Tran, LA International New Music Festival, Momo Kodama, Nguyen Thien Dao, Olivier Messiaen, Randy Schoenberg, Song Hong Ensemble of Hanoi, Southwest Chamber Music, Tetsuji Honna, Vietnam, Vu Nhat Tan, William Kraft

The new Old Quarter Cultural Exchange will host the first concert of the Hanoi New Music Ensemble on October 25.

The new Old Quarter Cultural Exchange will host the first concert of the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble on October 25.

Why Việt Nam?

Jan and I are looking forward to going to Hà Nội soon, and I’m excited to announce the inaugural concerts of the Hà Nội New Music Ensemble as we begin our roles as artistic advisors to this new group and the Hà Nội Philharmonic Orchestra in October. The concerts are October 25 at the new Old Quarter Cultural Exchange, October 29 at the Manzi Art Space and October 31 in the Grand Hall of the Việt Nam National Academy of Music.

One thing, as they say, leads to another. But why Việt Nam?

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Toshio Hosokawa’s THE RAVEN receives West Coast Premiere July 9 with Laura Mercado-Wright

04 Thursday Jun 2015

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Contemporary Music, Japan, LA International New Music Festival, Latin Grammy Awards, Laura Mercado-Wright, Los Angeles, REDCAT, Southwest Chamber Music, Toshio Hosokawa, Walt Disney Concert Hall

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Asia, Claude Debussy, Edgar Allan Poe, Gustave Dore, Japan, Japanese Noh drama, LA International New Music Festival, Laura Mercado-Wright, REDCAT at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Toru Takemitsu, Toshio Hosokawa

Laura Mercad0-Wright is The Raven on July 9.

Laura Mercado-Wright is The Raven on July 9.

Sometimes ideas are obvious, a favorite theme of mine. On first glance the idea of a Japanese composer setting the iconic poem The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe seemed to approach hubris. Really, a Japanese composer taking on one of the most famous American poems? But I was curious about Toshio Hosokawa, an important Japanese composer I’d been hearing about from friends Kent Nagano, Momo Kodama and Ichiro and Tami Nodaira, and asked for a perusal score from his publisher, Yuki Yokota at Schott Japan.

Fortunately Hosokawa’s score appeared in a timely way in my mailbox from Tokyo a few months ago. I started reading the piece and rereading the poem. I got hooked, very hooked, in a matter of hours, and started to grasp the obvious. And I heard the voice of my good friend Laura Mercado-Wright after the first few bars.

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Hanoi in Hollywood 3

01 Thursday May 2014

Posted by Jeff von der Schmidt in Betty Freeman, Composers, Contemporary Music, John Cage, LA International New Music Festival, Los Angeles, Southwest Chamber Music, Travel, Uncategorized, Vietnam

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Betty Freeman, Bruce Weigl, Claude Debussy, Elliott Carter, Emperor Bao Dai, Hanoi, Igor Stravinsky, LA International New Music Festival, Leonard Bernstein, Los Angeles, Mark Swed, Paris, Song Hong Ensemble of Hanoi, Ton That Tiet, Venice Beach Walkway, Vu Nhat Tan, Walt Disney Concert Hall

 

Song Hong selfie going up Bunker Hill to Disney Hall.

Song Hong selfie going up Bunker Hill to Disney Hall.

I’ve always thought of Los Angeles as the New Vienna of classical music. Because if you care about the 20th century story of classical music, the chapters about LA are page turners.

Arnold Schoenberg and Igor Stravinsky for monumental starters. Martha Graham is from Santa Barbara cutting her teeth here as a young woman. John Cage is born here in 1912 (and Merce Cunningham dances in the world premiere of Appalachian Spring, which was composed mostly when Copland was at MGM). Erich Wolfgang Korngold establishes the film score and let’s be culturally honest and admit that movies have had an influence on the world. Pierre Boulez conducts his American debut at the Monday Evening Concerts, the oldest continuing series of new music in the world. And the LA Philharmonic’s Minimalist Jukebox Festival this season proves that a big institution can move forward.

And God bless Betty Freeman, who commissioned everybody and took pictures of them all (mine with Elliott Carter and Oliver Knussen are great lifetime memories). Driving past Hillcrest Dr. in Beverly Hills where she lived, just up the road from where I grew up in West Hollywood, never feels the same anymore……

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