new conductor | Carmen-Helena Téllez

Bernstein’s birthday and his legacy

August 25, 2018 by carmen helena tellez

Today Google has a charming and ingenious homage to Leonard Bernstein, with cartoons of him in action. It is a good occasion to ponder the role of artists in our society–who gets to leave a mark in the culture, and is it always the one who eschews popular taste and sentiment for high academic complexity…or vice versa. I say, great music is not in the style… https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=24&v=O8fQyb6tkdk

Categories: art and paradox, conducting, contemporary music, context affects perception, context and perception, music composition, new conductor, Uncategorized • Tags: high and low, Leonard Bernstein

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TEDx Talks are up!

February 28, 2014 by carmen helena tellez

View the Talk on YouTube

Categories: art and ritual, art and society, Carmen's work, context affects perception, context and perception, interdiscipline, my work, new conductor, new forms of presentation, new opera and music drama

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The controversy about the title “Female Composer”…..

July 17, 2013 by carmen helena tellez

…or “Woman” composer, (or “Latin American” composer, for that matter) gets a perspective from composer Kristin Kuster here. It is worth reading her opinion piece in the New York Times alongside the piece she quotes from NewMusicBox. Much of what she says about women composers applies to women conductors, and both contingents are underrepresented in the high-level circles of the profession that receive the most performances or conduct the elite ensembles. She is right that women have sought to separate […]

Categories: art and society, contemporary music, interdiscipline, music composition, my work, new conductor, postclassical music, postmodernism, Uncategorized • Tags: Kristin Kuster, Women Composers

Sharing the news of our new DMA at Notre Dame

December 30, 2012 by carmen helena tellez

On December 11 the University of Notre Dame approved a new Doctor of Musical Arts program with specializations in Choral Conducting and in Organ. The approach to training the new conductors includes deep study of the relationship of music with other arts and other disciplines. Although conductors will study the broad choral repertoires, it is inevitable to study Western sacred music, which lies a the foundation of most Western art music. After all, in my personal view, liturgy is one […]

Categories: art and religion, art and ritual, gesamtkünstwerk, interdiscipline, new choral music, new conductor, new opera and music drama, sacred music, scholarship • Tags: DMA at Notre Dame, James MacMillan

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A thrilling new conference on Sacred Music ….

July 8, 2012 by carmen helena tellez

…with James MacMillan and a stellar panel of guest composers and scholars. Check the site here It was a privilege to be part of it!

Categories: art and religion, art and ritual, art and society, my work, new choral music, new conductor, sacred music

The reviews of PASSION with Tropes are as variegated as the work itself

May 30, 2011 by carmen helena tellez

Composer Jeremy Podgursky has just published his review of Don Freund’s PASSION with Tropes in the excellent online journal Sequenza21.com. His full account and considered opinion teach us how an interdisciplinary presentation of a musical work originally conceived for concert oratorio format may provoke surprising revelations about the work itself. The layers multiply beyond the performance through the reception and critique of viewers. Podgursky’s impression of PASSION was affected by his experience of important films by Fellini and Godard. This […]

Categories: art, art and religion, art and ritual, art music video, contemporary music, gesamtkünstwerk, interdiscipline, meta-composition, multimedia, music composition, my work, new choral music, new conductor, new opera and music drama, postclassical music, sacred music

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The tech rehearsals continue…

May 19, 2011 by carmen helena tellez

…an interview with the composer and some scenes here Working in the round poses some unique challenges. Clearly, conventional proscenium presentation offers acoustic advantages, and in particular, more control by the conductor of the overall perception by the audience. When working in the round for an immersive concept, especially if the work is staged, balances and emphases are constantly shifting, but the sense of “belonging” is greater…

Categories: contemporary music, context and perception, gesamtkünstwerk, interdiscipline, meta-composition, multimedia, new choral music, new conductor, new opera and music drama, Uncategorized • Tags: DON FREUND, MARGARET DOLINSKY, PASSION WITH TROPES, ROBERT A. SHAKESPEARE, Susanne Schwibs

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The work on PASSION with Tropes continues…

May 14, 2011 by carmen helena tellez

Assistant Conductor Greg Geehern testing images for Passion with Tropes by Margaret Dolinsky and Susanne Schwibs …and Don Freund has left these notes in the Event’s Site. For him, it is about the friction of several scriptural and poetic texts as well as musical styles. For me it has been to find an unexpected message that the audience takes away from the conflict of ideas. My assistant, the brilliant young conductor and interdisciplinary artist Mark Doerries expresses it as this: […]

Categories: contemporary music, gesamtkünstwerk, interdiscipline, meta-composition, multimedia, new choral music, new conductor, new opera and music drama, sacred music, Uncategorized • Tags: CARMEN HELENA TELLEZ, DON FREUND, Greg Geehern, MARGARET DOLINSKY, MARK DOERRIES, PASSION WITH TROPES, ROBERT A. SHAKESPEARE, Susanne Schwibs

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Balance of elements in a multimedia presentation

March 20, 2011 by carmen helena tellez

Multimedia interdisciplinary presentations are becoming the norm. However, the large spectacles at the Metropolitan Opera or at Cirque du Soleil, fascinating as they are, should not be considered the superlative standard or the only model for interdisciplinary presentations. A new article by Pia Catton published in The Wall Street Journal on a recent presentation by the multidisciplinary troupe Ex Machina of The Nightingale and Other Short Fables discusses the possibility of limitations in perception, preventing us to absorb more than […]

Categories: context and perception, gesamtkünstwerk, interdiscipline, new conductor • Tags: cia patton, cirque du soleil, Ex Machina, metropolitan opera, Robert Lepage, wall street journal

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Carmen-Helena Téllez

Conductor – Creative Producer – Interdisciplinary Artist • A site with notes about music, art and the occasional paradox

Category Archives: new conductor

Bernstein’s birthday and his legacy

TEDx Talks are up!

The controversy about the title “Female Composer”…..

Sharing the news of our new DMA at Notre Dame

A thrilling new conference on Sacred Music ….

The reviews of PASSION with Tropes are as variegated as the work itself

The tech rehearsals continue…

The work on PASSION with Tropes continues…

Balance of elements in a multimedia presentation