In Thursday’s (4/12) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Andrew Druckenbrod writes, “Federico Garcia had a good sort of problem. As one of the leaders of the local composer/performer collective Alia Musica, he was increasingly having trouble fitting all of the new works into the group’s concerts. … In a day when the answer to new limitations is often cuts, Mr. Garcia took the offensive. ‘We can’t do more than five pieces a concert for our audience, but what if there were more audience?’ That led him and his colleagues to another idea that has been cooking throughout Pittsburgh’s up-and-coming art-music scene for some time now: Why not pool all of their fans? Not long after, Mr. Garcia had many groups on board for ‘Hear/Now: Festival of New Sound’—a new-music marathon with six concerts over two days. … Luckily for them, a hip venue emerged that was not only thrilled to host the festival, but also wanted to co-present it: The Kelly Strayhorn Theater in East Liberty. ‘New music is a genre that is contemporary, diverse and ever-changing, which makes it a perfect fit for us,’ says Janera Solomon, executive director, who co-curates the festival with Mr. Garcia.” Performers include flutist Tim Munro, DJ Spooky, pianist Conor Hanick, vocalist Pamela Z, Alia Musica, Dave Eggar, ELCO, Host Skull and others, featuring local composers Garcia, Mark Fromm, Sean Newkom, and John Arrigo-Nelson.
Posted April 13, 2012
