Iva Bittová is a phenomenon in contemporary Czech music – the avant-garde violinist, singer and composer has developed a music style all her own, blending the music of many cultures into what she terms her "personal folk music" and drawing deeply on her emotions and the sounds of nature. Her vocal utterances range from traditional singing to chirping, moaning, yelps and deep throat noises that keep audiences mesmerized. Her style is not easily defined but perhaps one of the most accurate comments made about her is that she brings the human voice back to the natural world in a way that transcends barriers and touches audiences the world over. Hear and see her sing Ne nehledej/Stop Searching ... one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.

American composer Benjamin Lees has traveled the world over in his 85 years. Born in Harbin, China of Russian parents, he arrived in the United States at age 2. After military service in World War II, Lees entered the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. In 1954 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, enabling him to leave the U.S. and travel to Europe, where he eventually settled in a small village near Paris. His aim was to remain uninfluenced by the turbulent American scene in order to create his own style. He remained in Europe for seven years before returning to the U.S. to settle in California. The highly personal style of Lees lends his music the lofty grandeur and sardonic wit, not only of Shostakovich but also of the Cubist and Surrealist artists whom he so greatly admires. He also shares Britten’s refined sense of harmony, delighting in contrasts and surprises, enthralling the listener at every turn from the lyrical to the burlesque, the romantic to the brusque. His String Quartet No. 5 (2002) was chosen by Chamber Music America as one of its "101 Great Ensemble Works". Check out the Cypress String Quartet's Naxos recording of the String Quartet No. 5 (as well as Nos. 1 and 6) ... Pytheas' current FEATURED RECORDING.

We're all familiar (hopefully!) with Aaron Copland's great works for modern dance - Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid and Rodeo. Less well known are the scores he composed for the movies - perhaps most frequently heard is the music he wrote for the film The Red Pony (1948). This week at Pytheas we feature another of his film scores, namely the one written for William Wyler's 1949 classic The Heiress starring Olivia de Havilland and Montgomery Clift. Take a look and listen at this week's PYTHEAS SIGHTING.

In 1951 Benjamin Britten turned for inspiration to Ovid, the exiled Roman poet who died in 17 A.D. in obscurity on the northwest coast of the Black Sea. Ovid's greatest work, Metamorphoses, is a fifteen-volume treatise of the disillusionment of his generation described in terms of the instability of nature. Britten titled his Six Metamorphoses After Ovid (1951) using the names of the some of the legendary figures who appear in the great Roman poet's work. Enjoy a performance of Narcissus by oboist Nicholas Daniel ... this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.

Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music

When John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles premiered at the Metropolitan opera in 1991, audiences and critics alike were delighted with the final installment of the Beaumarchais Figaro trilogy. Andrew Porter of The Times wrote, "A triumph with the public, a success with the New York press, and a sell-out at the box office ... It is heartening to find a new opera greeted with a standing ovation." Hear Teresa Stratas (as Marie Antoinette) sing the moving aria They Are Always With Me ... one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.

Behzad Ranjbaran's music has variously been described as having "qualities of inherent beauty and strong musical structure that make it a satisfying musical entity" (Henry Arnold, Nashville Scene) and "radiant luminescence" (Cecelia Porter, The Washington Post). Allen Gimbel (American Record Guide) said about the Persian Trilogy that "Ranjbaran has composed a noble and brilliantly conceived score, spectacularly orchestrated and filled with memorable tunes, meticulous development, and impressive craftsmanship." Accolades continue for Songs of Eternity, which was described in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Philippa Kiraly) as "beautiful ... with exquisite melismas"; and Joe Riley commented in the Liverpool Echo that the Violin Concerto is "high class, cohesive" and "when the concerto ... just sings out a fine melodic line, the effect is ravishing." Hear the composer himself talk about his life and music - Pytheas' current COMPOSER PORTRAIT.

Bob McQuiston (Classical Lost and Found) writes, "George Tsontakis is fast becoming recognized as one of America's greatest living composers. Yes, his music is quite contemporary ... but also quite approachable, and anyone willing to do some serious listening will be amply rewarded!" Check out the Koch International recording of Tsontakis' Violin Concerto and other works ... this week's FEATURED RECORDING.

And lastly, loose yourself in a performance of Jean Langlais' brooding Plainte from the Suite Brève (1947) ... this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVE.

Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music

With his Fantasia bética (1919) ("bética" refering to the region in the south of Spain that the Romans called Baetica, now known as Andalusia), Manuel de Falla brought the classical world to new territory – Spanish modernism, which Falla seems to have invented. There's an obvious debt to the Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, but Falla does not imitate so much as melt down and recast. And much like Stravinsky, he penetrates to the primitive heart of his culture. In Fantasia bética Falla depicts the three essential components of Flamenco art: singing, dancing and the hand clap. Hear it now ... one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.

The American Classical Music Hall of Fame is a non-profit organization devoted to celebrating the past, present and future of American classical music. Located in the historic Herschede building in downtown Cincinnati on Fourth Street, the 9,000 square-foot facility contains a variety of engaging displays. The first floor houses biographical plaques highlighting the lives and accomplishment of each inductee. In addition, the facility also includes an art gallery and areas for temporary exhibits and performances - it's this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC WEBSITE.

Lee Actor's music is filled with rhythmic drive and shows the composer’s superb ear for orchestral color. His Horn Concerto (2007) won first prize in the 2007 International Horn Society Composition Contest. Hear Actor’s beautiful Horn Concerto ... our second NEW MUSIC VIDEO for this week at Pytheas.

Check out the performance of Mitchell Peters' Yellow After the Rain (1999) - one of our Fun/Cool/Great New Music Videos! ... and this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVE.

Explore, Listen and Enjoy!

Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music

Composer Michel van der Aa employs the atonal idiom with absolute freedom, while the computer is a natural tool for him, not so much for composition but for the production of soundtracks, which constitute yet another instrument, as it were, and which enrich his musical language. See violinist Maaike Aarts perform his Memo (2003) for violin and portable cassette tape recorder ... this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEO.

According to composer Dennis Báthory-Kitsz, "The 365-day composition project We Are All Mozart (WAAM) was an idea I had had for years. I believed that productivity and excellence are not mutually exclusive, nor do they belong to the past alone. I believe that our ability to "be Mozart" (meaning a prolific composer) today is inhibited by lack of demand on our inherent productivity. In other words, the more we do, the better we get at it and the more new ideas we have. Humans are problem solvers, and for composers, it is the blank page that is to be solved. But just as important to me was to do something intense to keep nonpop-music visible and to inspire ensembles, listeners and other composers." Read more about We Are All Mozart and listen to some of the music composed during the 365-day project - it's this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC WEBSITE.

A composer who dabbled in the Dada movement, a Bohemian “gymnopédiste” of fin-de-siècle Montmartre, and a legendary dresser known as “The Velvet Gentleman,” Erik Satie cut a unique figure among early twentieth-century European composers. His spare, haunting melodies have inspired a wide range of musicians, from his contemporary Claude Debussy to The Velvet Underground's John Cale. According to guitarist Jonathan Stone, "His music is still relevant, because it was unique in its time and it was a departure at its time. In a way, to me, Satie creates a timelessness in much of his music. It's just as fresh now as it was a hundred years ago." Watch Chris Bannerman's dance piece inspired by Satie's Gnossienne No. 3 (1890) - our current DANSES PYTHEUSES.

In Principio (2003) is a weighty, yet spacious orchestral and choral setting of verses from the Gospel of John. Hear Arvo Pärt's spiritual - and timeless - musical setting ... this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.

Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music

Richard Danielpour has become one of the most sought-after composers of his generation – a composer whose distinctive American voice is part of a rich neo-Romantic heritage with influences from pivotal composers like Britten, Copland, Bernstein, and Barber. Danielpour has commented that "music [must] have an immediate visceral impact and elicit a visceral response." Check out his Souvenirs (2008) for orchestra ... this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEO.

According to Ned Raggett (All Music Guide), "Mirjam Tally's self-titled debut CD, collecting pieces composed over the previous seven years, reflects both a striking confidence in the 27-year-old's compositional abilities and an attractively broad range of influences ..." Have a look at it - it's our PYTHEAS FEATURED RECORDING.

In 1930 Berthold Bartosch moved to Paris and created the 30 minute film entitled L'Idea/The Idea. It is described as the first serious, poetic, tragic work in animation. The film's characters and backdrops were composed of several layers of different types of paper from semi- transparent to thick cardboard. Special effects like halos, smoke and fog were made with lather spread on glass plates and lit from behind. The film was based on a book of woodcuts from Frans Masereel and the animated film featured a score by composer Arthur Honegger, who employed the Ondes Martenot in his score, the very first use of an electronic instrument in film history ... see and hear it - it's our current PYTHEAS SIGHTING.

"For sheer visceral effect, nothing matched Chen Yi's Spring Dreams. The idea of 'petals falling' was conveyed through rhythmic whispers and chatters, birds by pulsating whistles. In the midst of this cumulative din the sound of voices actually singing came as a jolt. Chen has the ability to create a minor sensation with the simplest of means." - Paul Horsely, The Kansas City Star. See a perfomance of Chen Yi's Spring Dreams (1997) by Chanticleer at this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.

Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music